Tuesday 4~Ideals

 

Ideals

From our Hostess Annie: "Hi! Sorry this is late but I just got side tracked with a migraine on Sunday and Monday morning and forgot all about Tuesday 4.... but I hope it's better late than never....
Welcome to T oni's Tuesday 4... all about ideal situations."




1. What's your ideal road trip/vacation?

My "Ideal" road trip would be to travel the back roads through the country and small towns, with no specific time/destination so that we can stop when we want to stop and explore whatever looks interesting and eat at local cafe's and diners. Of course, we would be heading to an area of the country that we have always wanted to explore, but not in any particular hurry. Maybe parts of the northwest like the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming, Idaho, etc., where we've never been before. Of course we would have to have unlimited funds to do this kind of trip, which we don't have, so that's why we've never done it and probably never will. But it's a nice idea. Otherwise, a trip to the mountains of north Georgia in the fall and staying in a cabin with our kids is also a lot of fun...and we are missing doing that this year, but decided we needed to take this year off for various reasons.

2. What is your ideal evening out?

LOL.  We are retired! We avoid going out in the evenings at all cost.  If we have to go out for dinner, we try to go by 4:00 and beat the crowds and get back home before it gets dark. Normally we try to go out for lunch and we like to eat at places that are more interesting than the normal humdrum.

3. What is your ideal way to handle criticism? Brush it off? Take it personally? Reflect on it?

I guess it depends on where it's coming from.  If it is someone whom I respect and trust...a true friend, then I will certainly give it proper attention and consideration. However, if it is a person on social media whom I do not really know or they do not really know me personally, I will consider whether or not the criticism is valid or if someone is just being petty or trying to make some kind of "statement".  In today's social media society, we often have to make decisions whether or not to accept someone's comments or to delete and block them. I've certainly had to do both, especially when it comes to politics and religion.  

There are many scripture verses regarding criticism and discipline. These are just a few. 

Proverbs 15:31-33

31 Whoever heeds life-giving correction

will be at home among the wise.

32 Those who disregard discipline despise themselves,

but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

33 Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord,

and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV 

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 9:8-9 ESV 

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Colossians 3:12-14 ESV 

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV / 966 helpful votes

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ...

4. What is your ideal day off?

Well, now that I am retired, every day is supposedly a 'day off', except for the days we have doctor appointments and/or other kinds of business matters to tend to...grocery shopping, car repairs, house repairs/maintenance, church activities and responsibilities.  When we have a day with NO appointments on the calendar, we like to take a ride or go for a nice walk in a new location, and maybe go out to lunch someplace different. It's nice to meet with friends or family for lunch somewhere as well.   It's also lovely to have a day at home with nothing in particular to do so that I can read or bake or just go sit outside in the yard, weather permitting. 

Monday Mushrooms, Marigolds, Mums and Memories

 Happy Monday!  I hope this Monday finds you all safe and sound...the hurricane has passed on out to sea and hopefully it didn't cause any of our friends any serious harm. I've heard from a few who were in its path, and they said they were all good and very thankful it wasn't too terrible. Praise God for His protection and care.

We had a good amount of rain last week, some pre-hurricane, and a little while it was passing by on our Gulf Coast, but thankfully we are far enough inland that the only results we have are a lot more mushrooms popping up everywhere!

I'm glad I went out and got pictures of these strange looking mushrooms when I did, because they were totally wilted and gone within 24 hours...

These interesting looking lemon yellow mushrooms popped up in a pile of oak leaves and acorns ...a perfect breeding ground for unusual fungi to develop!

And this interesting specimen wasn't too far away...

Here's the side view!

How about this one?

Oh, here's another very delicate looking parasol kind of mushroom!

And there were lots of these delicate little frilly looking mushrooms popping up in the grass...

