Check out this idea!!!!!

 

My dear friend Maggie who lives in the NC mountains, just emailed me with an idea for using the recent find. She had looked through my blog and this is what she came up with.  

So I carried the pieces out to the caravan and set it up and I just LOVE it. I’ll need to re-hinge the little doors, then I can open them to look outside. This is so cool!

Her idea made me think of some fantastic paneling we have that I’m thinking of using on that back wall now. It’s very high gloss, maroonish/red, we found it years ago and have stored the pieces, which aren’t all there, but we think it was some sort of armoir or entertainment center.  Anyway, when I dig the paneling out, I’ll take pictures. 

I AM EXCITED! Mark would love this!  It’s definitely turning more and more into a gypsy caravan. The piece is just sitting/leaning in the space right now.

Thank you Maggie!

FlowerLady

Latest curbside find :-)

 

Hello Folks ~ Right around the corner from where I work, I saw what is pictured below, out in front of an empty shop waiting to be rented. I had to back up to get a better look, then decided to load it into my van.  I am always amazed at what one can accomplish when the adrenaline flows.

I think this piece could be Mexican or South American, not sure, carved, with brass tiles, maybe mahogany, and heavy. The two doors hinges are rusted out.  But, I just couldn’t leave it there. The right door has the center piece, which shuts over the left-hand door. It is 22 inches wide by 45 inches high.  The doors are 1 1/2 inches thick.

The one door was already off and the one left was dangling by one rusted hinge with one rusted screw.  I wangled it into the van, glad it wasn’t any heavier than it was.

I must confess, in my haste, I left one piece of wood, and if you look at the bottom right side you can see a piece of the door missing.  I got home and realized but didn’t want to drive back 30 minutes one way. I thought I’d go back this morning.  Well, a nasty thunderstorm happened last night with heavy rains and wind, and this piece of wood was on the street and that area floods when it rains and there is a big street drain at the corner, so I did not waste my time this morning going there. Lesson learned, pick up what looks like it could be something.

I want to oil it and maybe lightly highlight polish the brass tiles, maybe with very fine steel wool.  The oil will make the color of the wood come out, reddish I am sure.  Mark would have liked this piece.  It reminds me of Spain and our wonderful time spent there, while he was in the US Navy, ‘70-‘73.

I cannot stop picking stuff up from the curbs.  In our area, you never know what you might find.  We always looked at them as gifts from God. Goodies made of glass, marble, metal, wood, stone, etc.  I think this is my first curbside find for this year.  The last one was in November last year, very heavy!!!!! I got bruises putting it in the van as I got my arm pinned between it and the metal behind the seat. Ouch!  Does that stop me from curbside shopping?  Heck no!  But I need to be more cautious and careful.

This is how it looked set up on the 25th. It looks different now because I’ve changed things up a bit. More storage for needlework supplies.

I would show you how it looks now, but it’s a wreck in there. More photos of how it looks later.

My brother-in-law is going to come down when he can and we’ll put up the ‘inexpensive’ bead board ‘looking’ paneling and I am looking forward to that.

If you see something curbside, make sure you at least take a peek as you drive by.  You never know what goodies are lurking there, just waiting to be saved from going to the landfill.

Oh yea for some floral eye candy, here is the amaryllis with one open bloom so far.

I took the photo this afternoon and the sun is hitting it.  I’m from behind in the first photo.

This is looking at it with the sun behind me.

Happy Spring ~ Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Oh my goodness

 

When I posted that ‘eye opener’ post the other day I did not expect all of your wonderful responses. I was really bummed out after watching and listening to that guy tell me what he though about my blog. It was a short video of him using his cursor on your blog page. He sounded sort of like an automaton, but you could tell he was human, he hemmed and hawed and said um too many times to be an automaton.

In hind sight, I figure he’s in his 20’s, some kind of techie stuck in a cubicle all day. He may or not have a life outside of his computer. I also gather that this ‘Peek’ review may be for professionals, not simple bloggers who are sharing their lives, loves, crafts, etc.

