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Eight months in South Korea

One semester at Sogang University

An internship at Seoul City University

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Tim and Korean Mom and Dad for extending your hospitality to her.

We are thrilled to have CC home. 

She is keeping me sweetly distracted.

Olive

Deck and Patio

It has been a quest of sorts to find a table top for 

the curvy metal table base you see here.

 I was about to give up when I found a piece of sealed granite in a

 junk shop for a ridiculously low price.

 It weighs almost 80 pounds.

 Joe told me never to find a larger piece.

If an item is big and heavy I want it.

We routinely eat on the deck and bird watch. 

The hummingbirds arrived early this year. 

The hummers ignore us while flying from feeder to feeder.

The patio area will have flowers blooming around it shortly. 

The roses and amaryllis are budding.

I basically rely on perennials but do use a good many petunias in planters. 

They are not terribly thirsty and take this awful Deep South heat.

I have sweet mint (above), chocolate mint, rosemary, thyme, and basil 

growing on or near the deck. 

The rosemary and thyme are winter hardy here.

My first foxglove is blooming but I will share that beauty later.

linking@Wow Us Wednesday

joy and peace

Olive

Kindness, Despair, Expectation

"Beauty is important in this fragile life"

Jan Karon

Yes, the ice is pretty on my old watering can. 

But that ice from Ice Storm Pax caused at least nine deaths that I know of. On the February eleven the storm came in the night. Trees and limbs begins to fall. I awoke to an old dogwood tree on our roof. There was a constant cacophony of limbs falling all day and into the next night.

 Joe arrived from work before the roads were blocked by trees. Transformers began to blow up and shoot blue flames across the sky. We had power lines in our front yard for days. We were without power for five and half days.

Kindness

Our neighbor, Gary, who lives down the gravel road we live on

 where eight trees were down walked three miles in the storm to a lawn mower shop to buy a chain saw. He walked back with the heavy saw and then helped clear our road. All of us were there picking up limbs and clearing. We also cleared the paved road beyond the stop sign.  

On Saturday Gary came with his chain saw and helped cut the dogwood off our roof. 

He asked for nothing but for us to wave at him as he drives by. 

That is extraordinary kindness.  

Despair

Joe and I have taken 19 truck loads of tree limbs from the

front yard alone. We have not started on the back yard or side yards. Every muscle in my body aches. Joe would never hire anyone to help us and that is fine. The limbs are not going anywhere. I have been in a state of despair off and on. We both sort of lost time there for a few days living in the dark, picking up tree after tree with no end in sight. It is rather disheartening still.

Expectation

We have lost many beautiful ornamental trees and the large dogwood.

 It shaded my flower garden which you have seen here frequently. I have high expectations that my flower garden will be a sunny spot now. Different and better. I am installing a few David Austin Roses soon. I need ordinary garden chores to do.

Ordinary is good:}

 Our yellow house is in the Central Savannah River area near Augusta, Georgia which was the epicenter of Ice Storm Pax.

joy and peace my friends

I have missed you

Olive

Suitcase & Succulents

Hello friends.

 I've been cleaning this vintage turquoise suitcase here on the deck this past week. 

I really like the handle on this one. 

The other distraction I had this week was three doctors appointments. 

Good heavens that was enough.

While we are on the deck you might enjoy some succulents.

 I leave them out all winter.

Ghost plant and antlers in a funeral basket. 

What's better than that?

I cannot think of the name of this plant but the old handmade stump

 it's on came from an estate sale and has lovely patina.

Edit: The plant is dischidia formosana. 

An astute reader looked it up for me.

I went picking with a friend yesterday and we had the best time.

 I bought a barn door. 

That's a first.

joy and peace

Olive

August House and Garden

The purple clematis bloomed again this week.

 In the background is a begonia.

The aloe in the wreath is thriving.

A reader asked me to identify the corbels on our house. One is to the left of the "C". 

We painted them, this spring, a pale green with oops paint.

We finally trimmed most of our shrubbery.

 It is a colossal job.

We need minions to help with this yard.

 Everyone around us has some.

We also need exercise therefore no minions :}

The crepe myrtles are not blooming as much this summer.

 Likely due to the frequent rain.

I do not know what this small yellow blooming tree is. 

