Wednesday Treasures

 

Happy Wednesday Evening! It's been a long day...woke up really early as I couldn't sleep. Blackie was happy to see me and always happy to get fed.   I know you must think I am obsessed with this cat. Not really, but when you're two old retired people sometimes watching the antics of a rather precocious cat is the best fun you have all day. LOL.  

Just like yesterday, after he finished eating, he went and parked himself in front of our bedroom doors to wait for "Daddy" to come out and play with him.  I kept a closer watch on him today so that he didn't push the doors open and go jump in the bed with Daddy again. I mean, just because I can't sleep and I get myself up at 4:30 a.m. doesn't mean that Hubby shouldn't be allowed to sleep a little longer...even though Blackie doesn't agree with me on that.  Anyway, I managed to keep him from a repeat of yesterday, and soon enough "Daddy" got up on his own and came out and played with him, and then all was well and life could go on as normal again. 

I have been trying to put away all the Halloween decorations and change over to Thanksgiving decor, and then I was surprised by this cute "pop-up" card that came in the mail today from my sister Doris! She tried to get it here in time for Halloween, but it didn't quite make it, so it will stay out on the table and we will enjoy it for a while longer! Isn't he adorable?

He's one of those cut paper pop up cards that are so popular. 

My niece Debbie has a really charming little gift shop in Longwood, Florida, and she sells all kinds of cute gift items and fun stuff. It's called "Ruby Sun Gifts", and you can learn more on her Facebook page Ruby Sun Gifts. She's also on Instagram. (rubysungifts). Sadly, I don't think she ships items, but if you're ever in Longwood, Florida, be sure to look her up and tell her that Aunt Pam sent you.

Internet Photo (but I think it's painted yellow now!)

It's also where my "Lucy Goosey" came from...she has a whole flock of relatives there, just waiting to be dressed and loved. LOL. And yes, she sells the clothes for these geese there too.

Internet Photo from Ruby Sun Gifts

So anyway, I digress, but I just wanted to put in a plug for my niece's cute little shop.

This morning when we got up and running it was a beautiful morning, and I wanted to get out of the house and away from the TV and NEWS. I won't discuss the "state of the union" , but only will say this, we were VERY thankful to see that our state of Florida exercised common sense and stayed true to our core beliefs. We were not so happy to see how many other states took the bait went totally off the deep end. But one thing is certain, God is in control, and He will not be mocked. I will keep my eyes on the Lord and continue to trust in Him.



Joshua 24:15 NKJV
15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”


Anyway, before I go down that rabbit hole...we got out and took a walk. I noticed something strange on this dying tree:




Upon closer inspection I discovered that it was a "Northern Tooth Fungus" (see link for more information). It's quite a cluster of fungi! Wow!

I just find these things interesting. There's always something unique to see when out in God's Amazing Creation in nature!




When we got home I continued working on changing out the decor both inside and out to get ready for Thanksgiving...
Mr. Scarecrow and Pumpkin will hang around for a while yet...


Back inside the house came out the Pilgrims and turkeys...




And the "Lil Pilgrims"


And also our thankful family...






And my favorite little crewel sign that my sister Doris made for me many many years ago...





While I was doing all of this I got a phone call from "the kids". Rose was getting off work a little early and they were going to go out to eat at our local "Hog Wild Country Cafe' for supper, and wanted to know if we wanted to go too? Well, yeah! I was planning to fix some leftovers that weren't all that exciting, and anytime we can be with our kids is such a joy and blessing. I was too busy enjoying the food and fellowship that I forgot to take any pictures, but it was all good and we were truly "Thankful" to have our kids close by to enjoy, and the ability to go out for supper and have a good meal. We are counting our blessings and giving thanks to the Lord for all He has done, regardless of the things that we may find disappointing or distressing in the world...


Jesus said to His disciples in the Gospel of John 16:33

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation;
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”


Therefore, I am THANKFUL...and will give my thanks to the Lord for all He has done!



Well, it's getting past my bedtime already, so I need to wrap this up. I hope you are having a blessed and pleasant and THANKFUL week, and let us rejoice in knowing that our God is in control, no matter what the world may say. Amen.

Special Moments!

 It's Tuesday afternoon, and I want to write this down before I forget how special it was...

No, it's not necessarily about this picture of Blackie nibbling on "Daddy's" toes and shoes, but it's a part of it. I didn't get a picture of what I really wanted to share, so I'll have to describe it the best I can.  

