A Thank you, more faux tile work, and a fingerless glove

Good evening everyone ~ Hope your day was a good one and that tomorrow is better.

I came home today to find 2 pkgs sitting in my chair, and DH had painted the last section of the faux tile floor. Plus I had a crockpot that had been cooking while I was at work a big pot full of black eyed peas, Jimmy Dean pork sausage, celery, onion, garlic, carrot, cumin, cayenne and chili powders, oh yeah and turkey broth from the turkey carcass. Dinner was almost ready. I cooked up some rice to serve the beans over and forgot to make a salad, dang. We LOVE black eye peas. They remind us of boiled peanuts. YUMMY!

My two pkgs were from Susan of Simply Susan. She is another FL gardener who has lovely gardens with gorgeous blooms, do check out her blog. What she sent is so me and I was thrilled to see what she sent. I've loved working with ecru colored thread for years and years, plus she sent me Magic Crochet pattern books, which I also love and have 3-4 copies of myself. Oh yea, she also sent me a pattern book of crocheted angels and stars. :-) Below is her generous, sweet gift. I look forward to crocheting something from these threads and the patterns. I've already got patterns marked to try. I love that persimmon colored thread too and look forward to making something with it.



Here is DH's latest work on the faux tile flooring.

The first picture was taken before we cleaned the cement.



Below is a picture taken earlier this evening. There is an opening under the house to the right which is a way to get to the crawl space from outside. There is a screened panel that blocks the hole. The cement is raised at the front to keep water from going down under the house.

What a difference this paint job has made in the looks of this area. I look forward to setting it back up with chairs and little tables. There's still another coat of paint to put on and a sealer, then we can set it back up.



Here is a fingerless glove I made today for my right hand/wrist. Ever since our car accident when this wrist was badly wrenched with a chipped bone, and my arm was broken eleven years ago, the cold weather has really bothered me. When it gets cold, my left hand automatically covers that wrist to warm it up. Today I made a fingerless glove, part from a pattern for a wrist warmer, then I added the rest for a fingerless glove. I love how it turned out and it works great for keeping my wrist warm.





I love working with threads and beads.

Today I am thankful for the generous gifts I have received,

and

I am thankful for all of the work DH does around here in caring for our compound.

I wish all of you a nice evening, and a great day tomorrow.

***

Creativity is inventing,

experimenting,

growing,

taking risks,

breaking rules,

making mistakes,

and having fun.

Mary Lou Coo

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

More blooms, more painted tile work

Good morning everyone. Hope you have a great day today wherever you are.

I took some more bloom photos and a couple of pix of the 'faux' tile work that DH did yesterday, which turned out to be an all day project. He has one more section to work on today, after he does drainage improvement, as this area does sometimes get rain. We have drainage now but he's improving on it.

The steps into the house are about 60 years old, and have a lot of shell rock in them, that's why they look different than the newer concrete.





George Tabor azalea


Borderer


I keep forgetting what this is because I've been calling it Flame Vine, but I believe someone told me it is Cape something or other.


Firecracker plant


Louis Philippe


Mm. Laurette Messimy


Hibiscus



Lord, make us mindful of the little things

that grow and blossom

in these days

to make the world beautiful for us.

W.E.B. du Bois

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

January Blooms and a project

Good morning Folks ~ Here we are enjoying the lovely weather that our state is known for at this time of year. After our 4 recent frigid blasts of winter weather, this is wonderful.

The other morning I finally was able to get out to do some much needed clean up and did some pruning of things also. Pruning is always something I have a hard time with, and then plants end up being really leggy. I want to not be so timid about this gardening chore, so that I will have more blooms to enjoy.

I came home from work yesterday and was greeted to a new look for our kitchen screened porch entry patio. It is cement, the steps are at least 60 years old the rest is newer. We had a 5 gallon bucket of a nice terra cotta color roof paint, and DH watered it down to paint tiles onto the cement floor. We had talked about this a few weeks back and he got in the mood to start the project yesterday. I'll post after pictures when we're all done. A second coat will go on the blocks, then a wash of the color over the whole thing so that the 'grout' lines won't be so stark, then a sealer.



Now here come some blooms from our gardens.

Click on pictures for a larger view.

The first three pictures are of an unknown orchid given to me several years ago. I love it.









This is our salmon colored bougainvillea.



This rose bud I'm not sure what it is. It's a cutting that I rooted, so I'll just have to wait to see.



This is a jasmine and I only wish I could put the scent in this post too.



La Marne rose.



A Plumbago bloom.



LaMarne



Philippine Violet



Unknown orchids.



La Marne



As I sit hear I can here birds sweetly singing, in between bits of quiet and the passing traffic out front. Temps are mild, a bit cool and it feels great.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

******

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful,

for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament.

Welcome it in every fair face,

in every fair sky,

in every flower,

and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

One, One, Eleven

Good evening Folks ~ I hope you had a lovely first day of this new year.

I dismantled Christmas today as I had to work Wed-Fri last week, and I also roasted another turkey, since they had Butterball's on sale this past week at 89 cents a lb. I told DH I don't want to look at another turkey until next Thanksgiving. It's too much work, especially, getting the meat off the turkey, pkging it up on a full belly. :-) I do have the carcass in the crockpot with water and it will cook all night for some savory broth to use later.

It feels so good to have our space being back to normal. It seems larger now that the Christmas decorations are back in the attic. It's always a little sad taking all that sparkle and color, and memories down, but it feels good too because it is the start of a new year.

It was warm yesterday up near 80 and today was more of the same, gorgeous winter weather.

More roses were in bloom today, so I took more pictures and I'm sure you won't mind seeing them.

I look forward to getting back into the swing of gardening, although won't be getting much done this coming week as I will be working Tues-Sat, but I'm not complaining. I'm thankful work has picked up a bit, and hope it continues to do so.

Click on pictures for a larger view.

Louis Philippe

Penelope

Caldwell's Pink or Pink Pet

Prosperity

Prosperity

***

"The shortest day has passed,

and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to

in January and February,

at least we notice that the days are getting longer.

Minute by minute they lengthen out.

It takes some weeks before

we become aware of the change.

It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child,

as you watch it day by day,

until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise

we realize that we can stay out of doors in a twilight

lasting for another quarter of a precious hour."

Vita Sackville-West

~ Happy New Year ~

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL