Sunday, August 05, 2007

SANCTUARY III - The Finale

I am late getting this final segment of my Sanctuary series published. What can I say in the way of excuses! Been busy, busy, busy with family, family, family. Last night for instance, we had my sister and her husband over for a steak dinner. Ooh! Those T-bones were to die for.

I am highly motivated to get this final segment published. Today I have been going through boxes upon boxes of family photos which belonged to our (my sister and me) parents who both passed away several years ago. After the funerals, which were weeks apart, my sister ended up with the boxes of photos. She brought them with her last night so that I could eventually sort through them and preserve the important photos on CD's for family members.

Well, I ran across three adorable photos of our grandfather and his twin when they were children. The twins were born in 1898 just to give you an idea of the time during which these photos were taken. Finding these photos brought to mind the story which I had heard again and again through the years about the day the twins came up missing on the farm during harvest time. My next post after this one is going to be about that incident. You will love the photos of Grandpa Leon and his twin Lionelle, and you will get a huge charge out of the story. And now to finish up with the Sanctuary.

Flowers, flowers, and more flowers. But these are potted ones on our deck. Be sure to click each photo to enlarge it so that you can get up close and personal with these beautiful flowers. The enlarged view is breathtaking. Let the show begin.

This is our deck. Want to stay for supper? There's a chicken on that rotisserie. Watch your step...don't trip on that extension cord you see laying across the deck floor.

Above: Supertunia Mini Blue Vein
Above: Euphorbia Diamond Frost

Above: Million Bells Yellow Calibrachoa hybrid by Proven Selections. This has been a very hardy and prolific flower this year. I have this particular flower in another pot in front of the house and the blooms just keep coming.

Below: Yellow Hibiscus and Impatiens



Above: Pink Geranium

Above: New Guinea Impatiens blended with Elfin Impatiens.

Note the small angels figurine sitting in the one pot. The spring after
our parents passed away, I discovered this figurine at a garden center. I was drawn to it, because our parents loved nature and all their flowers. I think of our parents every time I look at the angels.
Above: Begonia Elatior 'Kristy Fringed'

No one here gave any indication that they had spotted Woody our mischievous woodland gnome. Well, he was in a miff for a few days over that, but I was able to calm him down. I assured him that, indeed, he is a fascinating creature, but of course mostly just to children and grownups who are still children at heart.
Above: Woody says, "Hee...hee, come again!"

And please do come again!

14 comments:

  1. Loved the little tour of your garden and yes, I'd love some of that chicken! The angel figurine is so sweet. Looking forward to the story of your Grandpa and his twin!
    xo

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  2. God, that's one good lookin' deck. I wish I had one like that. One day...

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  3. Just beautiful.. makes me want to sit down and stay for awhile. Thanks for sharing your "green thumb" with us!

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  4. Suzie Q, I love your deck and flowers. They make me feel like I could just move right in....I like grilled chicken too.

    My husband is doing much better. It took him two days to get over getting his drain pulled but he is getting better each day. Today he actually went out and did some work. I had called a friend of mine who is deep into alternative health care and she gave me a list of things to get him on. The top of the list was:
    1) Glutamine - helps with intestional healing.
    2) Natural Factors Probotics with FOS. - it will help regrow the good bacteria that was killed by the antibotics he took in the hospital. Helps with digestion.
    3) Ester C - a natural pain killer and helps with healing.
    4)Taurine - the sulfer in it helps with healing the bile duct. She also said he could eat eggs to help with that.
    5) Eat plenty of foods with caritnoids like sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, brocklie, cantaloupes etc. He had been craving cantalopes since he was in the hospital so I give him cantaloupe every morning.
    6) Prolean - helps with tissue regrowth.
    7) She told him not to drink orange juice, eat cinnamon or not to take orgeano oil...???? Not sure why.
    8)Take Echinacea with Goldenseal for 10 days and then stop. - This is a natural antibotic and is good for fighting infection.
    9) Choline-Inositol complex - These are B vitamins and I forgot what that is supposed to help him with..Ha Ha.
    10) I have also been giving him Tunguska and PSP. - These products are great for healing and they are made by Cyberwise.
    11) I have been giving him ginger tea or ginger tablets since he was in the hospital. - He has been having a hard time regulating his temperature and the ginger helps warm the metabolism. It is also good for nausa and muscle cramping.
    12) I went on the Internet and studied up on his situation and it said to give him a whey protein shake every day. I put the whey powder into a blender, add one cup of water, put in the Glutamine and the PSP, add 1 tsp. honey, add 1 banana, add some ice and have a good healthy shake. He loves it.
    I know that this sounds like a lot but it has really made a difference in his healing. I can't believe how much he has improved since I started him on this regime.

    PS. I learned, just tonight, that Vital Greens (by Cyberwize) is great for the kidneys. Email me at: lucy.stern@gmail.com and I will tell you where you can get it.

    Good luck with your husband. If you would like my friends phone number she could probably help your husband too.

