Happenings at Plum Cottage

 

Hi Folks ~ I hope you all are enjoy this week.  It is hot and humid down here in s.e. FL. Although, not as hot and humid as it is in Texas. I work outside as early as possible in the mornings.

Speaking of working outside… Last week I decided to mow one morning because no rain was predicted til late afternoon, and no rain showed on the radar. It was a nice overcast sky, nice for working outside. I mowed the front of the driveway, making my way back toward where I park and the back of the property. I heard a little bit of thunder in the distance, so I stopped, unplugged the cord from my elec. mower, got the cord into my shed, was about to put the mower in it’s shed when I saw a flash and then BOOM! Oh my gosh, my heart was pounding like crazy, it had jumped from my chest into my ears. I got the mower in the shed, but don’t really remember that, I stood in the aluminum shed a minute, praying, then made a run for the house, praying all the way. I was so glad to get inside. I went in and laid on the bed, breathing deeply and willing myself to calm down. After awhile I was back to normal. There were a couple more flashes and booms, but nothing that close. Sheesh, just after I’d posted that info last week about lightening here in FL. Only had a few sprinkles for all of that blustering. We need rain, and it keeps being predicted but we get zilcho.

Over the weekend I had a lady purchase three items from my Etsy shop. Yippee! I uploaded 4 new items yesterday. I am thankful.

Yesterday I also created a piece for our ladies potluck/meeting today.  We had Christmas in July and had to bring a gift, either bought (no more than $5) or ‘a white elephant’, something we didn’t want from home, or something we made. We had fun. We are a new group, just started up in March, and today had our largest group of 19, with 4 new ladies. We are an inter-denominational group.

Gifts were all wrapped and we had numbers and when our number came up we got to choose a gift. We could open it or not, the next person to pick, could take your gift, and you then had to choose another. It made for an interesting time. Anyone after that picking a gift, could pick from anyone’s gift already opened in front of them. Here’s the piece I made and the sweet lady who picked it. No one took it from her.

Here was part of our potluck. There was also a crockpot chicken lasagna that was delicious, and some of those little Vienna sausages simmered in a nice bbq sauce. Also a nice cherry topped cheesecake and some lovely, delicate anise cookies. Not many desserts this time.  Last time we had an overload of desserts.  That’s the fun of a potluck, you never know what’s going to turn up on the table. I took a green bean vinaigrette with cut up tomatoes, capers and Kalamata olives topped with feta cheese.  I had never bought these olives before, but bought them recently for a recipe I wanted to try.

This photo below is of the donations we brought in for an organization called ‘Grandma’s Place’.  Here’s some info from their website. “A child’s stay at Grandma’s Place is intended to be temporary until a permanent or more appropriate placement is found. We serve more than 100 children a year. ~ Our mission is to provide shelter and loving care to children who have suffered abuse and/or neglect and have been removed from their own homes by the FL DCF.” You can visit their website here.

I didn’t notice until I was editing photos that I was caught in one mirror and the ladies were captured in the other. I was just intent on getting a picture of the goodies laden table.

The gift I picked out is a nice Hallmark, magnetic piece with two kinds of sticky notes. One is of things to do and the other just notes. There was an extra gift at the end, brought in case it was needed. The lady who brought the gift asked if there was someone who grew plants, and of course several said ‘FlowerLady’ does. So she gave me her pkg. Here’s what I got, it slips over the edge of a flower pot, but I found a different place for it.

I need to put a nice plant in the bird cage and I think I know just the one.  I’ll try it tomorrow. I think it will be just right for this.

Before the meeting really got underway, I was out by the street looking for ladies that hadn’t made it yet.  I’d been out there a couple of times already, but this time I noticed something on the grass beside the road. I thought oh my gosh, that looks like a couple of flower pots. I decided to walk over there and take a closer look. Well, that’s what they were, not broken, and they were ‘light’, cement covered fiberglass/resin. I took one in each hand and headed back to the clubhouse. I took one to the door and showed the ladies, but none of them appreciated them like I did. None of the sweet ladies are really into gardening, nor are they ‘curbside shoppers’, but I won’t hold that against them. They were my treasure for the day.  When I got home I realized that my finding them today was no coincidence, as it is 31 months ago today that my dear husband went to his heavenly home. He would be happy for my find on this day. They’re NOT in perfect condition, but that’s ok with me, they’ve still plenty of life left in them.

I may have a job for the month of August, going to someone’s home to feed and let their dogs out a couple of times a day, vacuum once a week, water some plants. They live not far away so that’s good.  I’ll know more in a couple of weeks.  They’d really like someone to stay with the dogs overnight, so have feelers out for that.

Well, once again I’ve rambled on.  I hope you all have a nice upcoming weekend.  Remember ~ God loves you.

FlowerLady