Where Have I Been????

Yes, I have been MIA...missing in action. My plate has been full and running over! For the past 2 1/2 months I have been working on my own parents' estate sale. My parents have downsized and I am selling what didn't fit or they couldn't take. It has been long hours and lots of work but we have done some good. We have had many friends, family and customers to the house, a few at a time, for private selling as parking is not the best. And for now we, my helper Janelle and I, are taking a break mainly as I now have some other estate sales to start seeing about. My parents have lots more things in storage and we will get back to their house later to re-stock and re-open. As for this week, I signed a contract for an estate but cannot really start until probate is done. My next appointment for another sale is later this month as that is when the heirs will be here from Chicago. So for now I am working (playing) in the yard as spring seems to have sprung! Just look at this photo of my passion flower vine. This vine has finally just taken off and has flowers all over.

 Have you ever taken a really good up close and personal look at one of these flowers??? Alien I tell you, alien! Look at it! As a child growing up in the early 60's we had one of these vines on our patio. There were wrought iron columns that held up our patio roof and this vine was on one of these columns, lush and beautiful! When Hurricane Beulah struck in 1967 this vine said goodbye. The ferocious winds kept pulling at the patio roof slowly yanking the wrought iron columns with it. Once the bolts on the columns gave way the vine tried to hold on.........but not for long. We will never forget watching the roof fly up and then over our house and across the street only to plunge into the neighbors garage door! What a sight! Hurricanes are so powerful!

 At the corner of our house are two bottlebrush trees. They are both covered in blooms today and it is a wash of long red spires! Remember to click on my photos for a closer look!

 One old wives tale is "March roars in like a lion and out like a lamb" and today is one of those days. Taking these pictures was hard as the winds are gusting at 45 mph but I kept snapping away to get some good shots.

 Here is a closeup of these pretty and unusual blooms. They are just long spires of red fluff and I love them. The birds also like to hide in these trees or rest in them at night. Occasionally there will be some nests, too!

 Also in the front yard there is a rose bed that follows the sidewalk to our front door. In the fall I noticed some rose bushes were dying plus two large shrubs at the front window. Little did we know then but termites, and ants, were munching out on them AND our house. Yes, we got the bug people to kill all those pests and we are filling in plants that were lost. Here are the new rose bushes.

 I have a thing about the word "variegated". In simpler terms it means two-toned. I LOVE two-toned roses!!! You will not believe the colors that these will be. When we bought them they were blooming and when I saw a couple of them they made me gasp they were so pretty. Oh yes, my husband was along for this as we bought these roses for our 31st wedding anniversary. That, my friends, is a long time for a marriage these days. I am blessed with a wonderful man!

 Our son is digging up the rose bed and getting the old soil out. We just had a truck load of topsoil brought to the house this morning to mix with some manure compost. Yes, those roses are going to be blooming up a storm! I can picture them in my mind already!

 In the meantime, I was at our local grocery store Sunday. They had some gorgeous flowers and tons of roses in their floral department. A dozen roses were only $8.99! How can you pass that up? I sure can't!

 Here is that word again......variegated! This is what I am talking about folks! Two-toned and out of this world beautiful! God is such an artist!

So, bloggers, I am back. Refreshed, ready to go and blogging regularly. I have lots of other news, too! But I will save that for another day! I hope everyone is having a glorious day today.....I sure am!

Remembering February................

I was looking at pictures I had taken earlier this year and thought these would be worth sharing!  In February I took these 2 odd pictures of my daughter. They may not be anything special to you but they are very special to me. What Charlotte is doing, rather absentmindedly, is taking strands of her hair and curling and twirling them in her fingers and she has had this habit since she was very little. She does this with one hand then will switch to the other hand, over and over back and forth, while watching TV, on her computer or reading a book. Since we would be moving her to California in May I knew I wouldn't get to see her do this much longer so I snapped these pics. I realize they are nothing to look at but they are very special to me!

 Here is a pic of my Valentine's Day arrangement. I love decorating for each holiday! I adore domes and putting little vignettes in each one and have others scattered about the house. Please note the handmade valentines made by my children when they were little. You Moms out there understand-it seems like we save every little thing our children made! Most of my valentine decor is old or vintage with some new sprinkled in. Remember, you can click on each picture to get a closer look!

 February 28th is our wedding anniversary and each year my husband Terry and I like to take a long weekend to get away by ourselves and just enjoy each other's company, shop, dine, go to bookstores, etc. This time, our 30th anniversary, we went to Corpus Christi. We had not been there in years so it was nice to explore the area again. We splurged on a weekend at The Omni and felt so pampered. We had a view of the ocean and all kinds of little extras.
  We love to go antiquing together and hit many of the antiques malls, shops, thrift stores, etc. We even snagged some buys at an estate sale, the highlight of my buying part of the trip! At one mall I was amazed at some of the chandeliers they had. Someone had gone to great lengths to "decorate" them. The one above had all types of kitchen goodies and gadgets.

 This one was decorated with strands of buttons, beads and christmas ornaments. It also had old lace, tulle, flowers and some angels-though hard to see.

And still another had absolutely "loads" of pearls. Lots of strings of pearls of all shapes, sizes and color tones went on this one. Each chandelier was so unique! There were several more, not pictured-one that was an all red and green themed christmas decor. Another had pearls and then dangled 45 records from them, odd! This mall, the name leaves me now, was wonderful to look through. They had really unique things and the prices were not bad! Just thinking about all this and seeing the photos again makes me want to drive back up there. Maybe I can persuade Terry to go..........................