Hot, steamy August

Hello Folks, sorry I've not been posting, the summer doldrums have been here for a couple of months now. It is hot and steamy and I just feel like hibernating in the a.c. Thank you to those who have reached out to see how I'm doing. I work outside early mornings when I feel like it, I do grocery shopping, go to church, and am always glad to get back home. I'm a homebody at heart. I have done some crocheting also, but am taking a break from that now as I completed a 31" square comfort blanket over a period of 6 days in between doing other things. My hands and wrist were aching when I finished. Crocheting for hours at a time will do that and I wanted to get this finished and delivered.

 I started this post a few days ago. I've had a hard time with being motivated about doing anything. This past year and a half has been 'off' for so many of us. What I've been going through is nothing compared to what others have had to endure and my heart and prayers go out for them. Now we have this whole  Afghanistan fiasco which is horrible & evil.

Yet through all of this I believe in Jesus, our sovereign God who is with all who believe in Him. I believe he is working through all of the bad to bring about ultimate good. I am looking forward to His coming again, and until then I want to live graciously, thankfully and to be able to help others as I can.

 I've had up and down days, more ups than downs and for that I am thankful for. Thankful to God and thankful to others who have lended a helping hand either physically, monetarily, prayerfully, or with encouragement.

I dream about my dear husband a LOT. Some are of us working together on projects, or just being together doing things, which is always a bummer to wake up from and he's not here. Sometimes I might get a message, which happened a couple of weeks ago. I didn't remember much of the dream, except he was bedridden and I could only remember a little of what he said to me. It was this, "all ye who hope in Christ." In the dream I hugged and kissed him and told him that his sharing things like that with me was just one of the reasons why I love him. I googled that portion of scripture to find out what the rest of it was and it was this. "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."

I love the way Jesus encourages me throughout my widowhood journey. It happens through family and friends, the Bible, devotional readings, music, and his beautiful creation. He is there for any of us, he wants a relationship with us and all we have to do is open our hearts to him. 

For my pulled back muscle, I finally broke down and looked up and found a great little massage center. I went to 90 minutes as I really needed to be kneaded good and long. It's cheaper in the long run and 30 min just wouldn't have been enough, 60 min always leaves me wanting more.  As it was, this wonderful lady who worked on me would have liked to work on me more but she had other clients to see. It was a time of release, release from stress for the past year and a half, bottled up tears flowed and I felt so much better when I left there. A week or so later I received a check and note from a sweet friend who said she wanted to help with my getting a massage. That brought joy, thankfulness and more tears. Our God is awesome.

I still couldn't do much after that treatment, as I had to relax and heal. My friend Wendy came and weedwacked my grassy areas and what a blessing that was!! Afterwards I would walk around smiling, so wonderful to have that taken care of and I didn't have to do it. She did a fantastic job and just whipped around the property. She's done this kind of thing for years. She volunteered to help me and has in so many ways.

I have mowed, trimmed hedges, etc. our whole married life, and enjoy it, but last Dec I tripped and fell and badly sprained my right wrist, then pulling this back muscle put a crimp in my style. I have an electric mower, an electric weedwacker. The heavy 100' cord for using the mower has been harder to deal with but I just take my time. After Wendy had weedwacked she asked me if I ever would use a battery operated mower. I said yes and that I had thought about one but that they were more expensive than the electric. (Gas powered is too noisy, smelly, and harder for me to pull the crank rope to start.) She said she would look into it. Here's how the driveway area looked before.

Here she is hard at work.

After

Then on the 11th of this month she and her husband gifted me with a new battery powered mower. Oh my goodness, what a joy to use, easier on me, quicker too and it works great!!! I've used it twice now, and was going to do it again this morning but it rained.

This year has been filled with so much help, my neighbor having the tree cut down in my property that was near the fencing and dropping a gazillion seed pods on us both, his giving money to help with replacing privacy fencing between our two places. Juvenal coming and working at hauling scrap metal to the scrap yard (he got the proceeds), 18 pick up truck loads, and he did a lot of tree trimming as well. Then Sean and Stan did fencing work, Sean has done major tree trimming with more to do yet. For this I am so thankful, more than words can say.

