They are new every morning...

Not sure how to post with this app yet.

I wanted to share my very favorite spot on our walk every morning.  I stop. Look at the sunrise.  Smile.  Breathe. Whisper a prayer of thanksgiving.  A new day.  Thank you Lord.

Do you have a favorite pause-smile-breathe-whisper place?

Pasco County, Florida, ancient orange groves and cattle pastures. Home.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

~

Lamentations 3:22-23

Sharing with:

Growing Home ~ Growing Homemakers Link Up

Spring Produce Market in Florida

Down the road from us is a very large produce market everyday in

Plant City, Florida. 

I have a friend who has 8 children.  We go down there together, get tons of produce and split it up. Sharing is good.  Here's to hoping this post will spread good cheer to all my friends north or west of me, who are sick of winter. Spring is here!

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” 
~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~

(Amazon Affiliate links below. Thank you for supporting Sweet Woodruffs) 

EAT COLOR

We bought too many flats of strawberries, which were spoiling quickly.  Is there really such a thing as too many flats of strawberries?  What berries we didn't freeze, we ended up juicing with our carrots.  Divine!!!!!!  I can HIGHLY recommend carrot and strawberry together.  :)  Yum.

This is our juicer., by the way. I think I'm content with it. It's been good to us for many years. Do you own one? An idea for you too: If an engaged couple you know registered for one, think about making this investment for them with your gift.  My daughter wishes she had one and misses having accesses to ours.  I want to give her one for a gift...her birthday is coming.  Hmmmm....

Anyway... 

We love juicing!! What are you favorite recipes?  We always seem to go with carrott and apple, but I want to try some new Juice Recipe Books  Oh wait, check this out.  I didn't even know Joe Cross had a book outDuh. Well why wouldn't he?  (Hi Joe Cross.  Big fan here!!  ~~~Waving Hello~~~)

Did you see Fat Sick & Nearly Dead? LIFE CHANGING!!

I would especially like to get more greens into our juice. I've got my heart set on juicing a Gazpacho, one of my favorite dishes in the world.  Berries, citrus and tomatoes are fairly inexpensive in Florida for awhile.  My friends and I are going to be putting up more fermented recipes we've found in Nourishing Traditions.  I'm ready to start canning!  

.  Care to share your ideas and recipes?
What is your favorite juice?

Oh!  I've been collecting some smoothy recipes on my Beverage Pinterest page.
Share some of your recipes here with me too!  

 **********************************************************************************

"Nom! Nom! Nom!...*kitten burps*....Dear Watson loves cooked carrots.  HUH???

~The End~

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, 

if one has not dined well.”

~ Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own ~  

Come follow the conversation over on 

-----> Sweet Woodruff's Facebook Fan page:  <-----

Choose Joy Pretty People!  
Bitterness will destroy you. 
Let's all be happy.  
And eat Strawberries.  
Yay!
Be blessed and Be a blessing.  
xoxox
(((group hug)))



Sharing with:
Chic on a Shoe String Budget ~ Flaunt it Friday

Strawberry Season in Florida

The best time to visit Florida is strawberry season...right now.  Strawberries are $12.00 a flat and the weather is perfect.  It is an unbelievably beautiful day.  Not too hot.  Not too cold.  Low humidity. Perrrrr~fect.

I will be comfort fooding myself with strawberries as I sort through books.  Decluttering books is painfully sad work for a book lover.  The project will be made tolerable with freshly picked strawberries (and maybe a sprinkle pinch of refined white sugar...shhhhh).

It's a berry sweet life I live. Especially in March in Florida for a strawberry lover.

So grateful for this pretty little berry that brings me so much joy.  It's the little things, right?

What are you doing today?  Tell me!  :) 

I have been working on building a Strawberry Recipe board on Pinterest.   

Do you have a favorite Strawberry recipe?  

I think my favorite would be my mom's strawberry pie.  

How about you?       

Choose Joy!!!  

Be inspired.

Be kind.

Encourage one another. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Springer Spaniel

Wordless Wednesday

Morning Dog Walk with our Springers

I hope you are healthy, well and 

savoring all there is to be admired in Autumn.

My favorite thing about Florida autumn:

WE CAN GO OUTSIDE AGAIN!!

Well...SORT OF!! 

(Seriously, I took the dogs to the dog park yesterday about 4:30 PM and they overheated. Ugh)

It's best to take them into the woods first thing in the morning.  

We turn them loose and set them free...

THEY. GO. CRAZY. 