Since the time change on Sunday, I've been still getting up around the same time as before to feed the kitty. I'm awake already, so why lay there making him wonder why no one is feeding him if I can get up and go ahead and do it? As I've already said before I'm trying to little by little ease him forward to the new time zone, but I'm not rushing it.  So anyway, this morning I got up and let him in and fed him.  While I was going about my business of making tea and coffee, Blackie finished his food and went to our bedroom door to wait for "Daddy" to get up.  The door was closed, and as I said, I was busy doing my thing and not paying Blackie much attention.  Blackie had been patiently waiting for about fifteen minutes outside that door, and Daddy still had not emerged from the bedroom, so he pushed the door open (unbeknownst to me), and apparently jumped up on the bed and went right over to Daddy, who was still half asleep, and started patting at his face.  "Daddy" (a.k.a. Hubby) thought it was me, and reached over to "pat" back at what he thought was my hands...and was startled to find Blackie there staring at him in the dark! You can imagine his surprise!  Especially because we have never allowed Blackie to get up on our bed before, and he only sneaks in our bedroom during the daylight hours and plays hide and seek by going under the bed or in our closet.  So hubby got up and came and got my attention so I could come and see Blackie laying on our bed, just as sweet as could be.  I wish I'd taken a picture but it was dark and I didn't want to spoil the moment by turning on the light.  I think we both were really touched by Blackie's sweet concern for Daddy's well-being and total devotion...and then once Daddy was up and sitting in his recliner drinking his coffee, Blackie came and sat at his feet and played with his toes and shoes as in the picture above.  Totally devoted!  And to think "Daddy" was the one who didn't want a cat in or out of the house!  I guess Blackie knew just how to hook his heart strings! LOL.  💘💕

On another note, thank you for your prayers and concerns for me as I had my CT Scan this morning. It lasted about 5 minutes and I was good to go, and I will see the doctor on Monday to get the results. As I've said before, I'm feeling fine and not really expecting anything to show up, but it's good to rule things out.  

Another blessing...with all the delightful rain we've had recently, our rose bush out front is starting to bloom again. I noticed these blossoms yesterday and just had to bring them inside where we could enjoy them...and OH! Their fragrance is divine! I kept smelling something sweet and didn't realize it was the roses...they are amazing! I am usually very "SCENTSitive" to scents, but the rose fragrance is one that I definitely do enjoy...especially when they are home grown and not the hot-house/florist variety.  And the fact that our sweet daughter in love ROSE gave me this rosebush makes them smell even sweeter!

Looking around our kitchen you will notice that "Lucy Goosey" has a new outfit! Since Halloween is over it was definitely time for her to fly out of the witch costume and into something more appropriate for Thanksgiving. However, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on an outfit for a porch goose who stays indoors because we don't have a covered porch for her to sit on. So, while I was at our local Dollar General yesterday I spied these very inexpensive dish/hand towels for Thanksgiving, and decided that something could be created out of one for Lucy to wear. 

But she also needed a new hat of some kind, and I found another little "cheep" bird wearing this funny Thanksgiving hat, so I bought  it and removed the hat and the wing feathers and tail feathers and added them to Lucy's outfit. (see the wing feathers above on the towel)  The little black and white "mob cap" was a scrap of fabric I found that came off the top of some homemade jar of jelly I think.  So I hot glued the bird's hat to that and made a funny hat for Lucy to wear. I tied a colorful fall ribbon around her neck, and Voila! She has a new outfit for about $3.00 total. LOL.

I'm usually not that creative, so I was right proud of myself for coming up with this idea! Now I know what to do for a Christmas outfit too!

Another little blessing...we are trying to get out more often and take a walk. Yesterday morning we followed the stars along the pathway...

Well, maybe they are the fallen leaves of the Sweet Gum tree, but I enjoyed following their little pathway. They brightened my day!

They just made me smile. It's the little things in life that sometimes mean so much!!

Like looking outside my window just now and seeing this sunset, and also seeing a little bit more reflection in the water on Still Waters Pond!  I can't tell you how happy this makes me!  It's been over a year since we had any reflections on the pond because it was so dry! So this is a wonderful blessing that gives me such joy.  

Yes, there's still a ways to go, but it's getting better every day!  

Isaiah 25:9

"And it will be said in that day:

“Behold, this is our God;

We have waited for Him, and He will save us.

This is the Lord;

We have waited for Him;

We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

So now I need to close this and get to Choir Practice on time! We arestarting work on our Christmas Cantata in addition to our other weekly music, so I don't want to be late. And it makes me SO happy that my son will be there too...singing in the choir! I never dreamed that would happen! Praise God!

Okay, let's close with this..."Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always." 

1 Chronicles 16:11

Can't go wrong there.

Good Night, and God bless you all.

