Good morning Folks ~ low when I got up this morning 44 and real feel was 38. The sun is shining brightly in a big blue sky, first time since last Sunday when Sarah and I went to the orchid show.
Now, here's the final post of beautiful orchids from this show.
Well, as Bugs Bunny used to say,
"The bea, the bea, the bea,
that's all folks."
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Enjoy your weekend.
FlowerLady
Good morning ~ this morning is colder than yesterday, it was 49 real feel 41 @ 8 this morning, tomorrow it is to be colder. I finally had to get out my old radiant heater which we found dumped roadside probably between 40-45 years ago. It heats up this little space nicely. It has 10 numbers and we've always used it no higher than 4. I am thankful for it. It's not pretty, but it works and it was free.
Now for some more orchid 'eye-candy'. Enjoy.
As I was editing the next photo my heart was moved almost to tears while listening to a you tube video of Ennio Morricone's symphonies from cinema. The song La Califfa started playing as I was editing. It has to do with perseverance. My God helps me to persevere, as does His lovely creation. This video is filled with lovely instrumental music. My dear husband and I loved Ennio's music in the spaghetti westerns we saw in the early 70's while living in Spain, while he was in the US Navy. I think our favorite was 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'.
This one makes looks like it's made of velvet.
That's it for now. I need a break from editing/working on this post.
I need to get up and 'do something' physical, instead of sitting in this chair.
Neck aches, right hand aches & something else aches from sitting too long. ;-)
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Enjoy your day/night wherever you are and remember God loves you.
FlowerLady
Hi Folks, My goodness, this month is zipping right along. We are having some chilly weather down here in zone 10 s.e. FL. It started Monday with light rain and has drizzled off and on through earlier this morning. More 'liquid sunshine' is to happen around 11-12 today then no rain is predicted for the next 9 days. Low temps in the 40's for the next two nights. Highs have been around 60. Some areas could see frost this weekend.
Sunday a new sweet young friend, Sarah, and I went to an orchid show in Miami, her treat. It was a respite from every day life and stresses for me. We took the turnpike, traffic was not bad because it was Sunday morning, coming back was a little busier. I don't travel very far from home, so this was truly an adventure, about an hour's drive. It was a sunshiny day, lots of clouds, and warm, around 80. On the way I saw the iconic Hard Rock guitar hotel. Amazing.
There was a very long line and slow moving traffic when we got near the expo center, but we talked and laughed about people cutting in line, truly amazing how they feel no shame in doing that. We were directed to a very nice spot, close to entry of show. A blessing for our patience? ;-)
I only got two pictures of the people and booths set up. There was just too much going on, LOTS of people around all of the orchid sellers booths. Thousands of beautiful orchids in every shape, size, color imaginable. Exciting and wonderful!! It was the last day of the show so buyers were filling carts and their arms were filled with bags of beauty. My focus was on taking pictures of orchids along with lots of others with their phones or wonderful SLR cameras. I'm an amateur photographer with my phone.
Now here come the orchids. I just took the ones that were part of the main display for the competition. Didn't take any of orchids at the booths. It was almost overwhelming.
I will probably do this in three parts so as not to overload everyone, and run myself ragged doing the editing and uploading.
I don't know any of the names or types of orchids. Some have tags. I didn't do so well on taking pics of some of them. Sorry.
That is all for now, there are about 40 more pictures. ;-)
I am so thankful to God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Jesus our Great Creator,
who created all of these beautiful orchids.
For inspiring man to hybridize adding more beauty into this world.
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In the Bible we read:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."
Genesis 1:11-12
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Then we have these words by Francis Bacon:
"GOD ALMIGHTY first planted a garden.
And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.
It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man..."
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His words set creation in motion and His beautiful creation speaks to our hearts.
God's words refresh our souls,
and draw us close to Him
when we open our hearts to Him.
In these troubling times where negativity reigns in the media,
for our health and well-being,
we need to be out enjoying the beauty all around us.
There is beauty everywhere we only need to stop and look.
Even in starkness, there is beauty.
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Enjoy the rest of your week
and
thanks for visiting.
FlowerLady
Greetings from Plum Cottage this first day of January 2025. I hope you all had safe holidays and pray that 2025 will be a blessed year for you.
The fireworks were not as bad as I expected last night and really only lasted about 30-45 minutes before all was quiet once again. In years past, fireworks have lasted till around 2 am. I did see some wonderful sparkly colors happening out my scullery window and they made up for all of the noise.
The header photo is of the garlic vine covering my wash house. There is also Hamelia patens, bougainvillea, Alamo vine, and a couple other vines I can't think of the names of at the moment. The garlic vine blooms several times a year and it is not the flowers that smell of garlic, but the leaves when you brush up against or crush them. I've had this vine for many, many years. I love it. Except it does grow pretty fast.
Here are a couple of pictures taken in August 2023 when it all got a hair cut.
Here's the way it looks now from inside the secret garden.
This is taken from the driveway.
Here is a closeup of these beautiful flowers.
Here is a link from Hot Tropicals with info about this vine. I live in zone 10a s.e. FL. Garlic Vine
Well, that's it for this first day of 2025. I saw a hummingbird today, lots of butterflies flitting about, and I received an invitation from a new young friend, to go to an orchid festival on the 19th, which I am looking forward to. Being able to see clearly all of the wonderful colors will be absolutely wonderful. I am excited.
During the holidays I watched a wonderful movie 'A Cinderella Christmas Ball'. I want to watch it again, it was really good. I will close this post with a line from the movie.
"Every day is a gift from God
wrapped in new paper."
Let's be thankful and enjoy each new day that we are blessed with.
Have a blessed 2025.
FlowerLady
