50 years and new fencing

Greetings Folks ~ here it is the first day of summer. This year sure is zipping right along. It is 50 years ago this month that my dear husband and I moved into this little 50's cottage. Hubby had served his 4 years in the US Navy, we traveled to 9 countries by Eurail, with our backpacks, cameras, canteens and guide books for almost 60 days, before coming home to this little place.

The road out front used to be two lanes, then imminent domain came along taking another 15 ft into the front of our property. They already had a 10 ft easement. We did have 1/3 of an acre, now we have 1/4.  This is basically how it looked when we moved in here. Hubby's grandparents bought this place in the mid 60's, they bought it with him in mind. We came here in 1973 and bought the little place from their estate. They had both passed on before we came home.

 I just went out and took measurements. From the front of little porch overhang out to the sidewalk is roughly 21'. Then there's the 3' sidewalk and the 5 lane busy road. Very noisy especially at certain times of the day. Traffic is lighter during the summer as the 'snowbirds' have gone back up north.

We are all hedged in across the front now, have been for years, plus there is privacy fencing on the other sides. When we moved in, all of the neighbors were using our property like it was theirs.

A lot has changed in 50 years. When I say that I've lived here that amount of time, I am amazed. I was just 24, now I'm 74. There have been ups and downs here, joys and sorrows, laughter, we enjoyed working together as we were self-employed and did different things. We worked together building a workshop, a polebarn and a storage building, all with permits. I grow flowers, hubby did a lot of hardscaping. We've gone through hurricanes. The saddest and hardest thing I've dealt with is that my dear husband/best friend went to be with his Creator, our Savior and God, Jesus, 10 1/2 years ago now. Oh how I miss him every single day. God is seeing me through this widowhood journey though and I am so thankful for His many blessings big and small.  Every day is a gift.

Last year I received a totally unexpected monetary gift which has allowed me to get a new washing machine, a new ac, and a few other things, plus pay taxes. I've been able to get started on replacing privacy fencing, the first part is along the driveway. Over the past few years that fencing has been falling down more and more. It is probably at least 30 years old. (Fencing on three other sides was paid for mostly by those three neighbors, Sean and Stan did labor on two sides, and the third side was replaced and done by someone that neighbor hired.  There is still the fencing along the back of the property to replace, but not at this time.)

 I have a Christian brother/friend, Sean, who has helped me quite a bit the past 3-4 years, with other fencing, cutting back trees, etc. Well, he is now helping with putting up this new fencing.  I ordered the fencing, the three young pastors from my church, picked it up and stacked it here at the back of the driveway.  That way when Sean is able to work here he can just come and we can get started. We've worked two mornings a week or two apart, for roughly 7 1/2 hours, getting up 4 6'x8' sections.  What a job, cutting roots, tree limbs, vines, digging holes, hauling fencing.leveling, etc. What a difference in how it looks and feels here. Another answered prayer, a burden lifted. I am so grateful to Sean for his help. He is 61 to my 74. I'm thankful I'm still able to work at helping even though it is getting harder and I move slower. This weekend we are hoping another friend will be able to come, then I won't have to work so hard. ;-)

Views of old fencing. Neighbor's trees that I keep having to keep cut back. It grows very fast, hangs over driveway and grows up into the power lines. Every now and then then power company comes along and cuts them back.

 

 

 

View from scullery window. The purple flowering tree on this side of the driveway is a Queen Crepe myrtle. A real beauty.

 

 

In the picture below, the huge tree base to the left of post in the middle was a real pain. Sean had to cut roots it in order to dig a hole for new post. We couldn't cut away the base of tree, way too much work, so at that point in the fencing it bumps out a bit. Hardly noticeable in the overall scheme of things, but it was frustrating to say the least as we/I wanted it to look 'perfect'. Sometimes we just have to work around things.

 

This work was started on the 10th of June. He took down the old fencing, cutting it into manageable sections and I carried it out front to be picked up.  Look at these tangled woods.

 

 

This is Sean. 

What you don't see here, is us having to get sections of fencing from behind Sean's truck down to this area. No pictures of that. Below, getting first section in place.

First two sections up. Yay!!! Forward progress.

The next day, I put these two wrought iron hearts that had been cut from two antique ice cream chairs no longer usable as chairs. That space on fencing needed something to go between those two darker fence slats. From these two sections of fencing you can see that they were made with whatever slats could be used. The pandemic caused so many shortages, and prices to go up and up. You take what you get and it will end up weathered in the end anyway.

New look through the scullery window, what a difference!

Now on to the next two sections on the 19th, giving a total of 4 new sections of fencing. We are moving right along.