Tuesday 4~Sandwiches and Housewifery

I know this is supposed to post on Tuesday, but here it is Monday night and I wanted to add a couple of thoughts...I am hoping to share something I am thankful for each day this month of November.  Tonight I am very thankful for the rain we've had today. Although we haven't had as much as I hear they are having to the south of us in our state (Florida), but we are grateful for any amount we can get.  Here's how Still Waters Pond looked tonight at sunset:

Yes, there is still that green algae on top of the pond, but you can see where the fresh water is starting work its way forward and the algae is starting to break up in some areas. We are supposed to get rain every day this week, so if that happens, I expect our pond will finally begin to look more like a real pond again. I am very thankful for every drop of water we get! 

Now, let's look at the Tuesday 4 for this week, shall we? It might be interesting!

 Sandwiches and Housewifery  (You can click on that link to join in with the group)

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4!
November 3rd is both national sandwich day and national housewife's day.
In the 1950s working married women outnumbered working single women , In a US population of a little over 161 million, over 9 million married women worked, while only 5 million single women had jobs.
The Dagwood sandwich based on the Chic Young comic
" Dagwood", became very popular and men made them for themselves, the bigger the better.

Dagwood made his own sandwiches!


1. What is your favorite sandwich ?

My favorite sandwich? Well...I'm not a huge sandwich eater. But I do love to eat a peanut butter sandwich just about any time I feel like I need something to stop the tummy grumbles...and it tides me over until I can get a real meal again!   But I also love a good BLT, or hot ham and swiss on pumpernickle (with mustard!).


2. Do you have a favorite Sandwich shop? We all know that soup and a sandwich is a great lunch but do you ever eat sandwiches for breakfast or supper?

I can't say that I have a favorite "sandwich shop".  I'm just not that into sandwiches.  If I have a choice between soup and sandwich or soup and salad, I will take the soup and salad.  As far as sandwiches for breakfast...yes, fried eggs and bacon and cheese on toast, or scrambled eggs and ham on toast (or a croissant would be nice!).  Supper: Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

3. Growing up did your mother , grandmother, aunts have a job as well as being a housekeeper?

Yes, unfortunately, my mother had to go to work when I started first grade. I was the baby of the family, so she was able to stay at home with all the other three kids before they started school.

My Mother in her kitchen, after a long day at work...she put her apron on and started cooking!

But once I started school, it was time for her to go back to work as a secretary, first at an insurance agency, and then at the Sheriff's Department and/or the County Courthouse, where she worked for quite a few years until she retired.  No, my grandmother(s) did not ever work outside of the home that I am aware of. I don't recall my Aunts working, except my one Aunt worked part time/seasonally, but was home in the summers.  Anyway, even though my mother did have to work full time, she still maintained our home beautifully and was an excellent cook and pie and cookie baker!

 Somehow she managed to do it all, and sometimes I scratch my head and wonder how she did do all that she did! She even found time to make my clothes when I was younger before I learned how to sew...but even then she still found time to sew special things for me, especially my wedding dress!!


4. According to the United Nations, unpaid domestic labor is the number one most important driver of the entire global economy.
78% of women shoulder all the domestic and child caring labor as well as holding down full or part tme jobs. Without women the global economy would fail.
Did you juggle a family and a job ?

I was very fortunate and blessed that while our children were quite young, I did not have to go to work full time. We had to live very frugally and there were times we didn't know for sure where our next paycheck was coming from when my hubby was in Seminary preparing for the ministry, but God always provided for us. 

Baking cookies with my boys! Sweet Memories!

 I did do a few part time sales jobs, like selling Stanley Home Products and Fuller Brush, but I did not go to work full time until all three boys were in school. Then I tried to mostly work within the school system so I could have the same schedule and vacations that they had. I was also a Pastor's Wife during those years, which kept me quite busy with a lot of "extra curricular" kinds of activities in the church...sometimes teaching Sunday School, leading the youth group or Ladies' Bible Studies, singing in the choir, and also serving as the Church Secretary and typing the bulletins, etc.  There was very little "free time" during those years, but I am very thankful for all the ways God provided for us and also kept our family intact. It wasn't always easy, let me tell you, but God never failed us. 

In closing, here' some words of blessing and hope:

Romans 15:13 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

And Just Like That, It's November!

 

What? November already??? How did that happen? And wouldn't you know it would bring the time change along with it! I know, it's supposed to be great...we get an extra hour to sleep in, right? LOL. Not if you have a cat!

