Catching up....

How did it get to be Saturday? It seems like it was just Tuesday and The Brother Alan and Lisa were just arrived. We have been busy….yesterday was Scottsdale day. We enjoy stopping in at The Rusty Spur for a drink then onto roaming around and shopping. We end with a lunch at The Italian Grotto, always a delicious treat. Once we arrived back home...

Alan and I worked on the pond garden. It is not complete but almost there. Nice sounds coming from the 2 tier fountain. A few more adjustments to be made. Potted plants have been moved around and garden lighting too. The color changing spotlight was returned to shine on the Disco Ball making for beautiful shadows in the evening. A lot of tasks were worked on and those that are not finished I can do when the return to RI. I may even call on Bobby to help with one particular task. A few errands and now back home to relax. It is hot out today.... high 80s. Lisa has a little bit of sunburn as she enjoys sitting in the sun. Whatever tan I have is from walking around or the brief time I am working in the garden. I have been advised not to sit in the sun so I do not.
The last few days there have been a couple of tiny "little girl
hummingbirds" fluttering around. The Doves left the nest the other day... 2 eggs there... and finally returned but were away for some time. I am not sure if the eggs are still viable. They need constant warmth and they did not get that. We will see.
I know … it is unusual for me to make late posts, but I was too relaxed having my morning coffee in the garden to come in to post. I have not even worked on beading and now I have a small embroidery project as part of a FB group. Speaking of embroidery....

each of these striped boxes is full of DMC floss....(click the picture to enlarge) and I will be sorting out which to keep and the rest will be going. I already offered to 2 friends and will wait to see how much they would like. The rest will be going to a school. Still working on thinning down my stash of crafts.
That about is it for now. Glad you took time to visit. Thank you for your kind words and for your friendship.

Day 2 of the visit....

We had rain last night.... everything is really wet this morning. The irrigation just came on and I heard a lot of water noise. I looked out to the garden and behold there was a fountain shooting into the air! Can not blame Alan for this mishap (more about that later) because when we worked on the system yesterday I adjusted this particular bubbler and obviously had it too open and off the cap shot. After I ran out and got my impromptu shower and found the cap, all is well.
The flight out here was good but they were tired from a long day that stared very early.

The Brother Alan decided that yesterday was going to be garden day. First on the list was to trim the palm tree....nicely done. All of this is a learning experience for him and so far so good.
Then it was time to tackle the Yucca that I wanted removed. I severely cut it back months ago and it came back better than it was and that was not the idea. Too often as I am cleaning the area I got cut from the sharp edges of the plant as it was low to the ground.

Next was to give The Brother a pickaxe... this is where I started to worry.... a dangerous tool to begin with could be more so in his hands! That went really well.... no physical injuries to report. Then we decided to move the very large Rosemary bush to this spot. After we both severely trimmed it down to be manageable, that went in....

right next to the Orange Bells and leaving room for maybe something else. The garden smelled wonderful...like an Italian kitchen. Next irrigation lines needed to be added to the Pond Garden and to a couple of other plants in the area. Once he finished this task we tested the bubblers that were in. Oh no! we had a water break... a small flood began. Once I explained what happened, The Brother dug out the broken bubbler riser and drained the water with the wet vac so he could replace the riser. ( in the photo it is directly in front of the plant shovel) Now, I can not say for sure, but did something happen with that pickaxe?... in fairness, these risers, with the exception of a few are all originals.  Lucky for him I have learned a lot from Don when he helped me install the irrigation lines. I will not talk about the mud bath... it happened when Alan was going to take apart the vac to wash it out. When he removed the hose, mud shot up on him, the umbrella and the glider...lucky for him I was not in range. We won't mention that stepping in almost ankle deep mud would cover his sneakers.... they are outside drying off.

After using up the supplies on hand it was off to Lowes for more. If you are wondering about Lisa during this...she was comfortably sitting supervising before I took her to a hair salon for a couple hours of beauty time. We decided that the Pond Garden would have a fountain and a bed of rocks.... you can see the bags in the lower corner of the photo. We have selected plants to put into this area but it will have to wait until the fountain is assembled later today/tomorrow. Everything is very wet and The Brother Alan is off on unexpected business today. To say that we are enjoying being together is an understatement. He will be gone all day so it is just me and Lisa to relax. I did begin a new beading project but will be taking it apart as I am not liking how it is looking...first time doing this type of pattern. No big deal as it is a learning process. Glad you stopped by and hopefully tomorrow I maybe able to show you a bumble bee and more about our adventures.
Thank you for your kind words and welcome to Alan and Lisa. Thank you for your friendship.

