Happy Thanksgiving

Walking about the Garden

Midway through November, the weather here in north central Florida has been cloudy for nearly a week with a few bouts of rain tossed in, and for the last few days it's been cold and gray so gray in fact when I step outside I expect to see bare trees and snow flakes but it's Florida so I am ever disappointed.
What I have seen though is some unusual fungi growing in the grass in front of the house, I have only been living in this house since June and I am finding all sorts of interesting things here and there in the yard.

At first I thought is was a large mushroom that I had squashed while walking along with my cane until I saw another one about a foot away from the first.

I supposed I should have zoomed in a bit but I was having a hard enough time holding the phone and cane so it is what it is.  I try to walk around the house a few days a week, daily is out of the question now with the uneven ground even though my knee is improving my footing has not. 

Along the back of the house there is a fallen tree which I'm sure host all manner of insect and little wildlife.  On Friday I noticed these lovely fungi growing I wonder if they will nourish a critter or two. 

I plan to leave the fallen tree and plan to document it's decay, for me there is something sacred in knowing it's feeding the earth beneath it and perhaps housing something within as well. 

The oranges are ripening slowly on the branches and several have fallen without me noticing them until they have half rotted.

Once these are ripe and picked I will trim the branch back it obstructs the entrance to the side of the house.

Moving it out of the way takes care because her 2 inch thorns lethal weapons to say the least.  I imagine those thorns are the reason the birds don't peck into the oranges.

The palm tree in the front of the house needs to have a trim as well not too much just enough to keep

it from sweeping the driveway.  The two lavender plants are doing quite nice filling out a bit and growing taller. 

I really hope that growing them now during the fall and winter will be enough for them to thrive in the spring and summer months, my thinking is once I put them in larger pots during the warmer weather I can move them during the high heat of the day. 

Well that's my garden update for the first half of November.

November Sunday Stitching, Time Change and Greenman Progress

Well November just rolled right up along bringing with it some much cooler weather here in Central Florida and a time change too, this time around it's Fall back and poof just like that we get an extra hour to our day today.  Did you remember to turn back your clocks? This year I actually set the clock on the stove and microwave before bed and waited till morning to set the wall clocks back.

I spent the late afternoon and evening stitching away on the Greenman and I'm happy to say he is now completely stitched.  I still need to wash off the stitch and wash product off today but I am so glad I finished the stitching. This is him just out of the hoop.

I can not begin to tell you how relieved I am to have finished the stitching, my moods have been so off lately when it came to hand embroidering, on the days when my knee was bothering me so much I just couldn't trust my hands to hold the needle or my eyes to see well enough to stay on those lines. I missed the slow steady steps of stitching each day and I could feel my blood pressure increasing with each day I missed stitching, I needed my zen space back and in the end patience and rest paid off in as the pain lessened on my knee to the point where I am able to walk again though I still use the cane for balance. 

Yesterday morning with a bit of chill in the air my thoughts turned to baking a bit of something for breakfast so I pulled out a package of scone mix, preheated the oven and proceeded to mix up a batch of raspberry scones along with some brewed coffee.

Raspberry Scones Mix

ready for the oven

one bowl and a fork to wash

coffee is brewing

baked to perfection

I love the ease of just add water mixes the Sticky Fingers Bakeries scones are ready 16 minutes after you pop them in the oven and they tasted wonderful, light with just a hint of sweetness to them. Clean up was a breeze along with the bowl and fork to wash there was the measuring cup and the baking pan, I used parchment paper instead of greasing the pan and the bottoms browned just right.

Now that the Greenman embroidery is completed I can concentrate on a few Christmas pieces I want to do.  I am hoping to get this  Kathy Schmitz pattern traced later today. As lovely as it looks on the package I don't plan to stitch it in black I will use a few traditional Christmas colors.

Still of the Night by Kathy Schmitz

I am linking my post today to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching the link is here:https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/11/slow-sunday-stitching.html

Stop by and see what other bloggers are slow stitching today.

Happy Halloween Florida Style

Blooms and Books

Goodness she is bursting with blooms of sunshine today, so glad I bought this Hibiscus it was so full of buds, nice treat before the rain comes and knocks off all the flowers.

Made it to the library to pick up some books that were waiting for me, I'm still using the cane but resting the leg as much as possible has made it easier to walk nearly pain free, it's not 100% but doing so much better.

I have had Dear Fahrenheit 451 on my to read list for over a year and finally found it in the fiction section under the authors name it's a non-fiction book, if you don't know where it goes leave it for the library staff to reshelf.  (a pet peeve of mine)

The other book I picked up is A New Kabbalah for Women my friend is reading it and wanted someone to discuss it with so I checked it out today faster then ordering from Amazon and one less book to put on my bookshelves which despite all the donations I made prior to my move and after are still full. I won't tell how many new books I purchased since I moved in ha ha it's less then 10.

The newest issue of Inspirations magazine arrived in the mail today I going to make a cup of tea and start reading it after dinner.

I received an email from Inspirations yesterday informing me my Greenwoman piece is in this weeks What are you Stitching? section of Newsletter #209. Goodness I remember when I sent in the photo after I finished the stitching in June 2018. I was so surprised.

