Earth Day ~ blooms from my gardens in April

Good afternoon Friends ~ This is a good day, being Earth Day, to write up a post. Have quite a few photos to share as I’ve not posted in awhile.

Thank you all for bday wishes, get well wishes and wishes for rain. We have gotten some much needed rain in the past week or so. Rains letting me know gutters have clogs that need attending too. The rain is so good for everything and saves me spending $ on my water bill to water gardens and potted plants. We had rain last night, this morning and it looks like we could get more. The sky is gray and there’s a stiff breeze from the west.

Right now I’m enjoying a cup of green tea and ginger tea combined, sweetened with honey. The scent of gardenias is right here in my little space and smells heavenly. That scent is one of my earliest memories from Florida. My grandmother had a big bush that would be filled with the blooms, it was intoxicating.

Pink hibiscus

Pink begonia

This begonia is scented and just wonderful.

Spiderworts, which some consider a weed, but not this gardener and it is one of my favorite flowers.

This beauty is tibouchina. First one a fresh bloom in the shade, second photo an older bloom in the sunlight.

This is a vanda orchid, ‘Miss Joacuim’. This grows like a weed, spreads nicely. I can break off bits with some roots hanging off and just plop them anywhere. Another favorite.

Blue Salvia with Tahitian Gardenia in the background

Salvia coccinea greggii spreads by self-seeding another favorite

This orchid bloom was a pleasant surprise the other morning. It is attached to the stem of the Tahitian Gardenia.

Tahitian Gardenia ~ These are absolutely wonderful!!! Huge scented blooms.

Bougainvillea from friends Nanci & John

This is Confederate Jasmine ~ blooms once a year. I have three of these vines and look forward to their scent filling the air every spring.

This is an orchid I bought at a yard sale soon after my dear husband went to be with his Creator. It is called Dancing Ladies or Butterfly orchids.

This lovely orchid was given to me by friends/customers from my time of working at an antique shop for 17 years.

An unknown ~ another surprise the other day. I forget about them when they aren’t in bloom.

These tiny orchids are ‘Reed Orchids’ another orchid that grows like a weed with little care from me.

I don’t know what the plant is in the next two photos, two different colors.

This is a ‘Tropical Hydrangea’.

‘Miss Atwood’

Something snacked on this while it was a bud. The holes are interesting.

‘Mozart’

A sweet little carpet rose.

‘International Herald Tribune’ rose a real sweetie.

‘Miss Ruth’s Wavy’ rose

Hibiscus

Two views of the same shell.

1st year anniversary gift I created for young friends.

That’s it for now.

Be well, count your blessings, love God and love others.

FlowerLady

***

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass,

the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,

whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass,

and herb yielding seed after his kind,

and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:

and God saw that it was good.

***

An alien, a worm, a first day of spring bday, a cold

Good afternoon Folks ~ I hope you all had a lovely Easter and where there is spring I hope you are able to be out to enjoy it. Some of you are still having snowy weather, hang in there, it will pass and the sun will come out, flowers will bloom and birds will sing.

Down here in s.e. FL it is very dry, we need rain and it is predicted but time will tell whether we get it or not. I am able to use my sprinklers 3 days a week, twice a day, hand watering can be done any day, just not in the hot time of the day. I have to pay for water, so it is not an option to water grass in my book. Grass looks like straw, shrubs and vines are shriveling up, not good.

One day I went outside and found this creepy ‘alien’ growing in a pot of a tropical flowering plant. I’d never seen anything like it. Do any of you know what this might be?It’s gone now, only lasting a day or so.

The next creepy thing was a ‘worm’ of some type in my computer. My dear BIL told me what do do the first time via the phone, I was totally FREAKED. Led me to a day of depression, not good at all. (I had had enough. It came on top of being overloaded with thinking/worrying about the responsibility of caring for this place. I let the negatives get me down instead of focusing on the good things God has done and is doing in my life.) Then, just the other day as I was watching a movie on you tube, the same window/voice started coming up and I clicked out of all tabs and it stopped and didn’t load. I told BIL and he said it sounds like someone had hacked into my space and to change all of my passwords, so I did that, and hopefully that is the end of that. Sheesh! (I was sick so didn’t have the energy to freak out, and didn’t think it worth it anyway.)