The temps lately have been awful! In the 90's with it feeling like l04-106 and humidity really thick. It's like being in a sauna. I can't handle being out in that. Today I decided to take a break from working in my overgrown main garden area. The paths were nowhere to be seen, and I have made forward progress, it will get done all in good time.

Now, here are some flowers to enjoy. Crepuscule are the peachy blooms, sweet scent, and the pink one is Miss Atwood.

This is an orchid that just bloomed for the first time. I've had it several years, but recently moved it to a different location.

Fresh bay leaves picked from my bay tree. I bought it for $1 many, many years ago and it was about 6" tall, I had to trim it back as it was over 6 ft and leaning into the walkway. I dried them like this for a few days now they are in a zip lock bag.

 

 

I didn't feel like making pizza crust dough in my bread machine, and used flour tortillas instead. I just might do this all of the time. Fresh picked basil from my plant, cooked Italian sausage,  green olives stuffed with jalapeño peppers, mozzarella cheese, then parmesan sprinkled on top.

This is a night blooming cereus cactus. This is the first bloom since the dead pine that it was growing at the top of, came down in wind. It is supposed to be scented, but I've not  noticed a scent in all of the years that we had it. These pics were taken the morning after it had bloomed so it was on its way to closing up.

Here is a little you-tube slideshow of this orchid that bloomed on our front gate arch Sept. 29, 2012, the last project dear hubby and I worked on together. He went to be with our Great Creator of this bloom, on Dec. 9, 2012.

This is purple sage.

Beautiful sunrise clouds one morning.

 
Friends, Nanci and John gave me gift $ and this is what I bought from Harbor Freight. It came in a box, was pretty heavy and I had to put it together. I thought this would work better for me than a wheel barrow. The front wheels swivel. It took me about 30 minutes or so to put it together.

I will end this photo session with a pic of my Swootie Patootie, Miss Tork. She's snoozing where my feet usually rest. I had several crochet projects going on at once as you can see.

Ok, that's it for now. I pray that you all are doing well, and for those who are not, I pray that you will soon be better whatever you're circumstances are. Call out to God, he hears, and he works. Put your trust in Him, His name is Jesus.

Love, hugs and prayers,

FlowerLady

Summer is here

Hello Folks ~ It is a new day, Friday, I woke up thinking it was Thursday, so I've had to adjust to that. I do hope you are enjoying each new day you are gifted with.

The new little a.c. is working great. A widow friend of mine told me about having a dehumidifier and how it helps keep her house cooler with the a.c. I did some research on them and decided to get one as down here in s.e. FL it is very hot and humid. She told me the brand name of hers and Consumer's Report said it was the most reliable. Of course when you read reviews, you read good and bad and it can be a bit daunting in making that final decision. Using a dehumidifier makes your a.c. not work as hard. Indoor air is fresher also. 

 

So, I ended up getting a small one for this cottage. It is the Keystone KSTAD224D. I bought it on Amazon, used a $5 credit. With this little unit you can either set the humidity level you want, or use the comfort setting and the unit chooses according to the room temp. Humidity level between 35% and 55% is good. Right now mine is at 46%. This one holds 22 pints of water, has auto shut off when the bucket is full. It is on wheels. Size is 20” H x 14” W x 10” D. I turned it off when I went to bed.

UPS delivered this and I heard a thud and then the porch door slam. I put my shoes on and went out there and yelled "Thank you!" The guy yelled back, "You're welcome." Then I heard him say to someone else in the truck, "A butterfly landed on me. A butterfly landed on me and freaked me out." I thought it pretty neat that a butterfly landed on him. 

Well, it is now Sat. morning. The dehumidifier is working just fine. Having less humidity in the air is definitely a good thing.

Now it is the 6th of July. Time is marching right along. Thank you for checking up on me to see if I was ok, since in the last post I shared about the female trespasser. She's not been back, but she's been in my prayers.

I pulled a back muscle by moving a piece of marble from the hallway when the bed was going to be delivered and have had pain since then. This piece of marble is 1/2 inch thick, 49 inches long and 16 1/2 inches wide. I moved it in here by myself and up onto a desk top, but that was 8 1/2 years ago. I slid this on a towel down the hall and leaned it up against the freezer, but someone else will have to move it back outside. I'm definitely not as young or strong as I was back then.

 

 I'm trying to take it easy just doing what is necessary, dishes, change the sheets, no sudden moves if at all possible, not to much bending, etc. I've taken ibuprophen, acetemenaphen, arnica montana, used different creams. This takes time to heal, just as my sprained wrist took time. I thought about finding a massage therapist and googled female ones that would come to your house, and they are all over $100. Yikes!!! 

Then I remembered the epulse neck shoulder massager we bought in 2012 for my dear husband's neck pain. It didn't really help him, and I packed it away, then God called him home in December. Well, I got that out on Saturday, and have used it several times since then. It is good at pummeling those tight muscles that need to be kneaded. I've used on the first two settings and Miss Tork sat on the floor yesterday morning eyes big as she looked at her mommy with this noisy thing on her back.  We had listened to fireworks from 9 until well after midnight the night before, so she wasn't sure about this thing pummeling me.

I've not been following Elsa, but saw yesterday that she had hit Barbados and St. Vincent Island. I checked accu-weather this morning and saw that it was creeping up the west side of Florida. We had some strong wind and heavy rain late yesterday afternoon. It is gray and windy today. The grass is getting higher and higher. Everything else is looking lush and becoming more overgrown. But I am thankful for not being blasted by a hurricane, and that flowers are doing there thing. Lots of butterflies around as well.

Now for some blooms.

Ageratum or blue mist flowers. These are easy growers and spread like crazy.

 

 This is a yellow rain flower. I've only had the pink ones, so this was a pleasant surprise.

This is 'hugs-n-kisses' my favorite hibsicus.

 

 

This is 'Prosperity'.

Alamanda.

Knockout red rose.

I don't remember what the name of this rose is. It is growing up and over the awning and roof of small shed at the back of property. Heavy winds on the 23rd of July blew the bush off so that awning and roof were/are exposed now. I had to get out the clippers and cut it back.

 

Below is a sweet 'carpet rose'.

Next is a pretty pink hibiscus.

 Then we have the lovely Tahitian gardenia. I wish you could smell this!!

Plum Cottage dwellers.

 Here is a quote I came across in the past week or so by Oswald Chambers.

"All of your circumstances are in the hand of God,

so never think it strange 

concerning the circumstances that you are in."

*** 

In the Bible in 1 Thessalonians we read:

 Give thanks in all circumstances; 

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

***

God is always with us. When we put our trust in Him as our Savior, He has promised that we are never alone.

This past Sunday Pastor Jordan have a list of some of the negative thoughts that come our way and Bible verses to refute them. When these negative thoughts come, we need to focus on God's promises. He does not lie.

I feel lost 

 Luke 19:10  "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

I feel alone 

Hebrews 13:5  "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 

Matthew 28:20  "behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I feel anxious 

Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything."

I feel tired

Matthew 11:28-30  "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

I feel condemned 

Romans 8:1  "There is therefor now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

I feel afraid 

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you;" 

1 John 4:18-19 - "There is not fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."

I feel worthless

Matthew 6:26  "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

I don't feel like God cares 

1 Peter 5:7  "cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you"

I don't feel loved 

 John 15:13-14  "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."

***

If you don't know Jesus yet, I pray that you will seek Him, He is waiting to be found. He loves you dearly.

May these scripture verses be encouragement for all and draw us closer to Him.

Thanks for visiting again and your kind comments.

Love, hugs and prayers,

FlowerLady

 

New mattress, new little a.c. much needed rain

Hello Folks ~ Here it is almost the middle of June already. Time is zipping right along. I hope you all are enjoying each day that you are blessed with. 

"When you arise in the morning,

think of what a privilege it is

to be alive...

to breathe,

to think,

to enjoy,

to love."

Marcus Aurelius 

******

Every day is a gift from God. We were created by him. In Acts 17:28a the Bible says:

 For in him we live, 

and move, 

and have our being...

May we be ever mindful of our Creator and Savior. He loves us deeply, more than we realize. One day we will see Him face to face and what a glorious event that will be. As a believer, this gives me much peace for this life and life eternal.

