Peaceful Journey on the Pond~Updated 7/10/2026

Today is Friday, July 10, 2026, almost exactly 6 years after this post was originally written.  Today, being Friday, I normally post some kind of photos for the day, but I just couldn't come up with anything new! And also, I've been trying to keep up with a Photo-a-Day challenge for July, and I'm starting to fall behind.  The challenge for yesterday, July 9th, was supposed to be "calm", and today would be "busy".  

We were busy this morning going to Walmart to do our weekly big shopping, but I didn't try to take any pictures of that. Who wants to see busy people at Walmart??? LOL.  So I decided to try and focus on the one for yesterday that I missed, "calm".  And since I didn't have anything new to share, I went back into the archives and found this post, which was written during Covid, and when our beloved Still Waters Pond still had plenty of water in it. Because we couldn't go too many places back then or do too much with people, I enjoyed spending some peaceful time in my kayak, paddling around Still Waters Pond. So I decided that this very "calm" post would be perfect for today, to make up for not having any pictures of anything "calm" for yesterday.  I will try to get caught up on the others perhaps this weekend.  

So without further adieu, here is my very calming post written in July of 2020 from Still Waters Pond. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it back then and reflecting on it once again today. I pray that it will have a very calming effect on you and give you some peace in your life today. Be blessed my friends...

Original Post written July 24, 2020

Are you ready for a little trip around Still Water Pond with me?  I think it is about time, don't you? I haven't been out on the pond in over a week, and this morning I decided I didn't care how warm and muggy it is out there, a little voyage around the pond was just what I needed.

So come along with me and enjoy the ride. I will caution you, however, the rowing was rather difficult today. The water lilies are so thick in the pond that it is almost impossible to work our way through them.  But once out there on the water, there was no turning back. It was a kind of spiritual challenge to keep going until I found a sense of peace and calm enveloping my soul.

Philippians 3:13-14

13.  "Brethren (sisters!), I do not count myself to have apprehended;

but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind 

and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

14.  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

I am not sure what that is in the picture above...some kind of egg sack for some kind of insect perhaps? Anyone have any ideas? I may have to look it up.  Whatever it was, I let it stay right there. Didn't look like something that I wanted to bring home with me. So I kept paddling onward...

Ah, this is more like it!! This lovely lily was turning her face toward me as if to say, "Here I am, take my picture please! I am posing just for you!"    One of the little "prizes" of this journey today...

I was surprised to discover this blackberry bush growing up through this old post from a long ago forgotten dock in the middle of the pond.  Talk about perseverance!  How is it growing there? Perhaps some bird left the seed while sitting on that perch eating some blackberries?

Reminds me of this verse also in Philippians 4:13~~

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

While I was laboring in my efforts to paddle around the pond today, I was praying for a sense of peace from the stresses of the world. And I also asked the Lord for something extra special to see today...and all of a sudden a duck flew up and away over on the other side by the bank. Of course I was too slow to get a picture of him, but then I looked again, and this lovely female wood duck swam into view:

She lingered a little while, contemplating her next move. I could tell she was anxious to join her mate who had flown away, but she seemed to be reluctant to join him too quickly. I wonder if they are nesting in that area and perhaps she was distraught about leaving her nest? I don't know, and I didn't want to get too close to disturb her. So I sat quietly in my kayak and thanked the Lord for allowing me to see her and that she sat still long enough for me to get a few pictures...

However, she could see me out of the corner of her eye and right after this picture she flew up up and away to join her mate.  

So I rounded the bend in the pond and started my homeward stretch. The reflections were lovely here in the shadow of the trees of the little island, so I sat and reflected upon their beauty for another moment.

Philippians 4:4-7

4.  "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!

5.  Let your gentleness be known to all men.

The Lord is at hand.

6.  Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God;

7.  And the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

I hope you enjoyed this little trip around the pond with me today. I must say that even though my arm muscles are tired from rowing against those lilies, the sense of peace and joy that I feel in my heart now is well worth the effort.   And that is how it is in our journey through this life.  We will face many challenges and struggles throughout our days, but when we reach  that "goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14), it will be worth it all.  We will forget those things that were behind us, and we will rejoice in the Lord carrying us through to victory.

Have a blessed and peaceful day my friends.

