Rainy day ~ Lots of flowers

Good afternoon Folks ~ We’ve had rain off and on since 5 yesterday afternoon. More is expected through the weekend. I did some gardening yesterday morning, then mowed after a nap as it looked like rain was coming. I went to the grocery store in a lull this morning, and soon after I got back home it rained, same with taking pictures this afternoon.

If these are too many pictures to look at please tell me and I won’t  post this amount in the future.  I couldn’t help myself when I was outside, all of the colors on a gray day, and after working inside for the past five, three at my job and two here at home.

You can click on pictures for a larger view.

Frangipani & spicy jatropha to the right

Golden dewdrop

Hamelia paten

Spicy jatropha

Sunflower

Orchids

Bulbine blossoms and bee

La Marne

Unknown roses

St. Francis wearing a wonderful patina.

For Rebecca who loves the caravan.

I found this painted yellow hope chest a few years back, did a U-ie to go back and load it in my van.  It must be cedar because that is what it smells like inside. It was out front of a day care center.  I took it out of the bedroom to make way for the desk I set up in there. In the caravan, I’ve still got to finish walls and then paint the whole thing.  All in good time. There’s only half of the team now, and I’m learning as I go without my loving tutor, coach, mentor. I’m used to being the helper with ideas, not the whole workforce.

Don’t you like my fancy headgear?

That’s it for now. The bread machine made a loaf of coconut milk bread earlier and I’m going to cook a pot of lentils for supper.  I have another day off from work, so plan to putter indoors working in the bedroom. Did some today, it will take awhile to finish this room, but every day there is forward progress.

Thanks again for you loving, encouraging comments.

FlowerLady

***

God made rainy days

so gardeners could get the housework done. 

Author Unknown

(Well, at least make a start, or continue where you left off.)

Zebra longwings

Good morning everyone ~

Here it is Friday already. DH and I have had some sort of bug that has made our neck muscles ache so that we could hardly turn our heads and we haven’t felt that great. I got it first, then DH. I’m feeling better than I was, he thinks his bout with it peaked last night. So, we’re on the mend.

I wanted to show off our state butterfly, the zebra longwing.  I have been enjoying them so much lately. Lots and lots of them flitting around.  Also sulphurs, Gulf Fritillaries, one or two black eastern swallowtails, little cassia blues too.

I love how the zebras slowly flit from flower to flower. They calm me down and make me feel joyful.

In these photos you’ll have to look closely to see the butterflies sometimes as they almost blend in with the flowers and the foliage of hamelia paten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it for now.

Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady Lorraine

This and that

Good Friday afternoon everyone ~ Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

I’ll be heading to work tomorrow, my one day this week.  I’m not sure what is happening next week yet.  Should know tomorrow.

We had rain this morning, then DH and I both were outside working on projects, wanting to get going before it got too miserable, but it ended up being miserable anyway.  We were soaking when we came in.  He worked on putting flashing on our outdoor project.  He had had some rolled up tin in his stash, and since we’re doing our best to keep this project ‘cheap’ he cut the sizes he needed for flashing, bent them to shape, and got a blister in the process the other day. After our nap this afternoon, he tarred the edge of the flashing.  He’s now ready to paint the three roof panels.  They are in his workshop where he has primed them after cleaning them. Remember we are trying to use up ‘curbside’ finds that have been stored around here and it sure feels good using them.  These panels will be painted with ‘curbside’ shopped terra cotta colored thick deck paint.

It will be neat when this project is completed, to put all the pictures together in order.  It feels great to be in the mood again to work outside.  This summer’s heat and humidity really blasted our interest and energy levels. We can tell that autumn is coming, eventually.

