It’s a new day, a new week

 

Good morning Friends ~ It is Monday morning, partly cloudy out at 20 til 9 a.m. EST. My feline alarm clock, Miss Tork, woke me up at 4 again this morning. I was ready once I saw what time it was. I have things I want to do today and hope to get most of them done.  I’ve already got a loaf of Coconut Milk Bread going in my bread machine.  It’s starting to smell good in here.  It is made with canned coconut milk, a very easy recipe.  I looked up my recipe for Ricotta Pound cake and plan to make that this morning. I want to make Moussaka too today.

I’m on a vacation from work for the next 2-3 weeks as my boss just about emptied the shop. He loaded and took a truck to the huge antique show out in Round Top, Texas.  He goes twice a year.

So, I’ve made up a list of goals for this time off. One of the goals I have is to get some pieces listed in my Etsy shop. I’ve not had anything in there in months.

Yesterday we had another thunderstorm which dumped LOTS of rain again.

This photo is looking out from the kitchen’s screened porch, drive way like a river to the right of the shed.

This is looking out the north ‘scullery’ window.

This is looking out the west ‘scullery’ window into the ‘cat-rium’.

This is looking west out of the bedroom window into main garden. Look at the water pouring out of the rain-barrels’ overflow. When the rain let up a bit I went out and reconnected the drain so that it would go elsewhere in the garden.

I am standing in the driveway here, the ‘secret garden’ gate is standing open. This is on the east side of the cottage.

You can see the caravan behind the red bench, this is looking northwest.

I’m on the path now looking east. You can see my little wash-house/storage behind the birdbath. From under the awning there you can walk under an arbor out to the clothesline area.

This is one of two matching tiled cement benches that DH found many years ago.

Walking around the bench, you come to the ‘caravan’.  I bought 5 bags of potting soil the other day. I stacked them, then covered them from the expected rain.

This photo is looking east and you can see the rising sunlight through the trees separating us from the apt. complex next door. The DIY arbor is being filled up with Confederate Jasmine and for now Moonflower vine too.

Here is the other DIY arbor that goes into the clothesline garden area. This arbor has blue pea vines, moon flower and passion flower vines growing up and over it.

Two more angles.

Keep walking to the left of the above picture and you’ll be in the driveway heading south. DH found the street sign many years ago, we decided to put it on my shed.

This is another overgrown/weedy area at the front southwest corner of main garden. The road is running behind the left ‘faux bois’ chair, and behind the right chair is our neighbors’ driveway. The chairs are just two of eight that our friends who have an antique shop next to where I work gave us many years ago.  They were going to pitch them as they are falling apart, but suckers that DH and I were we loaded and brought them home.  They are heavy, being made out of concrete. They had these shipped from France. (Faux bois (from the French for false wood) refers to the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media. The craft has roots in the Renaissance with trompe-l'œil.)

This is the front patio looking northwest. This wall is the front wall of my little 6’x8’ creative space, off the living room.  That is a door, but we chose not to use it. The iron piece in front of the window has mint on the bottom shelf, and baby roses and a wonderful lavender that does very well down here in tropical FL. It is Lavendula Pinnata or Jagged Lavender. It smells wonderful but the flowers are not edible. (I hope to paint the house this fall/winter when the weather is cooler.)

The next two photos are of the front patio coming from the west side. The gate at the back of the second photo opens up to the driveway.

Ok, that’s it for another tour around Plum Cottage.

Here are two last photos. I crocheted a beaded edging for this heart and sewed it on.

My latest creation was very enjoyable. I really like how the beaded edging looks like lace.

Have a good week, wherever you are, whatever you are doing.

Learn and grow.

Live, love, laugh.

Thrive.

FlowerLady

***

“Write it.
Shoot it.
Publish it.
Crochet it,
sauté it,
whatever.
MAKE.”

Joss Whedon

Another week has zipped by

 

It is a warm, cloudy, and ‘still humid’, Tuesday afternoon.  I did work outside this morning and I have to say it was nicer outside than it has been. I weed-whacked the paths around my main garden, did some trimming and weeding too and raked up a bag’s worth of debris. I still have the west path to do, I did all I could do for today.

For the past couple of mornings, the mocking birds have been singing and singing, that’s definitely a sign of fall coming. The sun is at a different angle and that’s nice too.  I am so glad summer is just about over.

Here’s what I did today. It might not look like much to you but, the paths were all overgrown.  The brownish paths are roll roofing that we laid down in 2007. It’s cracking up now and hopefully this fall/winter/spring, while the weather is cool I can lay new roll-roofing over it. I think it will take me about 3 rolls, which is around $36 a roll. (I just checked and it’s gone up $3 since the last time I looked. The rolls are 3’ wide by 36’ long.) I did this in the first place so that I wouldn’t have to weed-whack paths. It worked for a long time.

This is looking west, 5 lane road is to the left in picture, about 12’ from the gate. Patio is on the other side of hedge on the right.

This is also looking west towards the main garden.

This is a little pathway between house  and east sidewalk of main garden.

East sidewalk.

Main path looking north.

Looking south.

The next three pictures are the paths on west side of garden. Another day for this project.

Roses are putting on new growth and are giving me blooms. This is ‘Granada’ below.  I love this rose, and Granada was a favorite city of ours in Spain. 

This is ‘The Paul McCartney’ Rose

I love this ‘Tahitian Gardenia’.  Technically it is NOT a gardenia, but that’s what it is called.  The flowers are huge and the scent wonderful and it has been giving me blooms since spring when I bought it.

