Prayer please

 

As I was driving to work this morning I thought the van was acting funny when it came to moving into the next gear as I was driving along. It’s an automatic.  Then I noticed a strange noise never heard before and I prayed all the way to work, and to the mechanic who is just two blocks from the shop.  I’ve been to him once, car battery,  but he has a very good reputation with people I know from here at work.  Anyway, I left it there and customers of ours here at the shop, happened to pull up for gas and asked what the problem was, then offered to give me a lift to the shop.

I am trying to be thankful in all things, and I pray this is not some major expense.  The van is almost like new as we hardly drove it, it’s a 2000 or 2001 has around 33,000 miles on it.

So, that is my prayer request, my van, and for me too at this time.

FlowerLady

Clean up and blooms, etc.

 

I have been thinking about the ‘back 40’ for some time now, especially now that the rains have started and things are growing like heck. DH weed wacked back here and pulled vines and weeds last July, 10 months ago. We were working on getting iron sorted, to keep to use or for artistic purposes, and iron to take to the scrap yard. We got one or two loads taken and then DH became ill. This has been mind boggling to me as to the overgrowth and the stuff I need to get rid of.  It’s interesting at the same time as I’m looking at the stuff with a discerning eye instead of viewing it as all just junk like I mostly did before he left this planet.  He saw the potential in all of this, bless his heart.  We’ve used a lot too through the years too, in various projects.  He just hated to see stuff go to the landfill that was perfectly useable in some way.  He was right, as this society throws away way too much.

So, anyway, I started yesterday and made forward progress in cleaning up and making my way back in there.  Before and after pictures of the area. I started in at the front entry.  I will show before and after pictures as I go along with this project.

 

Here is shovel bird.  We bought him in Georgia in 2006. He’s the guard bird over the junk yard.

Below is After ~ Hurray, I broke the ice and made forward progress. Tools are leaning against the building. Wood is leaning against the barn at the back, what we call the barn.

Here are some flowers that are blooming in the ‘back 40’.

Blue Sage, one of my favorites.

A hibiscus, with a potato vine below, and a Virginia creeper vine behind. Grrr.

Passion vine.  I have two, this is the simpler, smaller one.

Now, here is a view looking away from the back buildings and the back 40, toward the caravan and clothesline garden, southeast.

Now on to the front where we have

‘the weeping lady’ statue

on our front patio. (I called her this long before my DH left for his heavenly home.)

***

weeping may endure for a night,

but joy cometh in the morning.

Psa_30:5 

This is looking out from my ‘little space’ where I create and also where I sit at my computer. The four lane road out front is beyond the patio by about 20’ at the most.

Allamanda ~ This allamanda is growing on the lattice behind the weeping lady.

Thursday it was predicted to rain all day so, I gathered up material, made a template and cut out fabric for 7 journals. Before I made the template I was using the square to make straight lines.  (I love using DH’s tools.  I love going into the workshop to find what I need.  It was a dream come true, and we built it together.)

I then started embroidering on the front of one and stitched the edges.  I still have a clasp to make yet for it.

Closer look at the embroidery and ribbon roses.

Look at the cookie on the lower left.

I didn’t make it this shape, it’s just the way it came out.

These are oatmeal cookies with craisins, coconut, and chocolate chips. Yummy is the consensus.

Well, that’s what’s been going on down here in the sub-tropics.

This is a new day, the start of a new week.

Let’s all take each day as it comes, do what we can with what we have.

And ~

Be thankful.

FlowerLady

******

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. 

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order,

confusion to clarity. 

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,

a stranger into a friend. 

Gratitude makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today,

and creates a vision for tomorrow." 

Melody Beattie

Newly named garden

Good morning everyone ~ I hope you had nice weekends and hope you have good days this week.

We got a lot of much needed rain last week and it did the plant life much good, although, if this keeps up, I’ll have more to take care of in the way of getting rid of overgrowth of vines and weeds.

A commenter suggested I name one of my garden areas in memory of my dear husband and since the space that I worked on last week had no name and it’s by his workshop and the caravan I’ve come up with one.  I had already put one of the ‘curbside’ found staghorn ferns on a stump there and still had the other one to place, so I though this will be ~ The Stag Garden ~. A stag is a male deer, and my dear very, male husband was and is very dear to me. It makes me happy for this area to now have a name and Betsy I want to thank you for the idea.

I was doing some clean up yesterday and weed pulling so that I can get into the ‘back 40’ to do more clean up back there, and saw a chair that was rusting out in the seat but still had some life. I placed it in the stag garden to place the other staghorn fern on.  It works just great!!!  I want to add some ~ Reed-Stem Epidendrum ~ those easy to grow little orange orchids that I have all over the place, and possibly an iron cross that DH bought and gave me one Christmas about 24 years ago.

Here is ~ The Stag Garden ~ as it is now, with the two staghorn ferns.  It will be another peaceful little garden area here in our haven.  Already in place, just needs some tweaking to make it better.

That’s it for now as I’ve been having problems uploading today with Windows Live Writer and Picassa. 

Let’s see if this will go through.

FlowerLady

Projects, blooms, embroidery

Good morning Folks,

Thank you for visiting my little blog once again. 

First of all I want to send you to a blog post about a pair of wonderful, heavy, huge, flower pots we got on this day May 1st in 2005. May Day Flower Pot Rescue.

Yesterday we had a T-storm with LOTS of heavy rain which lasted quite awhile, and little thunder and lightening, for which I was thankful. More is expected off and on for today through Friday.  The rain is great for everything, although I did have to hurry outside yesterday morning to bring in partially dried laundry to drape around inside to finish drying.

I mowed yesterday morning because I knew rain was coming, I also moved some bins of straps, and rods off the back shed’s stoop, left over from working on the caravan. Eventually I’ll get things straightened up and put away.  One day at a time.

Then I started working on a garden area that really doesn’t have a name yet.  It’s between the secret garden and the northwest back yard. The caravan is to the north of this space, workshop to the south west.

See the stump that the staghorn fern is sitting on?  That’s from part of the Melaleuca tree that came down in Hurricanes Francis, Jeanne and Wilma.  We saved this part because it was artistic and because of the hole it had in it.

This area is the ‘before’ picture.

After

The birdbath filled up from all the rain.  I believe we got around 3-4 inches and the road flooded out front, but the water went down once the rains let up.

Now here’s our screened rooms ‘Cat-rium’, roof. Dang raccoons have been playing up there and on the house roof a lot more since DH vacated these premises for heavenly ones. They have been pulling out the spline, and in other areas their weight is pulling the screening loose.  My BIL is coming over this evening after work, to see what we need, and we’ll go to HD for supplies, then he’s going to do the work. I am so thankful for his help.  I love the framework of this roof that DH designed and made, using found materials.

Orchids from a friend about 10 years ago that just keeps on blooming.  I love it.  You can see orange reed orchids in the background.

While I was hanging up laundry yesterday morning I smelled something sweet and turned towards the hedge and there was a passion flower vine bloom. Aaaahhhh.

Below are pictures of the two unkn roses that I got at the plant sale Sunday. Neither has a strong rose scent, just faintly, but they are beauties, and for $5 each, I can’t really complain.

This is Granada that I bought from SAM’s a couple of months back.

This is ‘Paul McCartney’ that I bought at the plant sale Sunday. This scent is a heavenly deep rose scent.  Just wonderful and the blooms are beautiful and huge.

I have been making more little journals. The one on the left you’ve seen before, it was my first one.  The one in the middle has uplifting Bible verses that I printed out and glued to the pages.  The one to the right will also get Bible verses once I get more ink for my printer. I need to do that soon. These are 5 inches by 3 1/2 inches and have 80 pages. I’ve got seven more little journals to make covers for.

Monday I went to Walmart to use up some gift cards that still had a little money left on them.  I bought three spools of 5/8 ribbon for making ribbon roses and a cheapie watch. Here is my first ribbon rose. I look forward to getting more ribbon, smaller and larger as well as this size and in different colors.  I want to learn how to do ribbon embroidery too.  Mark would like what I am doing. He always loved it when I was in here creating and humming away to music as I worked.

Now, here’s what I surrounded this first rose with, a smaller ribbon rose, a couple of lace flowers, and embroidered flowers and leaves.  I love it.

Here it is sewn to the front of another journal. This one will be empty so that one can write down things they are thankful for.  I’m not quite finished with it, but just about.

This is morning sun shining through the kitchen door.  I just love the lace shadows on the floor. 

This morning I was barely awake and ended up sobbing while standing in the kitchen because I didn’t really get to tell Mark goodbye. He went into the MRI and at the end of the time suffered cardiac arrest.

Although, I thought after the sobbing had subsided, it’s not goodbye, it’s until we meet again. We did do a lot of talking especially near the end of those four months when he was so ill, about the possibility of his dying.  He was ready to go, I said I will let you go, but I won’t like it. I don’t like it. I miss him every single day. But, he is no longer in pain, everything is perfect and he is with our Great God, King of the Universe, Lord and Saviour, Jesus.  That is so worth celebrating.

I am learning to live a different life, trusting in God daily and an enjoying learning new things and carrying on with projects.  Each day is a gift.

I am thankful for our little haven here, thankful for help from others, thankful for all of you.

Now I’m off to fix a sandwich, then make some cookies for my BIL and his wife.  I’m planning on fixing Blue Cheese stuffed burgers for supper if he doesn’t have plans already. We’ll see.

FlowerLady