Sunset, a mouse story, and prayer and thoughts for Japan

Good morning Friends ~ It is a chilly 55, and it did not get as cold as predicted. The wind was fierce yesterday afternoon as this cold front blew in. I was at work, DH was here at home working on a project. I called but got the machine, so left a msg. and about an hour or so later he called me back. He was outside when this started, and just thought oh it's a few drops of rain, it will pass. Well, it did do that a couple of times, even where I was 9 miles away, but then the winds blew and the rains came down. DH had to grab clamps to reinforce a hold down on some tin, and then clamp up some wood to keep the rain from going into where he was working and getting on his tools. Tork had been outside near him before this started, but when it came down, she dashed under the car. Thankfully the wind part didn't last all that long, maybe 10-15 minutes and the rain was another good soaking for about 30 minutes. This morning the sky is blue, there is a stiff breeze and the sun is shining.

Last night I saw the sunset so grabbed my camera and headed out. The pictures below captured some of the glorious beauty.

Looking north.
Looking west.
Looking south.

After supper I came in here to my little space to get online, and no lights were on. I sat in my chair and reached for my mouse. The slide out where my keyboard and mouse sit was slid back into the desk area, not sticking out. Not looking, just acting automatically, I reached for the mouse and grabbed the rock on the top of desk. Same basic location, same basic shape, but cold and heavy. What a hoot! I called DH in and said he had to see this because a picture is worth a thousand words. I then took a picture for you all to see. Yikes, do you think I need to clear off my desk. I think I'll do that as soon as I post this. :-)


With all that beauty and the lightheartedness shared, my heart goes out to those people in Japan who were effected by the earthquake and the resulting Tsunami. How devastating to be living your ordinary life one minute and have it taken away the next. If a Tsunami ever hit here, we'd be wiped out. We are only three miles from the beach.

While these catastrophes happen all around us,

and sometimes even to us,

let us be thankful every minute for our many blessings,

large and small.

***

We can only be said to be alive

in those moments

when our hearts

are conscious of our treasures.

Thornton Wilder

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

More Cold coming our way

Good morning Everyone ~ Well, thunderstorms are coming our way today bringing another cold front. It is supposed to get down to 49 and feel like it's 42 tonight. The rain will be great and another bit of chilly weather will be nice too. So far it's partly cloudy, sun peeking out from between the clouds occasionally. It's warm also, but that will change this afternoon.

I want to thank Darla for the name of my hibiscus, Jane Cowell Hibiscus, in last post. Also thanks to Florida Girl for the name St. Joseph's Lily of the Hippeastrum family for the real name of the Ditch Lily. Ami thanks to you for reminding me of the type of orchid Epidendrum that I have, also known as Reed Orchids.

Thank you all for the comments on the hearts that DH made from seashells.

Pictures below are from the last couple of days.

The first few are of Basket Plant, Callisia fragrans, blooms. The bees love this and their little legs get loaded with pollen. The scent of these flowers is delicately sweet. I love them.






Cocktail Roses.




Chrysler Imperial

Bougainvillea blooms.

Blue Sage and Cocktail rose.

Maman Cochet rose against the morning blue sky.

Main garden.

Queen Crepe with only a couple of leaves hanging on. DH asked me the other day if it was dead, I told him no, the new growth will be happening shortly.

Shed garden, looking west.

I know, I know,

I need to take down the shell and brown Norfolk pine wreath

from two Christmases ago. :-)

Shed Garden.

Tillandsia

Vanda Orchid.

Spiderwort


***

"The moment one gives close attention to anything,
even a blade of grass,
it becomes a mysterious,
awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself."
Henry Miller

***

Happy Gardening and Happy Living
in the many moments that make up each day.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Flowers and a Recipe

Good afternoon & Happy Monday.

After several days of wind, today it's quiet. We also got some much needed rain the past couple of days which was really nice and this morning it was chilly when we woke up.

I got an email from my boss and I'll be working Wed-Sat this week, so I wanted to get a post done while I have time. I've got some homecaring to do tomorrow, dinners to think about for the week, laundry needs to be folded and put away, etc., etc.