This caught my eye the other morning from where I sit at my computer.

Here are some more of my needlework creations.

 

I’m going to crochet a beaded edging for this.  It just needs a little something more. I did the embroidery probably 3-4 years ago.

This piece I made by sewing down a piece of old lace with beads onto black felt.  I then embroidered the heart onto it.

Fresh picked ‘Tahitian Gardenia’ and ‘Mr. Lincoln’ rose on my desk with a nice picture of some garden, somewhere, on my monitor. The pictures change and inspire me.

That’s it for now. It’s time to fix some supper.

I hope you all have a love and peace filled week.

FlowerLady

***

Life is too short to worry about stupid things.

Pray.

Trust God.

Enjoy life.

Don't let the little things get you down.

Nicky Gumbel

P.S. I want to thank you all for your kind comments about what would have been our 45th wedding anniversary. I can’t stop celebrating love .

Once again…

 

Another whole week has slipped by without any posts from ‘Plum Cottage’. The week zipped by. So glad it is now September, that means we are getting closer to more comfortable weather.

Yesterday was a celebratory day, it was our 45th wedding anniversary. I had a peaceful, relaxed day. I worked on & finished a heart that I had started on Sunday afternoon. It has seed beads, faux pearls and two freshwater pearls in a dusty/peachy/pink, embroidery floss and silk ribbon. I made the crocheted and beaded edging to finish it off.

I stayed indoors all day except to do some hand watering of plants in containers. I thought of my dear husband and the 43 years we had together and was thankful. I miss him every single day, but I know where he is and that fills my heart with peace and joy. Being with God has to be the most awesome thing ever.

The gift for the 45th anniversary is sapphire. Well, my dear husband gave me a ring with sapphires and opals many, many years ago, ahead of this anniversary. It is very special to me.

I looked into my cupboards to see what I could pull out in sapphire-like colors and this is what I came up with. The napkins were from Lemon Verbena Lady awhile back and I save them for special occasions.

The bride and groom is the cake topper from my in-laws wedding, September 7th in 1942. Dad was in the coast-guard back then, (DH was in the US Navy). This was on my list of things from their estate. The embroidered and beaded heart I made for DH and I a few years before he left this planet. The heart on the right represents him, the one on the left myself. The rose petal fell from one of the roses in bouquet.

 

I bought this bottle of wine a couple of months or so ago as it was discontinued and on sale, and we enjoyed a good Tempranillo. At the time I didn’t know when I would open it, and when our anniversary rolled around, it was the perfect time. It was really nice.

When I read the back label last night, I was pleasantly surprised with what I read and underlined it in photo below. ‘A daily hug’. Wow!  On our 45th anniversary. That makes me tear up writing it now. DH always complimented me on my meals.  He was a good sport with new menus and we enjoyed our nightly dinners/suppers together. (I did fix a few duds through the years, needless to say I didn’t fix those recipes again.)

I fixed ‘Steakies’, a beef patty dish using Sherry. Very good and easy.

Since this recipe made 4 patties, I froze three and it will be nice to take one out to fix for supper on days I work, or don’t feel like cooking.  I love to cook, always have, but it’s not the same cooking for myself.  I can’t stop though, and I do have to eat, now I just have more left-overs for other days.

Here is the recipe.  I did tweak it last night though, as I didn’t have everything on hand, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.  This is taken from my cookbook ‘Wine and Wine Cooking’ by Anne M. Logan.

 

Steakies

1 lb. ground beef

1 c. (firmly packed) soft bread crumbs

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 c. cream

1/4 c. Sherry

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

3 Tbs. bacon drippings of other fat

2 (10 3/4 oz.) cans beef gravy

2 Tbs. Sherry

1 (4 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained, optional

In a mixing bowl combine beef, bread crumbs, eggs, cream, the 1/4 c. Sherry, onion, parsley, salt and pepper; mix lightly but thoroughly. Cover and chill mixture several hours or overnight to make it easier to handle.  shape chilled mixture into 6 fat patties, allowing about 1/2 cu mixture per patty. Heat bacon drippings in a large, heavy skillet; brown patties slowly on both sides.  Pour off fat from skillet.  Add gravy, the 2 tbs. Sherry and mushrooms; cover and simmer very gently for 45 minutes, turning and basting patties several times.  Serve on toast, or with mashed or baked potatoes. serves 6.

(Last night I used 3/4 c. oatmeal flakes instead of soft bread crumbs, 1 egg, a little half-n-half instead of cream, Sherry. Didn’t have parsley, with the onion I added 2 cloves of minced garlic. I used olive oil for the fat, I didn’t have beef gravy so I used 2 beef cubes, water and flour.  I didn’t have any mushrooms either. It was still delicious.)

This is making me hungry as I write, so it’s time to go have some breakfast, I’m late this morning.

I’ll write another post full of blooms and more needlework later, too many for this post.

I read a line yesterday in a devotional that I got in my email that makes me stop and think about the blessing and gift of each new day. 

“A life once spent, is irrevocable!”

We can’t undo anything in our lives, but hopefully while we are still in the land of the living, we will learn and grow from mistakes we make.

There’s also a song that’s been running through my mind too, “One Day At A Time”. This was written by Kris Kristofferson

***

I'm only human

I'm just a woman

Help me believe in what I could be

And all that I am

Show me the stairway I have to climb

Lord for my sake help me to take

One day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus

That's all I'm asking from You

Just give me the strength to do ev'ryday

What I have to do.

Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine

Lord help me today show me the way

One day at a time.

 

Have a great week and count your blessings, big and small.

FlowerLady