Incentive!

Lowes delivered the She-shed cabinets and counter top; incentive to start work on the walls!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

When I work I relax; doing nothing or entertaining visitors makes me tired. 

~Pablo Picasso

Idleness begets ennui, ennui the hypochondriac, and that a diseased body.  No laborious person was ever yet hysterical. 

~Thomas Jefferson, 1787

For me the diamond dawns are set
In rings of beauty,
And all my ways are dewy wet
With pleasant duty.
~John Townsend Trowbridge

Sunday Schoolisms #23: Stay Where You Are

When I give you no special guidance, stay where you are. Concentrate on doing your everyday tasks in awareness of My Presence with you. The Joy of My Presence will shine on you, as you do everything for Me. Thus you invite Me into every aspect of your life. Through collaborating with Me in all things, you allow My Life to merge with yours. This is the secret of not only joyful living but victorious living. I designed you to depend on Me moment by moment, recognizing that apart from Me you can do nothing.

Be thankful for quiet days, when nothing special seems to be happening. Instead of being bored by the lack of action, use times of routine to seek My Face. Although this is an invisible transaction, it speaks volumes in spiritual realms. Moreover, you are richly blessed when you walk trustingly with Me through the routines of your day.

                              

                                                                                         Jesus Calling

                                                                                         Sarah Young

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

 (Colossians 3:23)

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.

(Psalm 15:5)

No! Not us!!

Today we are helping Katherine and Olive move into their new home!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Where Was This Book Thirty Years Ago?!

This book was recently recommended by a friend, my daughter!

To be truthful, my sister recommended it about five years ago.

Well, better late than never!!

Here's a review from Amazon...

Having clear boundaries is essential to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. A boundary is a personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Boundaries impact all areas of our lives: Physical boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances -- Mental boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts and opinions -- Emotional boundaries help us to deal with our own emotions and disengage from the harmful, manipulative emotions of others -- Spiritual boundaries help us to distinguish God's will from our own and give us renewed awe for our Creator -- Often, Christians focus so much on being loving and unselfish that they forget their own limits and limitations. When confronted with their lack of boundaries, they ask:

- Can I set limits and still be a loving person?
- What are legitimate boundaries?
- What if someone is upset or hurt by my boundaries?
- How do I answer someone who wants my time, love, energy, or money?
- Aren't boundaries selfish?
- Why do I feel guilty or afraid when I consider setting boundaries?

Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer biblically-based answers to these and other tough questions, showing us how to set healthy boundaries with our parents, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and even ourselves.

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Good fences make good neighbors.

-Robert Frost

Blue Skies Smilin' at Me

Nothin' but blue skies do I see.

The She-shed is coming along and as I work on turning the ceiling into sky, I can't help but sing that great Ella Fitzgerald song. Yesterday was her birthday; she would have been 101.

Click here to learn more about this American icon.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/94742/10-fascinating-facts-about-ella-fitzgerald

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

-Ella Fitzgerald

A Plethora of Clethra

Speaking of aromatic blooms that rejuvenate the landscape at the end of summer, I am thinking of adding Clethra alnifolia to my yard. Also know as summersweet or pepper bush, clethra is a slow growing, deciduous shrub that blooms late July to September. It's long-lasting flowers are cone shaped spikes from 4-6 inches in length and available in pinks to white. Clethra sports golden fall color.

The only characteristic that gives me pause is that clethra spreads through shoots from rhizomes. I am in the process of beating back a stand of mock orange, that held captive a pretty fence trapped inside its numerous shoots. Needless to say, the word "shoots" gives me a tick.

But there are so many cultivars that surely I can find one clethra whose good traits outweigh its bad. Here are the choices as found on the Clemson Cooperative Extension site:

• ‘Ruby Spice’ has 3½- to 4-inch-long flower clusters or inflorescences that are a rich rose, and the flowers hold their color well. This cultivar can reach 6 feet in height and width, and is one of the darkest pink selections.
• ‘Pink Spires’ has pink buds that open into flowers that are a soft shell pink. This pink cultivar reaches 3 to 6 feet tall and wide, and has 3½- to 4-inch-long inflorescences.
• ‘Hummingbird’ is a dwarf cultivar that grows 30 to 40 inches tall, and will be covered with 4- to 6-inch long clusters of fragrant white flowers. It has a good yellow fall color.
• ‘Sixteen Candles’ is another dwarf selection. It was found as a seedling from ‘Hummingbird’, is compact, and quite floriferous. This white cultivar tends to hold its inflorescences in a more upright habit than ‘Hummingbird’, whose flower clusters tend to splay. Floral racemes are 4 to 6 inches long with white flowers.
• White Dove™ (‘Sotite’, PP#15505) grows to only 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, has abundant white flowers.
• Sugartina® (‘Crysalina’ PP#21561) is Proven Winner® selection. It is a dwarf clethra with a tight dense shape and pure white flowers. It grows to 28 to 30 inches tall and 28 to 36 inches wide. The fall color is yellow.
• ‘Anne Bidwell’ produces white flowers that are larger than the species. Plants grow to 4 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide. The fall color is golden
• ‘Rosea’ is an older cultivar with pink flower buds that open pink and fade to nearly white. This cultivar grows to 3 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide. It has yellow to golden brown fall color.
• ‘September Beauty’ flowers with white blooms up to two weeks later than the species. The plants grow to 4 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide.
• Vanilla Spice® (‘Caleb’, PP#21589) is a Proven Winners® selection, and has extra-large white flowers. The plant grows 3 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide.
• First Snow® (‘Takeda Nishiki’) is a cultivar of Clethra barbinervis, and is hardy from USDA zones 6 to 9. This is a large cultivar that grows to 10 to 20 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

My phantom gardener, the previous owner of our home, planted sweet autumn clematis on the fence by the parking pad. All through last summer, I thought it was just unruly weed vines, but when it burst forth in sweet white fragrant blooms in September, I realized my unknown friend had struck again.

Sweet autumn clematis (Clematis paniculata, Clematis terniflora)  is a deciduous vine with a possibly invasive growth habit if left unchecked. The foliage is recognizable as clematis, but the narrow petals of the flowers remind me more of Confederate jasmine. The best trait of this clematis is the bloom time, when most things in the garden are worn out!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. ~Walt Whitman

Thank You!!

My appreciation for the gardener that lived at Pine Cone Lane before me grows with each season. After the azaleas in the big bed by the driveway finished blooming, I pruned and fertilized the entire bed. Since then the spring and summer bulbs have busted out and we are enjoying Easter lilies and iris, while daylilies set their scapes. We even have phlox and hostas accentuating the profusion of slender blades.

So I'm sending out a heart-felt "Thank you" to the gardener before me.

We've never met, but I know you!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Gardens are a form of autobiography.

~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture magazine, August/September 1993

Sunday Schoolism #22: Concerns

Leave all your concerns in the hands of  a gracious God.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Barbara

Today let's remember former First Lady, Barbara Bush, by enjoying some quotes from her.

"You may think the president is all-powerful, but he is not. He needs a lot of guidance from the Lord."

"I really loved living in the White House, but I don't miss it at all."

"Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president's spouse. I wish him well!"

"I do have the most marvelous husband, children, and grandchildren."

"People who worry about their hair all the time, frankly, are boring."

"I want to still be able to garden while I can bend over."

Plants' Rights Activist

After my trip to Lowes today, I may have to join a Plants' Rights Activist group!

So everyone seems to be into succulents these days, and they are cute little critters, I have to admit. You can even buy a complete succulent garden in a bowl, technically allowing yourself to go to work tomorrow and tell your coworkers that you put in a garden when you got home last night.

Anyway, while perusing the succulents at Lowes, I was horrified to find these......

They're called a Kosmik Kaktus, but what they really are is poor, innocent, helpless succulents that have been coated with a horrid neon shell. I don't know, maybe the target consumers are the citizens of the Capitol of Panem in the Hunger Games.

So if  you know of  a plants' rights activist group, let me know. I'll attend their next protest carrying a sign that reads.....

Free Flora Forever

or

Respect our Green Friends

or

Keep Succulents Sacred

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

The Sun Also Rises

Well, it's time to get started inside the she-shed. 

Today is the only day this week I have to work, so I'll just try to knock out the east facing wall.

 First a coat of Kilz.

Then a coat of blue. I am trying to use all the leftover paint from the remodel and this blue paint was left over from the ceilings under the front and back porches.

And lastly, since this wall does face east, I added a sunrise...

I think it needs more rays. I'll do a little tweaking next week.

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Facts about the Sun

• The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. ...
• Over one million Earth's could fit inside the Sun. ...
• One day the Sun will consume the Earth. ...
• The energy created by the Sun's core is nuclear fusion. ...
• The Sun is almost a perfect sphere. ...
• The Sun is travelling at 220 km per second.

Sun Facts: Interesting Facts about Sun (or Sol)

theplanets.org/the-sun/

Wednesday Wonderings

If an orange is orange, why isn’t a lime called a green or a lemon called a yellow?

Why isn’t 11 pronounced onety one?

Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?

Why are there floatation device under plane seats, instead of parachutes?

Until tomorrow,

Shelli