No strings.....

It's a long story how I arrived at this week's challenge.

My wonderful husband assembled this arbor for a few of my orchids.

I bought a passion plant vine to cover it to protect the orchids from the sun

and to attract butterflies.

That it did, but then caterpillars appeared all over the vine gobbling up the new leaves.

"That is completely normal" the garden store said.

"You will have lots of heliconian butterflies this spring

and your vine will rejuvenate itself, even stronger than before."

Hm-m-m-m-m-m-m-m

So I started with a butterfly.

Stay tuned and I will let you know if in fact I do have butterflies.

"Zinger"

This week our challenge was to use "zinger".

Being a Holiday weekend for those of us in the States,

there was a bit more to accomplish.

I am one of the very lucky retired ladies whose husband has

taken over the kitchen.

After some negotiation, it was agreed that I could prepare

our Thanksgiving dinner.

When you haven't cooked a full meal in at least six months

it requires getting reacquainted with all of the appliances.

Because carrot cake is one of my husband's favorites,

I decided that would be our dessert.

That meant dealing with the food processor.

My food processor is not user friendly!

It has five pieces that must fit together exactly in order to

grate one carrot.  The trusty old grater was looking pretty 

good by the time I got that "convenience" put together.

The meal was delicious and the carrot cake couldn't have been better.

I hope everyone had a peaceful, thankful day.

We did!

And between you and me, I wouldn't mind playing around in the kitchen

a bit more.  It can be a creative outlet also.

It's a Start

It's a start

I am not quite sure where I am going with this so we will call it a WIP.

I wanted to use only three colors (but cheated a bit under the ear, unfortunately)

and have the colors on the elephant more intense.  It didn't quite work as I had envisioned.

It is grey and damp in Florida today so maybe I will just sit down and try it again.

Happy PPF

Mickey (and Minnie) tangle

Such fun!

This week we got to view one of the original Mickey Mouse cartoons

at the Diva's site.  And we have a new tangle using the letter "M".

I wanted to do something original with the tangle but just couldn't come up

with anything.  And so we have a "portrait" of sorts of Mickey and Minnie.

Sunflower Escape

Our recent road trip in Colorado and New Mexico 

reminded me of the sunflowers that line the highway in the late summer.

We were too late this year and missed them

but they are alive and well in my mind!

Happy PPF

Socc

This week Erin provided us with her new tangle, Socc.

I must say it was very zen like to do this tangle (and that is a good thing).

Thanks to Laura for the challenge

A bit of my lanai this week

Pot. Carolina Splendor Krulls Ruby

Cattleya Chocolate Drop

Dendrobium King of Money

Cattleya Marge Putnam

Blc. George King Serendipity

You can see them.   I wish you could smell them.

Blc. Marge Putnam is blooming

My lanai is a riot of color right now.  While many of you are preparing for winter,

we in Florida are enjoying the very best time of year.  After a wet, wet 

summer, it is dry now and orchids are blooming.  They are so beautiful, I hesitate

to sketch them for some reason.  Marge Putnam now has about 30 blooms.  Here,

she is just getting started.

Happy PPF