What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Monday, April 27, 2026

Monday Monday

Good Monday Morning!  I have my sweet buddy "Blackie", a.k.a. "King Blackie", sitting on his royal throne right here behind me as I work, keeping a close eye on every move I make!  Every one say "Good Morning, Your Highness!", LOL.    He really has quite taken over the whole house, even though we still restrict him from entering the bedrooms (when we can get the doors shut in time), and he still spends a good portion of the day outside as well and he still sleeps outside at night, but trust me, he's working on that.  "It's only a matter of time", he meows.  LOL.   

Well, let's jump right in and talk about the weekend. Here's a recap of things we did.  Yesterday after church the "kids" came over and Scott came down from Jacksonville, so we had lunch together. Rose had made a big pot of spaghetti the night before and so she brought that, and I made a salad and picked up some Garlic Toast at the grocery store on the way home from church. "The Kids" also laughingly asked if I had any "peach cobbler"...well, of course I didn't, but the suggestion was made and I did have the ingredients on hand to make a "peach  dump cake",  (you can see the recipe on that link from a previous post a couple of years ago, and you might just want to read that whole post because it's kind of funny about a certain Black Kitty who was trying even then to become our Kitty way before we started feeding him (while the neighbor was still taking care of him).   The only difference in the recipe that I did this time was that I added some fresh blueberries along with the peaches...because...

We had been to the Blueberry farm on Saturday and picked up some fresh blueberries. (already picked).

There I am, clutching my precious bag of blueberries:

There's hubby, trying to get away before I saw something else I wanted to buy...lol.

On Thursday (or was it Friday? I forget now), anyway, one of those days, we went out to lunch...


This is at the "NEW" "Hog Wild Country Cafe" here in town.  


I say "NEW", because the "OLD" one that we loved so much had a fire about a year or so ago, and so the owners purchased the "OLD" "True Grits" Restaurant here in our town and made it the "NEW" Hog Wild.
This was the "OLD" Hog Wild.

Now we are waiting for the new owners of the "OLD" Hog Wild BUILDING to finish all the restoration of that building and open up a new restaurant there. I hear it's going to be a "new" Backwoods Country Cafe', or something like that, and that they will also serve NY style pizza and calzones in addition to sandwiches, etc.  They've been busy working on that old building for a while now, and hopefully they will be open this summer. I hope they've left some of the "OLD" country charm that we loved so much, because the "NEW" Hog Wild restaurant, although the food is good, is sadly lacking the atmosphere we loved so much at the OLD building.  I hope I haven't confused you with all of the "NEW" and "OLD" stuff! LOL.

However, as I said, the food was good...we both had shrimp...mine was grilled and hubby's was fried. I also had fried okra and coleslaw and cornbread.  It really was good, but I miss the "OLD" place.


Let's see, what else is "NEW"?  Well, this isn't exactly new, but one afternoon I was sitting out on the garden bench and this Northern Parula came for a drink at the bird bath again. I always love it when birds come visiting!


Also on Saturday we had gone to the Farm Swap at Deep Creek and I bought these marigolds to put near my vegetable garden to help keep the bugs away from my plants:
This is how they are all placed now...I hope the marigolds are close enough. 

Also, in my other little planter the coreopsis is finally blooming that I planted a while ago...

With more to come...

AND...since we had that wonderful rain last week (and MORE On Sunday morning while we were in church praising God for the rain!), that little garden space where I planted all those wildflower seeds last week is just popping up with tiny little sprouts!  Even after Blackie had trampled all over it! Maybe he DID pack them down good after all! LOL.

Something else that is blooming is that rose bush!  Look at all these lovely roses!

It is now afternoon and I still haven't gotten this post published. To be honest, I haven't felt really great today. I woke up with a sore throat , and although I am HOPING it is just from allergies, it has bothered me enough that I decided to forego the ladies' Bible Study today rather than risk passing germs along to others. I just took a good nap and am having a cup of hot tea with lemon in it, and that's helping me to perk up and hopefully chase this thing away.  


However, I hated to miss Bible Study today, as we are beginning a new study entitled "Jesus & Women in the First Century and Now."  Here's the description from the back of the study guide:


This study will also have some videos to go along with the study guide, and thankfully I can access them online so I could go ahead and watch the first one so I won't be behind the rest of the class.  However, we seldom have ever completed any Bible study in the number of sessions that the guide recommends.  We only meet for one hour each week, and we spend a lot of time "discussing" things as we go, so our lessons usually take much longer to get through than what they say in the book. That's okay...we are there to learn and encourage one another in our walk with Jesus, and sometimes things just take longer than what other people think they should.  Bible studies should never be rushed through...there's a lot of good information there to unpack and digest.


Matthew 9:22 NIV

"Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment."

Now that sounds like some very good news!

