God of Wonders

Did anyone notice the sunset on Thursday? Well, I did but only because my Thursday morning shower plans fell through. Yup that means we are still out of water. Anyway, I got busy during the day with various household tasks and as it got closer to scheduled events like dinner and choir I realized I needed to clean up. I went to my nieces, next door to shower. As I was getting out of my car, I noticed Sydney (who is 4), my great niece come running out of the house to greeted me in her bare feet very excited to see me and yelling "I have something for you!" :) so we went into the house and she gave me a card that she made along with a small tin with 4 pennies in it. She said I could spend it anywhere and that I could get more money the next time I came over. I raved about her card and the fact that she was learning to write some letters of the alphabet. I also received a card from Paige who is 2 with her drawings on it and some heart stamps on the front cover. They wanted to see all the things I had in my bag, so I showed them my soaps, creams, towels, clothes and especially my WITCH socks which I was sure to show them with some cackling. Now to get to the sunset.

As I was headed home I of course stop at the end of the driveway to check for oncoming traffic. I looked left and I saw the most beautiful colors in the western sky. I just sat there looking, enjoying the moment.









I however, was headed in the opposite direction so I turned right and high in the sky saw this large bright moon.

I wanted to stop again and just sit there but I was running out of time. I still had to dry my hair, make dinner and get to practice....ON TIME!!! Being on time for anything appears to be a challenge for me. Especially since the surgery, only events from the surgery are what has been holding me up most recently. I have prayed for help in this area and look at what I get :-)! I couldn't help myself. I sped up the driveway and ran into the house to get my camera. I didn't think my pictures would do justice to this peaceful, serene, holy moment but I did it anyway, keeping in mind that I would receive a stern talking to for being late yet again for choir practice.

Thank you God for all my senses especially the gift of Sight. Thank you for the gift of Family and Friends that generously share their homes and water. Thank you for the smiles, laughter, curiousity and innocents of precious children. May we all strive to be as trusting of You. Watch over us Lord, guide our footsteps, increase our faith and keep us safe from evil. Amen.

Friend or Foe...Anybody Know?

Houston we have a problem!!!

Can anyone identify this bug? We seem to have a slight infestation of them outside. I've only noticed them around the deck so far. Haven't checked any further yet...not sure I want to.

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Souvenir from the Cape

I bought a small oval serving platter and also snitched a stem of seed pods from someones garden :). I have no idea what they are and I don't even remember what it looked like however I must have liked it or I wouldn't have taken the seeds. Of course I also just like the idea of seeing if I can be successful at growing things so that could be the reason for my pilfering as well. I will probably wait until late winter to get them started and we will see what happens. Here is a picture of the seed pods. Look familiar? Remember for a closer look clicking on the picture. I just found this in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing the day we were walking through the town of Wellfleet. Forgot I had picked it.

Morning Glow

This is a little late in coming due to problems getting on the internet. . . . .again. Anyway, Friday morning I woke up to a glowing pink haze. It was just beautiful so I opened the sliding glass doors to the deck to check out the temperature. Gorgeous, warm, breezy,balmy and pink. I decided to just sit in God's glory for a while and enjoy all the fall colors. The sitting didn't last long. I went inside, got my camera, slipped on my garden rubbers and headed to the woods for a morning hike in my pj's since I didn't have to report to work :). Most of my hikes are lacking in wild life and today was no different. The only things I ran into were some webs. As I walked along the trail I noticed a large black spot in the distance (not on the trail of course). Curiosity getting the better of me, I altered my course and headed for the unknown, through the webs, thorny weeds, poison ivy, spongy moss covered logs, etc. Here are a few pic's of my hike and discovery. Everyone have a wonderful, peaceful day.

This tree is huge. The trunk is close to two feet across. I later climbed on it attempting to shimmy up as far as I could however my fear of heights and what I think were raccoon droppings prevented me from getting far. Plus I didn't think it would be a smart move considering I could end up out of work for and extended period of time should anything unfortunate happen. :\

About the Plant and it's Identification

Okay, Finally.........I got a comment regarding Mary's plant.

Bonfire and Hard Cider

Now that I am back to work I have less time in the garden. Of course it is time to put the garden to rest for the winter months. I am still in the process of digging up some tubers. I have decided to wait until a frost before getting the last few. In the mean time I have been doing a little hiking in the woods. I have not had a "Fright Night" in the back in 3 years. I was hoping to do it this year but considering the state of our water table, I don't think it would be wise. However, back to the hiking in the woods...that area where we usually have our bonfire and goodies is a mess with a few trees down, branches all over, the Tepee has seen better days and some of the benches are broken due to fallen trees. I am planning to get back there and do some cleaning. Basically, make a fire and clean up the area. I have a jug of apple cider that has been in my garage for 2 years (since my b-day party that the family gave me). I am wondering what that stuff tastes like. Take a walk on the wild side! Any takers for a hike, some woods clean-up, toasted marshmallows and a wee taste of moonshine :)?

Cape Cod etc.

Well, we had a wonderful time in Cape Cod with Dave's cousin Barbara and her husband John. About half way to the Cape I realized I forgot my camera so I have no pictures :(. Believe it or not, John had never heard of Freecell so I checked out his laptop to see if he had it. It was there but not in the "GAMES" file. He is now OBSESSED :)! It was chilly and damp, rainy at times and sunny at times. We did a little walking on the beach and then some walking in the town of Wellfleet. We ate out a lot and ate plenty of seafood. Barbara bought whole lobsters for our last dinner there. YUP we each had our own lobster. That was a first for me...delicious.

There was a wood burning stove in our cabin so we stopped to buy some firewood to have a nice warm cozy fire since it was chilly. I did spend some time gathering stones off the beach. I was kind of surprised there were very few shells. However, the stones were beautiful so of course I gathered up a bunch of them brainstorming as I gathered as to what I would be doing with them. I also found a beautiful flat stone that I brought home to add to my stepping stone garden collection.

I am in the process of digging, labeling and storing all my tender bulbs (calla lilies, dahlia's, and canna's). I have decided to dig up my geraniums this year and replant them in the spring....that is if they survive the winter. I read in my Garden Gate magazine that you should dig them, shake all the dirt off them, place them in a shady spot to dry and then store them upside down in a box. I am a little leery of that idea...upside down? The roots are up in the air getting dried out. It doesn't sound right to me so I am going to do some that way and then some my way which is in the box with some peat moss covering the roots. I have never done this before so we shall see if one way works better than another. Anyone have any experience with storing their geraniums? Any advice? I decided that geraniums hold up GREAT in a drought so I will be sure they are plentiful in my garden next year.

FYI - We are still without water. I was hoping we would have water upon our return from the Cape but....NO! We still have no water. All we can do is make the best of a bad situation. We are going to wait a little longer before we decide on any other action. We can decide to drill the existing well deeper and chance getting sulphur water or rent a huge 1800 gallon tank and have it pumped into the house. We haven't looked into either yet so cost could be the determining factor. For now we are hauling gallon jugs for washing dishes and drinking and catching rain water whenever it rains for flushing.

Heading to the Cape

We are heading to Cape Cod tomorrow morning (Monday). Dave's cousin has invited us for the week. We will be staying only 3 nights and head home on Thursday. At least that is the plan. We are recuperating and thought we should make it a short trip since some of us have to work for a living :)! I may need the rest of the week to kick back and relax before returning to work on Monday. Yeah, like I will really sit back and do nothing :)!

We have never been to the Cape and are looking forward to spending some time with Barbara and John.

Everyone have a wonderful week and pray for rain...even if you don't want it. :) It would certainly be an unforgettable welcome home gift to find running water in our faucets, showers and toilets!!!

Things to do Today

I have been trying to get some gardening done in preparation for winter. That requires digging up some bulbs and plants if I want to have them for next year. All those Amaryllis bulbs I bought at Christmas time last year, I planted them in the garden. Those I dug up last week, Giant Calla Lilies I also dug up last week. I still have a different variety of calla lilies, canna, and daliah's to dig and store for the winter. I am also going to dig and store the roots of my geraniums. Geraniums are great! They are drought tolerant and have large bright flowers that add lots of color all through the summer. I have a tendency to plant most of my flowering plants in the back yard where I spend most of my time and then wonder why the front has so little color. DUH! Next year, lots of geraniums in the front along with more sedums, asters and any other drought tolerant plants to my liking.

Yes, the drought continues. We still have very little water and continue to borrow bathrooms from patient and understand friends and haul in gallon jugs of water for just about everything except flushing toilets. We have been able to coral enough rain water for that. No water puts a damper on many things. Like second thoughts about baking, why? You need water to clean up. Second thoughts on yard work...you need more than water. After using the mower, weed eater, chain saw (yup, I did get that out yesterday but only to cut a few things that were bothering me), broom (yes, brooms outside stir up quite a bit of dust) you really need a shower which means begging someone once again for the use of shower stall.

I am hoping to dig up all the calla lilies today, mow the lawn and use the weed eater although I'm not sure if I will be able to do much with the weed eater. I'll be limiting that to a few minutes at a time. Well, time for breakfast and then to work or I'll never get anything done.

Everyone have a wonderful fall day.

Back to Work

Hey Everyone,

I returned to work this week. Believe it or not, it was good to be back. The girls did a super job of keeping my work up to date although you wouldn't believe it by the looks of my desk :)! They had a rainbow of "Welcome Back Jo Jo" signs up everywhere. Red Roses in a vase with a Welcome Back helium balloon attached. I lifted the roses to remove them from the cellophane wrapping and wondered why they wouldn't think to keep my roses alive with a little water? I'm thinking to myself...Duh, girls, you're slippin' . . .helloooo where's the water? I went to smell that sweet, wonderful scent you would expect from roses but there was none. Turns out these roses were carved out of wood or perhaps wood shavings. Unbelievably real looking and beautiful. Also on my desk, something I never expected but savor whenever I see them....used coffee grounds. Yup, from Starbucks, and a huge bag at that. It would take me...well, probably 6 months of saving my coffee grounds to equal this bag. Earth day is every day folks! Oh, the things I do to enrich the garden soil. You wouldn't know it by looking at the garden :).

A VERY SINCERE THANK YOU TO ALL OF MY CO-WORKERS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, THOUGHTS, PRAYERS, GIFTS, VISITS, PHONE CALLS, LUNCHES AND FOR A LIGHT LOAD UPON MY RETURN. :)