Summer Flowers

We've had a ton of rain here lately and this little day lily has decided to finally bloom. Isn't it pretty! It's called a White Beach Spider Lily. I wish I had more of them, so delicate.

Zoom Zoom!

After 12 long years my old wagon finally became a liability. It had to go before it drained my wallet.
So out with the old and in with the new....well almost like new.

This is my new to me anyway, 2011 Mazda 3 hatchback! I have never owned such a sporty car, but it called my name and followed me home. Makes me feel sort of young again :)
Zoom Zoom!

It Might Be Spring!

 The flowers are blooming.

 My Pigeon Peas are flowering.

 I love how delicate these tiny flowers are!

My parsley is growing secondary leaves. It's also 86 degrees outside and yesterday we had a thunderstorm. It just might be Spring!

Christmas Tree 2013

As you can see, I gave up on the wall tree idea and put up our old artificial as always. However, this year we decided to not use any of the old decorations and make new ones from items we had in the house.

 

My son had fun wrapping wooden clothes pins in pipe cleaners to create some abstract holiday characters.

 He also designed the star with popsicle sticks, old buttons and glitter pens. Simple but effective, he's quite proud of it!

I decided to try my hand at bottle cap ornaments, with tiny pictures (cut from old Christmas cards) sealed under clear resin. Then we added some strings of Mardi Gras beads from his dress-up box, for impromptu garland. It's an all new tree look and we love it!

 Happy Holidays to everyone, and Happy New Year too!

Wall Christmas Trees

Follow DJ Nodinsnest's board Wall Trees on Pinterest.

This year I'm looking for ideas for a wall tree instead our usual cat playground known as the traditional Christmas tree. I realize we are running out of time, so I went pinning and these are some I found.

What do you think? I'm still not convinced the cats won't just climb the walls too, but it's a thought.
My other thought is no tree at all, but not sure I can convince my son about that one ;)

Mushroom Magnets

Fun, Funky Mushroom Magnets are new in my Etsy shop.

They are made from vintage fabric and are mounted on card stock.

Add a little fun to your fridge!

It's Fishy Christmas 2012

It's a fishy theme all around this year! My son's new found infatuation with the aquarium, inspired me to break out the fish this Christmas. Best part is, I already had all these stored away. Almost 30 years ago, I owned a small gift shop and every year I had a different themed tree.

The fish ornaments are made of bamboo and were crafted in The Peoples Republic of China. The tree top is a real blow fish that I bought dried. I painted him, crafted some fancy fins, and named him King Neptune. He was the talk of the shop that year, everyone wanted to buy him but I just couldn't put a price on the king's head :)

The theme that year was Christmas under the sea. The tree also had hand painted sea horses and baskets of pirate treasure. Our tree is too small for all of them so we just went with the fish. Plus with the cats around, it's hard enough to keep the tree safe without dangling baskets of jewels!

Colorful Magnet Shapes

These are new in my Etsy shop, a fun set of magnet shapes for your kitchen or office.

They are made from vintage Lilly Pulitzer fabric that are heat laminated on both sides.

I love the bright colors and they make such a cheery way to post your notes to the fridge!

You can find this set and others in my Etsy shop.

Wildfires!

Yesterday was a scary day around our house. As some of you may know, we have had a serious drought in South Florida for what seems like several years now. Water restrictions never seem to be lifted and fireworks have been banned on the 4th for the last four or five years. Brush fires and forest fires from carelessness or lighting strikes, occur regularly all over the state.

We have been safe so far until yesterday afternoon, when lighting started a brush fire half a mile from my house. It was mid-afternoon and I heard thunder coming. It did not rain, all we had was dry lighting and thunder. Looking out the window the clouds on the horizon slowly started to turn beautiful shades of orange and red. For a minute I thought, "what a pretty sunset", then I remembered it was 2pm.

In less than five minutes the skies turned black and the neighborhood children started running down the street towards the smoke. Within another five minutes, sirens could be heard coming from all directions followed by helicopters. It finally dawned on me: the woods were on fire! My first thought was to stay calm and try not to scare my son. He wanted to go follow the firetrucks not really knowing what a wildfire means.

I went online to listen to the local police scanner and they were calling for more trucks and thinking about evacuations. So we had to think fast about what to gather up and get the animals ready to get in the car. After I got everything in order that I thought was important, we waited and watched. The turnpike (which runs along side my neighborhood) was shut down and bulldozers came in to try and create a boundary.

After five hours of work, the firefighters got it about 50% contained. Only one house had some damage and the back yards of many were scorched. We did not have to leave, but I was ready to go.

This morning it's 90% contained with the ashes still smoldering. I was awake all night, watching the skies and wondering how we would cope if a fire destroyed our home.

I have been through about ten hurricanes in my life, including the 2004 storms that took the roof off my house while I was in it, alone and eight months pregnant. They were scary, but not like yesterday. I was terrified on the inside and organized mommy on the outside. My son now has a new respect for fire, which is a good thing. Tonight I hope to sleep again.

Firefighters have to be some of the bravest people around and I'm am so thankful they are willing to risk their lives for us! Today they are calling for lightening storms again and I sure hope some rain comes with it this time. Meanwhile, I'm going to get a few new hoses hooked up to the house and then maybe teach my son a rain dance. Stay safe everyone this summer, safe and prepared.

What Still Grows

In my garden, in the dead of summer

with no rain and no time to tend to them?

This little swallowtail caterpillar is happy living

in my parsley pot on the patio.

The cactus is getting ready to bloom.

And this guy is sprouting a headdress!

An Almost New House

It's the end of a very busy week! Workmen have been here re-siding the house. I think they did a good job. We still have to paint. The photo above is of the new siding in the color it comes already primed. It's HardiePlank siding and it won't rot or attract termites.

Speaking of termites, unfortunately they found some damage under the old wood. So next week we will have a treatment for subterranean termites. After that, we will paint. I have not decided on colors yet. It's hard to see in this photo, but there is cedar trim around the windows and doors.

The house had been a butter yellow with white trim. I'm thinking of something more earthy, yet a little bolder this time. Maybe some beep blues and forest greens. All opinions are welcome! Tomorrow we will be out in the yard picking up nails and construction debris before the dog finds it.