Before that happened, a couple of weekends ago, he worked on my desk top for around 4 hours trying to find the problem in safe mode as to why it was running so dang slow. He said he’d never seen a computer run that slow. We thought I was going to have to bite the bullet and start from scratch, which I dreaded doing, but did have everything backed up onto an external harddrive. He did several things and we’re not sure as to what the catalyst was that set it working again but it is working just fine.  Thank you dear Todd.

My 69th bday was the first day of spring. Where has the time gone? My dear SIL Sue, Todd’s wife, and I spent the day together up at their place. She made me a decious chicken dish for lunch, and we had a lovely bday cake and time together. The pretty roses on top got smushed in transit and she was really bummed about that, but it was still a pretty cake and tasted wonderful.

They took me out to eat at The Outback Steakhouse that night. I had steak,  coconut shrimp, a baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar, and mixed veggies. This was after we had shared a blooming onion and their delicious bread. I also had a margarita to celebrate.  I took a box home and had two more meals, one shown below. Delicious!!!

Had a wonderful Easter weekend, starting with a great worship/communion service, Friday night, with 6 different churches being represented. Sunday a lovely Easter service then dinner afterwards with dear friends.

Monday night I started having a sore throat, which developed into a bad cold. I finally bought some Nyquil after having coughed one whole night and that did the trick. My stomach muscles are so sore from all of the coughing, but at least I didn’t crack ribs like I’ve done in the past. I sounded like a bullfrog for a couple of days. But after getting some much needed sleep and just sitting/laying around doing nothing, today I am feeling much better. I do feel dragged out though, and will take a nap after I finish this.

Work on the living room remodeling is coming along. Todd has been doing mudwork, still more of that to do, but it has to dry between coats and once that’s done, then comes the sanding, which is going to be a mess, but needs to be done. We both will be glad when this project is over. Then we’ll start on the bedroom. He is a dear helping me like this and I appreciate him more than words can express. My dear husband would be proud and thankful for the ways Todd is helping me.

Ok, here are a few blooms from Plum Cottage gardens.

Here is a critter who visited the other day.

There are a lot more photos but I don’t feel like going through and editing them right now. Maybe another time.

That’s it from PC.

Have a great weekend and remember that God loves you dearly. You are precious to Him.

FlowerLady

Why Jesus Came

Hello Friends ~ I hope you all are enjoying preparing for Easter. I hope and pray that in the hustle and bustle of the holiday you will ponder the real reason behind this holiday.

This is my favorite holiday, it is ‘Resurrection Day’, a day of rejoicing.

I want to share here a devotional from John Piper’s Solid Joys daily devotionals, from 11 Dec. 2017 as to the ‘why’ of both Christmas and Easter. Jesus is God in the flesh, come to set people free, now and for all eternity. All who believe in Him will have life forever with Him. No more pain, no more tears, no more sin/evil, no more death. All will be joy forever, better than we can even imagine.

“Why Jesus Came”

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

This, I think, is my favorite Advent text because I don’t know any other that expresses so clearly the connection between the beginning and the end of Jesus’s earthly life — between the incarnation and crucifixion. These two verses make clear why Jesus came; namely, to die. They would be great to use with an unbelieving friend or family member to walk them step-by-step through your Christian view of Christmas. It might go something like this, a phrase at a time:

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood . . . ”

The term “children” is taken from the previous verse and refers to the spiritual offspring of Christ, the Messiah (see Isaiah 8:18; 53:10). These are also the “children of God” (John 1:12). In other words, in sending Christ, God has the salvation of his “children” especially in view.

It is true that “God so loved the world, that he gave [Jesus]” (John 3:16). But it is also true that God was especially gathering “the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52). God’s design was to offer Christ to the world, and to effect the salvation of his “children” (see 1 Timothy 4:10). You may experience adoption by receiving Christ (John 1:12).

“ . . . he himself likewise partook of the same things [flesh and blood] . . . ”

This means that Christ existed before the incarnation. He was spirit. He was the eternal Word. He was with God and was God (John 1:1; Colossians 2:9). But he took on flesh and blood and clothed his deity with humanity. He became fully man and remained fully God. It is a great mystery in many ways. But it is at the heart of our faith — and what the Bible teaches.

