The Beauty of Nature + More Shopping

As you might have concluded from reading my blog postings, our life lately has been rather laid back with few real adventures…other than an occasional foray to a new restaurant.  I have a knee that’s acting up and that aspect of aging has let to limited exploration with minimal walking mostly on flat surfaces.

We are both slowly going a bit ‘stir crazy’…  FYI, for the uninitiated, the term stir crazy is an adjective (slang) meaning restless or frantic because of confinement, routine, etc.  We aren’t quite ‘frantic’ yet…

Laurie’s 10 + year old orchid…recently featured in one of my posts…continues to produce more colorful blooms and its much fuller this time around.  We believe that it is one of the seventy or so varieties of the Phalaenopisis genus of orchids. 

Orchids of this genus are frequently referred to as moth orchids.  They are native to India, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Laurie’s plant room also currently features a 9 year old blooming anthurium plant with its dark-green leathery leaves held on upright stems.  This well-known tropical flower is often used in weddings in Hawaii and on South Pacific Islands. 

That glossy red heart-shaped flower is actually a “spathe”…not a flower per se.  I had to look up ‘spathe’ and it’s a large sheathing bract that encloses the flower cluster.  In this case, the flowers are actually tiny and they cover that spike (spadix) protruding from the spathe.

I also learned that anthurium leaves are poisonous!  The leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals and should be kept away from pets who may play with or chew the foliage.  It suggested that gardeners wear gloves when handling these plants.

The other day, Laurie gave me another ‘opportunity’ to go shopping!  This time we visited a craft and antique mall in downtown Loudon Tennessee.  This is The Shoppes on the Square.  This antique/craft mall features 40 or so individual boutique style ‘shops’ that offer a wide variety of items ranging from furniture to clothing, toys, crafts, beauty products and more.

Scarily for me, these shops or boutiques feature such a wide variety of items that it’s almost a certainty that Laurie will find something that she has to have!  This particular booth or shop featured a lot of antique and old painted furniture.

Fortunately, Laurie uses a series of natural bath and body products from another vendor so she bypassed any purchases from Happy Heart Body and Bath.  In addition to health and beauty products, this vendor also sells hand-crafted soy candles featuring a variety of scents.  To learn more, go to https://www.facebook.com/pg/happyheartbodyandbath/about/?ref=page_internal.

Some of the booths were a little ‘precious’ for me…but they do draw the ladies in!  About all I ever find that I want in these boutique mall type operations are the occasional interesting old postcard.  

Small booth…but colorful and cluttered with items for the shoppers.

This little shop featured everything from signs to glassware and pottery and from toys to baskets and even a hand saw.  Note the glass flamingo.  I really need one of those!

There are two or three booths at least partially visible in this photo.  I’m not sure if that item hanging from the rafters is a lamp or just a decorative piece…but it sure grabs the eye of the passerby.

This booth was fronted by an old painted and distressed bench.  The space was crowded with signs, crafts, pillows and plenty of decorative items…even a milk can!

I actually recognized the name of this little shop.  I didn’t know that Vickie’s Secret Boutique had a ‘second’ location but I did know that she also has a shop in with Salon Anew, where she is the owner of this beauty salon and my wife frequents for her mani/pedi.  It's located at 101 Cheeyo Way in Loudon Tennessee.  As you can see, this boutique for the ladies features jewelry, apparel, shoes and accessories.  The prices seemed quite reasonable too! To learn more about Vickie’s Secret Boutique, go to https://www.facebook.com/pg/Vickies-Secret-Boutique-135114997127004/about/?ref=page_internal.

Of course, I only took pictures of a handful of the booths at the Shoppes on the Square.  This accumulation of little shops and boutiques is located at 612 Grove Street in Loudon Tennessee.  They are open from 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Saturday.  Phone: 865-244-0207.  Their website is at http://www.theshoppesonthesquare.com/ and they are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theshoppesonthesquare/about/?ref=page_internal.  FYI…I was able to escape with minimal damage to the 

wallet!

The cone flowers in our front yard are past their prime…but now the feeding frenzy begins!  The female (top photo) and male yellow goldfinches love cone flower seeds and they’ll be on these plants every day until the seeds are eaten or dispersed.

The American goldfinch ranges from mid-Alberta to Mexico depending on the season but many of them remain in the center of the range year around.  Its breeding season is tied to the peak of the food supply…beginning in late July.

The cone flower is a member of the daisy family of flowering plants.  The scientific name for this group of flowers is Echinacea…and many supposed ‘health’ products have been made from these plants although the USDA hasn’t approved it for health related use.

Since we just marked the fiftieth anniversary of man’s first steps on the moon, it seemed appropriate that I end this posting with one of Laurie’s photos of the most recent full moon.  It's the closest thing to a pristine work of nature or a heavenly creation that hasn’t been completely trammeled by mankind…so far! (To date, only 12 men have set foot on the moon)

FYI… The earth is about 80 times larger than the moon.  The distance from the earth to the moon is roughly equivalent to 15.5 trips around the earth at the equator.  The surface area of the moon is just a little bigger than Antarctica. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Dave