Speaking of dinner, my boss gave me more avocados and last night I made a meatloaf using avocado slices. I found the recipe online, here. I used ground beef, about 1 lb., sprinkled in a liberal dose of Italian seasoning, sprinkled in liberal doses of dried minced garlic, and onion powder too, in place of the herbs, garlic and onion called for in the recipe. This was delicious!!!

Italian Meatloaf with avocado

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 75 minutes

Serves: 4

Yield 1 loaf

Ingredients

19 1/5 oz Ground Turkey
1/2 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
1 Large Egg
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Parsley, Dried
1/2 tsp Basil (dried)
1/2 tsp Oregano, Dried
1/4 cup Onions
1/2 cup Milk-1%
1/2 cup Shredded Mozzerella Cheese
1 medium Generic Haas Avocado

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix turkey, milk, bread crumbs, egg, onion and all spices together in medium sized bowl.

3. Spread 1/2 of the turkey mixture in bottom of cooking sprayed loaf pan

4. Sprinkle mozzerella cheese on top of turkey mixture and layer avocado slices on top of the cheese.

5. Spread remaining half of turkey mixture on top of avocado.

6. Bake for 1- 1 1/4 hours or until internal temperature measures 170 degrees.

7. Drain grease from loaf plan once removed from the oven. Serves 4.


Hibiscus

Little orchids

Now, here is the aloe plant DH found discarded in a trash pile last April. He figured I would like it, and I do. It's back in my 'not much care needed' garden. Was I ever surprised to see blooms last week and a 'pup' growing a little way from it. Hurray. This aloe is Barbadensis Miller, very medicinal and I just found some good info on it so will be reading up on it. The blooms when open are yellow.


I talked DH into this picture below. We got to talking about our old lapidary set up last night, and I brought out these hearts that he had done from sea shells found on the beach many, many years ago. I love them.


Here is my climbing Maman Cochet.

Here she is with I think, Old Blush, growing up and over my sheds awning.

I cannot remember what this lily is. I know someone out there will be able to tell me. I think I've heard people refer to it as the 'ditch lily'. I'll groan when I hear the real name, because I know I've heard it and it's lodged in my brain somewhere. :-)



That's it from Plum Cottage at this time.

I do hope you all have a great week.

Thank you for visiting and your comments.

***

It's spring fever.

That is what the name of it is.

And when you've got it,

you want - oh, you don't quite know

what it is you do want,

but it just fairly makes your heart ache,

you want it so!

Mark Twain

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

First of March

Good afternoon Folks ~ Hope you are all enjoying this first day of March. Currently it is 85. It wasn't bad out earlier this morning, but as the sun crept up into the sky, it got warmer and more humid. We 'may' get some rain later this afternoon. I sure hope so, as we really need it. I've been going around hand watering to keep on top of things.

I will keep you posted on the Fish-It experiment. Thanks for all of your comments.

It's now around 4:15, the sky is dark, and hopefully we will get some rain. I just cleaned up the kitchen, and pretty soon it will be time to make a mess again. :-) I was outside this morning, planting seeds, and potting up some cuttings of two different roses, Tibouchina, and George Tabor azaleas. With cuttings it's hit and miss when it comes to rooting. I don't have a sure fire method. I cut off stems, peel off most leaves, scrape the bottom section of stems about an inch with my thumb nail, then dip the ends in root-tone or some other root promoting powder and water them good, then watch them. I cleaned up my potting area a tad, and it looks better. It was really a wreck and things were getting out of hand. I also helped DH with a project he's working on. We had a full day and it feels good.

I'm planning on making Salmon Florentine (using broccoli instead of spinach) for supper, so I better finish this post up.

Here are some pictures taken in the past couple of days.

Click on pictures for a larger view.

Maggie

Desert Cassia

Love in the next two pictures.



Red hibiscus

Maman Cochet climbing rose.

Spiderwort in the next two pictures. Some consider this a weed and hate it. I love it, and look forward to those blue blooms. The bees love this.




The next two pictures have the two Love rose blooms, first in the west side of the scullery window, and then in the east side.




It was a really wonderful first day of March. There was a nice breeze, it was cool in the shade, and once again we enjoyed worked together.

***

If we had no winter,
the spring would not be so pleasant.
Anne Bradstreet

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL