More thankfulness

Good Monday morning Folks ~ well, it’s that for me here in s.e. FL. It’s a little after 6 a.m. and I’ve been up since around 4. Just couldn’t fall back to sleep.

Last week was a week of unexpected things. First off, I went out Tuesday to go visit an elderly widow friend and my van was ‘dead’. I called my mechanic and he was able to come out later, used his tool to assess the problem, a dead battery, not the starter, which was a blessing. I am thankful I was home sweet home when this happened and not out somewhere. I was able to pay for it and van is up and running again.

Friday I got a text from my dear BIL, Todd, saying he could come the next morning to do baseboard in the living room. I texted back that it sounded good to me. He got here around 8:45 a.m. I thought he was going to do the west wall only, but he was ready to do the south and hallway also, jobs that hubby and I didn’t get finished before he left this planet. So, while he set up his saw in the driveway, I moved furniture away from the south wall, I had already cleared the west wall.

We were standing next to the south wall when I asked him if we could take the large oval mirror off the wall and I could paint behind it and we could hang it up before he left, then I could finish painting the wall later this week. He suggested we do it right then. I could roll and he would cut in. I started crying, relief and joy at the unexpected offer. I thanked him as we hugged and told him it was mine and DH’s 49th anniversary and this was a wonderful way to celebrate the day. He was glad and also said he doesn’t remember anyone else’s anniversary but his own. He said women were good at things like that. My second thing to be thankful for.

The painting and baseboard was done in a little over 2 hours. He had been able to fit the media stand they were giving me into his vehicle along with his tools. (When they moved they no longer wanted this or two matching bookcases, I said I’d like to have them since they were giving them away.) So, the next project was to set up the media stand and he said “Let’s hook up your TV and stereo equipment.” That all took longer than the painting and wallboard. I do need another ‘new’ cable or two to get my surround sound totally hooked up, but at least it’s partially giving me sound, just not the full realm of it. Getting this project done was another reason for thankfulness.

I love this stand and it holds my equipment nicely. I decided against setting up the VCR. I won’t watch those old movies, etc. so more decluttering, which feels GREAT.

This TV was bought and given to me by friends last year, which is what caused my room remodel. (I am thankful for their gift.)  I can hardly wait for the two matching bookcases to be on either side of this set up, with a mantle between over the TV.  I had told Todd I wanted a mantle over the TV, and he asked “What for?” I answered, “Stuff” and started laughing. He asked what I was laughing about and he said ‘my question’? I said yes. I said my women friends online would know the ‘why’. The doors in this media stand have beveled glass which makes it nice and I just love the color of this piece. DH and I have always loved the dark wood tones and I still do.

I just love the ‘bleached linen’ paint by Behr from Home Depot. To me it most definitely has a ‘hint of joy’ in the color. To Todd, it looked like a shade of white, which it is, but it’s not pure white by any means. The other two samples I had tried were in the blue range and seemed dull to me, when I had originally thought one of those would be my choice. Painting large samples on the wall and living with that for a few days helped make the right choice for me.

The color isn’t this dark on the wall, but you can see the difference between it’s color and the wall on the left/east, which I hope to paint this week and a little bit on the north wall to finish this room off. What a joy that will be!!! Another reason to be thankful.

Here is Miss Tork. She found a spot to rest amidst the chaos of the day. She was hiding until Todd left. The portable compressor and the air gun for the baseboard were too much for her. As soon as all was quiet again out she came. I am thankful for my dear little companion.

It’s starting to get light out, my stomach is telling me it’s time for some breakfast. After breakfast I want to get a whole chicken (minus the breasts which I’ll use for another recipe) in the crockpot. Laundry needs to be done also if it’s going to be a clear day. Then I want to caulk the baseboard, and paint it after caulking has dried.

Oh yea, another thing to be thankful for was I finally got to use my new electric lawnmower and it worked just great. It’s cute and I love the green color. I do have to clean the underbody after every use which is kind of a pain, but I did read that you can wipe it down with  vegetable oil to keep grass from sticking.

This view is looking north, I’m standing at the gate.

This is looking south. Gates need cleaning after all of the rain we’ve had.

This is the little patch of front lawn.

Below I’m standing in the back turn around area looking south.

This is looking toward where I was standing for picture above. You can see some high grass back at the end. I was pooped and needed to make sure there weren’t any pinecones or other debris from when the tree trimmers had been here so I quit. PLUS, bees have made a hive inside of the tail end of the fish hanging on the fence. Don’t know what I’m going to do about that.

This is where I park.

This is looking southwest, all in all, it takes about an hour for me to mow my property.

Ok, that’s it for now. Time for breakfast and then to commence with projects for the day.

Thank you all for your love, prayers and encouragement. It means a lot to me.

I am always thankful

that

“Love is Forever”.

FlowerLady

Thankfulness, a take back, and a whacky idea

Good morning Friends,

After much thought and research, I decided to return the rose bush ‘Fragrant Cloud’. I don’t want something that I might have to deal with later with black spot, as I try to garden organically as much as possible.  I got a refund, and next month will go to a local nursery where they sell Old Garden roses, which are much hardier.  I have bought from them before and have been very pleased with what I’ve bought.  Living down here where the tropics begin, the humidity would be a major factor for black spot. I did enjoy the one bloom from FC but was relieved when I took the bush back. I wouldn’t have bought it IF I had known about the black spot problem.  Oh well.

DH has been working on the electrical work for the caravan. We got wire strung through pvc pipe that is underground.  Ditch digging, root cutting, laying the pipe, stringing a feeder wire, attaching and taping wire together to be pulled through pipe, all prep work.  He had an old boat wench, whatever you call it, that we found a long time ago, and used that to pull the wire through.  The wire had to go through two bends, and at first I was cranking on the wench because we both thought that would be easier, and he was stuffing the wire into pipe along with applying the lubricant, then we switched places as the cranking was getting hard on my arms. We timed ourselves doing this little project (pulling the wire through) and it took roughly 22 minutes.  We were glad when that was done.  Now it’s the little stuff inside to get this part of the work on caravan finished.

Yesterday morning when we were first outside, he said to me “You’re probably going to think this is a whacky idea, but what if we put this and he pointed to an object, on the roof of the caravan.” I liked the idea, and at first we just set it up there, but it needed a base, so he scrounged around in his stash and came up with a piece of metal to work with, then we set the thing up there to get an idea and it made us laugh and feel happy.  No doubt some will think it is definitely a whacky idea, and not doubt it is, but it’s recycling, repurposing, and just plain fun.  To us, it really makes the caravan more something or other. I looked up the definition for cupola after I thought of that word for our project and this is what it is: A cupola is an ornamental structure placed on the top of a larger roof. Here it is temporarily for the photo session.

 

DH will make it so that we can take it off in case of a hurricane.  This was an outdoor light at one time. It is amber colored glass, and two sides have lovely scrollwork painted on the inside. They will face east and north, so that we can see them from the driveway. We will prep the metal of the base and lamp part, then paint them the plum color.  I thought of painting the finial on the top with the same paint as roof, but DH has a better idea. He has some real gold leaf in his stash and that’s what he’ll use on the finial. It will sparkle at all times.  We’re going to see about some sort of little solar light to go into the lamp part too, all in good time.  Stay tuned.

Yesterday afternoon I fixed us herbal tea and took it out to the caravan where DH was working.  He took a break and we sipped our tea and talked.  It’s the first time we’ve done that out there and it won’t be the last.  It is a light, happy little space. I love it and he likes it too.  We will be sleeping out there while we remodel our tiny bedroom.  Other times, it will be our little get away without having to fight traffic, drive for hours, and pay who knows what.  There is a jacuzzi on the grounds as well as an outdoor shower, an outdoor clawfoot tub, all in a screened in area. There’s  a washer and ‘solar’ dryer ( a clothesline) for our convenience too. And of course, there are gardens. Whenever we feel like it we will go back there just to have coffee or tea, or for a change of scenery. I can already see me doing some needlework back there. Who knew that a crappy camper could become a cozy, cottage caravan.