Springers "SPRINGING", 

 frenzied with activity is fun to watch.

There are wild turkey and dove all over.  

So many delicious things to smell and track

Olivia sticks close to Mom and Dad.

I like this picture of Marshall.  He is "springing" here. 

Marshall and Charlie are crazy hunters. They stick together and tag team tunnel through the grass.

Marshall can fly! WhooooooBoyyy! He can run. Fast as a Greyhound. A Gazelle. A Cheetah. 

Blink and you've missed him.  He LOOOOOVES TO RUN!

I asked Olivia to pose beside the wild morning glories. This was all she would give me. :)

"Wait up Dad!" 

Charlie, our heart breaker.  The grass is very tall.  He tunnels, gets tangled and goes honey badger. 

Charlie is ONE. TOUGH. SPRINGER. 

Except he is scared of thunder. And zombies. He hates zombies.

My 2 girls. The lights of my life.  LeeLee the Cow Dog never, ever leaves my side. 

Homeward bound.  Until tomorrow.....

If you don't know the story, all our dogs are rescued. 

(And Marshall is a foster dog through ESRA )

I'm not against "GOOD", principled dog breeders (and would maybe buy one if I could afford it), 

I just like to kindly and gently suggest people 

"Think Adoption First"

So many dogs in foster care of all breeds are waiting for a family and home.

Visit their web pages and shop the abandoned, rescued and waiting dogs first. 

Visit this link and view the map for available Springer Spaniels around the country.

Wordless Wednesday



League of Mercy, Tampa Thrift Store Review

People always ask me where I thrift shop. 

 Granted it isn't much help to anyone outside of Tampa, Florida,

but maybe you'll find this useful or at least entertaining. 

 

I shop at the League of Mercy on Hillsborough Ave every 3 months,

when I'm down this way for an appointment. 

 

*Prices are usually VERY good and reasonable.*

 

*I have good luck here with vintage jewelry, vintage dishes, and vintage furniture.*

 

*Tons of clothes for families here, but I don't find a lot of "vintage clothing" and hardly ever find vintage linens.

(but you should still look)

 

*If you have a good eye for vintage "junk" and

visit here often enough,you'll always find something fun.

 

*It's not the cleanest place, but it's not filthy.  I can handle it. 
I think most of this problem is poor lighting. 

 

*Not as many books as most thrift stores. Vinyl is slim.

 

*If you love vintage furniture and can reupholster, then this is your store.  I see really cool chairs here all the time, but I don't know how to reupholster,

I don't have time and it will junk up my garage waiting. 

 

*The check out lady is super sweet.  She doesn't speak English well.

Just practice your best Spanish and smile a lot.  :)

 

 

It's around the intersection of Hillsborough and Armenia right by the CVS. Parking is tight, and terrible.  It's easier to park at CVS and walk over.  There is also more parking in the back. 

 

These were some of today's finds which didn't come home with me. 

Just a fun sample of what you might find.

 

 Shut the front door!  Oh Andy!  RIP  Poor guy.  And I seriously wanted this vintage Polka Record but what would I do with it?  Decorate for Octoberfest? Records are .61 cents

 

OK, now this just made me mad.  I always look for Hank records and was excited to find this...

album cover.  What???  No record inside?  Dadgummit!

(Like lots of people we know...cool cover - empty)

 

I LOVED this white corner cabinet. 
I almost got it and want to go back and get it. 

It was very reasonable.  I can't remember,
but it was cheap and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

You know.... I love this chair. And if I thought about it long enough, I could have talked myself into it.  But I have NO yellow in my house. And this busy fabric would probably get on my nerves quickly.  But it was soooo pretty.  It had yellow birds on it. 

How can you not buy a chair with yellow birds on the fabric??  Really! 

 

This was a fabulous piece of heavy furniture in the super trendy "French she-she-foo-foo, let's paint it a sweet new color" style......Loved it, don't need it and don't have time to paint it.  $49.

 

I collect landscape oil paintings.  It was $4.00 and slightly damaged.  I thought and thought about it, because it looks like the road out to Muenster, Texas from Gainesville, Hwy 82. 

It didn't speak to me.  We didn't hit it off. 

We're on friendly terms though. 

 

I loved these Kenneth Cole leather loafers.  I thought they were golf shoes, but they weren't. 

Just loved them to pieces.  Size 7.  One size too small. 

Story of my thrifting life. 

 

Never, ever leave Lilly Pulitzer behind.  That is in the Thrifting 101 textbook. If she doesn't fit, you can hoard her for quilt fabric (or sell her on eBay).  $4.00 dress. 

