Happy Valentine’s Day to all

 

Hello Folks ~ The weather down here has been perfectly gorgeous today. I basically puttered. Put the stuffed steak rolls in the crockpot early, they are smelling really yummy right now.  I steamed some fresh asparagus and made a vinaigrette sauce for them. Will fix ‘instant’ Idaho mashed potatoes.  We’ll probably have coffee ice cream for a bit of dessert.

Yesterday we went to HD and I visited the garden dept. while DH was in the electrical dept.  At first I was just going to buy a couple of inexpensive things to add to my garden, then I spied  a nice selection of roses. Uh oh. They had some knock outs, I bent over and smelled several of them and was totally disappointed in their lack of scent, at least to me I didn’t notice any.  Then, I started getting a waft on the breezes of a heavy rose scent.  I walked around the selection and finally found them.  I ended up getting Fragrant Cloud. After we got home,  I picked the lone bud and brought it in and have been enjoying that heavenly scent all day.  I did a google search after I got home and saw that this particular rose might have a bit of BS. Oh bummer.  I’ll keep my eye on it, keep it in full sun, with plenty of air circulation. Lots of wonderful reports on how wonderful the scent is and how beautiful the blooms are. A few people even wrote (some from FL) that they don’t have much of a problem with it having bs, so I hope that is true. 

The first two pics of Fragrant Cloud are from yesterday, the last one is from this morning.

Chrysler Imperial

Next two, Cocktail

Bon Silene

Bon Silene

Borderer

Dainty Bess

Homere

Louis Philippe

George Tabor azalea, my first bloom for this season.

I woke up this morning to see this opened.  What a beauty.

That’s it for now. 

Thank you all for visiting.

FlowerLady

What a surprise and some blooms too

Good morning everyone. It is Sunday, breezy, and partly cloudy. Another gorgeous day in so. FL. This weather is ‘why’ people move down here, or stay here for the next few months.

Below is the morning sky looking to the west with the moon.

Here is the sun coming up and shining on the clouds. Sorry about the power lines. The 5 lane road is to the right.

Yesterday morning I had a wonderful surprise when I started reading one of the blogs I follow. I had completely forgotten about the drawing she was having.

I found Nicki Lee’s RavioLee Dreams blog through Stitchin Fingers, which I am now a member of. There are so many wonderful stitchers in this group. Anyway, Nicki Lee hand dyes Venetian lace and sells them in lots. She also does beautiful crazy quilting pieces. Here is her Etsy shop link Raviolee Dreams. If any of you do crazy quilting or scrap booking or other projects that can use lovely bits like these, do give her a visit. She just might have what you are looking for.

My surprise was that I won the $30 gift certificate for her hand dyed laces. I was thrilled and yelled I won, and was laughing and almost crying I was so excited. DH had to come see what all the fuss was about. I was thrilled to say the least and he was happy for me.

She is sending them out to me tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see them and then start using them. I will post pics of my sweet little pretty pieces of Venetian lace after I get them.

This was started earlier ~ We decided to go to HD for a sheet of 11/32”x4’x8’ plywood for the caravan’s door, and two 3/4”x4’x8’ sheets of styrofoam, for insulation material. DH is making the door as we didn’t have one for the camper. The original door was a short one. He is using the lock and handle from original door though. He is making a window with panes, that will open out, to let in breezes.

Anyway, we stopped at a yard sale, something we haven’t done in ages. There wasn’t much there, but there was a small, narrow Christmas tree I was interested in, a CD of symphonies and DH was interested in a couple of small hand tools, both American made. We got all for $3. The tree even has little clear lights on it and I’m already thinking of how I want to decorate it. This is smaller than the other small tree we have, plus we have the humongous one. I did the huge one last year and didn’t feel like it this year. This little tree is just right. It’s about 3 1/2’ tall, including the plaster pot that it is in, which I will cover with something or other.

I didn’t have to work yesterday so I played outdoors. I gathered up bricks to use as a border for our little caravan patio. I placed them, but still have to dig out dirt to make them level with the rest of patio. I’ve got to add some rocks into cracks between stones, then DH is going to mix up cement to fill in spaces on top of the rocks.

The rusty cast iron piece between two chairs is an old wringer washing machine base, found of course. I will probably leave it rusty, just clean it up a bit we don’t mind rust.

I brought an ‘old’ cement donkey and cart that someone gave us many years ago when we helped her have a big estate sale before she moved, to beside the caravan. I’ve still got some tweaking to do of this area, it all takes time. I’m not going to leave that greenish pot there, it doesn’t go at all.

Now for some blooms from this morning.

The first two pictures are of Chrysler Imperial. These two blooms were filling the whole area with their wonderful old rose scent.

I looked a little while ago and this bud was fully open.

Pink Pet or Caldwell’s Pink.

Plumbago

I loved the salvia color against the new growth on Chrysler Imperial.

The next two pictures are of South African foxgloves. This was a volunteer.

Next we have a ‘weed’, a native though, called Spanish needles. The seeds are these little long things that stick to you and that’s how they spread. The plants are tough and hard to pull up, and butterflies love them. I try to pull up most of them though, because they are a pain.

I guess that’s it for now. Oh yea, I did buy two bags of potting soil at HD for growing seeds and cuttings in. Hope to work with that this week before heading back to work Thurs-Sat.

Hope you all are having a lovely day and also have a great week.

FlowerLady

What a difference cooler weather makes!

 Good afternoon Folks ~ It’s been a busy two days for me. I look forward to going to work tomorrow to sit behind the desk and relax.

Yesterday morning I moved concrete blocks and other flotsum from beside the Gypsy shed. Then I mowed, trimmed some low branches from our neighbor’s property that were hanging in our driveway.  I trimmed and weeded some back by my potting area.  I couldn’t even get in there lately because of so much overgrowth. Plus that crazy pit bull behind us has intimidated me from staying away from my own space.  Yesterday he didn’t even come back there and froth like he usually does and that was a relief. That work all took about 4 1/2 hours. DH did caulking and other wood work on the shed so that I could paint today.

I got a crockpot of Navy beans, with onion, celery, garlic, thyme, marjoram and smoked chicken sausage going before I headed outside to paint this morning.  It sure is smelling really good right now.  I’m going to add some kale to the pot before long.

The north and east sides of the shed were painted this morning.  After lunch the south and west sides were painted.  Oh yea, I also painted the hinges and latch on the picket fence with the plum color.  I just love how this is turning out. I enjoy painting.  DH is thinking about how to finish off the bottom edge.  Plus he has the whole inside to finish off and a front door to make.

What a difference cooler weather makes. We can do so much more outside and don’t feel drained and sick, like our summer heat and humidity make us feel.

Here are the pictures.

I didn’t finish the top part because DH has some trimming up to do there that we forgot about. 

You can see the red rose in the above picture, it is Chrysler Imperial and that scent was wonderful as I was working back there. Here it is below almost reaching it’s end.

This vine is all through the hedge on the other side of this area and has been blooming steadily for months now.  The scent is so sweet and the blooms fabulous.

The next four pics are of the blooms from my rooted cutting of Homere.  I can hardly wait for this plant to get older and give me larger blooms.  These are a delight though even small as they are now.

These morning glories would take over the property if I let it.

That’s it for now.  It’s time to relax and unwind with a glass of Chardonnay before dinner.

Tonight is Survivor again, so it will be a popcorn-date night.

Enjoy the rest of your week and be thankful for your many blessings.

***

No two gardens are the same. 

No two days are the same in one garden. 

Hugh Johnson

A junker gone & blooming blooms

Good afternoon Folks ~ We sure are enjoying the cooler weather with less humidity.  It is really wonderful.  I hope you are all enjoying autumn here in the US.

For the next six months or so we will be enjoying nice weather and will be able to get some outdoor projects done, we hope. Things have a way of popping up and changing plans.

Here are some blooms from the past day or two.

Don Juan.

Gaillardia or Indian Blanket flower, along with tarragon, and spiderwort, growing in my shed’s garden.

Louis Philippe or Florida Cracker rose, this is also in my shed’s garden.

‘Love’ rose.

Here is a piece of coral with some little baby Mom-of-millions growing in crevices.

The next few pictures are of ‘Penelope’ rose.

I didn’t see the spider until I was editing pictures.

Here we have another favorite bloomer growing here, Philippine Violet. They volunteer all over the property and are very hardy.

French Tarragon with spiderwort in the background.  I love cooking with fresh tarragon.

‘Chrysler Imperial’ rose and another heart sachet in the works.  I love embroidering. I read today that knitting, crocheting and stitching are good for our health.  Great news.

Now, here is where the ‘junker’ comes into the story.  This was my car up until a couple of years ago. We bought another one as this one had problems, and after getting the other car, this one croaked.  We were going to sell it, but have been thinking that it would cost too much to get it going again so it’s been sitting there.  I just never showed it in pictures.  We had concrete blocks and patio stones stacked in front of it, and a few things leaning up beside it.

Yesterday morning as we left the grocery store parking lot we saw a sign that said they buy junker cars for $400. We wrote down the number and DH called them when we got home.  Well, they said they could be here in about 30 minutes.  YIKES, we had to hustle the stuff away from the car, and check the inside too. We had no sooner finished when the guy pulled up. In about 20 minutes the car was out of here.  Hurray.

This was taken yesterday. I did some more clean up this morning as I wanted to figure out how much more picket fencing we had to go from the other side to about 3’ away from the Gypsy Shed. (Remember, we got this picket fencing in sections about 24”-30” wide when someone cut up their fencing to throw away.) We even have a gate with neat hinges, and a latch. I just had the idea to paint them the plum color. I’m standing near the back of our property. We’ve got the little pile of junk (concrete blocks, etc.) to move yet.  DH sanded the spackled screw holes today and after he does a little more trim work on edges will probably be painting the wood on the shed. We put two ‘curbside shopped’ smoked windows over the original windows of the camper. He also caulked around those today too and some other areas that needed it.  This is a fun little project and once we’re all done, I’ll do a post of pictures from when it was a camper to what it will be.

It will be neat having the stove and sink, and little refrigerator back inside. When it was the ‘junker’ camper, we cooked in it for almost two weeks after losing electricity from hurricane Wilma. We have changed it’s look and will enjoy it as a little ‘get away’, now and then. Planted right here in our little haven.

There it goes! Yippee, the ‘junker’ is gone. Uh oh, I need to wash the lattice gates. With all the rain we’ve had, mold grew on them.

I mowed after the car left, as that had been my original plan, before we knew he was coming.

So, there’s the latest from Plum Cottage, maybe more than you wanted to hear or see.

I heard from my boss today and I’ll be working tomorrow through Friday.  He decided to go from the show in TX, to do a show in Atlanta, so will be back Sat. and will unload the truck and be at the shop that day.  I was going to the library tomorrow, but went after lunch today.

This probably is it from me for a few days.  I hope you all have a great week.

******

"The very essence of the creative is its novelty,

and hence we have no standard by which to judge it."

Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person