I am not an expert on mushrooms, and only eat the ones that I can buy in the grocery store to be safe. But I do enjoy seeing the variety of species that develop after a rainy season.  God's creativity in creation is never ending and so varied and interesting! I think they are beautiful in their own special way! My sister Doris had posted a picture of these same kind of mushrooms on her Facebook page and said they were pretty fungi! Her daughter, my niece Debbie, said "there's nothing pretty about fungi, LOL".  I responded saying that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".   So that got me going on taking these pictures of what I consider the beautiful fungi! I hope you enjoyed them!

I was happy to see that my marigold plants are still flourishing after this rainy spell...

I had  forgotten about them, and was pleasantly surprised to see them blooming so nicely without any help from me at all!  

And those mums the kids gave me for my birthday are all blooming...and yes still in that weedy flower bed! It's been too rainy to go out and do any gardening this past week! LOL.

Oh, hello Blackie! He loves to follow me around when I am outside looking at things.  Always fun to have a little furry companion helping me explore...

These mums are from last year, and they are all starting to come back and bloom again!

They are in the front yard, in front of the front porch, in the planter boxes that our son Benton made for me last year.

This is the "bird's eye view" , looking down from the porch:

Those blue flowers are some Plumbago that I planted years ago, and they bloom once in a blue moon! LOL. Maybe that's why they are blue!

This was the view this morning when I went out to put out the flag at sunrise:

I love the way it comes peeking through those trees like it coming through the eastern gate and shining it's light in a pathway to the sun...

Here's another view.  

There's a lot of references to the "Eastern Gate" in the Bible.  I looked up some information on Google AI, and here's what I found:

People also ask:
What does the eastern gate represent in the Bible?

AI Overview

In the Bible, the East Gate (also called the Golden Gate or the Gate of Mercy) represents the divine entry of God's glory, the promise of redemption, and the anticipated arrival of the Messiah.


Key Biblical Meanings & Symbolism
The Return of God’s Glory: In Ezekiel 43:1–4, the prophet sees the glory of the God of Israel returning to the temple from the east, entering through the eastern gate.
Christian Study Library +1


Eschatological Hope: Both Jewish and Christian traditions associate the East Gate with the end times—symbolizing where the Messiah will return to establish His reign and bring ultimate restoration.

I asked if The Lord will return through the Eastern Gate when He returns to earth, and this is the response:

"Yes, according to Jewish and many Christian traditions, the Messiah or Christ is expected to return and enter Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate (also known as the Golden Gate or Gate of Mercy). [1, 2, 3]"

Biblical and Prophetic Basis

• Ezekiel 44:1–3: The prophet Ezekiel describes the Eastern Gate of the sanctuary as remaining shut because the Lord, the God of Israel, entered through it. [1, 2]
• Zechariah 14:3–4: Tradition links the return of the Lord to the Mount of Olives (situated just east of Jerusalem), which is expected to split open when He arrives, paving the way toward the city and the temple area. [1, 2]
• Historical Connection: Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, leading believers to anticipate a similar path upon His return. [1, 2]

If you want to do more study on this subject, you may want to read some of the passages named above. I believe this is why I love to watch the sun rising in the east every morning as I ponder the possibility that today could be the day that Christ returns...What a glorious day that will be! And with all of the events happening around the world these days...earthquakes in diverse places, wars and rumors of wars, the rise of persecution of believers throughout the world...we need to be watching and ready.


While the sun was rising in the east, I looked at our Still Waters Pond on the west side of the house, because the sun was shining through and lighting up the pond so beautifully! There is now a little bit of water on the pond, enough for there to be some reflections in the sunshine...and so I wanted to share the early morning beauty with you:

 A lot of that golden glow is actually a reflection of the sun shining on those bushes on the little bit of water.  This makes me so happy!!  Yes, there's still a long way to go to fill up the pond, but at least this is a good start!

