April almost gone

Hello Friends ~ Sorry I've not been around, and thanks to those who have checked up on me. I caught a cold just after my bday, took herbal remedies and teas, and also some Nyquil to sleep at night. I still have a bit of a cough and post nasal drip, but I'm much better than I was.

The scrap metal that was around the property is G O N E!! Monday Juvenal took the last load. Since the 15th of February he did 18 trips to the scrap yard and my oh my how much lighter I feel having that 'long time coming' job finished. I've still wood to be cut down to size for pick up and other odds and ends that need to be put out for pick up also, plus raking up all kinds of debris. All in good time.

Juvenal did a fantastic job and was an answer to prayer. After he left yesterday I sat outside feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and was so thankful to God for working everything out. It took a little over 8 years for this to happen, but God worked it out at the right time, helping Juvenal and myself. I am oh so thankful for God's tender care.

Wednesday after ladies Bible study one of my new friends and I talked, and she has felt in her heart to help me with my property clean up, etc. She has worked on a farm, done landscaping and she and her husband have an excavating business. I don't know who is more excited about this joint venture, she or myself, but we both are and she will come over next Wed. after BS to check things out here at Plum Cottage. This is another answer to prayer. I've not met anyone who gardens (in real life) and have wanted someone I could work with here, to help me get a handle on it. When we first met a few weeks back, we clicked. She was a widow, a young one when her husband passed, was single for 15 years, then remarried 16 years ago. We both look forward to getting to know each other better.

The property where scrap was taken from looks a real mess with stuff laying all over the place. But, I feel oh so motivated with having the scrap all gone, and help from this new friend. My friend Sean, trimmed the front hedgerow jasmine a week ago today. It was at least 10 ft tall. He is ready to cut back/cut up other stuff also. He has been a huge help, as I've shared with you before!

So much has happened here in the last few months. I've worked right along with Sean and tree trimming, Sean and Stan with fencing, and Juvenal with clearing scrap. One of these days, I plan to get a post put together of all that has gone on here, before and after photos. Not ready for that just yet. ;-)

Ok, here are some floral candy pics. I know that a lot of you are now able to see your gardens bursting forth in glorious spring delights and I am happy for you.

 

Here is the latest 'found' heart.

 ******

My pastor brought up recently the passage of scripture from Ezekiel 37:1-14 about dead bones coming to life again, which as believers in Jesus, we believe will happen to all who have died believing in Him. It reminded me of a painting my dear husband painted many years ago. (He had met an eccentric, wealthy art collector and this gentleman collected self-portraits of artists to go into a museum where he had them on view. So, this is what my husband came up with to paint. It is of the two of us, I'm holding a cat skull, and hubby has a dog skull and of course there's a replica of a human skull. He also made the picture frame with 4 miniature skulls.)

******

Jesus said to his disciples after his resurrection, in Luke 24:39, 

“Behold my hands and my feet, 

that it is I myself: 

handle me, and see; 

for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." 

Right now, the whole of creation is waiting for the resurrection as it says in, Romans 8:19,

For the earnest expectation of the creature 

waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. KJV

I like how it is put in The Passion Translation, 

The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, 

yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! TPT

 

 

 

If you want to be a resurrected son or daughter of Jesus, our Great Creator, God and King, then I pray that you will call out to him, asking him to be your Savior. We have all sinned and come short of God's glory, but through Jesus' death and resurrection we are assured life eternal, and life abundant here and now. 

In John 10:10 we read Jesus' words, "The thief (Satan the devil) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: 

I am come that they might have life, 

and that they might have it more abundantly.

******

That's it for now. It's time for some breakfast and to go outside to enjoy God's glorious creation.

May your days be filled with love, peace and joy, forgiveness, encouragement and all that you need to live a contented life in Jesus.

 FlowerLady

Have a lovely Easter - Resurrection Sunday

Hello Friends ~ I have to say that Easter is the holiday that makes my heart soar. I love Christmas and what it means, it is when God came down in the flesh as baby Jesus. 

He grew up into the man/God who would give His life for the sins of the whole world, because of His great love for us all. He died a cruel death so that we might have life eternal with him, and also have life here with him as we trust him for our daily living. He didn't just die though, he arose from the dead, conquering death. 

 

On the 21st of this month my pastor gave these 7 verses of Jesus describing who He is in the book of John.

I will share them here.

1. I AM the Bread of Life.  ( John 6:35)

2. I AM the Light of the world  ( John 8:12)

3. I AM the Door  ( John 10:7,9)

4. I AM the Good Shepherd  ( John 10:11,14)

5. I AM the Resurrection and the Life   ( John 11:25-27)

6. I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life  ( John 14:6) 

7. I AM the True Vine  ( John 15:1-6)

I find the verses from the Old Testament that mention God as I AM very comforting and after that sermon with the above verses, I got up around midnight one night because I was sick from a bad cold and read this verse:  

"Fear not, for I AM with you. 