“ . . . that through death . . . ”

The reason he became man was to die. As God pure and simple, he could not die for sinners. But as man he could. His aim was to die. Therefore he had to be born human. He was born to die. Good Friday is the purpose of Christmas. This is what most people today need to hear about the meaning of Christmas.

“ . . . he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil . . . ”

In dying, Christ de-fanged the devil. How? By covering all our sin. This means that Satan has no legitimate grounds to accuse us before God. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33) — on what grounds does he justify? Through the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9).

Satan’s ultimate weapon against us is our own sin. If the death of Jesus takes it away, the chief weapon of the devil — the one mortal weapon that he has — is taken out of his hand. He cannot make a case for our death penalty, because the Judge has acquitted us by the death of his Son!

“ . . . and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

So, we are free from the fear of death. God has justified us. Satan cannot overturn that decree. And God means for our ultimate safety to have an immediate effect on our lives. He means for the happy ending to take away the slavery and fear of the Now.

If we do not need to fear our last and greatest enemy, death, then we do not need to fear anything. We can be free. Free for joy. Free for others.”

I will close with this quote from John Piper.

God is most glorified in us
when we are most satisfied in him.

Have a blessed Easter.

FlowerLady

More garden blooms and some short amateur videos

Good afternoon Friends ~ Hope you are all doing well, are safe, no matter where you are or what your weather is.

I just had some much needed rain earlier. I had seen that rain was coming so went out before it got here and raked up garden debris. It has been so nice these past few days that I’ve been out working in my gardens. Still much to do, but I’m making forward progress and and it feels good.

Yesterday and then again this morning I played around with my LG smartphone to try some videos. Some show the traffic noise from the 4 lane highway out front. The road out front used to be two lanes, a nice country type road, but this area has grown tremendously so roads have been widened and homeowner’s properties shortened, ours by a depth of 25’ across the front, which has most definitely brought traffic much closer. There are quiet times throughout the day as the traffic ebbs and flows depending on what time of day it is.  Links will be at the bottom of this post. Forgive my inadequacy at doing this. I want to be able to either put music to the videos, or just have them silent and voice overs. I need help.

Now here are some blooms from the past week.

Basket plant flowers. These are so sweetly scented. I will try to remember to get a photo where a lot of these are in blooms at the same time. Very easy to grow and spread like crazy.

Here is a swallowtail catterpillar I think, munching down on a Giant Milkweed plant, which is now stripped of all leaves.

A two-toned carpet rose.

Clock vine blooms.

Crepuscule rose, I think.

Pinky-peach salvia greggii. Easy to grow, self sows.

A wonderful ground cover that I can’t remember the name of at the moment. I want to get this growing all over the place.

Amaryllis, blooms about this same time every year.

Peachy-pink carpet roses.

Granada rose in the foreground, has a delicous scent. I plan to paint the aluminum metal work turquoise like the heart to the right hand side of this picture.

International Herald Tribune rose on the first then on the sixth.

Maman Cochet yesterday, I need to see how open she is now.

Orchids from my dear friends Nanci & John.

Spiderwort, a favorite of mine, spreads like crazy, some gardeners call this a weed.

An unkn. tiny orchid.

Vanda Miss Joachim orchid, grows like crazy, break off a piece with roots and put it wherever you want it.

Secret garden, this is what I look out into when I wash dishes.

That’s it for the photo section this time.

Here is a link to a lady gardener/vlogger in Ireland. I had visited her blog quite awhile back, but a friend just found her and sent me the link so I re-visited and she inspires me.

A Cottage In The Woods

Now for the links to my humble, amateur short videos. You can see more if you view full screen.

Front Gardens with traffic

Front Gardens with traffic 2

Mockingbird Singing

Secret Garden

7 March 2018

Ok, that’s it. Time for some lunch. Blogging takes time, from picture taking to editing photos, then writing up a blog, but it is something I truly enjoy.

Enjoy each day you are blessed with.

Spring is coming ~ FlowerLady