Visiting Joyce's Mom & Her Garden

This post is for my friend in Copenhagen: Annette, you would have loved this garden so much. 

Joyce and I visited her mom, Irma, in Los Angeles last Thursday. Los Angeles freeway traffic wasn't too bad, but I was grateful for Joyce driving us. 

Joyce's parents live in a lovely place in the big city. And their home has a beautiful garden. Every time I visit, I see new trees and new flowers that I hadn't noticed before.

The garden is lush and green and it really has a sort of magical effect, it's so large, with trees so huge, their canopies give so much shade. You would have to be a poet to describe the effect this garden has on me. 

This is Irma catching the oranges Joyce is picking for her. 

Irma's garden has oranges, avocados, lemons, mangoes, papayas and so much more.

Beautiful flowers are everywhere.

This rose had a heavenly scent.

A yellow rose, my favorite flower.

The variegated leaves of this iris were just magnificent.

This avocado tree is large and massive. I believe earlier generations of Joyce's family lived here and planted some of the trees and plants in the garden.

There were plants growing close to the ground and plants in pots. 

And a place to sit awhile.

On the way home, we got caught in a desert downpour. It was powerful, but short-lived. 

Fortunately, later at night, the cayon was blessed with a thunder storm that brought some more rain. 

I was so tired, I have no idea how long the storm lasted. But I'm so grateful for the rain.

And also grateful that Faith is not afraid of thunder and lightning. 

Just a bit concerned, looking at me - like: Hey, mommy, why don't you just make this stuff go away? 

Then we both fell asleep.

 

Antiques, Dolls, Two Love Birds, and Me

Last Saturday, Carol and I drove to Exeter, a small town not far from where Carol lives. It's a lovely town, full of wonderful murals, many antique shops, thrift stores and coffee shops. Here I am, looking happy, outside one of the antique stores. Snapdragons are one of my favorites and these were so beautiful – and look, a pumpkin, too!

I noticed this really cool bike, or I should say bicycle...it's that old, after all....

Inside we found some pretty pillows and quilts,

and an old clock from Hotel deVille de Paris. I've always had a special place in my heart for old clocks and time pieces. There is just something wonderful about them keeping time for so long.

The next store was large and had areas where different vendors displayed their antiques. Carol's friend Betty had a Valentine's Day display in her area. I found out that Betty likes to find old things, appropriate for a holiday or a season, and then create a display around that theme. What fun to plan ahead and go shopping for antiques for Christmas, Easter, summer, fall and so on. And then decide how to display them…..to be that creative must be so satisfying.

In the large store, Betty's area was the one that captured my heart. I enjoyed all the things she had on display, but fell most in love with the painting of a purple cottage you can see below. Yes, Betty painted it and it is lovely.

A pretty coffee service. And isn't that little pot with the photo interesting?

Carol's house is a treasure trove of old and pretty things too, so I took a few more photos when we got back. This is a very old Swedish doll – her eyes are missing, but her folk costume is intact and she is quite lovely.

These dolls live there too, next

to two love birds, who were not at all pleased with my intrusion -- see the evil eye?

They did their best to

make me go away without getting a single good picture of them.

We did a lot more that day and had a truly great time. I hope you enjoyed coming along for a while.