So I opened the email and hit the view online option so I could read the entire Newsletter and there she was staring back at me.   Work on the newest Greenman piece is coming along slowly I did manage to get some of the thin green leaves stitched and this weekend I plan to do more stitching on it.

slowly making progress

The rain finally made an appearance about 4:00p.m. at first it came down light burst and then the skies opened and gave everything a good soaking which saves me the trouble of dragging out the watering can to water the rosemary.  

The first of November is a week away Wow where did October go? Let me go make some tea, put my leg up and rest for a bit.

October is Flying By

It's been a while since I made a blog post I've been nursing the bad knee, just when I think I'm getting better at using the cane my toe hits the tip and all balance is just about lost. I know I need to go back to the Orthopedic Center for the MRI to find the problem, I am waiting on the doctor's office to set up the appointment. In the meantime I now feel the knee cap move when I walk not all the time its like it slips out of place and the leg wants to buckle and the pain keeps me standing.  When the knee pops back into place so to speak I'm fine.

So while I haven't been 100% I do have good days when I can get things done as long as I am using the cane.  I bought a few plants recently, rosemary and lavender and a yellow hibiscus.

The lavender is a personal challenge because I have not been able to grow it in Florida I've tried in the Spring and Summer I'm sure because of the heat and humidity so I decided to try it in the Fall so it has time to establish itself through the winter months, I know it does grow here several people I know have it so I am trying it again.

lavender pot 1

lavender pot 2

The rosemary looks a bit straggly I am hoping the larger pots will be helpful, I always have rosemary in my garden.

rosemary pot 1

rosemary cauldron

I forgot to take a photo of the yellow hibiscus when the flower was open and looking like a little bit of sunshine.

I transplanted the hibiscus into a large planter which shouldn't need to be transplanted until Spring, the rosemary and lavender will probably be potted again in December, though I may plant one of the rosemary and lavender plant in the ground at that point.  It really is hard to say as I am not very steady on my feet and the cane gets in the way.  It took me nearly 3 hours to get everything potted last Sunday morning, the weather was wonderful and the wind chimes were tinkling and the birds were singing the entire time so I may have just slowed down to enjoy the atmosphere.

I haven't done any type of stitching in the last week or so I just haven't wanted to pick up the needle or a hook. I had several books on reserve come in at the library so I did get some reading in.

I finished the Janet Evanovich and Joan Anderson books, midway through Into the Wild and just started Autumn Alibi yesterday.  I am just about caught up on my letter writing and plan to start stitching this weekend.  The mornings here in Florida are much cooler this week and little bits of autumn show here and there.  These trees are usually green Spring and Summer then in the fall they turn yellow and then red.

turning yellow

turning red

a little yellow a bit of red and a chicken

The photos are not that great I snapped the pictures while waiting for a chicken to cross the road, you can just about see it in the bottom of the above photo, there is a brown one running near the tree however  not clear in the photo.

Sunday and Slow Stitching

My mood changed on Saturday afternoon and I had the desire to work on some hand embroidery again so I pulled out the Greenman to do some slow stitching which I will continue to work on today.

I did the eyes, the leaf over the nose and those thin leaves below the eyes, I have moved the hoop since the photo was taken and will work on the other side to finish the thin leaves.  I am linking up to Kathy Quilts today here is the link to check out what other bloggers are slow stitching today
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/10/slow-sunday-stitching-retreat-report.html

I'm Still Here

Yes I'm still here not doing much stitching right now just a bit more on the greenman, after losing July and August to my knee and the nasty viral infection I finally have some energy and have been unpacking the rest of my boxes from my move.

It is frustrating to say the least not getting things done when you want when illness strikes even a nuisance illness like bronchitis, viral infections etc. They just knock you out.  I am happy to say I am just about through unpacking boxes and happier to say I have 4 more bags of clothing to donate and I loaded them in my car first thing this morning.  One bag is full of shoes that are practically new I just can't wear them now with my knee being so unpredictable I never know when it will act up so shoes with a heel even a low heel make me feel unsteady when I wear them.  I'm sure someone will get good use from them.  I'm using my can again for balance and support I just don't trust my leg not to go out from under me.  Yesterday I was shopping and left my cane in the car feeling quite steady then just when I was getting ready to leave that horrible feeling of someone sweeping my leg (martial arts term) from behind came, lucky I was hanging onto the shopping cart or down I would have gone. 

On Monday I attended an essential oils class where we made Autumn blends of oils for the make and take projects.

I made a room spray and the mason jar with pine cones and felt leaves to drop the oil onto, the aroma is quite pleasant I chose the Spiced Cider recipe which is:
4 drops of Orange oil
3 drops of Ginger
3 drops of Cinnamon
That little brown bottle above is the Spiced Cider blend, this photo is the mason jar up close, I had to rearrange the pine cones after the drive home, the jar kept rolling back and forth on the seat.

Before I forget I have to post this beautiful orange that fell from my tree yesterday morning, it is the

only ripened fruit so far and oddly enough not a grapefruit which is what was hanging on the tree when I first moved in late May, and I confirmed when it fell to the ground. So either someone grafted and orange and grapefruit tree together or it was purchased that way, I have seen multi citrus trees for sale in several nurseries.

Either way time will tell in a few weeks, the fruits are still mostly green but have filled out and no longer resemble limes.

I cut the orange in half and left it out for the butterflies and other creatures to enjoy.  It smelled wonderful.