Fun Fri~Always EnJOY Flowers Longer by Drying Them

 

Remember my grand daughter's Christmas gift of flowers

this past Christmas?

I just can't stand throwing out cut flowers.

I want to enJOY them as long as possible.

So when they start wilting,

I remove the water in the container 

to let the stem dry out.

This is what I get:

If you don't remove the water,

the stem begins to rot and disintegrate,

and the flowers continue to wilt.

I've heard some people say hang them upside down,

but mine have done well just leaving them in the container.

 It's interesting to see what colors will survive,

or how the color changes.

I really like the "antique" look they get. 

Some later begin to shed.

I just sweep them up and

 throw those pieces away.

 

Did you notice in Wednesday's picture some of

Mr.G's flowers that I had dried?

They were the last bouquet he got me in October, 2021. 

A few of the rose petals have fallen off when I accidentally hit it.

I'm glad I still have them.
 

Wordless Wed 408~ Mr G is Thriving to Make it to Spring

 

Sun Best~ Provoked Thought: Phillipians 3:13

 

Fun Fri~ Clell's Quilt Repair Begins

 

I was asked to repair this everyday quilt,

so it could continue to be used.

A person brought it to me for someone else.

I agreed to try to make repairs

as long as I didn't have to match fabrics.

They didn't care what I did.

They just wanted to keep using it,

before it fell completely apart.

With my big stash of fabric,

I thought I would have plenty fabrics

that would come close.

I did not.

It's a very heavy quilt.

Inside is an original quilt.

No telling how old.

I can't wait to hear the history. 

The old quilt was covered like a duvet

with curtain or light weight upholstery fabrics.

The edges are not a regular seam, 

but rather each layer was turned under

 and hand sewn together.

 

 

The sections that needed the most repair,

was a loose woven fabric

and located where the feet

or neck would be.

I had this one piece of curtain sample

with background

and red/green that somewhat matched.

I first decided to sew down

the old fabric to the old quilt

so it wouldn't move around under the fabric 

I was about to cover it with.

Thinking less movement,

less fraying?

 

Following the original 

fold under & stitch idea,

I did the same with the new fabric.

Except I used the Hidden Ladder Stitch

that I used to put the 

blocks together for the 

Tahara Japanese Quilt.

These are the original hand stitches. 

Not sure you can see

how the stitches are holding together

the folded under edges.

You can in the previous 2 pictures.

 

Don't know how long this repair will take.

I'm to pick up prom dresses to alter this coming weekend

like I did last year. 

Prom Dress Alteration Season

 Shortening a Prom Dress

 

 

Thoughtful Thurs~ The Story Behind Aunt Ethel the Christmas Cactus

 

Since I try not to use words on Wordless Wed,

I thought today you might want to know

some details about Aunt Ethel.

 

Way back

when I was a teenage

we visited Uncle Noel and Aunt Ethel

in Onarga, Illinois.

 

Aunt Ethel gave my Mother a piece

of her beautiful Christmas Cactus.

No telling its age.

 

Back home in Glasgow, KY

Mother planted the pieces in a large 

container of dirt.

It thrived and multiplied.

I don't remember it blooming,

because at that age

I had more important things on my mind.

 

The big plant moved to town

when my parents left the farm.

 

When Mother passed away in 2014,

I grabbed the beautiful, bushy, healthy plant

and brought it to Lexington with me.

I still don't recall it having ever bloomed.

Just green.

That's how I thought a Christmas Cactus

was supposed to look.

 

It stayed well for a couple of years,

until one year

I thought I had the brilliant idea

to set it under a tree

where the occasional rains 

would water it for me.

 

BIG MISTAKE.

I almost drowned it.

I thought I had killed it!

The container didn't have drain holes,

because Mother kept it in the house.

 

I poured water out of that container,

and kept pouring.

A few days later,

some pieces literally

fell out of the pot with no roots attached.

The roots were rotting.

I panicked

and pulled some still healthy pieces out

with their roots

and let them dry.

I dumped the old dirt

and got a new bag.

I thought I'd start dry again.

I stuck the pieces in the dirt

like my Mother had originally done. 

In sunlight with occasional water,

Aunt Ethel started reviving. 

She grew more pieces over the years.

Now

 

Aunt Ethel and I moved again,

north of Lexington.

So I think she can be considered a traveler.

A few pieces have grown.

As you can see,

she seeked out the sunlight across another pot.

For a while,

I think she actually was mourning with me

over Mr. G.

She sits next to the last flowers that 

Mr. G gave me.

and on the other side of the plant my

daughter gave me for Mother's Day back in 2020

Aunt Ethel

can see Mr. G the Poinsettia

still in full bloom to this day.

They are all spindly, I think,

but I love them for their 

thoughts & memories.

 

I think Mr. G wants to still be blooming on Easter?

 

So this year finally

I think she decided to rejoice 

still being alive

with one bloom. 

 

My cousin got a piece of a Cactus

from our Uncle Arnold.

What do you think the name of her plant is? 

I must say

I think

Uncle Arnold is thriving a lot more than Aunt Ethel.

Wordless Wed 407~ Aunt Ethel Finally Bloomed After 18 Years of Struggles

 

Mon Memories~The Kentucky 2025 Flood

 

On February 5, 2025 we got about 2 inches of rain overnight.

So the creek rose,

but no big deal.

It does usually recede quickly within a day or two.

This creek gets run off from the northern part of the county

where Lexington, KY is located.

Then just as the creek was about to its normal level,

the notice above arrives in my Fox Weather app.

I refer to them and Ryan Hall on You Tube.

Both are very reliable and non dramatic.

Usually right on target with predictions.

I had never heard of a 

"Hydrologic Outlook"

(Apparently this spell checker hadn't either.)

 

On Sat, Feb 15, 2025

It drizzled here all day.

Meanwhile all across the southern part of KY

it was pouring about 3 to 4 inches.

Some weather people were mumbling

about this might surpass the hundred year flood

and be a 500 year flood.

 My daughter in southern KY, close to I65

sent the picture above and below.

The creek (in the tree line) had flooded their 

creek bottom field.

This happens often

with big rains

and they know to move the cattle to higher ground.

They also usually get trapped in

for a few hours,

because the water goes over the drive.

Their big high trucks & tractors usually don't care.

Problem is, the road is also flooded in both directions for a while.

This was happening all over across southern KY

and north all the way to Louisville 

and down to Nashville.

Meanwhile, it only drizzled at my house all day,

and I got about half inch as well as Lexington.

So by the end of Sat

my creek looked like this:

It hadn't even turned muddy,

and was almost about normal level.

Some leftover flooding from Feb 5,

still remained in the pumpkin patch

on the other side of the creek

which is lower the bank on my side.

 

Meanwhile,

Our Governor Beshear had already declared an emergency for 

all 120 counties of KY,

because of more predicted rain to come.

HHS Sec, Kristi Noem had contacted our Governor,

by the end of the day

declaring they were ready for FEMA to give help. 

 

When I went to bed,

I had heard that eastern KY

and Virginia had gotten hit hard during the day,

and they were going to get the 3 to 4 inches

I was about to get overnight.

The next morning, Sun, Feb 16, 2025

 I woke up to this:

 

This was 7 am and the radar

was showing for the most part the rain was over.

I was able to step out to get more pictures.

We had gotten 3.68 inches in the last 24 hours.

 

But, OH WAIT!

Mother Nature had to literally put the frosting on the cake.

About 8:30

A heavy wet fluffy snow started.

In 15 minutes, 8:45 am we had this:

 By 9 am the tree branches had collected more snow,

and it was looking rather beautiful.

 

The Northern part of our state got about 3 inches of rain.

The southern portion that got so much rain,

thank goodness

only got a skif of snow.

However, the high temperature for the next couple of days

with more snow Tuesday night.

Since this flood was statewide for KY,

it will be remembered.

This flood is being compared to the

Flood of 1977.

Some places hit that record,

some didn't.

Rivers were expected to crest sometime Mon?

 Pikeville, KY might have broken records,

because water got were it had never gotten before,

especially after the city had done so much construction

to prevent the floods the mountains cause.

Don't think it was the 500 year flood though.

 

As of Monday morning, 

11 lives had been lost in KY

due to floods.

"A weekend that made memories for many."

This picture taken

 February 17,2025, 6pm