Now, this is an interesting picture below.  If you are on Facebook, you know how they sometimes send you an old picture from your previous posts in years past, and they call it "Then and Now", and you are supposed to add a new picture of the same thing or people as they look today.  Well, this picture popped up the other day, and it was from our Still Waters Pond in October of 2019. You can see how different and full of water it was back then...

So, I was decided to recreate that same scene, using the same mugs, and then post this new picture with the old one for the "Then and Now" scene. However, by the time I got the picture taken I went back to my Facebook page, and couldn't find the old one they had posted a few minutes earlier. It had already scrolled down to who knows where and I couldn't retrieve it.  So here it is now for you to see the difference in the "Then and Now". This new picture was taken in the afternoon on Saturday, and you can see just how dry the pond really is.  The water is way over there under all those bushes. It used to come up all the way to those pine trees on the shore. So yes, we still have a way to go, but at least there is progress.

I've been working on this post all day. So bear with me! LOL.  I started early this morning, and then we decided to take a walk. We no sooner got to our walking place, and we got a phone call from our dentist office asking if hubby could come in early for his scheduled 11:00 a.m. appointment for his root canal and crown prep since they had a cancelation. So we headed back to the house to change and headed to the dentist, which is about 20 minutes from our house. We got there around 10:00, and he was there until almost 1:00 p.m. Whew!  I went and did some window shopping in a few stores nearby, but didn't buy a thing. Finally just went back to the waiting room and waited until he was done. Thankfully he was really happy when he came out...no pain...still numb of course, but he was very pleased with everything after dreading it so much before. Praise God for answered prayers on that!!

Also, I wanted to apologize for not visiting too many blog posts over the weekend. I started reading that big 2 inch thick book, "The Calamity Club", and it is taking up all of my extra reading and writing time! But I am enjoying it so far!  And I do appreciate all of your kind comments on my previous post(s). You are all very dear and wonderful, and I treasure your friendship so much.

Sunday was a beautiful day after a stormy week. We went to church and came home after and Benton and Rose and the grandpups came for lunch. Scott didn't come down again this week. I think he was worn out from trying to work all week in the rain and needed some rest.  

Anyway, in church there was a wonderful blessing. October is traditionally Pastor Appreciation Month, and churches across the country try to do something special to honor their pastors.  This year our quilting group decided to make quilts for our pastor and his wife, one for each of them, with matching pillows.  Our pastor is a huge Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL) fan, and so his quilt has the Jaguar colors and symbols, etc., on it.  Our pastor's wife is our choir director and worship leader, and hers has special things regarding music and faith on it. They are both so beautiful!

I took this picture above while they were being presented with the quilts by the members of the quilting group.

Our Pastor's wife posted these two pictures below after they got home and placed them in their house. They were so excited!  What a thoughtful and well deserved blessing!

It was such a beautiful afternoon that I went outside to sit in the garden for a while. Blackie came out to join me...

We sat together on the bench, enjoying watching the birds and feeling a cooler breeze for a change!

Then Blackie went exploring...

Even he enjoys just looking at the pond...

And checking back to see if I was still there...

I love all the different shades of green out there...it was very peaceful and so relaxing.

Well, friends, I think I've come to the end of my photos. I'm sure you're relieved! LOL. 

Well, maybe just one more...this is the current view of Still Waters Pond at sunset...It's only fitting that we started out with sunrise and we finish with the sunset, don't you agree?

Psalm 43:3-4

"3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!

Let them lead me;

Let them bring me to Your holy hill

And to Your tabernacle.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy;

And on the harp I will praise You,

O God, my God."

Amen and Good Night friends.

I promise to get around to visit soon.

