Florida Living

Hi Folks ~ Wow, half the year is gone already, amazing! When I was a kid, time seemed to stand still, and now that I am a senior lady, time is zipping right along.

It is hot and humid here in s.e. FL.  We’ve had some really nasty thunderstorms, which is normal for summer weather. On Accu-weather the other day that had this following information about Florida.

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Where You're Most Likely to be Struck by Lightening

The lightning hotspot of the country, Florida is struck by lightning more than 1.2 million times a year, according to the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and since 1959 there have been 477 lightning deaths, which is more than double the number of deaths in any other state. Florida’s location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico is believed to play a big role in the formation and severity of lightning storms.

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When T-storms are in the area, I stay indoors, the computer and the a.c. get turned off. I hunker down. I do NOT like these storms.

Here are a couple of pictures from the other day when a storm was coming from the northwest. I am looking out the ‘scullery’ window here as this thing moves overhead.

Now I’m in my ‘space’ looking south as the clouds keep moving southward.  Soon after the rains fell.

At least I’m not having to water my gardens.  I need to mow again, and weeding needs doing, hedges need trimming.

I worked on a painting project over a couple of mornings, sweating buckets. In the shade it was nicer, but still the humidity was thick, so were the dang mosquitoes.

We ‘found’ curbside quite a few years ago, two nice plastic chairs. They have ‘aged’ and needed cleaning so the other morning I cleaned them, and used the lightest purple paint I had gotten in my sample colors for the house. This one only cost me 50 cents because the mixer had gone the wrong way when mixing the color. Way too light.

Before

After coat of light paint. Which was too light for what I wanted the look to be.

So, I mixed up a couple of other ‘sample’ colors and this is the final coat.  I’m happy with it.  I also drilled three holes in each seat for water to drain out, and it worked.  Yippee!

I look forward to getting the wood siding on the caravan painted the house color, which I haven’t bought yet. This will be a project for cooler weather. I still have the back side of the chairs to paint.

The next photos are of the ‘Hugs-n-kisses’ hibiscus. The first photo was in the morning before the blooms opened.

The next couple were taken in the middle of the day.

These last two were late afternoon.  Isn’t that amazing how the colors change?

I love this plumeria.

These orchids are from my friends Nanci & John. They are beauties.

A Black Eastern Swallowtail in motion. He was flitting about the baby Meyer Lemon tree. It has 4 lemons on it. This is just outside the screened area off the back of the cottage. The wall in the background here is the east wall of workshop. The paint has faded, but is still in good condition, so I’m not going to worry about painting it any time soon.

I came across this little dead snake. He’s weird looking. Before bed that night I was wondering what kind of snake it was, and because of the diamonds on his back, I thought ‘Diamond back rattler’. Oh no!  That thought really freaked me out. I looked online this morning and he’s not that, but I don’t know what he is.  Look at the markings on his head. Someone thought he looked good enough to eat. When I went out to check the next morning, all traces of him were gone.

Now, here’s my Sweetie Petie, Miss Tork.  Someone told me that she’s a ‘classic’ tabby.  She’s my dear little comforting friend. Whenever I lay on the bed, whether it be for a nap. or for sleep at night, she jumps on the bed, lays on my chest facing me, rubs her head on my chin and then tucks her head under my chin. When she’s had enough of that little ‘bonding’ routine, she turns crosswise on my chest/stomach and lays that way until she’s ready to get down. She doesn’t sleep with me usually, and not all night, but she does come up in the middle of the night for little bonding moments then jumps back down.

I love her markings, and her coloring, plus those little white toes.

The other day on someone’s blog I was lead to another blog, you know how that is, and I read about ways to clear the air in your home. One of the ways was with sea salt. Here’s the blog post, Clear the air with Sea Salt. When I can, I’d like to get a ‘salt lamp’. But for now I put some sea salt, and drops from two kinds of essential oils, rosewood and coriander, in two little wine goblets. One is in the bedroom and the other is here in my creative space. I’m telling you, I’ve felt more energized and positive since doing this.

Here’s the heart I made for my dear widowed friend who lives in NC. It will be 4 years since she lost her dear husband next month. She misses him, but is moving forward with her faith in God. She found my blog soon after I became a widow and we’ve grown in this journey together. She loved the heart. It was created with love. Keep her in your prayers too.

I’m working on two hearts in purples right now.

I made a pincushion with a bee on it. The little stork sewing scissors were my late mother-in-laws. There is a freshwater pearl, seed beads, embroidery floss, and two mother-of-pearl buttons, poly stuffing.

I want to thank Rue of ‘An Old-Fashioned World’ for her lovely, and encouraging post this morning. In my Etsy shop I’ve had 125 visits today. WOW! Plus I’ve gained three new followers to my blog.

Well, I’ve ‘mused’ enough for today. That’s what happens, long posts, when you have no one but the cat to talk to.

May you all have a lovely holiday weekend here in the US. May the rest of you around the world have a lovely weekend too.

FlowerLady