All of your comments made me feel so much better and I will just continue as I was doing, although, I did take care of broken links and did away with a couple of pages at the top.

Below are photos I took late in the day yesterday, after supper. Orchids ~ I don’t have names for any of these.

 

 

I call this ‘Doug’s Orchid’ because he gave it to me. He is a customer from where I work. He also gave me a small staghorn fern, both of these given many years ago when he was moving.

  

Air plant ‘Tillandsia’ fasciculata , Frangipani,

Texas Sage and Tibouchina

  

   

These are called Florida cherries, I don’t know the real name.

They are very sour and usually have worms. Ick! The shrub does make a nice thick hedge though.

Fleabane and hisbiscus

  

 

This is the white flowering Thunbergia erecta. I have the purple and also have the light purple flowering Clock vine which is in the same family. The clock vine blooms are in my header picture this time.

   

 

This is Yarrow, second season and I love the feather leaves and the honey scented blooms.

 

This is a Skipper butterfly on an Amaryllis bloom.

I walked around to the other side and got him from this angle.

Here is one of the ‘Skipper’ photos turned into a painting, using the program,

Corel Painter Essentials 4, detailed watercolor setting.

Again, I want to say thank you and how grateful I am for you all . You have been here for me through thick and thin. I appreciate all of the love, prayers, encouragement and support.  It has all helped me in the last 15 months of this new road I am travelling in my life’s journey.

Love and hugs,

FlowerLady

What an eye opener!

 

Yesterday another blogger, I don’t remember who at the moment, mentioned getting a PEEK review on your blog, by a real person. You just go to the blog and give them you’re blog address and they do a review.

Well, I got the results this morning and the man was not impressed with my blog at all. I changed a couple of things he suggested and am now somewhat depressed. My font Comic Sans is known as a joke font on the internet  (I chose it for it’s roundedness.)

He’s not into flowers. My blog is not cohesive.  I just share my life and what’s going on in it. (This is not a professional blog, I didn’t intend it to be.)

So, there you have it, the approximately 5 minute review in a nutshell.  I’m not a computer geek, or tech savvy by any means, I’m a lady who loves flowers and talks about what is going on in my life.

**Added at 7:24 a.m. est. The guy did say my pictures looked professional and that I must have a good camera, so that was one positive.**

Is this font hard for any of you to read? 

I know I jump around from thought to thought, that’s part of who I am. If Mark was here he would tell you that himself.

Thank you for all of my birthday wishes.  I had a lovely birthday week.

The water leak is fixed, it was a faulty new piece that cracked, so my B-I-L cut out the section and did it differently. No leak. While waiting the 2 hour time before turning water back on, we ate lunch then did my taxes and I e-filed them.

New belt on washing machine Monday afternoon.

I re-strung the weed-wacker myself and used it yesterday, also mowed and got a load of laundry washed and hung out to dry.

Oh dear, all this boring, mundane stuff in my life.

A Daggerwing butterfly landed on a flower on my shirt the other day while I was walking.  That was really neat.

Here is my latest needlework, not perfect by any means and putting it here in my blog is probably another bit of not being cohesive, more like disjointed.  this is still a work in progress.

***

A man would do nothing

if he waited until he could do it so well

that no one could find fault. 

John Henry Newman

Use what talent you possess:

the woods would be very silent

if no birds sang except those that sang best. 

Author unknown,

quoted in The Ladies Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature, Arts, and Religion, September 1874

The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four.  Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye.  ~Winston Churchill

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.  ~Salvador Dali

I definitely am not perfect. I am a child of God being perfected. I am still learning new things every day and learning how to make my blog better is part of the process, even if it does bum me out a bit.

Take heart dear folks ~ look for the good and beauteous in each day, and keep learning.

FlowerLady

20 March ~ 1st day of Spring & my 65th

 

Good morning Friends ~ It is 7:38 EST and is 66 degrees in s.e. FL. The high today is expected to be 79. We had a lot of strong winds and some rain earlier in the week.

