Golden Cottage Days

                                      

Greetings Gail-Friends!  Yes, I've been busy again, but my heart is full of JOY!  No time to do posts because I've been working on  Jem's second book.  It is done!  Finished!  Published!  It's been a long haul to get to this point.  His book, Shenanigans, is about his adventures (and mis-adventures) as a US Navy sailor back in the 1960's.  It is so funny, y'all.   You can read a sample at the link below.  

It's available in paperback and as an e-book.   Here's the link:  https://a.co/d/8IaGWRy

We hope you'll buy it, read it, and if you like it, do a review on Amazon.  

Now, I'm working on finishing up my book about Proverbs.  Hopefully, it will be finished by mid-September. 

So other than this, we've been enjoying the garden.  The heat has been terrible, but we were able to have a small harvest of the Everglades tomatoes.  They are about the size of the tip of my pinky finger and sweet as sugar.  They re-seed themselves and (supposedly) come back every year:

 Here are some of our beautiful flowers:

 

I think the zinnias are about finished.  May have one more bouquet.  They have brought me so much JOY!

I've also enjoyed sitting on our back porch (with a fan blowing on me, of course!).  I'm hoping the buntings will be coming back this month, but you never know.  But, we had a tit-mouse couple come by and the cardinals are regulars, along with the woodpeckers and blue jays.  The birds and butterflies are such a joy during my morning quiet time. 

 

 

Today, I sat out there with Tonnie Woo.  He loves the porch.  Stays out there all day long.  I don't know how he stands the heat, but he loves it.  He sleeps in my office at night, though. 

 

We celebrated Jem's birthday this month.  He'seventy-nine and said he never thought he'd live to be so old.  Well, he did and I'm so glad.  We spent the week celebrating and one place we returned to was the Pig n Whistle, a British pub in Cocoa Beach.  Jem had the fish and chips and I had a Reuben.  It was so huge I took half of it home.  We saw this sweet little Mini Cooper there and had to take a picture. We sure do miss our Minnie (that was her name) and talked about maybe getting another one. 

 

 

I liked the bunting and the portrait display of  King Charles.  We're so sad to hear the news this week that he is leaving the throne due to late-stage cancer.  His son, William, will take over soon.

 

There was an homage to the late Queen Elizabeth.  I've always admired her.  She was a real lady, and I think she was faithful to her duties as queen in spite of the hard things she went through.  

Another day, we took a slow ride down the river and visited a very nice restaurant in Titusville.  It's called Shiloh's and it's directly across the river from the space center.  Jem had the salmon and I had the fish and chips.  We even ordered a key-lime cheesecake to share, but took most of it home.  

All of this kind of rich eating is rare for us of late because we are dedicated to eating healthy.  I've lost fourteen pounds and he's lost thirty-six, which makes me so upset.  Why do men lose weight so much faster?  Any way, I am faithfully eating healthy every day and night.  Veggies are my friends.  Speaking of veg, I thought this was so funny.  I opened a new bag of baby carrots and found this super-sized baby:

 We had a picture made at the restaurant and I can really tell we've slimmed down.  Praise the Lord!

 Maybe next month, I'll share how I've lost weight.  

Oh, I forgot to tell you about our new car.  A 2025 Honda CRV.  It's just like our 2016 model, except for the updates:  

It has alarms galore:  when you get too close to the side of the road, slows you down when you get to close to the car in front of you, tells you if there's a car in your blind spot, heated seats and steering wheel, you can turn on the AC and cool it off before you get in - and my favorite - the wonderful backup camera. It has so many bells and whistles, it took us a month just to figure it all out. What a blessing.)

So, life at Golden Cottage is golden . . . and easy . . . and we treasure every day together.  I love our prayer and Bible time together in the mornings.  Toonie does, too.  He's a very scholarly cat.

We've been doing Shabbat at home on Friday nights and I love that.  On Saturday morning, we tune in to the online service from Shalom Macon.  

 I hope all is well in your world.  God bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you.

Bye for now. 💗 

31 Days of Garden Tours - Day 31

The Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives, is my favorite garden in Israel.  Gethsemane is not known for its flowers because it's an olive grove.  The photo above shows bougainvillea that grows on the edge of the outside of the garden. 

In Matthew 26, we read that Yeshua and his talmidim (disciples) observed Passover in Jerusalem, and then went to this olive grove to pray.  Here, we read that He was in such anguish in prayer that His sweat became drops of blood.  Here is where He said, "Not my will, but Thine be done."  It was here that He was arrested and taken to prison.

I'd read this story many times in my life, and it was humbling to stand in the place where He prayed for me.  I was humbled even more, when my eighty-year-old traveling companion, Carmita, knelt and thanked Him for His sacrifice.  She's gone to be with her Savior now, and I look forward to seeing her one day.  She taught me so much about faith and prayer.