Here is the camper right after Hurricane Wilma Oct. 2005.  We didn’t have electricity for 13 days, and once we realized the campers’ propane tank had gas, we popped the top, did a little clean up, and I set up a temporary cooking station in there. We had had two hurricanes the year before, Francis and Jeanne and they caused damage too, with downed trees and limbs.  Some smashing into the front of camper crushing the top. The pile of wood was from our downed tree that was cut up and we brought the debris into our yard from the back neighbor’s where the tree had gone into. We had several huge piles out front over a few weeks time to be picked up.  Florida lost a lot of trees and undergrowth from those three hurricanes.  Plus some kind of beetle blew in and started attacking pines, which caused us to lose more trees.

We decided to sell the junker little truck last fall, but wanted to keep the camper part, and the rest is history. I will do up a webpage about the whole thing once it’s all done.

Our weather is gorgeous and the birds are singing away.  We did more errands this morning and found two pots of something growing, curbside to be thrown out with the brush. I loaded them into the back of my mini van, and have a feeling they are some kind of ficus. Bummer.  I was hoping for something with blooms. The new leaves coming out are very green and healthy looking. I watered them, and will see what happens next.  I may plant them in our front hedgerow.

We bought a big loin of pork @$1.78 a lb. yesterday.  They had a diagram on the package for how to cut this up.  I cut it up and put the larger end in the crockpot along with some organic sauerkraut, caraway seeds, an cubed apple, brown sugar, mustard and a little sherry. Plus we have chops, and the smaller end, all wrapped and in the freezer now.

If you look closely, you can see part of the caravan over the top of the orchids.

Hang in there my northern friends.  Spring will be there before long.

I will close with the following.

The other morning as I was out working in the gardens, my heart filled with thankfulness to God. There was a nice breeze, there were sweet scents wafting in the air, new growth on plants of all types, birds were singing and I felt thankful. Thankful for our little home and compound, thankful for my DH, thankful for our love, thankful for God’s loving care in all areas. There are times when we can and do become lackluster in our thankfulness. Life is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination for any of us. We all go through pain in our lives, whether it be physical, mental or spiritual. We all have ups and downs. But, each and every day is a gift, another day to live, love, laugh, and learn through our experiences. May we grow in God’s love and grace.

***

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;
therefore will I hope in him.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3 KJV

*******

FlowerLady

Plum Cottage happenings and Thankfulness

Good morning Folks ~ This will probably be my last post for a few days, as I'll be spending time in the kitchen cooking and baking, eating and enjoying the day with DH, then working at my job Fri and Sat.

I want to say a big thank you to all of you who read and comment here on my blog. It is still amazing to me and I am thankful for friendships made here.

I am thankful to the two buyers who have bought my beaded/embroidery works. One was before I even had the shop set up, and the other just after it was set up. Thank you Ladies.

I'm thankful for the 'freebies' we find curbside. I know this kind of shopping isn't for everyone, but we enjoy it. Just the other day, I looked across the street and saw a box of angle looking stuff overflowing a box, I didn't have my glasses on, and told DH about it, thinking it might be iron parts or something he can use. Well, what he walks back with is a box full of VHS movies, that had just been thrown all in the box, which is why I saw angles. We got around 40 good ones, and 30 that are mostly children's movies that must have been stored in a shed and gotten damp and moldy. We still have our VHS rewinder, and it still works too. These movies were not rewound. Over the years we've found so many useful and artistic things that others just throw away.

I'm thankful we have our little cottage and food to eat. At one really low time in our life, we picked dumpsters behind the grocery store for food. We got fruit, veggies, bread and some times cheese. We ate and never got sick. Times have gotten much better for us, (that was about 30 years ago), but going through that rough time makes us appreciate the many blessings we enjoy now.

I'm thankful I'm able to cook and bake, garden and craft. Thankful I still have my job, even if it is now only two days a week.

I'm thankful to God for His love, forgiveness and tender mercies. Thankful for the freedoms we still enjoy in this country.

I'm thankful for DH's love and encouragement and all that he does.

