Today’s Goodies

 

During the week I saw a sign out for a local indoor flea market just two blocks away. It opened at 8 this morning, I went over around 8:30. It wasn’t as crowded as the last time we went this past January,  I walked around a couple of times, then came home.

I found 2 pair of nice, almost new sandals, a 3 strand necklace of abalone shells, a crocheted shawl, 3 mini frames, 2 are silver plated. I also bought a fresh, homemade loaf of Finnish coffee cake.

These are both tarnished so made me think they were either sterling or silver plate. When I got home and took the backs off, I found no markings, but the underside of the frames were shiny as they have been protected.  I’ll use all three frames for miniature needle works.

There were 130 shells  on the necklace and then two round flat shells as part of the pierced earrings. (I don’t have pierced ears.) Abalone is so pretty.

This is a lined crocheted shawl. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Then I asked the price ~ $3.  I didn’t even try to get a better deal, as it already was a deal. I love it.

Do I look happy?

On the way to work, I stopped at a yard sale.  These pots had $10 each on them, then another sticker saying $5, I asked her how much if I took them all and she said $10. They are good sizes for $2.50 each. Her husband loaded them into the van for me.

They are 17” across x 15”, 16” across x 12”, 15” across x 12 1/2”, and 14” across x 12”. 

She threw in the little one.

I happily went on to work and was content with my finds this morning.

On the way home from work, I was at first going to go one way, but decided to go another way and when I saw this piece below, I knew ‘why’ and I also knew ‘Who’ worked it out that I went that way.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I got this 6’3” x 17”deep x 24” wide piece into my van myself. Some scratches, some prayers, and a thumping heart got it in. Sheesh, that was a bit rough, but I did it and am so happy with my find.  It has three shelves behind the glass door, and two drawers on the bottom.  This will go in my bedroom. It’s very well made and I’ll take better photos once it’s in the room. I will wait for B-I-L to help me with that, when he comes down to work on water pipe. I had a big grin on my face all the way home and thankfulness in my heart to God for this freebie and the rest of the goodies I got this week. I love having the van. I miss my ‘partner in curbside shopping’ though, very much. We would be laughing and thankful for it, just as we always were.  It would have been much easier getting it in the van, and we would have taken a larger piece that was there too. But, alas, there was just lil’ ol’ me and this was the piece that really caught my eye, so all I needed.  I’ve been ‘curbside shopping’ too long to stop now. I do have to be careful though with how big and how heavy things might be.

These three beauties were on the desk from my boss when I went to work yesterday. His tree is loaded and he said there are plenty more.  Avocado bread and guacamole are waiting to be made when these are ripe.  You put them in a brown paper bag to ripen.  Works great.

Time changes back tonight and I’ll surely be messed up for a few days, always happens.

I hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow and a great week.

For what started out to be a pretty ‘down’ beginning of the week, it sure turned into a blessed one.  I am thankful.

Thank you again for all of your kind words, prayers, love and encouragement.

FlowerLady

It’s a new day

Good morning Friends ~ Thank you once again for all of your encouraging words, your prayers, emails, comments. God uses them all in strengthening me to continue on each day in this new journey and I am ever thankful. I also read uplifting books, articles and see movies that I just happen to come across that speak to my heart and soul.

From our widow’s group every month we get a calendar with each lady’s name listed on a day of the month, and we are to remember them in prayer on that day.  It’s a wonderful thing and I’m working on taking photos at the meetings so that we can put names and photos together. Today happens to be my ‘day’ for prayer, and it is nice to know the ladies are praying for me today.  Prayer works wonders.

Yesterday was ‘sr. citizens’ day at both Good Will and Salvation Army thrift stores, so I decided to take a little jaunt to both, I needed to get out to do something different.  I got rid of some books and a bag of stuff also, making my load lighter.

At GW I got two nice shirts, and two lounge/gowns by Cherokee for $10.47. All washed and hung out to dry yesterday in our beautiful weather, which dried quickly. GW discount 25%.

At SA, I bought 2 - 100 % cotton pillow cases,  material for needlework ideas, and a strand of freshwater pearls.  When I saw the strand as a necklace in the case my heart started beating faster, they just grabbed my eye. These are small ones, not perfectly shaped, that fact and their luster gave them away. I asked to see them and the price. $1.99, but with discount $1. There are 276 of these little gems. Spent $6.45, total. A wonderful velvet type material, a sheer fabric with stars, and a beautiful black patterned satin type material. SA discount 50%.

Isn’t this beautiful???

This heart was already a work in progress and set aside, after making the heart with peach roses the day before, I decided to work on this piece again. I added more French knot flowers, tiny purple beads and crocheted the beaded edging.  Actually I even crocheted another beaded edging, but then went back to the first one.  This morning I am crocheting a single crochet row with the purple thread.  I may add some of the fresh water pearls to this, I’ve not decided yet.

You can see the tiny beads used in the circles in this photo below.

Here’s the other edging I crocheted/beaded.

I didn’t like how it looked with the piece after all, so will save it for another piece.

Here’s the heart created the day before.  I love how it turned out. Again I crocheted another beaded edging, and after sewing it on, added Czech crystals to finish it off.

As I was creating the above pieces, I felt my husband and his love and support through the years and even now. I had on peaceful, lovely music, and hummed along at times, which is something he always enjoyed hearing. He took this photo of me below in 2010, in my little space where my computer is and where I create.

Here is the view out my window this morning.

Well, it’s time for some breakfast and to get started on the days’ doings.

Love and hugs to all of you ~ FlowerLady

After…

Good morning Folks ~ This is a new day, the morning after a big crying meltdown last evening.  It is a bright, sunshiny morning, birds are singing and I’ve a soothing you-tube video on my lap top. I came out to the caravan with my second/final cup of coffee for the morning, for a switch of scenery.  This is the last project Mark and I were working on together.  Unfinished so far, as I’ve a bunch of other stuff that I need to work on.  All in good time this will be finished.  It’s a sweet space.  A piece of junk, refurbished and turned into a little happy spot. Once finished, we were going to sleep out here while we worked on the bedroom in the cottage, laying flooring and doing walls, but alas.  We don’t know why things work out the way they do, but my belief is that God knows and He brought me to this place in my life to draw me closer to Him. Mark is with God in a much better place than here. May I be a light to others as to the goodness of God, in our darkest moments.

I cried so much and so hard last night my stomach ached and I just plain ol’ hurt. One of my worst bouts of grief yet. I was going to call Dotti, the founder of our widow’s group, but was just sobbing too much.  I prayed that maybe she would call me, well, she didn’t call me but she emailed me and that was better as I was a sobbing mess.  She emailed me a piece about ‘getting over it’.  Not something we can do or should do.  It was just what I needed. I ended up posting it in our Friends Needing Friends, widow’s blog and you can read the piece here if you wish to.

After a nice shower, and a cup of peppermint/green tea, and taking a St. John’s wort capsule and a Vit. C, and acidophilus I crawled into bed with a book I am re-reading, 'The Widow Directed to the Widow's God', by John Angell James. By lights out, my heart and mind were much calmer and I had a good sleep.  I am thankful for that and this new day and my many blessings.

Here are some photos I took this morning.

Through the door window,

you can see a little garden area I made yesterday with container plants.

Looking east to the clothesline area.

Yesterday I did more weeding in front of this building, you can see it piled up on the driveway runner.  I also hung two iron pieces on the wall, an old wheel above the big wheel, and an old car tire rim next to it on the bottom.  The grass is like straw these days as we’ve not had any rain in weeks now.  I don’t water anything back there except for potted plants and garden beds.

This is looking southwest towards the workshop.

Little container garden.

Mark bought me the shell birdbath a few years ago for my birthday when we stopped at a yard sale.  He got it for $5.

Well, the sun is rising higher, I need to wash and hang out some laundry, eat breakfast and do more puttering.

Whatever you do today, count your blessings, look for the good and beauteous, and enjoy. Ask for strength and peace and healing when you need it.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

What a difference cooler weather makes

 

Good morning Folks ~ It’s not quite 7 a.m., still dark out, and a wonderful 66 degrees.  I turned off the a.c. opened the kitchen door to screened porch and opened a couple of windows to let the fresh, cool air in. Aaaahhh!

Thank you all for your kind comments on my ‘rigged’ arbor.  I hope it will last me a good while.  The next day it was still nice out so I went out first thing in the morning and dug up from the back of main garden, garlic vine

and sandpaper vine,

photo below from anns tropics . com

and put them in two large plastic flower pots filled with organic potting soil that I get cheap from the veggie market. One pot is on either side of the arbor.  I checked them yesterday and neither looks to have wilted from the shock of being dug up.  I’ll have to check later when it gets light out. I’ve never had flowers on my sandpaper vine and hope to now that it’s in better soil. I think I got this as a cutting in a trade a few years back.I look forward to blooms from both of these, and hopefully in the next few months.

Here’s a photo showing both vines, which I tied to the chicken wire. Sandpaper vine on the left and the garlic vine on the right. I want to plant something or other in both pots to fill in the bare dirt, I just had an idea, so I’ll show it later.

After I did the above I weeded and trimmed in front of the back shed and the wonderful shell flowerpots we ‘curbside shopped’ a few years back, 2005 to be exact, and I wrote a post about them in 2009.  May Day Flower Pots

I kept on weeding and trimming as I moved west to the storage building, called the green shed, because that’s the color it used to be.  We both knew what we were talking about when we called it that. This is how it looked in May right after I did some mowing and weed-wacking.

Here’s how it looks now after weeding and moving some of the stacked iron. The tub is full of small stuff and very heavy to move, and the bucket on top of that is the same way. I’ve still a couple more things to move to the iron stack, and a small wheel to hang above the large wheel, and there are a couple of old farm implements that I need to find a place to display too.

I raked up the weeded debris from where my little ol’ Mazda died and sat after DH left this planet, then laid out a tarp to start stacking the iron.  I am going through all the iron, piece by piece, because there are some cool old garden tools, and other artistic bits that I am going to keep.  The rest will go to the scrap yard.

Here are some antique tidbits, which I am keeping.  I think they were for pipes, I’m not sure.  DH would be able to tell you, but I’m clueless. The one in the front had these two turn buttons in the shapes of ‘hearts’, well, they look like hearts to me, so I unscrewed them and brought them in.

Sweet, rusty hearts.

I look forward to puttering more outside this week,

because the cooler weather has sure made a difference

in how much I can accomplish. I feel more alive.

 

Well, that’s it for now.  I hope you all have a nice week.

FlowerLady