Today is the day!

What a crazy weather day yesterday. There were clouds...many clouds  in the sky...then it got a bit darker and some drops fell and then the sun was out then a clap of thunder... back to the clouds. All the while the breeze of the early morning turned into winds and remained. I actually had to close the sliders or put a sweater on!

The bead order from Fire Mountain beads arrived... love how they put a special note in the order. It may be hard to see, but next to the beads at the top there is a small plastic bag with clear petal beads. They were kindly sent to me from Elizabeth Fox who I have met from one of the bead groups. I had asked where to get these little wings for the beaded bumble bee (that is what the beads at the top are for) and next thing I knew we were chatting on messenger and she offered to send me some. A new friend in the beading world. These beads should keep me busy along with the beads sent to me from Catherine.

It was just too windy to clean the garden of debris...now it is triple what there was... so I beaded 

another Butterfly Pod ornament. These are so much fun to bead. Next will be the bumble bee...it is small but oh so cute.

All this wind has tossed lots of pollen in the air. Of course I should have kept the sliders closed... now I have a bit of a sinus issue. My own fault but it is so nice to have cool air flying through the house.  

Guess what? Today is Tuesday.... you do remember right? This is the Tuesday that The Brother Alan and Lisa arrive. Hope they have a good flight...they will cross through the mid states and there have been lots of storms in those states.  The weather this week is going to be very nice...in the high 70s  to low 90s which is perfect. It would be nice if the winds stop.

No matter what the weather, we always enjoy ourselves. 

So, we will keep you informed of our doings this week. Glad to have you visit today. Thank you for your kind words and for your friendship.

Special thanks for the kind words regarding my post note yesterday. I probably should have been more clear. The date was when we learned of Denny's diagnosis for the few that did not know... Denny passed just 33 days later on June 21 2017. 

A cloudy day......

There is no sunshine … at least not at the moment. Clouds cover the sky and me too. We  have been in a cool down...temps lower than normal...what really is normal? Weather is what it is...changeable at a minutes notice. Winds are expected later today.... just means the chimes will make noise which is not a bad thing.

On Friday mail delivery brought me a package from Catherine at I Love to Stitch blog..... so many beads! Catherine tells me she wanted to share... and she did. She is encouraging me to make a beaded covered needle case...sending me the needle cases and a link to a video on how to do!

If the bead supplies were not enough, she included a bracelet that she created! Goodness on overload. Speaking of mail, I ordered some beads and the expected delivery was to be on Monday coming...I did not check the USPS tracking and it arrived yesterday...while I was out. So now I will need to go to the post office on Monday to pick it up. Oh well. That is okay because I was busy anyway...

I finished another Pod Ornament...this is Butterfly, design by Patti Lamb. I already started another one and know I will be making more. Love making these pods.
Yesterday morning when I opened the verticals in my bedroom I was surprised to se a Dove sleeping in the lanai.... I started him and when he panicked got caught in he net curtain across the front of the lanai. So instead of grabbing my camera I went out to rescue him. That is when I saw that there is already another Dove nesting.... this will be #3. Of course the Dove Kids from the last nesting are still are sitting around the garden..not ready to leave. I have become Dove Sanctuary! I thought about getting out there to sweep today but with winds expected it would be useless. Instead it will be a butterfly pod day.
Robyn and Dave gave me the approval on a new shrimp recipe that I tried. dessert to die for.... we  It was bacon wrapped hot pepper stuffed shrimp. This will definitely be on my frequent to make list. I love shrimp! Last week they sent over a dessert to die for. We share across the courtyard!
Can you believe there are only 2 more days before The Brother Alan and Lisa arrive.....2 days...Tuesday! Not sure what the week will hold but it will be a good week for sure. I only have about 4 or 5...at the moment...things on The Brother To Do List!  It is not too important at the moment for some of these things.... just as long as we enjoy the week.
I am off to do chores s once again the House Faeries  seem to be on vacation. Nice to chat with you today.Thank you for your kind words and for your friendship.
Two years ago today my world came crashing down and never recovered. It has not gotten any easier….my heart is broken and cannot be fixed. 💔I am grateful to those who reached out then and still do now to be there for me.