Flowers, critters, an upcoming ‘event’

 

Hello Friends ~ It’s a little after 5 p.m. EST. Supper is heating up, the wind is picking up and T-storms are predicted in about an hour.  They’ve been predicted several times this week and we’ve gotten zilcho, nada. I was out hand watering this morning, and the sweat was just beading up as it was in the high 80’s and with the humidity felt like it was in the low 100’s. I worked outside the last three mornings a total of 9 1/2 hours. There is still more to do, but this morning I just didn’t feel like it. I moved potted plants to the main garden so that I can take care of them better.

The before pictures were taken the 19th of last month, so the overgrowth was even worse when I went in and weedwacked and trimmed this week.

Before

 

After

Before

After

There were a couple other paths too. I want to lay roll-roofing down again for the paths, just haven’t bought it yet. It lasted 7-8 years. Did it so I wouldn’t have to weed wack the paths.

Lots of butterflies are visiting. Flowers are blooming. The spider is keeping his web strung across the driveway, a bit higher than my van.

Love this pink hibiscus.

Love the shadow on the petals.

All three of these roses are unknowns to me, the bottom two are miniatures.

Here are the two sweet canine critters I’ll be visiting/babysitting for 36 days. When I first met these two, I was intimidated because they are BIG dogs and Bella has a LOUD bark. The owner of these two said they were harmless, but he was surprised when old Max came up to where I was sitting and wanted to be petted.  He said he doesn’t do that normally to strangers, so, they accepted me. Dogs have scared me, especially big ones since I was young.

My husband and I had dogs, Pup, a little terrier, and Blub, a blue tick hound. I was afraid of Blub when we first got him, because he was big and black, but he was a real sweetheart.

Bella ~ look how she’s looking right at me.

Max ~ was shy, but I’ll try to get some better pics when I’m with them this next month.

On the property where they and their owners live, is a huge star fruit tree. It is loaded with fruit. I plan to pick as many as I can to give away and to eat myself.  When you cut crosswise into the fruit, the shape is a star.  I’ll show you in a later post. I once made a star fruit and green grape pie, good and different.  The star fruit was from this very tree.

Here we have sapodilla. Oh my gosh, I’d never had this before. The owner gave me one that was ripe and told me to eat it. WOW, it tasted of buttery, brown sugar and was absolutely wonderful.  You can read about the health benefits here. I’m going to see about getting my own little sapodilla tree.

This morning I got a phone call from the owner, left a message, as I was outside working, saying he had two tickets for he and his wife to see VAREKAI BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL in August , but they will be in Finland. Would I want the tickets free of charge? Oh my goodness, yes! I emailed my sis-in-law to see if she would want to go and she emailed back yes. I am excited and nervous, as this is out of my comfort zone.  I am a home body, but I’ve seen bits and pieces of this circus and they are wonderfully amazing. I can hardly wait.

https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/varekai/media/official-video.aspx

Well, we had a nasty thunderstorm with strong winds and heavy rains blow over a little while ago. I hate to admit it, but storms FREAK me out, always have. In this little wooden house with metal awnings it sounds pretty loud and intense at times. I prayed, read from a spiritually uplifting book and ate my supper and before I knew it the storm had passed. A relief!

Here’s the heart with the beaded butterfly on it, soon to be uploaded into my Etsy shop. The little silver piece says BELIEVE.

That’s it from Plum Cottage.

Thank you all for visiting.

Have a nice weekend ~ FlowerLady