I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving day celebration.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Penelope next three pictures.







Louis Philippe - Florida Cracker Rose

The next pictures are of the east side of our cottage. The wall below is the 'scullery' wall. You can see through the open lattice door into the secret garden. DH hung these two bird cages for me the other day. The pot on the left has green and white spider plants. The pot on the right has spider plants also and orchids growing in it. The Mexican pot that DH bought for me recently is only sitting on the bench temporarily. This area is on the north side of our screened porch off the kitchen.


You can see that the house paint is peeling and we hope to pressure wash and paint once it gets cooler down here. We already have the paint, and I'm ready to freshen it up and the color will be more plumy once again.

The 'secret garden' door is closed, and you can see 'last years' Christmas wreath. :-) The iron piece leaning up against the door will hang over the white outdoor bar once we have the house repainted. I may paint it white, or leave it as is. Haven't decided yet.

Here is the screened porch, which is the main entry into our cottage. The porch sure keeps the mosquitoes from coming into the house so much. Plus it's a nice place to sit.



Here is the south side. I did some clean up of fallen leaves, hung the piece of wall art, and rearranged some pieces. I love sitting here and Tork, our outdoor/indoor feline girl likes to sit in my lap here, especially in the summer in the shade of the big tree.








Below are Apple Snail shells that DH found in a nearby canal up on the bank and some at the waters edge.

I love the sunlight shining through the colorful shell interiors.



******

It is a glorious privilege to live,
to know, to act, to listen,to behold,
to love.
To look up at the blue summer sky;
to see the sun sink slowly beyond the line of the horizon;
to watch the worlds come twinkling into view,
first one by one,
and the myriads that no man can count, and lo!
the universe is white with them;
and you and I are here.
Marco Morrow

******

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Feeling thankful

Good afternoon Folks ~ Hope your day was a good one. This morning I woke up feeling thankful, for no particular reason. Then I started thinking about what I am thankful for ~ dishes to wash, laundry that needs folding and putting away, thankful that we can pay our bills, thankful for food to eat and a roof over our heads. Thankful for my gardens, that are a continual joy even if they are continual work also. Thankful to God for His continual caring for us.

Later I went out with camera in hand to see what might be photo worthy. Some shots were, others were NOT and deleted. Some were questionable, but the subject made them worthwhile.

Click on pictures to see larger view.

I went back into the secret garden hoping I might catch a glimpse and get a picture too of the hummingbird that I saw while looking out the scullery window yesterday morning.

I heard the little noise that they make and found it, but I'm sure not good at getting pictures of these fast little guys.

This is Old Blush


Mm. Laurette Messimy


Cassia, but I don't know which kind.


Here are tarragon blooms next to the basil I grew from a cutting.


The next two pictures are the same kind of vine, but different colors.

I've always called it a flame vine, but that isn't right.

This is a fallen bloom from the Hibiscus Mahoe Tree

Orange Porterweed


My shed's garden


St. Francis with Louis Philippe rose, or the Florida Cracker rose.


And, here is the prize of the day. We went out to do our errands like usual on Monday mornings, and on the way saw some Pink Muhly grass in bloom in different areas. Well, lo and behold, there was some for sale at our veggie market. For a one gallon pot they were $5.99, I hoped they'd be around $3, no such luck. I've not bought any plants in the last couple of years because of the economy. We did look for this plant in the spring but there weren't any around at the time. We want them for our big concrete and shell flower pots. I had a $10 bill in my wallet that I've had for quite sometime, stashed for just the right thing. I bought one and will divide it in the spring, planting the divisions into both flower pots. For now I put it where I can see it when I wash dishes.

I love this. Can I also collect seeds from it?

Life is huge!

Rejoice about the sun, moon, flowers, and sky.

Rejoice about the food you have to eat.

Rejoice about the body that houses your spirit.

Rejoice about the fact that you can be a positive force in the world around you.

Rejoice about the love that is around you.

Author Unknown


There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude,
a quiet joy.

Ralph H. Blum

Enjoy and be thankful.




Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL