The morning after

 

Good Saturday morning Friends ~ Here it is the morning after Valentine’s Day and I ‘made it’ through.  Today is a new day and I will rejoice and be glad in it. I had a nice dinner, read past V-day cards from my dear husband, cried and laughed, read the following and cried and felt joyful at the same time.

This piece is from Grace Gems, which I get daily in my email box.

“See how happy are God's saints at their death! They go to a kingdom! They see God's face, which shines ten thousand times brighter than the sun in its meridian glory! They enter eternal glory, which is the quintessence of all delights!”

I am oh so thankful for the 43 years we had together.

So, it is another beautiful day here in s.e. Fl. I went out in my long nightgown to take some pictures and it was chilly but comfortable.

Here is some eye flower candy for you.

Azaleas

Clock Vine

A fading Hugs-n-kisses hibiscus bloom

Another hibiscus

Reed orchids growing all over.  Easy peasy orchids. These are in the main garden growing out into the path.  One really great thing about these orchids, is you can break them off after you see an Arial root and just plop it somewhere else.

Tibouchina blooms.

Vanda orchid “Miss Joaquim”.

Velvety Mexican oregano with a seed blown in from somewhere.

Mm. Laurette Messimy

I’m not sure what the rose is in the next two pictures, same bush.

Not sure what this one is either.

I did some puttering in the caravan the other day to make me feel better and get a hadle on what I want to do in there. It is a little get-away, right here at Plum Cottage. It’s not finished with paneling and painting on the inside, but it will be, hopefully by the end of this year. I can sit out there with lap top, read, have a cup of tea, pray, whatever. It’s a happy, love filled and restored haven.

I’ve already put one 3 drawer sterilite unit out there and am putting another one out there. Some storage for my craft supplies. I wanted a top to cover both of them and found a temporary piece of wood in the meantime, not perfect but I covered it with an old and stained lacy table cloth.

Then, I spied the marble stack and wondered if there perhaps, might be a piece I could use.  I got my tape measure out and sure enough, the piece at the back of stack is 16 inches by 48 inches, by about 1/2 –3/4 inches thick. YIPPEE.

The color is perfect. The only thing is, I’ll probably have to wait for my dear B-I-L to come back down in order to get it lifted into place. I can move it over there with the help of a dolly, but it is too heavy for me to lift myself.  Maybe I can do what I did in the bedroom and that was to move it up in stages on things and then slide it over. I’ll see and let you know how that goes, one way or the other.

North side of caravan, where the marble will be just on the inside of the window.

Here is looking at the south side.  Little stove is over the fridge, they both run on gas, and the fridge also runs on electricity.

The lace curtain is there temporary, I wanted to see how it might look.  I’d have enough to do both lower windows on either side. You can see my toaster oven sitting on the cover of the stove top, and I also have a little one burner hot plate.  We were going to sleep/camp in here after we finished it, so that we could do our bedroom walls and lay the laminate flooring.  But, God had other plans for DH. DH did a wonderful job on taking this run down camper bottom/shell and turning it into what it is today.  It is about 6’x8’. The stove was a God saving element when it was in the ‘old camper’ in 2005 and we were without power for 13 days because of Hurricane Wilma.

This is looking west towards the heart patio garden.

That’s it from Plum Cottage and gardens.  I hope you all have a great weekend, inside or out. Count your blessings and thank God for all of them.  Let others know you love and care for them.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Thunbergia vine blooms ~ I think

Good morning everyone ~

Grace asked me for photos of this when it bloomed so I went out to take pictures this morning and have some from yesterday too.

I think this is a thunbergia.  I thought this was my old vine Sky Clock Vine or Thunbergia Grandiflora, but when the buds opened it was this, so my old vine is gone forever. Boo hoo!

Here they are. This is growing on my shed along with bougainvilleas, Louis Philippe rose, another rose, blue pea vine, hamelia paten and more.  We found the sign many years ago ‘curbside’.

The following were taken yesterday morning.

These were taken this morning.

That’s it for now.  If this isn’t a thunbergia vine I hope someone will let me know.  I need to go out and see if these have a scent. Although, they are over my head maybe I won’t be able to stick my nose in a bloom.

FlowerLady

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"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude,

a quiet joy."