Saturday Morning

Good Saturday Morning!  I hope this finds you doing well...I am concerned about some of our blogging friends in the panhandle of Florida, Alabama, Western Georgia, and beyond, who may be experiencing the effects of Hurricane Isaias today.  I haven't heard too much about how severe the impact was in those areas yet, but I did see that a lot of people were definitely without power.  We've been praying for you, and if you are in that area, we hope you will be able to check in soon and let us know how you are. Thankfully the storm did not come in our direction, and we only got some faint outer bands of rain periodically, but nothing severe here at all. Actually, we got less rain the past 24 hours than we did all week long! In a way I am a bit disappointed, because we were really hoping we would get more of that rain here, but we are thankful that we didn't get any serious storm issues.

As a matter of fact, the sun was shining this morning for a while! We hadn't even tried to put out the flag the past several days due to the rain, but this morning has been dry enough so far to let our flag wave in the breeze.  

 It was nice to see the sun again!!

And I know this isn't very clear, but I took this picture a little while ago through the window. I just wanted to give you an update on the status of Still Waters Pond...yes, you can actually see water over there on top of the pond bed, and there is a lot more water over under the bushes where it is a bit deeper, so that's progress! It looks like there's a moose walking over there and a fish ready to jump in the water! LOL.  That's our wind chime that was created especially for us after our son Matthew passed away, by a friend of ours who does amazing copper work.  You can click HERE if you would like to know more about the history of this windchime.

Yesterday I took advantage of some of the drier times of the day and went outside to examine what I was seeing out on the grass...

This trail of mushrooms was growing all in a line on the other side of our fence. There must've been a tree root or something under the ground that has decayed and these mushrooms have sprung up because of the rain to "lead the way".  

Aren't they funny?

I have managed to do a little reading this past week since we weren't out and about as much due to the rainy weather.  I checked this book out from the library, along with another one by the same author.  The other one I never made it past the third chapter. I just couldn't get into it, so I put it aside and tried this one in  hopes that it would be better, and it definitely was.  I enjoyed this book...even though there were parts that literally had me in tears...but to me, that's a sign of a good book! There may have been a few episodes that were not in my particular taste for what I like to read, but they weren't overly graphic and I was able to get through them without being too disturbed. (LOL).   The overall book was good and worth the read.

So, I took those two books back to the library yesterday and picked up this one that I had ordered online through our library system.  It is written by the author of "The Help", which I liked very much (and also saw the movie), so I thought I'd give this one a try. I just got started on it last night, and so far, so good.

What I wasn't expecting was that this book is literally 2 inches thick, and it's not even a large print book! So I guess I'll be reading this one for a little while! LOL.

Speaking of books, I received this sweet little bookshelf lantern as a birthday gift from one of our thoughtful and sweet blogging friends.  I had never seen anything like it before, and I thought it was just so fun...

I love how it adds a soft glow to my bookshelf and it just makes me smile when I look at it. You know, we have some of the sweetest blogging sisters...and I treasure every one of you!

I didn't have a lot of photos to share this week, so I didn't even bother to do a Friday Foto post yesterday. But I did have these photos of Blackie that I thought his fans would like...one morning when he came inside he was a little damp from the rain, even though he stays primarily on the covered porch...he apparently had gone out in the yard to take care of business, and he was damp...so I covered him up with this old towel and dried him off, and he loved it...

So we left the towel on the floor for him, and he now wants to lay on it when he comes inside.

However, sometimes he rolls off the towel while taking a nap...

I had to check his breathing to make sure he was still alive in this picture. All four of his feet where in the air and he was sound asleep! He's still such a character, and yes, he is well loved. He does, however enjoy going outside and watching the birds and doing "cat things", but then he's always happy to come back inside for his meals and to get some lovin'.  

Well, I can't think of anything else to say. We don't have any special plans for the weekend except for church tomorrow, and I am assuming Scott will be here by lunch time.  And no, we still haven't had that phone call conversation with our grandson. His "break times" at work just weren't a good time for him to try and call us, and I don't know what his days off are, so I will just wait patiently for him to get around to calling. At least the text messages were thoughtful and sweet, and I will be thankful for whatever communication we can have.  

Here's some good food for thought today...

Have a blessed and safe weekend.