A productive day

Hello Friends ~ Today was a pretty good day and I am oh so thankful for that. It was a somewhat dreary day, as was yesterday. We had gentle rain yesterday, and a few sprinkles today. The sun is shining right now, although it will be soon setting.

I went on the hunt for a book in our personal library this morning and just couldn’t find it anywhere. We have book cases every where here in our tiny cottage and no such luck.  But I found some other books that I gathered up to read. In one book I found a prayer to Jesus from Mark thanking God for me. Oh my gosh, that just blew me away and I cried tears of joy and sorrow. That was a gift from God to me and even now it has me smiling. Sigh! It is 6 weeks today, and it hardly seems possible. We were only separated this long when DH was first in the US Navy going to school. I do keep thanking Jesus that he is no longer in pain and that he is with Him, in perfect condition. I thank Jesus too for His strength, love and peace that keep me going.

I repotted the two purple flowering vines that I’m going to have growing up and over the entry way to my shed.  Now they should take off, at least I hope they do. I noticed little break outs of new growth on the rose canes that I cut back. Hurray.

I finished a little needlework piece for a new grand-niece who was born on the 30th of Dec. I will get it out in the mail this week. I won’t show a picture until after it has been received, as my sister reads this blog now and I don’t want her to see it yet, as it’s her grandbaby. I enjoyed making it and hope they will like it.

I did some measuring of pieces to see if they’ll work in the caravan, and am thinking about cutting paneling to finish off the inside.

I took a little nap after lunch, then I sat down here at the computer to edit photos, plus went to Amazon to order some books. Some for my business, as they have to do with beading and gold work embroidery, some spiritual,  one which is for widows, and ‘One Thousand Gifts’ by Ann Voskamp. I’ve been wanting that book for over a year and did not find it in the thrift shops. I get an email whenever she posts on her blog, and her writings from her heart are always so good to read.  I look forward to these all coming in the mail, it will be like Christmas.  I’ve got to get going with my little Etsy shop, to load it up with pieces I have lovingly created. I will be doing more embroidery, hearts and flowers, etc. I closed up shop while Mark was ill.

Ideas for our bedroom which has been partially storage, (we took things out of the attic to insulate and lay a floor up there, plus when we opened up the two tiny bedrooms into one room, the tiniest bedroom had already been storage), have been running around in my head. I plan to make it into craft storage and office and my sleeping space. I’m even thinking of bringing one of our bentwood rockers from Spain, from the storage building to put in there, if I have room and if it is in good shape.

Yesterday two customers came in bearing some blossoms for me, and framed photos of their night blooming cactus from this summer. These two are the ones who gave me a sprig of the cactus that I have, many years ago. Theirs and ours bloomed at the same time this year.

Oh my goodness I wish you could smell this rose, it is a heavy rose scent that is just beautiful and the roses are stupendous as you can see. They are huge with many petals. I asked them what the rose is and they said ‘Buxom Beauty’. The one who is the gardener of the two said that it is basically the only rose now that doesn’t bother his allergies.

See the little rusty piece with shells sitting in it. I found that in DH’s stash of iron stuff, and quickly grabbed it. I found this when I was doing some ‘clean-up’ in preparation for his being well and being able to get back to projects. I took pictures of what I had done, and showed them to him on my lap top in the bedroom and he said he had been thinking about cleaning out all the junk and he was glad I had made a start. He liked what I had done. He even told me ‘get rid of more junk’. So, there’s stuff to take to the scrap yard for money and I’ll do it when I can, a little at a time. The artsy stuff I’ll keep.

Here is Cape Honeysuckle taken in the early morning yesterday. The bees are all over this, and humming birds love it too. I have a light salmon colored one two.

Kings Mantle or Bush Clock Vine ~ Thunbergia erecta.

I have this in the purple too.

A dragonfly against early morning sky.

The morning sun lit up the rose in the stained glass this morning. and looking at this photo, I noticed the clear glass and how it looks like rain or tear drops in the glass. I don’t know how I missed it before. I love this piece.

I googled ‘two hearts’ and came up with my own photos. Small world I would say.

I did this in 2009, created in love for us. Love has been what has motivated me, what has given my joy. I am thankful for our love.

Well, my neighbor just called, he is on his way home from fishing and he has some dolphin (fish, not Flipper). He has given us a lot of fish he’s caught over the years that he and his wife have been our neighbors. We always enjoy it.

So, that’s it for tonight.

FlowerLady Lorraine