The olive trees here are very old, but none stood when Yeshua knelt in this place.  The trees can grow for a hundred years or more, and when they die, another tree emerges from the roots.  It teaches me a lesson that true faith never dies.  You can learn more about the olive tree in this POST.

On my first trip to Israel in 1996, we were able to walk through the grove and take pictures.

But on my last trip in 2012, there was a fence around the entire grove.  We could only take pictures from the walkway.

But, I was thankful to get the photo below, because the word was not there in 1996.  This is my favorite photo from the 2012 trip. 

Gardens are delightful to me, and I'm sure it's because I find sweet peace and joy when I visit them.

The photo reminds me of my daddy's favorite song, In The Garden.  He used to always ask me to play it on the piano for him.  I hope you enjoy the song, and I hope you've enjoyed the 31 Days of Garden Tours I've shared with you.  Thank you for stopping by, and blessings to you, Gail-Friends.




You may also enjoy my series 31 Days of the Holy Land.

I'm linking up to the 31 Day Blog Event.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at:
 

Charlotte a Spiritual SundaysSpiritual Sundays     Janis with Sunday Stillness       THE SUNDAY COMMUNITY – #GIVE ME GRACE @SEE SPEAK HEAR MAMA Kathy’s Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life     GRAND Social       The Beauty in His Grip Link-Up   

Modest Mom Monday Link-up         Growing Homemakers Link-Up        The Gathering Spot Link-Up 

MOTIVATION MONDAYS – @EMBRACINGHISWILL      SHARING HIS BEAUTY – @THEBEAUTYINHISGRIP

Titus 2 Tuesday     Share Your Stuff Tuesday    TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS     

Wordless Wednesdays    Jennifer Dukes Lee Tell His Story  Teaching What Is Good Link-Up      

 A Hope in Every Season Homemaking Link-Up    Judith’s Wholehearted Wednesday     Raising Homemakers Wednesday     A Wise Woman Builds       Wake Up Wednesday     A Little R & R Wednesday     Wednesday's Prayer Girls & Link-Up Party

 Thought Provoking Thursdays at 3D Lessons 4Life     Thursday  Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life

Friendship Friday 

STILL SATURDAYS @SANDRAHESKAKING     PLAYDATES @LAURABOGGESS

 My Fresh Brewed Life with Barbie – Weekend Brew

31 Days of Garden Tours - Day 30

Today, I'm touring my absolute favorite garden on this side of the world -- The Golden Cottage Garden.  My husband, aka as Mr. Green Jeans, has made a beautiful paradise in our yard.  I'd like to show you some of the delights he's created for me to enjoy.


This is our pond.  He made this for me because I love to be by the water.  It's my favorite part of the garden.


 

 This is what I see as I sit on my back porch for my morning prayer time with the L-rd.  There's a small waterfall that makes wonderful music to accompany the singing birds that visit.

 

This is a close up view of the shrimp plants.  They are very hardy and have flowers all year long.

The Elephant Ears are hardy, too.  Some have grown up to eight feet tall,  and did you know they have flowers?  Lots of flowers.  Aren't they beauties?

And here is Mr. Green Jeans, standing underneath a tall elephant ear.  

 


We have several different varieties of Lantana.  The butterflies love them.

 

And the Confederate Jasmine, too.  It has a heavenly perfume, unlike the Lantana, which stinks.

 The Morning Glories are my favorites.

 We've tried vegetable gardening over the years, both in ground, and containers.  Sadly, it hasn't gone well because gardening in Florida is tough. The heat, the bugs, and the sandy soil are challenging.   If we had to live on what we grow, I think we'd starve.  Even Mr. Tomato is sad about it.

We've had better success with this system, which my husband built.  It puts the plants at waist level, and makes it easier to maintain.  Plus, the bugs and critters don't bother the plants as much.  Lettuce and spinach have done well.

Here are some more lovelies in the back yard.

 Peace plants grow really well in our yard, and bear lots of blooms.

I love feeding the birds in our garden.  

Especially in the winter, when the painted buntings visit.

In the Fall, the Golden Rain trees start to turn yellow, and then tiny yellow flowers form.  After a week or two, the blossoms appear, and then they fall.  The carpet of blossoms is as close as we get to Fall leaves. 

I think the leaves and blossom are so pretty.  The leaves don't come off until the temperatures get really cold, usually January through March. Here in Florida, cold is around forty degrees.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour of The Golden Cottage.  Tomorrow, I'll show you my favorite garden in Israel.

Blessings,

I'm linking up to the 31 Day Blog Event.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at:
 

Charlotte a Spiritual SundaysSpiritual Sundays     Janis with Sunday Stillness       THE SUNDAY COMMUNITY – #GIVE ME GRACE @SEE SPEAK HEAR MAMA Kathy’s Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life     GRAND Social       The Beauty in His Grip Link-Up   

Modest Mom Monday Link-up         Growing Homemakers Link-Up        The Gathering Spot Link-Up 

MOTIVATION MONDAYS – @EMBRACINGHISWILL      SHARING HIS BEAUTY – @THEBEAUTYINHISGRIP

Titus 2 Tuesday     Share Your Stuff Tuesday    TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS     

Wordless Wednesdays    Jennifer Dukes Lee Tell His Story  Teaching What Is Good Link-Up      

 A Hope in Every Season Homemaking Link-Up    Judith’s Wholehearted Wednesday     Raising Homemakers Wednesday     A Wise Woman Builds       Wake Up Wednesday     A Little R & R Wednesday     Wednesday's Prayer Girls & Link-Up Party

 Thought Provoking Thursdays at 3D Lessons 4Life     Thursday  Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life

Friendship Friday 

STILL SATURDAYS @SANDRAHESKAKING     PLAYDATES @LAURABOGGESS

 My Fresh Brewed Life with Barbie – Weekend Brew

31 Days of Garden Tours - Day 29

This post is part two of the FIT Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Florida.  Yesterday's post has more photos and information about our trip to this wonderful tropical paradise.  

I promised yesterday that I'd show you some wildlife.  Well, here you go.  We met several turtles along the way.  The photo below is of two very friendly (or hungry) turtles in one of the ponds.  These are the same type of tiny green turtles that we used to have as pets when I was a child.  They can grow to be pretty large.  These were about 12-14 inches long.

The photo below shows a snapping turtle (on the left) that came to join them.  The guy on the right is climbing on his back, saying, "Hey, this is my favorite spot!" 

The gardens were planted by Dr. Terry Keuper, former president of the university, with the help of celebrated botanist, Dent Smith.  You can learn more about the history of the garden, as well as the species that adorn this beautiful hammock garden at this LINK

The plant above is Persian Shield, and we have it in our garden at the Golden Cottage.  We'd never seen it as a ground cover, and plan to adopt the idea to use around the trees in our yard.

A great idea for a bench, and I love the use of the flat stones .

 

I have to explain the photo above.  It is a HUGE Staghorn Fern that has fallen on the ground.  The top of the photo shows where it was attached.  These ferns grow so big and get so heavy that it takes huge chains to hang them from a tree.  They look great hanging, but when they grow, they become big problems. 

The flower above is Spanish Flag Lantana, and they are a favorites of butterflies.  A native plant, they grow profusely and are very hardy.  We have four different varieties in our garden.

 More Lantana, in a different color.  
 

The next two photos below are of the little school house at the entrance to the gardens.  So tiny, right?  I think you'll find the information on the sign very interesting.

That's my sweet husband, aka The Golden Cottage Gardener. 

There is so much beauty in G-d's world, and sometimes the very simplest leaf inspires me with awe.  In example, the two photos below:

Only two more days of tours, Gail-Friends.  Tomorrow, I'll be showing you around our garden here at the Golden Cottage.  Please come back by and sit a spell.  I'll have some sweet iced tea ready!

Blessings,

I'm linking up to the 31 Day Blog Event.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at:
 

Charlotte a Spiritual SundaysSpiritual Sundays     Janis with Sunday Stillness       THE SUNDAY COMMUNITY – #GIVE ME GRACE @SEE SPEAK HEAR MAMA Kathy’s Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life     GRAND Social       The Beauty in His Grip Link-Up   

Modest Mom Monday Link-up         Growing Homemakers Link-Up        The Gathering Spot Link-Up 

MOTIVATION MONDAYS – @EMBRACINGHISWILL      SHARING HIS BEAUTY – @THEBEAUTYINHISGRIP

Titus 2 Tuesday     Share Your Stuff Tuesday    TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS     

Wordless Wednesdays    Jennifer Dukes Lee Tell His Story  Teaching What Is Good Link-Up      

 A Hope in Every Season Homemaking Link-Up    Judith’s Wholehearted Wednesday     Raising Homemakers Wednesday     A Wise Woman Builds       Wake Up Wednesday     A Little R & R Wednesday     Wednesday's Prayer Girls & Link-Up Party

 Thought Provoking Thursdays at 3D Lessons 4Life     Thursday  Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life

Friendship Friday 

STILL SATURDAYS @SANDRAHESKAKING     PLAYDATES @LAURABOGGESS

 My Fresh Brewed Life with Barbie – Weekend Brew