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  5. Lucy: Wow! What a list. You definitely know what you are doing. No doubt about that. I'll just have to call you Dr. Lucy from now on.

    I make a health smoothie for my husband and myself practically every morning. Our smoothie consists of: orange juice; keifer; flax oil; whey protein; banana; apple; and frozen blueberries. I divide this smoothie between the two of us and then to mine I add my assortment of vitamin capsules and let the blender go to town on them. I do this because I am a big baby about swallowing pills. My husband gets his vitamins pills the regular way. He isn't a big baby like me.

    I am going to tell my husband about what you are doing with your husband. Maybe he will want your friend's phone number. He is still having trouble with his legs swelling.

    Susie, Rhea, and Nancy: Thanks for your comments. Now, let's see...how many of you are staying for dinner and some of that chicken?

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  6. Susie you have a green thumb. Your plants and flowers are so pretty and I can tell you take very good care of them. Just knowing the names of all the plants shows how much you do care.

    My Mom liked Hibiscus and I planted some for her back in the 90's but they didn't do well in her yard. Geraniums, Tulips and the Holly did well there but I think the soil was too acid for the Hibiscus.

    OK what's the creature crawling out of your Begonias. I caught that. Looks like a turtle.

    Is Woody related to the Travelocity gnome? I hope you have seen those commercials for Travelocity, the Travelocity Myth-busting gnome is so funny. No, don't back up!

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  7. Oh, your deck is lovely. I feel as if I can step right in and sit down. Did you save me a steak?

    I have pink geraniums on my deck as well, and also New Guinea impatiens. They're two of my favorites.

    I'm looking forward to seeing the twins...!

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  8. I just had 17 reels of 8mm film transferred to DVD. This was taken in the 50's by an uncle and there is a scene in which I am particularly cute. Now just have to see how to get a photo of one scene off of the DVD. Don't know if thats even possible.
    Transferring photos to DVD is an interesting possibility; I might try that next. Thanks for the idea.

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  9. Love the deck--especially love its view of your Terrabithia woods...the woods and the grill are the key attractions for most guys.

    Can't wait for that post about your grandpa. Old photos are "story seeds" and blogs are a great way to tell them.

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  10. I'd seen "diamond frost" before and liked it, had no idea of what it was called - nice name too.

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  11. Jenni: I don't know how green my thumb is. My index finger is black though by the time I go around from flower pot to flower pot sticking my finger in each one to check for moisture content. As far as knowing the names of the flowers, it helps to keep the labels that come with them. If it were not for those identifying labels, I doubt I could rattle off names like "calibrachoa".

    The creature growing out of the begonias is a clay frog. I know he doesn't look much like one though. As to Woody's possible relationship to the Travelocity gnome ("Am I going die?"), I think they are second cousins. I crack up every time I see one of those commercials.

    Josie: Well, there were leftovers from that steak dinner. In fact I still have a small piece of T-bone in the frig. Want me to email it to you? :-) I have relied on impatiens for years. That is one flower that seems to know me as well I as know it.

    Goatman: I have videos that I want to convert to CD's and DVD's before they deteriorate too much. The life of videos is limited. You will have to share that particularly cute shot of you with your readers..somehow. How about using YouTube for that purpose? I know of another blogger who put one of his videos (somehow) on YouTube and then showed it at his blog. If you find out how to do that, let me know. I have lots of videos I can bore my readers with.

    Tom (Patterns): Yes, grills and guys, they go together. My guy loves to grill out. I never have to beg him. He is game no matter what I want him to grill. Our extended family (14 grandchildren) has outgrown our grill. So my guy is daydreaming about getting one of those fancy outdoor kitchens. We discovered a great recipe for grilled mahi-mahi. After grilling it is topped with chopped parsley and slivered almonds that have been roasted in a little butter. Yum!

    Paul: Diamond Frost is such a delicate looking flower. Yet it holds up well in a drought. Since it is potted though, no need to worry about droughts.

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  12. Your garden and lovely outdoor spaces are just so beautiful and restful.
    That steak sounds good too...: )

    Your gnome is a cutie. : )

    I am so looking forward to reading your story...aren't old photos and letter the best treasures? They lend themselves to delightful story telling. Bits of history.

    Hugs,
    Sue

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  13. Don't flowers just nurture the soul?
    I would almost give up food before
    nature. The flowers are lovely, of
    course.
    This year, I have tried to have
    four flower beds. Since we are in a drought and have not had rain in over a month, I have mostly given up on flowers for next year--except in pots and one bed for wild flowers.
    I have a small bed of wild flowers
    this year. The butterflies are
    on the blooms all day. They are
    such a delight to watch. Of course, I do plan on that wildflower bed next year, and a
    sprinkler. This is now four years
    of no rain.
    I hope you enjoyed all those old
    pictures as much as I have enjoyed
    old pictures from my family. They
    are a lost treasure rediscovered when you find them.

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  14. What beautiful plants you have on a beautiful deck! ~ jb///

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