You can see that I had more foliage to be cut away before the next two sections can go up.

 View now from the scullery window. The round piece leaning on the fencing is another iron piece with hearts. ;-)

 

 

I made a start the next day on digging up plants. There is another section of roots from a different tree from the neighbor's side that we are going to have to deal with as the roots are up and showing on my side.

 

 

 

Below you can see an upright piece of wood to the left and one beside the green barrier (to keep critters from coming through), these mark where the next two sections will go more or less. This work should happen tomorrow, depending on the weather.

We worked 3 hrs and 40 minutes roughly each of the two mornings we worked on this,. 9-12:40. In the shade for the most part. We were pooped and hot and sweaty. Drank electrolytes and plenty of water. The heat and humidity have been awful, although not as bad as some people in TX are having it. This morning, Friday, it is cloudy, it is 90 and the real feel is at 100, humidity at 68%, wind 5 mph from the se.

I didn't feel like working outside this morning. I started this post yesterday, but with getting bogged down from working with this photo editing program I stopped. This morning I'm better at it and glad to be able to wrap this post up.

 I am thankful for this new day, a gift from my heavenly Father. I have much to be thankful for. This cottage is small, 675 sq ft, quirky, not modern, but it is paid for. I have running hot and cold water, a comfortable bed, food to eat, a stove/oven to cook with, gardens with flowers, butterflies, bees, birds. I've seen a few you-tube videos lately of people living in their houses of corrugated tin and other materials, not just for a single person, but families. The women hauling water, feeding farm animals, cooking over fires, raising children, running little businesses, whatever they to live their lives. They dress in their colorful clothing, there are smiles and laughter and they keep on living, one day at a time.

Jesus gives me the strength needed for each new day. My hope is in Him. He is my Savior, He is  Almighty God, Creator of all things, He is the Prince of Peace, He is my Provider, Healer, my Defense. One day He will make all things new, evil will be no more, and there will be no more sickness or death, all tears will be wiped away. Amen.

