Y’all ! Time is flying by! Right? But, I’m back. I just realized I haven’t done a Golden Cottage update since January.
We had really cold weather in January through mid-March – and our yard was hit hard. This is a rare photo here in central Florida – that's FROST, Gail-Friends !
Mr. Green Jeans (aka Rabbi Jem) worked so hard to protect our plants. He brought all of the potted plants and flowers onto the back porch to protect them. Put rugs down on the floor. Covered them with sheets. He did this three times, y’all ! All of them survived. And the plants in the yards were covered with sheets or wrapped in blankets. Most survived, but sadly, some didn’t. Some – time will tell. Like our plumeria tree. But, we have hope!
Our dog Lucy was happy to wear her sweaters! And Toonie was happy to stay in the warm house. (He usually prefers to stay on the back porch all day long.)
We had to have beautiful camphor tree taken out of our front yard. We noticed that Lucy, was eating the camphor berries. I Googled it and found that the berries are very toxic - damaging to the liver. Our beloved dog, Zoe, died of liver failure, so she had probably been eating the berries, too. (We miss her so much.) So, we had the tree removed. Everything looks so bare now, and I grieved the loss of it. I miss the tree's shade in the mornings and watching the birds visit there. So, my sweet Jem bought me some new plants and flowers to cheer me and brighten up the yard.
I love gardenias because they remind me of Mama's bush beside the house where I grew up. They smell wonderful.
We celebrated Valentine's Day with more flowers (roses are my favorite cut flowers) and a visit to a Mexican restaurant on Merritt Island. Their food is great and the presentation is beautiful. Our meals came with edible flowers. Jem ate his - but I decided to wear mine.
Oh, and I must tell you about the vest I'm wearing in the picture above. It's a heated vest that I bought for Jem. It was so cold that day, he let me wear it. We've both gotten a lot of wear out of it during this cold winter. It is wonderful. We bought one for our son-in-love, William because he works outside sometimes. He said he didn't think he get much wear out of it, but he REALLY has worn it a lot.
Our daughter, Amanda, sang with a local band, Gold Tone, at an Irish pub in Cocoa Beach. This was soooo good. The music was a combination of Celtic tunes and popular songs. I particularly enjoyed the combination of instruments, including the hammered dulcimer. It was lovely, y’all. I love dulcimer music. I remember one time when Amanda and I went to Barberville for a dulcimer workshop. She’d never played the hammered style, but she sat down and played it like she’d been playing all of her life. Yep. She’s talented like that.
We visited the annual Merritt Island Birding and Wildlife Festival. This year, it was in Cocoa Beach. We met this author of several bird books. He was very interesting to talk with.
Also in March, Amanda, our grandson Jonathan, Jem and I went to an event called The Heavens Declare, presented by Science Partners. I'm so sad that I didn't get photos. It is an astronomy workshop from a creationist perspective. The presentation included an inflatable planetarium that shows "the Gospel in the Stars". It was educational and very interesting. The only bad part is that you have to crawl into the planetarium on your knees and sit on the floor once inside. Trust me - this is a bad idea for a seventy-five year old lady like me. Jem didn't go in. He said, "I don't think it's a good idea." So TRUE, y'all! Now, we BOTH know our limitations. I'll never do that again. But, if you ever hear of this workshop, go to it and you won't be disappointed.
Last week, we visited Jacksonville University. Jem and some of his Shangri-La shipmates presented a plaque and scholarship to a Naval Reserve student. The young man couldn't attend, which was sad. He's greatly admired by his unit because he's an outstanding student, both scholastically and physically. He was an enlisted man who decided to go back to school and become a Navy officer. He is married, with two young children. So, this $5000 scholarship will be a blessing. The USS Shangri-La Reunion Association awards this scholarship every year.
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