My Hoya and How She Bloomed

I have a hoya plant. I went to the Google to get info about her and her kind but there was way too much information! I didn't want this to be a botany/flora blog so...........you can go to your search engine and check it out.

This is what the hoya bloom looks like when it first appears.

This is the second look at the blossom. Can you see the "stars"?

And here she is in all her glory! The stars have burst open!

A hoya doesn't bloom very often. I have had this plant for about 9 years

and she has bloomed only twice.

Back in the early 50's, when my high-school friends and I

were beyond our wedding and baby shower(s), (and back then the wedding shower

came BEFORE the baby shower!) a friend, Ann,

and I decided to get a group together and meet once a month.

We wanted to do this so we wouldn't lose touch with each other.

We called this "The Get-Together". We met in each other's homes once a

month, bringing our knitting, needlework, latest craft and, I remember one

lady who always filed and polished her nails. That lady was Alcy Smith Downing,

who had a huge hoya and gave me a shoot off her plant. I had the plant, gave a shoot

to sister, Joan, Joan gave a shoot to sister Susi and Susi gave a shoot back to me

because my first plant disappeared.

So.........my plant is a great, great, great granddaugher of Alcy's plant.

Incidentally, Alcy died in 1990 at the age of 57. What a shame!

We gathered for over 34 years, the group that started with 14-16 women

and ended with 5 women. Those were the days, my friend, I thought they'd never end.........♬

JIGSAWS

I love jigsaws! Through our terrible winter I put together over 15 of them. Some I bought but most of them were ones I'd done before. The puzzle below is titled, Hawaiian Wedding.

This is a Hometown Collection, the work of Heronim, a white-haired gentleman.

He always hides a little black cat in each of his paintings. But..........I can't find the

cat in this puzzle. It's probably there, just too small to see.

These pics shows some detail.

The box.

A close up of the puzzle.

And another close up. 

For some reason the pics are coming up in the wrong spots. Oh, well........

This is another artist I really like - Charles Wysocki. I have done over 20 of his

paintings. I like the detail just like the Heronim detail. 

More close up the Heromin puzzle.

I have a very specific way I do puzzles. I take the pieces out, separating them by

sky, buildings, people, flags, horses and buggies, words, greenery, etc. I pull the edges and put these pieces each in their own plastic container. Then I assemble the edges and slowly work my way through

each container, assembling and placing in the correct spot. I have 12 pieces of white cardboard

that I use to lay the pieces out, by subject and also by shape.

This is an example of how I lay out the pieces. My friends make fun of me and call

me anal. That's ok with me. I also do not let anyone do a puzzle with me. If a friend stops by

and sees a piece that fits they may put it in but they may not sit for any length of time and

work the puzzle with me. 

Now that the weather has warmed up (except for today - it's 50 degrees out) I will not do

puzzles. When it is humid, the pieces stick to my arms, then fall on the floor and I

have one hell of a time finding them. So that's the jigsaw blog. Ciao!