******  

Down here in s.e. FL we finally have gotten some much needed rain. Of course, that liquid sunshine makes everything grow even faster. No rest from gardening in this state, unless you have a gardening crew. There are so many flowers scenting the air, it is wonderful. Sweet almond, blue two lips, thryalis, orange jasmine, other jasmines, roses when there are blooms, begonias (the white angel wing flowers), crepe myrtles (Queen and regular) and I'm sure there are others that I can't think of at the moment.

Thank you all for your comments about mattresses. I went to two different stores in the area, the one where I bought mattress, is Mattress Firm. Even though it was a couple of days after the holiday sale I was given half off on the mattress and on the low profile foundation. I was very pleased with the service, the salesman was nice and helpful. I couldn't afford a new Tempurpedic, which would be my preferred mattress, and he showed me the Sleepys 10" Doze mattress. I have been sleeping so much better. The salesman, Frank, called around to their local warehouses and was able to have the mattress and foundation delivered from Miami the very next day. For a fee, they also carted away the heavy 20 year old Tempur and the foundation. I do recommend this mattress and company, and no they are not compensating me in any way, this is just my own impression/experience.

The morning that they were to deliver, I woke up around 3:30, I couldn't go back to sleep and went out to the kitchen. My big Friedrich's a.c. unit was running and then I heard a click. I looked towards the a.c. and the plug had been tripped. I looked closer and water was dripping AGAIN from the unit. I quickly unplugged it, got the cover off, then proceeded to suck water out of the pan with a turkey baster, as best I could. I noticed a LOT of black mold inside. Oh for Pete's sake! I started looking at small a.c. units on HD's website and they had them on sale for $229. I could have someone install it in the scullery window again and not have to worry about a bigger replacement unit just yet. But, I really needed something to keep this FlowerLady cool, especially sleeping at night.

I texted my friend later in the morning, and he would put the small unit in window for me. He and the mattress delivery guys showed up at the same time. The mattress guys were quick, and Sean had the window unit in soon after. Thank you Sean. While it is only a 6,000 BTU unit, it is keeping this little 675 sq ft cottage cool. I have the setting at eco, auto, and thermostat at 74 for the most part. I've had it going for 11 days now and I'm praying it will last me a good while until I figure out what to do. It's something I am praying about and God will work it all out at the right time. For now I am thankful for this little unit, it is a Toshiba. 

Had a good 'scare' the other evening. I was at the scullery sink, getting ready to fill dishpan with hot sudsy water, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and lo and behold there was a young woman standing there looking in. We freaked each other out. I just pointed at her and ran for my sandals and headed out the kitchen door. I loudly said 'hello' several times as I walked around the property. No answer, and it was dead quiet, didn't feel like anyone was there at all. Still, I was shaking, came in and got my phone and car keys to lock the car, and then walked the property. Nothing, I didn't feel anything. I came in, ate one ready taco that I had fixed, didn't feel like the second one.

I prayed to not be afraid and prayed for the young woman.  When it came time for bed, I claimed the verse in Psalms 4:8 ~ 

I will both
lay me down in peace,
and sleep:
for thou, Lord, only

makest me dwell in safety.

I slept just fine all night.

I went to church the next morning and when I came home, I noticed something that answered the mystery as to 'how' this person had gotten into the property, since it is all fenced off. I had checked breachable spaces in fencing night before but nothing looked disturbed. I have two gates that I unlock to get into property, the small side gate, and then the driveway gates to drive through.

She had climbed the small gate to get in, and in her haste to leave the property, she left behind the clue, almost a full can of energy drink. She is in my thoughts and prayers. I hope the love of Jesus grabbed onto her from being here.

Now for some pictures, no words, as my right wrist is starting to bother me. It's been 6 months since I fell and sprained it. That whole arm aches at times, especially if I use it too much.

Success, I bought and changed out an old leaking spigot. That was so satisfying to have accomplished, even though it was just a small thing. Got a wrench, plumber's tape and did the deed.

Ok, that's it for now. except for a reminder to 'stay hydrated' especially if you are a senior. I need to drink around 80 oz. a day. As a senior, staying hydrated is very important for our overall health and well being.

Love, hugs and prayers,

FlowerLady