Sister Love

 My mom and her sister are the only kids left in their family of 13 children.   Each year my aunt comes to visit us from Penna. to escape the cold and enjoy the Florida sunshine.   The three of us decided to have lunch together at a local restaurant and catch up with one another.

It was a bit windy but we ate outside anyway.........just because we could!   This was our luscious dessert........flan........pretty fancy, wouldn't you say?

It was delicious, too.    We went back to my house for coffee and I showed off my latest quilts to my very skilled seamstress aunt.   Mom got to playing with Molly and wrapped one of her chew toys around her body.

Molly kept looking to me for some help......it's as though she was saying,"How humiliating!"

She worked and worked, trying to free herself from the dreaded loop.   Ahhhh.......

Free at last..........please rub me a little more to the left, would you?

Resting,
Debbie

A Blooming Good Time

We've been hard at work here at the house these last few weeks and I took my camera outside this morning to click off a few shots of our handiwork.   Everything is so pretty and fresh when new mulch and shell is down in the paths.   

Here's a long shot of the newly created "orchid" area in the shade of the lychee tree.  The shell was such an easy way to create a "porch" and we love sitting out there.

Here's a close up view of the potting bench, table and orchids.   Talk about easy to maintain!

This is the view of the back of the yard, the "porch" is off to the left of this shot.  The sod we laid down 3 years ago had just vanished because it was simply too shady under the tree.   Now that the shell is down, we don't have a problem with the dogs running thru dirt and dragging it in the house!

My huge newest orchid is blooming for the first time for me....yippee!   This one is as tall as I am!   And you should smell the perfume it is putting into the air.....yum!

 On the side yard facing the street (that's my sewing studio on the left) we laid shell to make a path to the backyard.   I love the gate painted pink.

 The white blooming flowers on the left are really, huge White Odorata Begonias.   And they smell luscious, too!   I was really lucky and found pink blooming Gerbera Daisies in a pink pot on the wicker table.

As I walked around the corner by the veggie garden, I was shocked to see that my Angel's Trumpet had bloomed in the last 2 days.   These blooms are enormous......over eight inches long.

To complete our trip around the backyard I went in to check on the veggie garden.   My strawberries are all full of buds and berries.  Nothing like picking fresh berries from the warm soil.

And last, but not least, here are some of the crookneck squash ready for harvest.   I love this time of year and plan on taking full advantage of the cooler temps.   When the humidity and heat returns in a few months, I will be burrowing in like folks up north do during winter.   Except I do it to avoid the heat.....hey, you can't have everything.

Enjoying my "bud-dies",
Debbie