Wednesday, September 15, 2021

August surprise

Greetings from Plum Cottage ~ I can hardly believe it's been almost another month since I've posted. Time is zipping right along. Fall is coming and I can hardly wait for cooler temps to get here. I basically hibernate, working outside weather permitting, in the mornings. It's just been too hot and humid. 

I had a huge surprise happen the last week in August. I have a new neighbor to the west of me. He bought the place and moved in the beginning of the year. He got hold of my other neighbor who lives to the west of the back of my property. The new neighbor is a young man who hadn't seen me and since he has long hair and tattoos he didn't know how I would react, hence his getting in touch with other neighbor. This other neighbor contacted me and new neighbor and I finally met the next Sat. He is 34, his hair is beautiful, auburn, his tattoos not scary. ;-)

 Anyway, the wood fencing between us was pretty bad and was not something I could immediately take care of.  When we talked, he had already made plans for a company to come out to take down old fencing and put up new. I was shocked, but also thankful. No money on my part. I had to clear some bushes, etc. from the property line and that had me in a bit of a tizzy as I only had a day to get ready. I survived.

The crew came Sunday morning to take down the old, and put up new 4x4 posts in cement to cure overnight. They were back on Monday to haul away old fencing and to put up the new. They put up fence slats and made true privacy fencing, no spaces to see through. They did a fantastic job and I'm still amazed at how this all came to be.

I had started new fencing on the back side of his property, and the neighbors who lived there and sold him the house, gave me $ to finish doing that fencing since they were selling and wanted it to look nice. I then had some $ left over to work on the other west neighbor's fencing, and he also gave me $ to take care of most of the fencing between us. So, now three runs of new fencing are up and there are just the two long sides to go, the back of my property and the driveway from street to back. They both are really in bad shape, but so far I don't see either of those neighbors helping, one is a landlord of the apts. next door, the other are renters. I don't expect them to, I mean, after all, it is my fencing that I should be replacing. All in good time, God will provide. He's already taken care of three sides and with Him all things are possible. He has surprised me with working those three sides out.

The other morning I came across a Bible verse in Proverbs 15:25, and am putting it in the picture below. He has certainly done this for me with new fencing.


 Now for some before and after pics of this project.




 I cut back holly as much as I could and cleared paths.






 
My property was open to the street out front for one night and I prayed for God's protection to keep people out. It is a 5 lane road out front and lots of stuff goes on at night.












This project has been more motivation for me to 'prettify' this place once again. It will never be pristine, it will always be a tropical cottage style garden. It won't be done overnight, and will be done when finances allow. For now, I will do what I can, as I can. Weed, propagate, plant, water and enjoy.

My friends Sean and Stan came two weeks ago and cut down more trees in the back of my property, stuff that had sprouted and become super overgrown. They've still more to do, but come here when they are able. They both have full-time jobs. I am so thankful for all of their help this year. The huge pile of brush was picked up Saturday.

On the 8th would have been our 52nd anniversary. I still celebrate, can't help it.  A sweet young couple, gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers that I am still enjoying a week later. Thank you Melissa & Paul.



 

I have flowers, critters, etc. to share but they will be for another post.

~~~

Remember to count your blessings.

Having a heart
full of gratitude
is good for us
spiritually,
mentally and
physically.

When blessings seems sparse,
as they sometimes are,
let us remember ones from the past.
They give us hope.
May God bless you all and keep you safe.  
 
Love, hugs and prayers,
FlowerLady

 

15 comments:

Olde Dame Holly said...

A lovely bouquet, to a lovely lady, from a lovely couple! Certainly a blessing. I like your idea to remember past blessings and cherish them! And what a blessing that the new neighbor redid that portion of his fence, at no cost to you! Yes, God will provide the other lengths of fence repair, or keep the old fence standing somehow! The new fencing looks so beautiful. I love your cottage garden style yard.

Terra said...

God is so gracious to provide for you and for me. Your new neighbor sounds like a prince of a guy, having the new fence put in at no expense to you. Maybe you can convert him to tropical gardening and dig up a plant for him. I think you attract good people, the bouquet is so pretty. I mailed you a card today, just for fun.

Ruth Hiebert said...

Wow! God has put the right people as your neighbors. That is a blessing. Thanks for your kind comment on my recent blog. I don't blog as regularly as I used to but still try to keep in touch. Hope the rest of the week goes well for you.

Deb J. in Utah said...

Hi Lorraine! Good to see you back in blog land! What a wonderful blessing to get some of your old fence replaced. God was watching out for you when your new neighbor moved in and decided to replace the fence with no cost to you. I love the anniversary flowers from your friends. I hope that everything else is going well for you. Enjoy the fall. :-)

Hootin Anni said...

Praise be!!! This story makes me realize there ARE good people. And you now have one as a new neighbor!

Kim said...

Such an uplifting post. God is so good! The new fencing looks wonderful and wow to how God had others cover the cost for most of it! The flowers you received for your anniversary are beautiful. I bet your hubby is celebrating with you in Heaven. No doubt, he misses you terribly also. Much love.

Pamela M. Steiner said...

Such a wonderful story! God is truly taking care of you, one fence at a time! And a "sweet" new neighbor who cares about you is wonderful. Oh, and how precious that your friends gave you flowers for your 52nd anniversary! That was so thoughtful of them. What a blessing. We recently had our 52nd anniversary too, in August 16th, so I guess you and I were brides around the same time! Seems like such a short time ago, and then again, a very long time ago. Time is relevant. Heaven is eternal. That is where our true treasure lies. I enjoyed your post and am happy to see the progress being made in your garden. God is good.

Junkchiccottage said...

God puts people in our paths when we need them most. So happy your neighbors are helping out with the fences. It looks pretty wonderful. Your sweet hubby is with you always and had his arms around you for your anniversary from Heaven. Glad you have such beautifully nice neighbors. See never judge a book by the cover. Your tattooed long hair neighbor is an angel deep inside. Good lesson learned for all of us. Have a great rest of the week. xoxo Kris

Lynn and Precious said...

Beautiful bouquet and beautiful new neighbor. How wonderful to see the fence going up even in sections. I really feel that your husband is watching over you by whispering in the ears of your friends and neighbors. Sometimes we look at people and judge by their clothes and tattoos when under all that they are no different than ourselves. My husband is as clean cut as you can imagine but his camping friends look like crazy people. Beards and tattoos and earrings, if he hadn't told me what regular folks they are, I would not feel comfortable getting to know them.

Ann said...

The new fence looks fantastic.
Beautiful flowers.

Betty said...

It sounds like you have some wonderful neighbors and the fence looks great.

ellen b. said...

Woohoo. How nice to have neighbors that take the initiative and follow through. The new fence looks real nice. God is good.

GretchenJoanna said...

Splendid!! I loved seeing all the photos. What a blessing...

vic said...

Your new section of fence looks wonderful. I can see why it gives you the impetus to prettify things once again. I expect that the last section of fence is being facilitated even as we speak in some totally unexpected way. You do seem to attract good and helpful people. I too am looking forward to some cool fall-like weather. I have many plants on my list to transplant from one bed to another and it takes cool weather to get that sort of heavy work done with temps in the high 80's most days.

M.K. said...

What a nice new neighbor God has given you! The new fence looks wonderful, and that pretty purple gate is lovely!! He will protect you, he will provide, and he has his own timing (don't we know it!!) Blessings, friend.