Wednesday Treasures~Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

 Happy Wednesday! Gee, this week sure is flying right by! Seems like summertime is always in a hurry to get over and done with, which for us here in the deep south where it is so hot and humid, that is probably a blessing! But I remember when I was a kid I wanted summer to last forever! Although I also remember that by the time August rolled around I was getting anxious to get back to school and see my friends again. Back then we didn't start back to school until after Labor Day usually, but nowadays it seems that they do start back to school early in August, so I guess their summertime really isn't all that long. 

Who remembers this fun song by Nat King Cole?  "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer"?  Except for the beer, this would be a pretty accurate description of summertime back in the day... LOL. It just popped into my head while I was thinking about summertime. Now I can't get it out of my head. LOL.

So, switching gears, let's see what the "Photo A Day Challenge" is for today. Actually, I need to do the one for yesterday too, since I haven't done it yet!

Yesterday's photo (7th), was "Words"!  So, in looking around me right here at my desk, I found these words:

This cross-stictched picture is the original inspiration for my blog title:

And then there's this sign above the window above my desk, which my son Benton created for me back at our previous home:

Click HERE for a link to a post from where this sign below used to hang in our previous home:

And then there' this coaster on my desk:

Now we come to today's photo challenge, which is "Drink", and technically this photo could be for both yesterday and today, since there are words on my favorite morning mug of tea:

I am enjoying doing this little photo challenge that our friend  Chrissy T. over at One Season to the Next shared with us.  Perhaps you are joining in? It's not too late!

Now, on to something else that is pretty special!  IF you recall, I recently shared with you about the recent passing of my dear friend Maura and also her husband Woody. See this LINK.  

Well, I may have mentioned that their granddaughter is now living in their home. Actually, they raised their granddaughter when her own parents had some serious health issues and they have both also passed away.  So "Katheryn" was really more like a daughter to them.   Anyway, recently I learned that Katheryn has become an author!  She has just published her first book and is working on another as we speak.  When I saw what she had written, of course I just had to have a copy, and when you see it, you will probably understand why:

Most of you know of my love for the Sand Hill Cranes that we have had living in our pond throughout the years.  Well, where Katheryn lives now in her grandparents' home, there is a lovely marsh, and there are  Sand Hill Cranes who also make their home there, so she has had a front row seat to watching the lives of the Sand Hill Crane family in her yard.  So this delightful  story about The Little Sandhill Crane is from her own experience of living right there and watching them!

This book is not only a wonderful story, it is written in such a way that it encourages parents and children to read together. The story is not only entertaining, but it is also very educational and makes learning to read fun!  I would highly recommend this book for all you grandparents out there (and great-grandparents) to have to share with your grandchildren when they come to visit!  It can be found on Amazon.com

I love that Katheryn dedicated the book to her grandparents!

Well, friends, thats all for today! Time to get a move on...Yeah, tell that to Blackie, who decided to join the tea party on the buffet!

Perhaps I should take a lesson from my friend Katheryn and write a book about Blackie!!! He certainly provides enough interesting stories! LOL.

Enjoy your "Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" while they last!

Monday Monday and the Tuesday 4~What Do You Call It?

Here it is the Monday after the 4th of July...the 250th Anniversary of our nation...and I am sure many people are still trying to get back to "normal" from the holiday weekend.  

This was the sunset on July 4th.  It will have to suffice for my photo challenge picture for July 5th of grass. You can see the green grass where the pond is supposed to be. LOL.  

The challenge for today is "white".  These pictures below will have to be the "white" photos...even though you will also see a Black Cat in the pictures, namely, "King Blackie".  This morning he decided to lay on my computer keyboard, which caused my computer to start doing some strange things...

And pretty soon I saw this message appear on my screen from Google...

It says, "How can we help you?"  I wanted to type on the search bar, "How do you keep a cat from laying on your keyboard?"  The little rascal just wanted to play and wouldn't let me pick him up and remove him, so I had to move away from the desk and finally he decided it wasn't any fun anymore to be there so he moved. What a stinker he can be!! LOL.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...I've seen a few posts already and am trying to get around to visit. Our weekend was actually rather quiet.  We did end up on Saturday night with our "kids" here for some home made pizza. I added an update to my Saturday post HERE to show some pictures of that. Rose brought all the ingredients and we had a good time making the pizzas. I had also baked a strawberry cake for dessert.  We didn't end up going to see the fireworks, however, as hubby and I were both pretty tired and decided to just go to bed and listened to the booms all around us. LOL.  