A little high for my cheap self, but....what was the rule???

We never, ever leave Lilly Pulitzer behind.

Very good, class!

 

This...statue thingy...is...making...me...uncomfortable. 

It looks like he is trying to break her neck.  Weird Love. 

It takes all kinds, I guess.

I remember these things at the drug store when I was little. 

 

Broke my heart to leave Knowles behind.  There were several pieces of this pattern,

including this sugar bowl with a lid, which is rare. 

The set was under $10.00

 

I loved this vintage plaster Lion.  Sometimes things are so ugly, they work.  LOL

 

  If I was Catholic, I would have bought this vintage plaster Mary. 

She was so pretty. 

I just don't have a place for it and I'm not buying any more stock for Etsy right now.

And the cute little SOS pad frog...alas...

what is a vintage kitchen without one? 

 

And I LOVED this vintage plaster Jesus, but again, what would I do with Him?  I have a tradition of taking a picture of a Jesus, every time I'm in a thrift store and texting it to my daughter.  I hesitate to tell you it's a joke between us, because then you'll think I think Jesus is a joke...which He is not. 

It's just a little "Jesus at the Thrift Store" thing we have between the 2 of us. 

Sooooo...He was today's Jesus.

My daughter said it looked like He was doing gangsta signs. 

Jesus loves everyone, so maybe He is.

 

Not to change the subject or anything,

but is "Fall Of Giants " a good read? 

I like some of Ken Follett's other works, 

especially The Pillars of the Earth.. 

Wondering if this one is good too. 

 

Hahaha!  I laughed when I saw this book,

The Curse of the Good Girl, by Rachel Simmons. 

I totally know that girl! 

Being a good girl can be a curse....sometimes.  

 

and my favorite thing I did not buy today, which I might go back tomorrow and buy, just to keep in my purse so I can pull it out when someone is talking to me and I want them to SHUT UP...is...........

 

This bratty little girl holding her ears.  Boom!  

Stop talking.  Be quiet.   

 

PLEASE keep in my mind, these are the opinions of a biased stranger on the internet. 

Thrift store merchandise changes daily. 

If it's not good one visit, it might be good the next. 

What's cheap to one person, might be expensive to someone else. 

What's a rat hole to me, might be a gold mine to the next treasure hunter. 

Be fair when judging thrift stores as they are usually run for charity. 

I don't want someone to lose money because we caught them on a bad day.

 Have fun, keep an open mind and an open eye. 

Good luck!

 

***************************************************************

 

   I did a review of another frequent stop in Dade City, Florida if you're in Pasco County. 

 

So far I only have 2 up, but I am a "professional thrifter"

and I have tons of hot spots to share with you. 

If you have any Florida thrift store recommendations,

please let me know. 

I would love to visit.

 ***************************************************************

 

Pooh says it's all Junk.  Rude!

 

Be blessed and Be a blessing.

Choose Joy.  

Blogging from my phone

I'm not a technology lovin' kinda girl.  I can hardly work our universal remote in the living room.  I do love social media and I enjoy blogging.  I need to figure out how to post from my phone. I haven't been able to sit down at a computer for any form of writing in months.   I'm on instagram a lot these days posting our adventures with our rescued Springer Spaniels.  Paragraphs are our friends. :) How do I start a new paragraph on this thing?   Gah!  Be blessed and be a blessing.  Xoxo

Wordless Wednesday



Hot Air Balloons in Florida ~ *clicks heels*

We are way out in the country. 

They launch hot air balloons in the pasture behind our house. 

Literally, our back yard. 

There have been times when the balloons are so low,

they touch the tops of our trees. 

I guess hot air balloon season is upon us. 

I see them out there all the time now. 

 

Have you ever been in a hot air balloon? 

I have not.

Let's go!!

 

The quotes below are by Frank Baum, from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Of Course!!

 

“If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.”

 

“Everything you were looking for was right there with you all along.”

 

"Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” 

 

Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.”

 

 

“People would rather live in homes regardless of its grayness. There is no place like home.” 

 

 

Blessings to you all.

Choose Joy.

 

Sharing with:

Pret a Vivre ~ Ready to Waltz

The View From Right Here ~ Weekly Top Shot

 

**********************************************************************************

 

Pooh and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,

ended on a high note last night with Bambi on his back. 

I'm not sure how much more he can take. 

Poor Pooh.

He said he hated me but took it back real fast out of guilt. 

 

~The End~