Okay, friends, I have to go for now, but tomorrow is Tuesday, and don't forget to go over and join in the Tuesday 4 if you can! It should be very interesting this week! We're going to be talking about our "jobs" that we have done in our lives...
See you there!






Friday, April 24, 2026

Friday Night Celebration! It's Raining!!!


1 Kings 18:41-42 
The Drought Ends

"41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees..."


Be sure to turn on your sound so you can hear the "abundance of rain" !!!
Hallelujah!! I feel like dancing in the rain!

 




Looking out the front windows...


Puddles!!!!!

And then....A RAINBOW!!!  I kept watching and waiting, and pretty soon I was blessed with this beautiful rainbow!!! Praise the Lord for His promises to us!






Genesis 9:12-17
12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 
13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 
14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 
15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 
16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 
17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”


And that's all I wanted to share with you tonight, because I know you've been praying that we'd get rain!  I don't know if the areas that have had the fires got any of this rain or not, but we can keep praying! I believe there's more coming Sunday and several days next week, so just maybe the drought is being broken!! We will claim it by faith!

Thank you all for your prayers!!! Please keep them coming!!!

It's Friday! Fly! Be Free!

The Bluebirds have left the nest!  


They may not have left things very tidy, but at least it appears they all made it out of the nest safely. I didn't see it happen, nor do I know how many baby birds were in the nest, but judging by the amount of "you know what" they left on the walls, there must have been several and it must've been rather crowded in there! LOL.  I am sure they are happy to be free and hopefully safely abiding in the treetops with their parents now and learning how to take care of themselves. 

Happy Friday! First off and foremost, I want to thank you all for so many kind comments on my last post HERE, the "Photo Dump Day". Your comments are always so precious and humbling and encouraging to me...as each of you are also precious to me. Thank you for being such special friends. We may never meet each other in person, but the bond we share through our conversations here in "blogland" oftentimes draw us even closer together than "in person relationships". I think it's because we often share things, ideas, events, deep thoughts and concerns here that we may not have the opportunity to share with people in the "real world" on a day to day basis. I am very thankful for each and every one of you. You inspire, teach, and encourage me in so many positive and uplifting ways. Again, thank you for being my friends! I have a feeling that if we could ever all get together, we would be even better than "The Golden Girls". LOL.


Speaking of "friends"...
Blackie seems to be my best buddy these days. He follows me around in the yard...

And wants to be right there in the middle of anything I am doing...


Literally in the middle...
(this is still a work in progress. I need some help moving those heavy boxes out of the way. )

I had just planted some wildflower and zinnia seeds in this little patch, tried to put a barrier around it so they don't all wash away when I water them, and had everything all nicely tucked in, when Blackie decided this looked like a good place to jump in and investigate! I am not a great gardener, but maybe Blackie helped pack the seeds down in the ground a little better and perhaps they will grow much stronger because of his extra gardening touch...Let us hope so! LOL.


After all "our" hard work planting seeds, we both decided to take a little break and sit on the garden bench for a while...



Oh, and speaking of the garden...the tomatoes are starting to appear!!

Hooray!!

And there are more squash/zucchini blossoms every day! Another Hooray!

Of course maintaining this garden requires a lot of watering on my part since we still have not had any rain...and even though there is some in the forecast for maybe on Sunday and later next week,  I have a feeling it still won't be enough to make any major difference in our pond or dry forests in the area. The fires continue to burn, but thankfully it doesn't seem it is quite as bad as it was...at least there's less smoke in the air.

However, there's apparently something dead somewhere on the still very dry Still Waters Pond. This morning we have a flock of buzzards surround our pond...




I don't know what they see out there...could be a dead turtle or something like that. I've wondered what's happened to all of the turtles who used to live in the pond.  I wish I could walk out there across the pond and see if I can find out what it is, but even though it is dry, there are places where I am sure I could break through the dry crust and sink up to my knees in muck, and I am definitely not willing to take that risk.  So whatever it is, I hope the buzzards clean it up before it starts to "smell".  That's what they are good for...all a part of the cycle of life and death in the wild.


Thankfully, I know it's not our Sand Hill Cranes, because there they are, alive and well and taking a stroll on the pond this morning.



I wish I had some other exciting or interesting news to share today.  Well, let's see...our son and his wife continue to create all kinds of wooden items in addition to the cedar planters. They currently have a booth a the Trading Post at Deep Creek, as well as setting up an outdoor booth bi-weekly at the Farm Swap.



And there's more news...Benton is actually going to be working at the Trading Post at Deep Creek a few hours each week! So if you go at the right time, you just might get to meet him there!  So yes, that's news!

Okay, that's all for today for now.  Oh, the rose bush keeps blooming...it's "living life in full bloom".



And I am very "Thankful, grateful, and blessed". Amen.

Here's some "food for thought" for today from Romans 14:5-13

"5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 
6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 
7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 
9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 
10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 
11 For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way."

Amen.