Heat, Humidity & Flowers

I just had to share these "GORGEOUS" Hibiscus flowers that I woke up to yesterday.

I bought this plant three weeks ago. It was covered in buds, but had no flowers. I found it in the end of the season clearance isle for $4.99. A great deal I thought, so I bought it and hoped for the best.

Then the weather got really, really hot ~ outside thermometer showed 33 Celsius in the shade and that's not taking into account the heavy humidity we have had to contend with as well.

Well, I'm guessing that this little beauty loved the humidity because it started blooming yesterday morning and today there are four more plate size blooms.

I'm not an annual flower kind of the girl, my garden is mostly shrubbery and perennials, but I do have a few urns and cast iron plant holders that I fill up with annuals for shots of colour in the garden. This if the first time I have ever purchased a Hibiscus, usually I stick with Asters, Geraniums, Bacopa and Sweet Potato Vine, German Ivy and Vinca Vines for fillers.

My point and shoot camera doesn't take the best quality pictures, but I hope you can appreciate the beauty of these flowers ~ their size is spectacular, approximately 7" across and the fuchsia colour is breathtaking.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer and your gardens!!!

Forty is The Old Age of Youth ~ Fifty is The Youth of Old Age.

Last Saturday I threw a birthday party to celebrate Don's 50th birthday.

What a wonderful afternoon and such fun we had!

The party was planned with just family (or so he thought), so he was very surprised when friends started to arrive as well.

The little sweetheart in the middle ~ Lindsey was the first to arrive with her mom and dad.

I told her to go outside to say "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy.

He was so surprised, he couldn't for a moment figure out who she was.

That's what I call a good surprise!!

Then Mom and Dad followed along with other friends who arrived shortly after.


This is our oldest, beautiful niece Rebecca and also our newest niece Grace who just turned 7 weeks old.

A few of the party goers, son-in-law Mike, good friend Lesley who worked her buns off keeping the kitchen clean, providing drinks, cutlery, dishes and generally being a great hostess, Don's brothers ~ Paul & Peter.

Vanessa gets a ride from Uncle Glen.

Don has a few helpers to open his gifts, grandson Zander, niece Vanessa and nephew Jake who is working his way over to get in on the fun.

Don told me that he didn't want any fuss over this birthday and especially no presents brought.

Of course, since when do I do what I'm told .....

As you can see, presents were brought and he was thrilled to open up this gift from his brothers ~ a blu-ray player.

After he opened up the player, he turned to me and said, "Guess we better get some blu-ray disks now."

The perfect segue for his next gift. Because I knew he was getting the player I picked up his all time favourite movie ~ Top Gun.

Then probably the biggest surprise was this laptop from me, our children, my mom and one of our friends who contributed as well. Since I had given him a gold and diamond ring to mark this very special birthday, he wasn't expecting anything else from me, so this came as quite a surprise.

We had a wonderful day visiting with friends, family and enjoying the food I had prepared the day before ~marinated flank steak sliced thin and served cold, souvlaki, tiger shrimp, sushi (ordered in), pita bread with a variety of humus dips, quinoa salad (made by our daughter) and greek salad. This was the first time I had ever done flank steak. I marinated it for 3 days and then barbecued it on Friday afternoon, let it cool down and then sliced against the grain thinly. It was outstanding and I received many compliments on it.

Thanks to our daughter Sebrina, for taking all these absolutely beautiful pictures and portraits. We are quite proud of her for turning this amazing talent into a very successful photography business, which in the past few months has taken off like a rocket.