Projects and blooms

 

Hello Folks ~ It is Wednesday afternoon, 4:35 p.m. EST. Thought I’d get a post in before supper.

It’s been lovely here in s.e. FL. It’s why the ‘snow birds’ flock here every winter, although this year not as many of them have come down, as the winter has not been as harsh as some years. They head back home around Easter before the heat and humidity start in earnest.

This morning I had some errands to run, stop by the post office to mail some things, and Home Depot is right next door and that was my next stop. I wanted to see about mini blinds, one for the kitchen door and one for the south bedroom window. Boy, did I get sticker shock in there today. Blinds were ‘expensive’ and I thought they were ‘cheap’ the last time we bought any. I was getting depressed, and then I spied the ‘cheapies’. I was thrilled. I bought two. The one for the kitchen door isn’t as long as I wanted, but they didn’t make them 68”, only 64” in length. Maybe with the more expensive brand I could have gotten them, but heck, it’s only me here, and my house isn’t going to be in some magazine.

I wanted them on this door because I felt vulnerable at night. Even though our gates are locked, someone could still sneak in here if they wanted to. the door is facing the driveway. So these blinds will keep the ‘boogies’ from seeing in.  I am happy with them.

Here they are up.

Down and open

Closed

Another thing I had sticker shock on is the cost of paint!!! We do have one gallon of white for the living room, so I won’t have to get that.  But, I’m thinking of the bedroom after I do some work in there. I did bring home some color samples to tape to the wall, they were ‘free’. At least our house is tiny, so it should take more than a gallon or two at the most to paint the bedroom.

I then went out to the garden dept., of course, I wanted to see if they had any herb seeds, and they did, and I got three packets of flower seeds too. Plus a bag of seed starting mix and a bag of potting soil. Oh yea, and one pineapple sage plant. They attract hummingbirds and make a nice hot tea too. I took cuttings from the top and stuck them in water to root.

Here are the seeds.

While there a couple was talking about the potting soil and there were bags of garden soil there too. She went to look at another brand, and I said to him, if you want potting soil, you don’t want to get the garden soil. I made a mistake and bought that for potting and didn’t realize it until I got home. The lady comes back and she says, Rainey is that you? I looked at her, and recognized her as she said ‘I’m Ida’. We used to set up next to each other at the local flea market. This is probably at least 25 years ago. She and her husband grow a lot of their own fruits and veggies. I was impressed with what they were telling me. Their garden is 10’x30’. They live in a mobile home park and the owners are ok with their doing this, which is great. She’s going to come over for a visit and bring me an oregano that has big fat velvety leaves that I’ve been looking for. I’m thrilled. I think I was led there today for this rekindling of a friendship.

Yesterday I decided to putter in the workshop as I’m trying to find the keys for the caravan. I didn’t find them there and I’ve exhausted places to look in here. I was depressed not finding them, but feel I will eventually. I’ve also asked God to help me find them, because after all, he knows exactly where they are.  I’m trying too hard right now, and need to relax.

Mark has three wonderful work benches in the workshop that are made from old cutting block tables. They were piled high as he was working on several things at once back there. He had cleared them off not that long before he took ill, but they filled up quickly once projects were started. This work shop is a dream come true. We built it ourselves, with permits, from the ground up, except for the concrete which was poured by a company. Mark loved this space and I do too. I cried while working in here.

See the two cupboards in the back, they were built-ins that were in homes in an area that was being torn down because of the airport. These were out curbside for free. The one on the left, is just like the one I have in the scullery.  The windows at the back of this photo face my main garden.

Before

After

There’s still much to do in here, I made some forward progress though so I’m not going to stress about it. I can’t do it all at once anyway. There are only so many hours in a day and it’s just little ol’ me. I got bummed out because I don’t know exactly where some things go, and there’s stuff that I’m going to get rid of too. He told me to get rid of the ‘junk’ around here and told me to make the workshop mine before he died, but to me it will always be his, I’ll just use it and the tools, once I learn how. I’ve been told that there are gobs of videos on you tube to learn how to do things.

Which reminds me. When I went to put up the mini blinds, I found out that the door was metal, then I thought oh for Pete’s sake, I don’t know if I can use these bits on metal or not, so did a quick search and figured out I could, so I did and was thrilled with my success.

Now, here are some blooms.

Bon Silene roses.

Mm. Laurette Messimy

Louis Philippe roses, first blooms after I pruned this way back.

Old Blush roses

Reflections in the living room window, early morning. I had not raised the blinds yet. You can see my lovely stained glass piece from Karen, Carl and Joel.

I dreamed about Mark right before I woke up this morning. He was here, it was like he had just been away, and he sat down in his chair and said, ‘It feels good to sit in my chair.’ I was happy too because of that. His computer is right beside his chair and I told him, ‘The receipts are in order from the last 4 months of 2012’. and that was the end of the dream. I felt happy, even though he isn’t here. He had been bed ridden the last month, so for him to be sitting in his chair was wonderful. It was our dream and hope, but that wasn’t God’s plan. God took him home. (I think I had the dream partly because I am thinking about the bookwork and taxes. He has a program that he made up his own system for bookkeeping and it is very detailed, with formulas that figure things out every time you add a new figure.)

My love for him is even stronger every day as I putter in the workshop, look at his tools, think of the projects we worked on together. We used to say we were Jack and Jill of all trades, as we did a lot of different things through the years.

I’m reading a collection of Clive Custler books that he bought cheap and didn’t get to read, maybe one or two. I burst out laughing at times because of the way the author writes that sounds like Mark and I and our crazy way of thinking about things. I get the sense of humor and I miss him so much.

Each day is a gift, and I am learning to live a different life.  I am learning to figure things out for myself, to make decisions by myself about things that we used to make decisions about together. I have to stop and think and pray and God is blessing me in ways I don’t even realize yet.

Take nothing for granted, live each day as best you can, be thankful in all things, good or bad, learn from mistakes, and don’t be afraid to try new things.

FlowerLady Lorraine