On this day 65 years ago a little baby girl was born one month earlier than expected. She was placed in an incubator and was there until she got up to 5 lbs. and then was allowed to go home. Sixty-five years later, that little girl is now ‘FlowerLady’, living a different life than she was just 15 months ago. Our lives can change in an instant and what we had is no more. I am thankful for my life, for the love and my marriage of 43 years, and I look forward to each new day strengthened by God’s graciousness and love. Each and every day is a gift.

Here are some of the flowers in bloom here this week.

This is a humongous bougainvillea that is growing over the fence from the property to the west of us, it is covering an awning and it is just beautiful!!!

Unknown orchids bought last year around this time for $4.99 each.  I don’t do Lent, but this year felt compelled to give up something, and it is ‘buying flowers’. There’s a new nursery I was told about but won’t be visiting until after Easter.  I am ever thankful for the beauteous flowers I have here in my humble, weed filled Plum Cottage gardens.

‘Hugs-n-Kisses’ hibiscus starting to unfurl. This was taken yesterday morning.

Here is the open bloom this morning.

These next photos are of Tibouchina.  I just love how the white centers in some of these seem to pulsate or vibrate with life. 

This is one of my ‘unknown’ roses and I just love the color and scent.

This is ‘Prosperity’ growing back by my abandoned potting area.

This is ‘FlowerLady’ with her dear friend Jeanne, known since I was in my late teens.  She and her husband and family knew Mark when he was a boy.  She lost her husband 15 years ago and imagine our surprise when we see each other at the widow’s group I found after losing Mark.  This was taken Monday at our widow’s group St. Patty’s day meeting.

Below is ‘FlowerLady’ and another friend, Peggy, with one of the leprechauns who was there. I had had a hat on, but it fell off while I was racing around to take photos of our ladies. I’m the group photographer as well as take care of the blog.

You can view the post about it ‘here’.

Tuesday I was taken to lunch by another dear widow friend, Lois, who has gone to our meetings and was there my very first time going last year. I was so surprised when someone seated me right next to Lois. I called out her name, tears flowing all the while. She was very good friends with my husband’s mother, and also knew Mark from when he was a boy. I did a LOT of crying that first meeting as it had only been about 2 months since losing my love.

Lois gave me this lovely hankie to carry in my purse.  She said every southern lady should carry one in their purse and she wanted me to have one.

Yesterday I did some errands and stopped at two thrift stores and found 4 books.

The first two books are a wonderful find, at the Goodwill Thrift Store.  I’ve been a fan of Helen Steiner Rice’s writings for many, many years.

I opened the books randomly and below are the writings I found for the day and perfect for me.

From ‘Loving Promises’:  Adversity Can Distress Us or Bless us

From ‘Somebody Loves You’: Nothing Is Lost Forever

Each book is filled with watercolors and oh so beautiful in thoughts and paintings.

I also found these two books 25 cents each at another thrift store.

A widow friend gave me the ‘Pink polka dot’ plant and for now it is in the ‘scullery’ window.

She’s taking me to lunch next week.

These are cards received.

Here I am in an emotional moment after one of the young men at Macaroni Grill, sang Happy Birthday to me in Italian.  His voice was beautiful! My brother and sis in law took me there Sunday evening. Food was delicious, ambience wonderful. My dessert was tiramisu. My sis in law got part of him singing to me and sent it to me via her phone, but I don’t know how to share that here.

I want to thank everyone for birthday wishes. They are very special to me.

*****

Nothing is Lost Forever

The waking earth at Springtime

Reminds us it is true

That nothing ever really dies

That is not born anew. . .

So trust God’s all-wise wisdom

And doubt the Father never,

For in His heavenly Kingdom

There is nothing lost forever!

Helen Steiner Rice

***

I will end with a very short but vivid dream I had right before waking up yesterday morning.

My dear Mark came up behind me on my right side, and gently kissed me on the neck and whispered in my ear, Thank you.

That was it and oh so wonderful right before my birthday.

Love and hugs to all of you  ~ FlowerLady