Do not be dismayed. I AM your God. 

I WILL strengthen you; 

I WILL help you; 

I WILL uphold you with my victorious right hand."

 Isaiah 41:10 (TLB)

 

 Jesus is The Great I AM, always loving us, wanting a close relationship with us. 

If you don't know Him yet, my prayer is that you will seek Him, learn of Him, let Him speak to your heart, may you hear His gentle, loving whisper telling you,

 

"Be still, and know that I am God" 

(Psalms 46:10)

~~~

 "Don’t be afraid, for I am with you."

(Isaiah 43:5) 

~~~

 Happy Easter

from

FlowerLady

at Plum Cottage

 

 

 

 

BOOM!!! BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

Hello Folks ~ Thank you all for kind comments, prayers and links to websites that had exercises to help with sciatic pain. I am happy to report that I've not had pain like I did after that Sat of being on my feet for 5 hours helping with the fencing project. I still have twinges now and then, but I think working outside every morning that Juvenal is here is helping to keep me limber. Pain seems to come after I've been sitting or laying down.

Last Monday night, around 9:30 a LOUD explosion freaked me out. I jumped out of bed and looked out windows and didn't see anything. All was quiet, except for my racing heart and mind. I read again a piece from a book I'm reading by Phillip Keller, 'Strength of Soul'. I had read it a week or so back, and needed to read it again, about 'refusing to worry, just trust Jesus'. I calmed down, turned out the light and went back to sleep. Around 1:15a.m. I got up to 'tinkle' and I heard a steady beeping sound. It was coming from my driveway. It was the tree trimmer that the power company uses when they have a power outage because of limbs hitting the power lines.

This company had opened my gate and was backing in my driveway. The explosion I had heard was the transformer that had blown at the back of my property. I wasn't without power, but people to the east of me were. Tree trimmers were here about an hour, driveway ended up being filled with cut limbs. They told me the clean up crew would be there after 8 a.m. Two guys did the clean up having their huge noisy chipper in my driveway. When they were done, instead of raking up all of the small debris like they've done in the past, they 'blew' it with a leaf blower. I now have to go along the driveway and rake and bag it all up. The tree trimming was an answer to prayer as the overhanging limbs in my driveway have been a source of angst for quite some time now.

Below are pics before and now. The first two pics of are how it looked with what I could reach with my pole saw/cutter.

 

 

Below is after Sean did as much cutting back as he could do. The rest was all tangled in lines.

 

 

Below is after the tree trimmers cut limbs from power lies, and then after the clean up.

What a difference!! I wish the neighbors would just cut down that dang hibiscus tree. It grows horribly fast. My dear hubby used to keep up with keeping it cut back from our side, but with him not here now, I've just been doing what I can. The power company has sent out the tree trimmers twice, this was the third time I think. Both the night crew and the day crew said this was an awful tree because of how fast it grows.

Juvenal has carted load after load of scrap iron away from here. He was here again this morning, filled up his truck bed then hauled out brush to the pick up pile. What would have taken me many trips to get out front he did in 4-5. He has been such a blessing to me. He sometimes brings McD's breakfast and coffee. We barely speak each other's language, when I have to say 'more' than I know, I google a translator and that works great. I just copy and paste. ;-) He makes sure I drink plenty of water and rest. He told me the other day that he wants to make this place pretty for me. He and I both say 'Gracias Dios' off and on.

The other day when he was here tears started as I was sitting in an area he was working in. I had to leave the space. He wanted me to be there, cleared a stool for me to sit on, that way I can tell him what he can have and what I might want. When he saw me with tears he told me not to cry, it makes his heart hurt.

What I am showing is 'part of the ugly' of the property. Remember, my hubby has been gone a little over 8 years now, and I've not been near this stuff. I know he is 'glad' that I'm finally getting rid of the 'junk'. God has worked it all out to happen when it has, and for Juvenal and myself. I am oh so thankful!!

The hook laying on the rotting wood floor space is what got to me. My hubby 'hooked' me and the hook just spoke to my heart for some reason. The aluminum piece is a claw of some sort and then there's the wrought iron old light fixture.

Below are some rusty, crusty iron stems, leaves and flowers probably from another light fixture.

Now for some of what's blooming here, there's a lot more, but I'm ready for a nap, so I'll wrap this post up.

Saturday is the first day of spring and also my 72nd bday. A friend has invited me to her place for bday lunch and I am looking forward to that. I'll try to remember to take pics while there.

Thank you all for your friendship, kind and helpful comments and prayers.

May God bless you and keep you safe.

FlowerLady

Thankful, but tired

Hello Folks ~ Here we are into a new week. My heart and prayers go out for all those in TX that have had to deal with historical weather that has done so much damage, and taken lives as well. When you are NOT expecting that kind of weather as normal seasonal patterns it would be shocking and something you're not prepared for. Now there are those dealing with flooding in TN and KY.  Actually, my prayers are for the whole world, landslides, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, etc.

Today, Tuesday, 2 March it is very warm and humid. At 10:57 a.m. EST it is 81 but the real feel is 89. Yikes! I was working outside, but am done for today. I wanted to get a post up sometime today.

Well, I now have a hardworking younger man here clearing the 'junk yard' and taking scrap iron/metal. He has been clearing out overgrowth as well so that I am kept busy with hauling brush out to curbside. He has been here 8 or 9 times now and I can hardly believe how much he has hauled away to the scrap yard. He gets the $$. It isn't much these days for iron, but there has been some aluminum also. I had asked him how much in the beginning and he said no charge, as he is getting the $ from scrap. He speaks a little English and I speak a little Spanish. When I text him. I look up a translation page online to get what I want to say in Spanish. It's working.

Sean was here again last Friday to trim another tree, a strangler fig, which I may have cut down completely one of these days. He got it trimmed before it leafed out with spring growth and birds made any nests. I made a large sheet pizza from scratch, 1/2 with Italian sausage and cheese and the other with pepperoni, artichokes and cheese, what he likes. I baked it, cut it in half, then froze it until he came.

With all of this tree trimming I've had a LOT to haul out front. Each Saturday the brush truck comes around to pick up piles with it's scooper. I wave and give the man a thumbs up. I'm appreciative. I make sure my pile is neat and cut to a good size that is recommended or smaller and bag the small stuff.

I've been exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. Decorative iron pieces have been uncovered which I am keeping. All of this metal makes me think of my dear husband and how he hated to see anything useful going to the dump if he saw it on the side of the road. We sold some, used some. We found good things dumped, not just scrap metal bits. Some things are in this little cottage, some we sold in our antique shop years ago, and other things he used with his antique restoration jobs for us and other antique dealers. 

Now, let me take a break and edit some photos to share here. I'll be back later.

Later is now the 5th, I wrote the above on the 2nd. Juvenal came Monday morning but has taken the rest of the week off as his upper back shoulder area was in pain. I guess so, with all that he has been doing. He will be back next week. I am thankful for the time off, it has given me time to myself, and I puttered yesterday in the 'secret garden', not done but making forward progress.  That is what the property is in right now, a state of forward progress. I will be glad when the fencing, trees being trimmed, and clearing property of overgrowth and metal is over. 

Below are some wrought iron chairs that I kept. ;-)

Well, here it is the 8th, Monday a few minutes after noon. Juvenal was here this morning and worked for around 3 hours, filling his truck bed with more scrap iron and he did some tree trimming and clearing vines off the barn's big awning, which I want to park under once again when everything is cleared out of the space.

Found some more decorative iron pieces that I'm keeping. 

Saturday Sean and Stan were here to take down old fencing, and replacing with the new sections, 4 1/2 of them, so the west side of property is done. I know the neighbors are happy about that. I am thankful for their contributing $$ for the panels. Prices had gone up since the last time I bought fencing and that was quite the shock, I used gift $$ to make up the difference. That fencing job was about 5 hours with maybe 30 minutes for lunch, which Stan got for us at Wendy's which was just up the road. Cheese burgers, fries and cokes. Hit the spot. We were all beat when they left around 2ish. 

This week I made something sweet for the guys to take home, peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip bars. I also gave some to Juvenal this morning. He brought me coffee, a hash brown patty and chicken on a biscuit from McD's.

Saturday evening I was having horrible sciatic pain right rear cheek and down leg. I've not had anything like that before and am pretty sure it is from all of the bending, hauling, and walking cut limbs, etc. out to the street, for the past few weeks, hours at a time. Plus, Saturday I had been on my feet for over 5 hours. I broke down crying and took an ibuprophen, just sat and tried to relax, used a heating pad and a pain cream too. Yesterday morning it was better, and this morning I took an ibu before Juvenal got here.  It's bad when I get up after sitting or laying down for awhile.

I'll share more pics later. I've got to download, edit and sort them.  I'm about ready to go get horizontal for a nap. I have PILES of brush to cut smaller to carry out front and some to cut up and bag. NOT looking forward to it but it needs doing and I'm a grateful FlowerLady. I'll get pictures of the different projects together for different posts for later dates.

With that, I'll close. If you don't see another post for awhile, you'll know why. 

Love, hugs and prayers,

 FlowerLady 

Here's a photo of one of my very favorite flowering plants.

Eranthemum - Blue Sage

I got the original plant from the flea market over 30 years ago. 

It is easy to propagate from cuttings.

Here are a couple more pics of blooms here at Plum Cottage.