I bought it at a neighbor's plant sale. It is about five feet tall.

The ginger lily is about to bloom for the first time. 

I am beyond excited about this. 

Many folks have told me how sweetly scented it is.

A Black Swallowtail Butterfly on the Butterfly Bush.

If you want butterflies plant one or two of these and some lantana.

Despite much rain we are trying to stay ahead of the grass and weeds

 (I mowed for an hour this morning). 

I am not saying we are successful but we are trying.

 It is a labor of love for our home that we adore.

Linking@Wow Us Wednesday's

happy gardening

Olive

Starfire Lily Not Stargazer {Oops}

Edited Post

The Starfire Lily is a fascinating plant. I knew it was a starfire lily when I initially wrote this post. I had stargazer reeling around my head and information on starfire on the bar. Thanks to astute readers I stand corrected. It's a bulb you plant partially above the soil line. It grows rapidly. It is in the amaryllis family.

It took about four days to fully form this sphere. It shot up fast after all of our recent rain. My friend Miss Nola gave this bulb and another one to me. If you see one of these bulbs buy it and enjoy what it does.

happy gardening

Olive

DECK SCENES

 I sat on the deck with the camera and snapped some of the activity around me while I painted shells yesterday. Gilding shells is not for wimps {I am a wimp when it comes to strong odors} as the paint is toxic. Shelley Boo was watching over me.

 We always have birds flying around the deck and hummers at the mini feeders every minute.

This is the basket I chased the snake out of and tried to save the baby birds from.

 For those of you who had never seen a Walking Iris this is what it looks like at dawn. Where it is touching the ground it will make another plant.

We continue to find toys buried on our property. It's exciting to dig them up.

Sweet potato vines are in my favorite pot.

Please follow Olive Out on Bloglovin

joy and peace

Olive

Vintage Sign: Pig's For Sale

Pig's For Sale vintage sign was purchased in Ridge Spring last Saturday. For now it is resting on the deck where my garden tools are kept. I might need to clean it. Or not.

I am looking for a vintage Eggs For Sale sign too.

I almost bought a large Peaches sign at the farm sale but changed my mind. 

Do you like vintage signs?

Do you have vintage signs?

Do tell.

joy and peace

Olive

Tired Always Follows Sick

I am sick and tired this month. Tired always follows sick as the brilliant Bill Cosby reminded us. April has been tough and nearly overwhelming for me. The Boston Marathon Bombing Terrorist attacks followed by the tragedy in the town of West, Texas. I despair every time I hear another parent claim their grown child is as innocent as a white dove. I had parents of convicted murderers tell me that all the time when I was a Director of Nursing for the Georgia Department of Corrections. 

We all are in potential what every criminal is in actuality. I learned that there is a thin fine line between criminals and us. I hear you shouting in protest "But I have the sweetest child." I am sure you do. Please, please, parents never claim your children can do no wrong. Hold them accountable for their mistakes. It may be the greatest gift you give to them.

If you think this blog shallow or too focused on all things pretty just know that I have spent far too much time, working as an RN in challenging locations, and need this pretty refuge. I seek the solitude of gardening and making our home comfortable for a reason. If you have not read my Hold Everything Lightly Series at the top of the page you might want to consider it.

Our daughter, CC, has a dear friend whose mother died, last night, at age 52, of breast cancer. She was surrounded by her husband and children. We know she is no longer suffering and is with Her Lord. CC is hurting and is away at college and unable to comfort her friend. Here again April has been a difficult road to travel.

Hug Someone You Love Today

Olive

Rusty Motel Chair

How are y'all doing this Friday? I am super tired but pressing on anyway.  Donna and I found this rusty scalloped motel chair last Saturday at an estate sale. The rusty chair is a little wobbly therefore I am using it as a plant stand.

We had a thunderstorm last night, which I slept through, and that is why the pine trees have rained down upon the deck. I have sanded the chair and waxed it.

I went quickly to two estate sales this morning, then made chicken salad, broccoli salad, and did some gardening. I still have too much to do before Joe arrives but am taking some time to blog. I did not have time to help Fancy clean her house when the golfers left today(seven leave and seven check in-that's crazy). I enjoyed all your comments on the last post I wrote about Fancy renting her house.

Happy Friday

Olive