I couldn't sleep at all last night,  looking at the clock every hour trying to figure out what time it really was in cat time.  He's used to eating at 5:30 a.m.,  which means with the time change I would have to feed him at 4:30 a.m.  That wasn't so bad today because it was still 5:30 in my body clock time too, but I know it will be more difficult as the days go by if I don't  help him to adjust to the new time as well. So today it was really more like 4:45 before he was fed. Tomorrow I will try to wait until 5:00, and so on until he catches up with our new time.  Now this afternoon it's the same thing...he's wanting to know already where his food is, and I'm trying to hold him off as long as I can.  He keeps coming up and nudging me, trying to remind me. So far he hasn't hauled off  and bitten me...but he is very capable of that I've discovered, so I am trying to maintain my distance until it's really time to feed him. LOL.  Yes,  those cat behavioral classes do sound like a good idea.

I'm going to share pictures with you from last night's Halloween Trick or Treating time, along with the new calendar pictures for November...

Blackie stayed close by my side for part of the time, but decided there was too much excitement for him so he mostly stayed around on the back porch out of the way...

Lily Grace and Scarecrow became good friends, and they enjoyed watching the children come and go:

This is from the Billy Graham calendar

Lucy Goosey looking out on the "world", with Blackie nearby, watching for the children to come looking for candy...

"Ask God to help you see the world the way He sees it."
Billy Graham, The Journey

The most interesting folks who came by our house last night!  They weren't trick or treaters, however, but I considered them a "treat" for sure! I did ask their permission to take their picture and they were happy to pose for me.

"Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone." Mark 16:15 NLT

Me, preparing the bags of candy with the Scripture verses. I added another verse to every bag this year, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish by have everlasting life."  

Our porch was really "scary" LOL.

Blackie found a place to hide and watch the excitement.

Actually, I didn't take any pictures of any of the children who came by last night. My camera (phone)  battery was dying, so I had to preserve it for possible important stuff.  However, we had a good evening with a good number of kids...seemed like more were a little older this year than in times past. But that's okay, because the older kids can actually read the verses that were in the candy bags...and I had prayed that God would bring the ones that He wanted to be here, and then I had prayed that God would honor His word, and that it would not return to me "void":

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

I did what I believed God wanted me to do, and the results are left in His capable hands.  

Long about nightfall, the groups of people started thinning out, and so we packed up the stuff and headed back inside.  It kind of looked like this John Sloane Country Seasons calendar picture for November...the yard was deserted, the moon was coming out, and everyone was settled down for the night:

Here's the Susan Branch calendar offering for November...I had to look up the quotes...

I had to look up Ivy Compton Burnett to find out where she wrote that quote above, and AI provided the answer as such:

"AI Overview

This memorable line is spoken by the character Duncan Edgeworth in Ivy Compton-Burnett's 1935 novel, A House and its Head. [1]

In typical Compton-Burnett fashion, the quote uses a sharp, dry allusion to the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to deliver a biting commentary on money, class expectations, and domestic power dynamics. [1, 2]"

I am not familiar with the author or the story, but I do remember Rumpelstiltskin.  

Again, I had to resort to AI to find out about the above quote from Queen Victoria: 

 "While popularly attributed to Queen Victoria's appreciation for smaller private retreats (such as her beloved Osborne House or Highland cottages like Frogmore or her private spots), it circulates mostly as an enduring piece of domestic folklore and cozy inspirational wisdom rather than a heavily documented state decree. [1, 2]"

Regardless, I like the thought and idea.  I wonder if this "small house" below would do?

Well, if I had to stay in that cabin in winter, I would hope for a wood stove and fireplace, and would probably enjoy some good hot soups or stews, homemade bread fresh out of the oven, and definitely some hot tea!

Here's the Teapot Calendar offering for November...very strange, I'd say...Not my "cup of tea" for sure!

If you can read this, it will tell you more about it.

And here's an interesting quote...perhaps it's true...but many would probably still prefer coffee! LOL.

Well, I seem to have come to the end of the calendars for November....and it is pouring down rain outside on this Sunday afternoon on the first day of November!

As you can see, the rain is little by little dissipating the green algae on Still Waters Pond, and hopefully all of that water sitting on top of the pond will stay there and continue to fill the pond little by little.

If the rain keeps coming down all night, it could make a wonderful difference.  We are supposed to get rain for several more days, so here's hoping and praying!!

This quote from Hebrews 13:15 is very fitting for today, and for this month of Thanksgiving:

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."

Amen.

I am very thankful to be starting this month out right with some wonderful rain, and so much to be thankful for in this special month of Thanksgiving.  I hope to "count my blessings" every day... we sang that hymn in church this morning as a matter of fact:

Count Your Blessings

1 When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

2 Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly,

And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain]

3 When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessings, money cannot buy

Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]

4 So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. [Refrain]

Baptist Hymnal, 1991

Amen!

Let's all count our blessings every day, Okay?  

Bye for now!!!