Monday I ordered 10 lbs. of melt and pour goat’s milk soap from Soapcrafters.com I was just going to buy 5 lbs. but when we found out that shipping was just $4.95 no matter how much you order up to $100, DH suggested buying 10bs. (Above $100 it’s free shipping.) Anyway I wanted to try this because goat’s milk soap is supposed to be very good. I did a google search about benefits of goat’s milk soap and found the following great info here. I already have a collection of essential oils (not fragrance oils, there is a huge difference). So this morning I made up three different batches of bars of soap.  Some with tea tree oil and lavender, some with sandalwood, vetiver and another oil, I forgot to write down, for DH, then I made some with ylang-ylang, petigrain, and rosewood, for me. I’ve already tried the tea tree/lavender soap on my face and it is so luxurious.  It makes your skin feel soft and clean. To buy goat’s milk soap already made up by someone else, would be from $3 and up.  Buying it this way it will be about $1 a bar. There are some things I wish I had learned in my youth, making soap from scratch is one of them and also canning. But I didn’t.  

Here is my box of soap, minus what I used up today.

I don’t have a double boiler so I just used a smaller pan inside of a larger one and it worked fine.  I grated the soap first then put it in the pan. It melted faster being grated.  It hardly took any time at all. This is the soap dried on the pan.

The white mold is a soap mold, the beige pan is a microwave pan for muffins, and the third pan is a Wilton cake mold.

Here is my stash of essential oils.

I do hope some of you might be inspired to try this yourself, to use yourself or give as gifts.

Now here are some bloomers from Plum Cottage today.

A spray of Kathleen

Miss Muffett caladiums and begonias

A cute tiny mushroom, about 1” high at the most.

Here we have a Zebra longwing butterfly sipping nectar from Hamela paten blooms.  Last week I saw my first hummer of the season zipping around sipping nectar too.  There are other butterflies that visit these blooms daily plus bees.

I’ll give you a break on ‘needlework’ projects today.  I am working on another heart sachet. I worked on my patio garden area today and made the soap so didn’t do much embroidering/beading. Maybe I’ll do some after dinner, which will be left overs tonight.

I checked the weather for our area for the next few weeks and into October, our ‘low’ temps for a couple of nights will be 80.  Good grief! 

Enjoy your autumn weather, all those glorious changing colors and share it all in your blogs so that I can enjoy it all through you.

Bread baked while I gardened

Good morning Folks,

It is hot and humid and raining. I got a loaf of oatmeal bread going in the bread machine a few minutes after 7 this morning and then headed out to mow and do some other work in the shed garden area. Three hours later I was done outside, and came in to the delicious aroma of baking bread. Aaaahhhh.

DH mowed the back area and also did some trimming and I was grateful for his help. I love mowing, etc. and have always done it. The last couple of years I’ve been learning to ask DH for his help, especially with heavy things or things that are just too much for me to handle.

We got all done just in time as it is now raining and I believe we are to have rain every day for the next couple of weeks.

Here is the loaf of bread and the picture below is of some refrigerator fig perserves I made yesterday afternoon. Fresh Mission figs were on sale yesterday so we bought 2 containers worth. I’ve not bought them like this before, so had to look up recipes and found out that they have a very short shelf life so made the preserves and tonight we’re going to have Chicken breast with Balsamic Fresh Fig Sauce.

The fig preserves were easy. A little key lime juice, sugar, and Chinese 5 spice powder and let them cook til tender. Yummy.

This is Hamelia paten or Firebush blooming over the arbor. It is at least 10’ tall. I got a cutting of this and rooted it at least 15 years ago. I see them everywhere cut into short hedges, have never seen one growing like mine is.

Here it is from inside the secret garden. Part of the shrubbery on the left that is lower is also some of this same plant. It has grown up and over the arbor/grotto area. Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds love this.

I’m inside the ‘ca-trium’ (this is where our outdoor feline girl Tork sleeps at night), looking out at the secret garden. Last night it was pleasant out so I went out and laid on the swing we have back there and gently swung and relaxed. I’ve work to be done in the secret garden, but all in good time. The white flowering shrub you see is one of the Dwarf Orchid trees in a terra cotta pot.

Crossvine flowers.

Plumbago

Looking out the driveway’s small gate at the morning traffic.

Here is my shed’s garden as seen from the driveway. You can see a bit into the secret garden through the lattice gate.

Here is a rooted cutting of my Maman Cochet climbing rose. It is sitting just outside the scullery window so I could see the blooms. I love this rose and it’s scent is wonderful

Guess that’s it for now. I will close with the following verse that I randomly opened up to this morning.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.

Psalms 139:17-18