He desires a relationship with each and every person. He is the only One who can satisfy our longings. If you don't yet know Him, seek Him, He will come to you.

~~~~~~~

That's it for now from Plum Cottage.

Have a great weekend. Be kind, be thankful.

FlowerLady

 

Musings in May

Greetings Friends ~ Here it is almost the middle of May. I do believe the last of our cool weather is gone. We were blessed with some lovely late cool temps, such a blessing. Summer's heat and humidity is starting to settle in now. I am thankful for my new room ac which is working just fine. If you want to check it out you can find it here. at Home Depot and I am not receiving anything for this little ditty about how great I think it is. ;-)

Easter has come and gone. Our church's Resurrection service was wonderful, the adult and children's choir did a fantastic job. I had a nice piece of lamb about 1 1/2 inches thick by 8 inches around, fixed in the crockpot with herbs, garlic, mustard and wine. It came out delicious and tender, fixed it the day before. Had mashed potatoes, LeSeur Peas, asparagus vinaigrette and a glass of merlot in remembrance of Jesus and His great gift to us. He gave His life so that we'd be set free from sin and death. He paid all of our debt. For dessert I had a slice of Key Lime pie.

A week or so after Easter,  ladies of the church were invited to a sunrise service at the beach. It was wonderful!! It was the first time I've been to the beach in years and years, (I only live 3 miles away from it), since before my dear husband left this planet to be with God. It was so nice to sit with my feet in the sand, to feel the breezes, to view the ocean, look at the clouds in the sky and see the sunrise finally, the seagulls flying around and walking the beach were a nice beachy note, and then I enjoyed our devotional and singing time. All just what FlowerLady needed. Someone in our church owns a limousine business so we ladies were treated to a ride to and from the beach in a huge black limo bus. It was really neat!

Above is our music minister and his wife. (They've been a big help to me these past two years, with love, prayers, help and encouragement. They have an adorable baby girl.)

 We kept waiting for the sunrise to happen but there were too many clouds for us to see the actual happening. We had to wait awhile for the beauty of the sun peeking out from the clouds.

 My feet enjoying the cool, damp sand. As I walked down the beach looking for shells I remembered how hard it is to walk in beach sand. My legs got quite the work out.

Shells below, as I found them from left to right. My little treasures for the day. No hearts to be found, but my heart was happy none the less with these gifts from God. The second photo shows the two end shells turned over to see the other side.

 

 

 

Flyer folded to fit into my fanny pack hence the creases.

Ok, I think I'll end this post now. I was rejuvenated after our beach sunrise service. A blessing.

May you all have a wonderful weekend.

FlowerLady 

Overgrown, cleared out, rediscovered

Good morning Folks ~ Here it is nearly a month since my last post. Time seems to be passing so quickly. I've been able to tackle the back of my main garden. The jasmine vine that is back there took over. What a mess!! About 6 feet out from the fence, encroaching on paths. I can usually work out there a couple of hours in the mornings. 

We've been having some nice cooler weather, we've gotten some much needed rain. The rain in Ft. Lauderdale, south of me, caused flooding of homes and businesses. 2 feet of water. This was a couple of weeks ago. Since gasoline comes into the area via ships, and trucks take the gas from the port to gas stations, because of the flooding it wasn't possible and gas at stations became unavailable. What a shock!!! I was finally able to get gas Sunday. What a relief that was! We don't realize how much things mean in our lives until we can't get them or don't have them anymore.

Sunday a week ago we had horrific thunderstorm activity here with heavy rains, we got almost 3 inches in 24 hours. There had even been tornado warnings that thankfully I hadn't seen. Was glad when the storm vacated the area. I was able to mow Saturday and it's a good thing I did as we've had more rain each day since then, more on the way. We were really dry here so this rain has been a blessing for watering my gardens and refilling the water table down here.

Below are some pictures of the jasmine before and after.

Starting to unearth pots, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Beveled mirror is a section from a wall hanging made up of several of these in various sizes. We found the mirror many years ago. I've been separating the individual pieces from the backing. This one I had attached to the fencing. It slid down some time during the last few years but didn't break.

When I changed my position a little I noticed the lady's reflection in the beveled mirror. This touched my heart for some reason. i think it is the look on her face.

 

What a surprise to see her face reflected three times in the mirror, because of the beveled edges.

 

Part of the old, old dead portion of vine stem.

Finding this lady again after years of neglect, hidden under the overgrown vine made me think of myself, burdened down by life. First by God's calling my dear husband home in 2012, losing the job I'd had for 17 years, 2 1/2 years later, (because of boss closing business and  moving across the state), then covid happened 3 years ago. The whole world found out what it's like to be sequestered, on lock down, no physical contact with others.

I watched a lot of uplifting msgs, and music on you tube, read my Bible and other uplifting books. All of this kept me growing in faith. I googled churches in this area, after the one I had been going to closed down and was not opening back up any time soon. I found the one I've been going to for the last two years, and have found my 'church family'.  I have a wonderful group of ladies that meet on Wednesday mornings for prayer and a Bible study. That has been a huge blessing also.

Will share an uplifting song that came my way in the past couple of days. Jesus has been my strength. Life without Him would be desperate and bleak. Thank you Jesus for Your promise to never leave or forsake us.

 
Thank you for visiting, for your encouraging words, for love and prayers. They/you mean more than words can say.

Love, hugs and prayers,

FlowerLady

Work in progress

Good morning Folks, here we have the gift of another day.  Right now it is 81 but with the humidity the real feel temp is 98. I was out earlier working in my main garden. I have a jasmine vine that was like Jack's beanstalk, growing, twisting and taking over everything. I work outside 1-2 hours in the mornings when I feel like it and the weather permits. Every little bit done makes a difference even though I feel like I'm hardly getting anywhere. There is still so much to do for clean up, deweeding, etc in this main garden, all in good time. I want to move potted plants to the area, maybe get some planted into the ground.

I made a short little video, nothing fancy, just raw footage. It is amazing what 'real' you tubers can do with their videos with all of the editing and adding music, etc. That is a lot of work and some of it is absolutely beautiful!! I don't have a video editing program. I just did a quick google search and saw that there is a free 'Open Shot' program that I'm going to look into. It would be fun to make 'nice' little videos. 

Here is the video. I'll do another post with still pictures of this project. I just downloaded them and have to edit them before making a post. That will take some time.

 That's it for now. Enjoy your day and be thankful.

FlowerLady

 P.S. I ordered  from Amazon a sunhat dark gray UPF 50+. Foldable and washable. Has a nice mesh section to let breezes in. I read that the dark colors were found to be better for UPF according to a study done in Spain, I think is what I remember reading. The hat fits nicely. There is a cord to tighten it around your head, then there is the chin strap to keep hat on during wind.

Sunglasses are also from Amazon. A friend had these on one day and I tried them They go over your prescription glasses or you can wear them normally as you would any sunglasses. These are GREAT!!  UV protected and polarized.

I've been using now for a couple of years a good electrolyte powder to mix with water. Gatoraid has nothing beneficial in it so I googled and found this one from Key Nutrients. I drink this on days that I work outside. It tastes great and I feel good using it.

I'm not sponsored by any of these companies. This is just my personal little review. Summer is coming and these will be a great help for FlowerLady. ;-)

Bye.