Sunday morning I woke up with a headache and some tummy issues, and decided not to go to church and actually went back to bed for an extra morning nap. However, we knew our son Scott was coming down to do his laundry and stay for lunch, and also Benton was coming over after church because Rose had to go to work. I had some country style ribs that I put in the crock pot early in the morning when I first woke up at 5:30 a.m. to feed the cat...(Yes, much like having a new baby...no matter how bad you feel, you still gotta get up and feed them!) and I made some scalloped potatoes (the boxed kind, which are pretty good), some canned green beans and a tossed salad, oh and some deviled eggs. (I had already boiled the eggs on Saturday). So we ended up with a nice lunch, and by then I was feeling a bit better. I didn't take any new pictures, however, which is too bad because it all looked so good! But we had a nice visit with the boys and I sent them home with some "doggy bags" of leftovers. 

So that's about it for us for the weekend. Now, let's move on to the Tuesday 4, shall we?

What Do You Call It?

Welcome to Tuesday 4 which was started by our friend Toni Taddeo and kept up in memory of her.   (Thanks to our friend Annie, who is the hostess with the mostest!)

Different sections of the USA have different words and customs they use. Let's talk about them.

1. In New Jersey you put your groceries in a paper bag or plastic bag. In Athens, Ohio where I went to university, you put them in a paper sack. Is it bag , sack or something else where you live?

Here in Florida we put our groceries in a plastic bag, although in some places they still ask you if you want "paper or plastic?"  I prefer plastic because it doesn't tear so easily and cold or wet things don't soak through. I reuse the plastic bags for trash bags in my bathrooms and also to bag up some other items before I put them in the larger garbage bag for the trash. They are also used for many other things as needed. I do not waste them!

2. Though no one seems to wear them anymore, NJ says Stockings.
Athens, Ohio used to call them "hose" and in Britain they are tights.
What about where you live?

Although they are getting harder and harder to find to purchase, I still like to wear panty hose with dresses for church or other dress up occasions.  I prefer control top panty hose. So I basically call them panty hose, but I also may say "I need to put my stockings on first" when I am getting dressed up.  I also wear knee highs with slacks, mainly because they feel better with my shoes and they just look better than bare ankles. My mother was a stickler for proper dress, including wearing "stockings", and when I am tempted about going hose-less with a Sunday dress, I can hear my mother's voice inside my head telling me to always dress like a lady. LOL.  However, if it is a casual summer dress and I have sandals to wear with it, I will go without hose.  

3.Soda, Pop, Coke?  

Here in the south most all soft drinks are called "Coke", regardless of what flavor you really want.  We'd say after school, "Let's go to the drug store and get a coke!"  But in reality, we would get a Root Beer, or a Pepsi, or an Orange or Grape Nehi drink, or a Coke, depending upon what brand they carried. Our small town drug store also made things like a Vanilla Coke or a Cherry Coke if you wanted it.  (And they only cost 5 cents back in the day when I was a teenager. That tells you how old I am).   Oh, and that "very accurate map of what America calls a cola" is not necessarily true for Florida.  I rarely ever hear anyone say "soda" here. However,  because Florida is such a melting pot of people from all over the country, a lot of our southern idioms are getting changed. There are very few true southerners or Florida natives here anymore, except maybe in the real rural parts of the state. 

Hero, sub, grinder, hoagie?  Usually they are called a Sub around these parts, but there is a place not far from us that is called the "Hometown Heros Sub Shop".  We haven't been there yet, but I hear it's good.

4. Shopping cart or trolley. buggy? What do you call it?  To me it's usually a buggy, but sometimes I do say cart. 

So I guess that's it for now.  I  hope you are having a wonderful week.  It's mighty hot here in our part of the country, but I hear it's hot just about every where. So please stay cool and hydrated and out of "harm's way" as much as possible.  God bless you all, and God bless America! "The Land of the free, and the Home of the Brave!"  Praise God!

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

I started writing this post yesterday, on the 3rd of July.  I didn't get very far before our internet went down. We've been having issues with it all week, and yesterday it was up and down like a yo-yo. So I never did get back to finishing this post, and now it's Saturday, July 4th.  But I will go ahead and try to pick up where I left off yesterday, so bear with me, and Happy 4th of July!

Written on July 3, 2026:

Today is the day before the 4th of July, and I'm still getting myself in a more festive spirit. This tray/sign below was created by my son a few years ago, and it puts things in proper perspective: 

Always put GOD first, and then your family and loved ones, and then your country, and life will run more smoothly.

This is one of my favorite verses on this subject:

Joshua 24:15 NIV

15 "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Our blogging friend Chrissy T at One Season to the Next  has given a Photo Challenge for the month of July.  I'm just getting around to participating. I think I already did some outdoors photos and flower photos previously this week HERE,

 So we will pick up with the photo challenge of food for July 3:..see below...

We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast yesterday morning, made with our very own home grown blueberries!! It just doesn't get any better than that!

And for today, July 4th, something that "sparkles", well, this wreath did sparkle in the sunshine:

And so did this, but you can't tell it in the picture...so just take my word for it, okay? It sparkles! And maybe later tonight (4th), I will get some pictures of the fireworks when they "sparkle".

Sadly, our family isn't going to be getting together today to celebrate like we have in the past, but Lily Grace and her dog Bailey are ready for a  4th of July picnic:

And so are her friends...

And Lily Grace says HERE is a link to some special memories from the 4th of July in 2021, shared from her blog, The Adventures of Lily Grace.

And inside that blog is another link HERE, with pictures from some very special family times in the past on the 4th of July.  I love to look back at those special times and remember them, especially when we can't all be together again as in the past. Several of those family members are now celebrating every day in heaven...thanks to Jesus giving us the biggest gift of freedom ever...we are set free from our sins through faith in Him...

John 8:31-36
31 "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Oh, I wanted to share some pictures of what was going on in our yard yesterday morning...it was definitely a morning for "the birds"...

So, here's the story...You really can't see him too well in this picture, but there is a big Hawk sitting on the branch of that pine tree. There is also a hummingbird on the feeder...

Good Morning Mr. Hawk! How are you today???

He says, "I'm fine and dandy. Just don't bother me right now. I am watching for something to eat for breakfast out there.."

And then he flew away out over the pond, but then I realized there was ANOTHER Hawk sitting on a different branch of the same tree!

And Mr. Bluebird also sees him...and he is keeping a close watch on him because there are new baby bluebirds in the birdhouse, and we definitely don't want anything to happen to them like last time, when a big old crow came and snatched one out of the nest...

So you can bet that Mr. Bluebird is being very protective and watchful, but it seems that the two hawks had other prey on their minds out on the other side of the pond, because he soon flew away to join his mate or brother or whatever...

Mr. Blue bird is telling Mrs. Blue bird to watch out for them...

All the while, Blackie was sitting on the porch and watching all of the activities out there. Thankfully, he knew to stay quiet and still and didn't interfere in the activity of the Bluebirds or the Hawks.

Isn't Mr. Bluebird beautiful? They have been quite active lately, as I think the babies are getting bigger every day and they are busily finding juicy grasshoppers and other insects to feed them all day long...

Here's Mama Bluebird, watching for Daddy Bluebird to come back with more food:

They are both quite busy bringing food to the nest. Notice the blue of blur at the top of the pole...that's the Daddy taking off to find more food while Mama feed the babies with whatever she has found:

Now Daddy watches for the Mama to come back:

There she is...

And there's Daddy, with food in his mouth, waiting his turn to go into the house to feed the babies.

Mama keeps a watchful eye on things...

Daddy says "We are thankful that the Hawks went away and didn't disturb our nest, and now we can continue to feed our babies and hopefully watch them fly to freedom one of these days soon!"

All in all it was a lovely morning for bird watching. And I am VERY thankful to the Lord for all of these blessings...and especially for our freedom to enjoy them.

John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

So today, in the midst of all the hoopla and celebration, fireworks and barbeques and ice cream and watermelon...Let us pause and remember to thank GOD for our freedom...our freedom to enjoy this day without fear of our enemies coming to stop us...and freedom to enjoy this day, knowing that we are ultimately free from our sins when we have faith in Christ...and one day we will be set free from this earthly body to enjoy our eternal life, free from sickness and sorrow and the fear of death.  Praise God!

Have a blessed and beautiful and happy 4th of July!

UPDATE: Our "kids" came over around 4:00 p.m, after Rose got off work, and we made homemade pizza. It was good, and a nice way to celebrate the day!