Ralph H. Blum 

Blooms, recipes, Gypsy Caravan door, photo heavy ~ Happy Thanksgiving wishes

Good morning Everyone ~ I’ve been awake since around 4 finally got up at 5, just couldn’t sleep any longer, too many things going through my head. Thanksgiving dinner, needlework, my little Etsy shop, our Gypsy caravan and gardening.

We had quite a bit of rain starting Sunday afternoon and off and on yesterday, great for the gardens. DH finished making the caravan door Sunday morning, except for putting the glass panes in and painting it. He used plywood for front and back and 3/4” styrofoam for insulation (we had to buy a sheet of each), and the aluminum framing from an old screen door, plus the original door handle/lock from the old camper. He had to buy two hinges also for the door as he did not have any in his stash of hinges. Yesterday afternoon after the rain had stopped he painted the door a first coat and also painted a few bits that needed painting on the caravan. I think we’ve decided to use some light blue glass from old windows. (They were popular down here I FL many, many years ago, and we have some in our stash of stuff.) He’ll put in a piece of safety glass first then the blue glass behind. This end of the caravan faces west. It is really coming along and is such a neat little restoration project. DH is doing a wonderful job. He took a broken down thing and is giving it new life.

Now, here are two recipes I’m fixing for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. I’ve made both before and they are delicious.

The first is a different version of the old stand by Green Bean Casserole. I made this for the first time last year. Our grocery store was out of the buttermilk powder, so I bought regular buttermilk to make it this year. I also add a small can of sliced water chestnuts to the recipe for some crunchy texture.

Green Bean Casserole

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided (or olive oil)
1 medium sweet onion (half diced, half thinly sliced), divided
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons dry sherry (not cooking sherry)
1 pound frozen French-cut green beans (about 4 cups)
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 2 1/2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook, stirring often, until softened and slightly translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, thyme and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the mushroom juices are almost evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour over the vegetables; stir to coat. Add milk and sherry and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Stir in green beans and return to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in sour cream and buttermilk powder. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
3. Whisk the remaining 1/3 cup flour, paprika, garlic powder and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a shallow dish. Add sliced onion; toss to coat. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion along with any remaining flour mixture and cook, turning once or twice, until golden and crispy, 4 to 5 minutes. Spread the onion topping over the casserole.
4. Bake the casserole until bubbling, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

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The other recipe is one I’ve made off and on for years and it has been a hit.

Pumpkin Mincemeat Pie

1 unbaked 9" pie shell
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 c. canned or cooked pumpkin
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cloves
6 oz. undiluted evaporated milk
2 c. prepared mincemeat (I use Crosse and Blackwell mincemeat with rum and brandy in it. Boy was I shocked at the price of a jar of it this year.)

Combine and blend together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices and evaporated (not condensed) milk. Pour mincemeat into bottom of pie shell, spreading evenly. Spoon pumpkin mixture over mincemeat layer. Bake in hot oven (400° F) 45 to 50 min. or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center of pie comes out clean.
From:Farm Journal’s Complete Pie cookbook

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Now for photos of blooms around here the past few days. I really love how our gardens come to life again after the heat and humidity of our summers. Thank you all who share your fall photos filled with glorious autumn colors, and for the snowy winter scenes I’m starting to see on blogs too.

Bon Silene

Fading climbing Maman Cochet blooms.

Climbing Maman Cochet bud. I loved the sunlight and shadows on the petals. This is from a rooted cutting, which I planted next to the arbor in the main garden.

This is Firespike, loved by hummingbirds and I received this as a rooted cutting from Darla. Thank you Darla.

A pretty weed.

Homere.

La Marne

Louis Philippe

Love

I think the first one is Old blush growing up and over my garden shed grotto. The next three after are for sure Old Blush growing in my main garden.

Homere

Now here is a vine that I thought was a different sort of flower, as I had this growing up and over the old shed I had about 12 years ago. I moved this a couple of times, brought it back to this area and these are the first blooms. The blooms are not the same at all. What I had before was the Bengal Clock Vine, now what I have is a different flowering Thunbergia. I think I’m losing my marbles. Can these vines change flowers??? I was really disappointed that this wasn’t the original vine, but these are pretty blooms too.

Here’s our little sweet outdoor/indoor girl Tork.

Hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving week and day, cooking and enjoying good times, whether you are alone, or with others. We are looking forward to a quiet day together.

FlowerLady

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Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace,

the celebration of work and the simple life...

a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons,

the beauty of seedtime and harvest,

the ripe product of the year -

and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.

Ray Stannard Baker