Plum Cottage Happenings

 

Good Friday morning Folks ~ Well it’s Friday morning here EST.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post, they mean a lot and help me more than words can express.

A week ago last Wednesday morning I bent over to lift a heavy flower pot, and uh oh, I felt something pull in my lower back again. I went about my day and wasn’t too bad. Later in the afternoon, one of my widow friends brought over her neighbor who does house painting, to look at my little ‘Plum Cottage’ to give me an estimate, which is a good price and she told me he does very good work, so when it cools down again this is the plan to get Plum Cottage freshened up with paint. This was a project DH and I were going to do, but alas, weren’t able to. I will be helping, by painting the grooves, after he sands and caulks, and he will roll the rest.

Anyway, the next morning, I could hardly get out of bed for the pain, bending was excruciating. I used a clay pack after it had been in the freezer, took some acetaminophen which didn’t seem to do much at all, took some herbs for muscle spasms and that were anti-inflammatory, massage essential oils into the area and just tried to relax. I couldn’t work, so missed out on three days last week and didn’t go to church on Sunday morning.  By Sunday afternoon though I could feel a lessening in tightness and pain, yippee. Monday I felt better, Tues. I did a couple of errands, Wed. I raked and bagged one bag’s worth to be picked up today.  I am feeling so much better and that is GREAT. It’s no fun crying, being frustrated, hobbling around very slowly and missing my dear husband. But, here I am able to get around again so I went out to take some photos of flowers.

Alamanda ~  I love the star in the center.  It was a pleasant surprise.

Angelonia and begonias

Bougainvilla

Brugmansias ~ 3 different kinds of pinks grown from cuttings from a fellow FL gardener who lives in the middle of the state.  I just paid the postage.

This first photo is the day I got them, 14 May.

Here they are this morning.  I repotted them yesterday and they each had a healthy root system. Yippee!

Moonflowers, grown from seed.

Thryallis.  I want to take cuttings from this to root. It is in a pot right now. It has a lovely scent too.

In the ‘secret garden’

Front patio as seen from inside where I sit to blog, write emails, or craft.

This is taken outside looking southeast. The Lady is hidden by the salvia.

Miniature roses as seen from inside too. (My windows need washing.)

Here are close ups.  I just love the colors and it has a slight, sweet scent.

This is ‘Granada’ on the wane, still pretty though.

Unknown

Another unknown

Kathleen.

I got a surprise in the mail last week from a dear relative. A check telling me it was a little something and to do with it what I saw fit. So, yesterday I ordered my new bread machine. It will come to my local Walmart and will be available for pick up next Monday. I am so excited. I will think of this dear one every time I use it.  I’ll post pictures after I get it and use it and hope it lasts me 14 years like this last one did.

Rain keeps being predicted here, but so far we’ve received ‘zilcho’. I keep hand watering and using the sprinkler on flower beds to keep things alive.

That’s it for now. Thanks again for all of your encouraging words. May you all be blessed.

FlowerLady

A happy surprise

Good morning Friends ~ It is another gorgeous day in sunny s.e. FL. The beginning of the week was very warm and humid, then yesterday morning it was cool and the day pleasant, and this morning it was 63 and felt like it was 61. Hurray.

But, that is not my happy surprise. I went out to handwater this morning, and my surprise was seeing tiny new growth at the bottom of my dead looking stick of what was once a glorious brug. We had a bad drought for a couple of years and that was almost it's demise. I had to dig up the pot from where it was, and decided to just water it and see what happens. I was about to give up and am so glad I didn't. Losing plants is such an awful disappointment. I plan to baby this and hopefully get it back to it's former glory. It's a beauty when in bloom.

Here is what I've been watering.


Here's what made me happy to see this morning.


The pictures below are how it looked in 2006.









******


"Growth is a greater mystery than death.

All of us can understand failure,

we all contain failure and death within us,

but not even the successful man

can begin to describe

the impalpable elations and apprehensions of growth."

Norman Mailer

*****

Have a great weekend.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Lovely day

Good evening Friends,

What a lovely day today was! Birds were chirping early this morning, it was warmer than it has been, and reached mid 70's. I got a load of laundry washed and hung out to dry, then brought it in and folded and put everything away. (Instead of leaving it all in the basket or in a pile.)

I took some cuttings of brugmansia, scented geranium, tarragon, rosemary and begonias, hoping they will all root for me. You can see everything but the brugs, in the window below.

I was washing dishes earlier this evening and this scene caught my eye, so I grabbed the camera and snapped a picture. During the day, all the cobalt glass shows up with the outside scenery as well. Click on picture for a larger view.

Roses were also fed some rose food, then watered in, and I also hand watered other things.

I did a little bead/embroidery work too. Haven't done much of that this week with all the outdoor projects we've been working on. Besides, I was intimidated about thread color for the next bit of work, but picked out a color this afternoon and I'm happy with it.

Hope you all have a great week, and that your lives are filled with peace, health and love.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL