Happy Cactus Monday!

Happy Cactus Monday to you all! I discovered that my TWO Christmas Cactus plants (in one pot), have THREE flower colors!!! You can see two red, one pure stark white, and one faint pink here. WOW! This is fun! It is getting me in a Valentine mood! I am thinking now I may have to pull out my little two ft. Christmas tree and the grandkids and I will decorate it for V-day! If we do, you all will be the first to see it! For more Cactus Monday fun, visit our leader, Teri, over at Painted Daisies!!!

Had a busy weekend here. Tonight took the grands to a fair at a local Catholic School. It is a fair just like a big state fair with midway rides (only on a smaller scale), and fair food vendors too. Everyone got to ride what they wanted, and we got away with spending only 35 dollars. We got a front row parking place, and afterward we went to Taco Bell and guess what? Front row spot there too! Seems like the universe was smiling down on us! Great weather...I wore a short sleeve blouse, and no wind, just around 70 degrees. We got there about 1 hour pre-sunset, and stayed about 1.5 hours after dark... lots of fun for all.

Hope everyone has a grand week ahead!
xoxo- Julie

OMG...Look what I just ordered!

Look at these cute all natural, wooden toys I just bought from my blogging friend, Mary!!! Are they not the cutest things for toddlers? Mary just started her new business and craft... cutting, and forming wood into these adorable people and creatures! I fell in love on first sight! If you have any little ones in the family...check out her new shop at Pokeberry Patch (Etsy Shop). Best wishes, Mary, for a long happy new creative venture and business!!!

Breathless at the mall tonight!

I said to the guard who you can see in pic #6, "WOW...Did you EVER think you would have EVER been guarding the Batmobile"??? He got a look like he suddenly realized what he was doing! I'm not sure about him, but it was exhilerating for me!!!

Pink Ball, or Tropical Hydrangea

My Mom and I stopped in at the college garden to have a look around. It is a relatively small garden, but I tell you, every time we stop in, we see something new! This gorgeous tall and wide bush was blooming with huge pink balls of happiness!!! They hang downward:

We took a pic with my hand behind to show the size of each ball, and a straight close up shot:


Looks like it will grow in zones 9b-11, likes full sun, and blooms year round!!! WOWZERS! I want one right now!!! The only thing to consider is that they can grow up to 20 ft. tall. Yikes. It will not grow from seed...has to be propogated by cuttings! Interesting!!! At least that is what they tell me over at Dave's Garden! I appreciate the info, for sure!

Birthday fun, and Happy Cactus Monday!!!

Well, today polished off another great day here in south Florida. A little chilly, but invigorating...and it warmed up a bit by afternoon, so I went out and took white lights off all my front bushes. I got out my electric bush trimmer and gave them a haircut...and then guess what I did??? I put the lights back on the bushes!!! I figure they can't say they are necessarily Christmas lights, my bushes are well trimmed, and I like having the extra light right there by the door, plus they are pretty! I was enjoying it so much that when Donovan came outside, I decided to pull a Tom Sawyer on him, and show him how much fun it is to pull up weeds by the roots! Oh, yes, he was enthralled for , ummm, oh, maybe 6 minutes!!! I don't think he ever mastered the technique though...hehehe...but it was a fun moment in time!!! :)

Oh, I did do something else out in that front garden.....remember when I had mentioned that the wind had blown over my prickly pear cactus??? Well, I wanted to straighten it up and stake it, but when I tried to pull it upright it just cracked, and I did not have the help or energy to try and right it. So...I just started cracking it up and finally got to the bottom where I was able to pull out the roots. I bagged it, so it wouldn't take root anywhere else, and put it out for the trashman. How bad am I??? Do you hate me??? I will tell you that I was walking around the neighborhood tonight looking for a missing Sheltie, and I saw the original prickly pear tree the cuttings had come from, and it was covered with blooms!!! It is a gorgeous specimen all tall and stately...in tree form.


Today was my DIL's birthday, so we decided to make chocolate cupcakes (her choice), and frost with white, then we made up bags of different colors of frosting to decorate with. I never saw people have so much fun!!! Carolyn (daughter), and Donovan (grandson) really had a good time, as you can see by the photos below.












Yes, that is ACTUAL BLACK icing we made up that she has applied to her face!!! Goodness.
Hope everyone has a great week.

Palms, first carrot harvest, and some cute kids!!!

I am so busy, I am having to consolidate pics into one post. We took Emily to a different park the other day and I realized how darn "FLORIDA" is looked! I had to take a pic of these beautiful palms surrounding the playground area. Sometimes, you don't see what is around you where you live, but this day was gorgeous, and I seriously felt like I could be in heaven!

Here are the first carrots I thinned out of the 5 gallon buckets! Varying from 1 to 4 inches long, they were most assuredly NOT QUITE READY YET!!! It was good to thin out a bit though, and I plan to do a little each week, and see what difference it will make to the ones that remain in the soil longer. They are awefully cute tho, aren't they? They tasted very good in the salad we made that night!

Here are two cute kids...one of Donovan playing soldier (Mr. Handsome), and Emily is laying back on a giant kiwi fruit, and checking out a grapefruit and cherry at an indoor playground at the Wellington Mall. Isn't she beautiful??? The playground is a bunch of waffles, and fruits to climb on. All soft, padded and the flooring is rubber suishy! Seating for the grown ups all around the edge...just lovely!!!




Hope everyone is well...loads of love especially to my Australian blogging friends who have been dealing with rain and flooding.
xoxo- Julie

Wakodahatchee Wetlands

Today my DIL, and husband had off from work! My grandson was also out of school for MLK's birthday! It was a miracle we were all off on the same day! (It rarely happens, except MAYBE once or twice a year)!
Well, we decided to visit a really neat wetland that has a boardwalk elevated over the water... It is called Wakodahatchee Wetlands. This link will take you to a virtual tour.

This was my third time going. We saw alligators, ducks, so may birds, I can't begin to tell you, turtles, and a Marsh rabbit. If you click on the link, you can click on the sidebar there to see all of the birds that have been spotted out there. The grandkids loved it.

One bad thing happened. I was holding Emily (age 2.5) up to see a turtle directly below in the water, and she somehow let go of her pacifier and it fell into the water right in front of the turtle. Then another turtle swam up to the surface (all this while, Emily is mortified that her pacifier has dropped into the water), and don't you know the larger turtled bit onto the pacifier just as a baby would, and he swam under the boardwalk! Emily was so upset...it was sad and funny at the same time. Of course now I am worried we may have caused damage to some form of wildlife with that plastic/rubber thing. I hope none of our animal friends suffer from my carelessness. Of course, it could have just as easily been my glasses falling off my face. Luckily there was a replacement paci in the car....

I had gone without my darn camera!!!!! (Pictures are from Wikipedia). We did have a last minute surprise visiter fly in...a Roseate Spoonbill. She was gorgeous...very pink in color...a real treat!

OK...introducing CARROTS, ...and some other garden goodies!

Good Sunday morning!!!

I ran out first thing and got a few shots of my garden...in particular the carrots!!! It has been so much fun watching them develope...going from thin little shreds of roots, and slowly gaining in diameter, and finally turning ORANGE!!! I used to love carrots as a child (so I've been told), but then hated them until around 30 years old, and now back to LOVING them again! What is gonna be fun is coming out to pull 3-4 carrots out at a time, and just pulling them out fresh as needed! I would highly recommend growing carrots, if for nothing other than the FUN VALUE! The tops are so pretty and lacey...maybe they could just be an annual for you???

Here are the tops:

And the bottoms (I pulled back the dirt to get the pics, and replaced it around the carrot top as directed).



A few shots of my eggplants:


And the kale:

Here is the developing MR. STRIPEY tomato with two flowers that have just come about!!!

Mom's Christmas garden!

I took this shot down low...near to ground level, so I could try to get a sweeping shot of the garden I planted my Mom for Christmas! In the forefront are her grown kale and lettuce (these were transplanted in from my friend Karens garden)...the rest were starts from HD. She has 2 Ichiban eggplants, 5 tomato plants of various sizes and types, 8 purple cabbage, 8 kohlrabi, 8 brocolli, 1 stevia plant, 4 kale, 2 lettuce, and various flowers...zinnias, marigolds, red begonias scattered about. It has been in the ground now about 3 weeks and it is growing and everything looks real good. I am excited to see everything develop!

Have I mentioned that MY carrots are about 3/4 inch across at the tops, and that they have turned orange now? I will try and remember to take a pic in the morning.

I mixed up some very delicious lemon poppy seed muffins tonight, and they do not taste like muffins, but lovely CAKE! They came from a box, but had a lemon glaze also in the box that took them to a new level. Reminded me of the "Green cake" my grandma used to make...a lime pound cake with lime glaze...it was the best cake in the universe!!! I'm all happy inside now after eating a couple of those!! Good thing I had a nap today, because I am working on a felt project and I finished up with the part I was doing at 3am! I am about to fall out. Oh well...happy Sunday to you all!

A thankyou!

If you want to be inspired too, visit Lynn over at her blog Getting My Feet Wet! I'm learning, Lynn...yippeeee!!!

Doozey Friday!

It is around 10pm and Doozey is laying here at my feet. We decided to have a photo shoot. While you look at her pics (sweet doll that she is), I will tell you what happened at the park yesterday!

I was swinging Emily (2 year old granddaughter), and started singing that old ryhme,

"First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes baby in the baby carriage"...

Well, my 21 year old daughter was swinging too, and after I had sung it, she sang:

"First comes baby in the baby carriage,
then comes marriage,
LOVE NEVER CAME".

We laughed, but then I wanted to cry!
xoxo,
Julie and the Beauty Queen!

Finished drawing

Here is the finished drawing, titled "Jesus' Toenail", done in chalk pastels today. For the story behind this drawing, please see my last post. I added shading and markings on my arm, the watch face, the tree trunk, branches and leaves, and made that huge thumb a more appropriate size! That is one beauty of chalk pastels, you can go right over the top and cover anything that needs it! Voila! Oh, and P.S....pay no attention to the line of white dots up the side...those were some hole punched areas on a peice of construction paper I picked up...I was planning to draw a watch and cut the dots off...but the whole thing got out of hand...and now we are stuck with holes! Just my luck! Hehehe.

EDM #8 is bittersweet.

EDM #8 is to draw your watch or another peice of jewelry. I knew I would draw my watch because other than that the only things are my wedding rings and a pair of earrings. Before I tell you about the drawing (with chalk pastels), I want to tell Lisa, who had asked where to find the list of challenges for EDM...I put a pic of Everyday Matters on my sidebar...if you click on it, it will take you there.

OK...now secondly...this drawing is not finished. It got to this point, and guess what happened??? I cried. I got to thinking about it, and I figured that if something you make brings you to tears at a certain point...maybe I should stop. I think it will be more of a holding point until the kids are asleep tonight.


Here is what brought me to tears:

I had seen a view of the night sky last night and it was just after twilight...I took a mental note of the colors and exactly what I was seeing. The sky was a murky blue gray, and there was a pine tree there (my beloved pine tree)...so anyway, when I drew out my arm, and watch, a figured I would put a tree in the background (like maybe I am camping outdoors, it's dark, and I am up doing something and just happen to look at my watch, which is a Timex Indiglo (the only kind I will wear, since it glows and you can see your watch face easily). Then, I added the moon. There is a story behind the moon...

My grandson was in the backseat of my car about a week or two ago and I said "OH...look at the moon"! It was shaped like a crescent, and he excaimed "OOOHHHHHH, it's JESUS' TOENAIL"!!!!! I laughed with tears in my eyes for quite a time, and it has become a standing bittersweet phrase around here....so I knew I would draw out a crescent moon. THAT was the last thing I put in, followed by the moon glow...and it took me by surprise,... I burst into tears!

I believe children are a gift straight from God. Aren't we all??? Today I am grateful for my grandchildren who keep my life fun!

EDM # 7

I decided to go back to EDM # 7 (I found out I had already done it earlier, but was no good at this particular challenge) which is to draw a jar or tin from your kitchen! OK, I am the worst at drawing jars and tins. The worst. If anyone wants to see my complete and utter failure at two attempts the past two days, let me know and I will bare my soul and show them to you! Hahaha.

I decided that there is nothing colorful or pretty to draw in my kitchen or pantry...so I went looking online and found this pretty owl cookie jar!

I got out a black paper and just drew him out with chalk pastels. It was a lot of fun. Pretty owl cookie jar, and fun pastels...a grand combination!
I want to thank Cindy, over at My Little Things N Stuff for inspiring me to give my EDM's a chance again. She decided to start where I kinda left off, so it will be fun. Keep an eye out for Messyfish also, with her EDM's as well.