Sunday Night Revue

'Tis the season...

I bought a can of pumpkin the other day, rather than buying a whole real pumpkin, which would probably rot on the porch since it's still so warm here...and I asked hubby if he would prefer some Pumpkin Bread, or a Pumpkin Pie...and so you see what he requested above.

I usually try to hold off baking pumpkin pies until closer to Thanksgiving so we don't burn out on them, but since he asked so sweetly, how could I refuse?

My can of whipped cream was getting a bit empty, so it looks rather puny on top of these pieces of pie, but it was still good.

Lucy Goosey approves.  Yes, she's flying around the house these days. No telling where she'll end up next. I just listen for her special "Honk".  (That's Goose Talk for Hello, Here I am!)

We've been promised a lot of rain this week, and so these clouds that were rolling in this afternoon looked pretty promising...

I could hear the thunder rolling in the distance, so we brought Blackie in the house and waited for the storm to arrive.

It finally got here and came down pretty good for a few minutes, and then it went on its merry way.

Meanwhile, as I was trying to take pictures at the back door, this is what I was contending with...

Someone absolutely LOVES my shoes...

He makes it impossible for me to go anywhere!

So I just let him enjoy snuggling up to my shoes for a few minutes, as long as he doesn't nip at my ankle bones, which does occasionally happen when he gets carried away with the excitement of chewing on my shoes!  The things we put up with for the love of a kitty cat!  Gotta love him....

He looks like he's in kitty heaven. You should hear him purring! What a sweetheart!

Speaking of hearts...this was on the back porch a while ago when I went back outside to try and take some more pictures...

I call it a little God Wink...a message of Love sent from heaven to earth to bless my day.

"The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;"

Jeremiah 31:3

It was supposed to rain again at 6:00, but it's now 6:30, and this is how it looks:

Time will tell if we get any more rain tonight...almost an inch was forecasted for today, and we barely got a teacup full.  But the night's not over yet...it still says more rain is on the way in the next couple of hours, so we shall see.

And no, I didn't get that garden bed weeded yet. Scott didn't come down today because we had a meeting after church and so he said he'd come next week. It doesn't look too bad from up here on the porch! LOL.  

Here are some good things to remember from God's Word for today...

Psalm 18:30-32

"As for God, His way is perfect;

The word of the Lord is proven;

He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

31 For who is God, except the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

32 It is God who arms me with strength,

And makes my way perfect."

I pray that God will arm you with the strength that you need for this week...and that you will know that He is making your way perfect.  God's Word is true and is "proven"...and "He is a shield for all who trust in Him."  When we place our trust in the LORD, He will provide all the protection and strength that we need.  Those are some good promises to us as we keep our eyes on Him.  Amen.

Have a blessed and beautiful week.

Friday Foto Friends~Friday Blessings

Whew! Thank Goodness it's Friday! LOL. Not that it makes much difference when you're retired, but I still love Fridays because they are the beginning of the weekend, and who doesn't love the weekend?

Here's a few pictures from a ride we took the other morning...some fall wildflowers alongside the road...always makes me smile and say "Stop the car! I want to take a picture!" LOL.

I love all the purple and golden wildflowers that show up in late September and October...

I call these God's bouquets!

I won't even attempt to identify them...just enjoy the natural beauty of God's Creation all around us while it lasts!

And I always enjoy seeing some cows grazing in the pastures...

Mooooooo!

 Hubby loves to watch college football on Saturday afternoons and I just like to piddle around doing little things. We may take a ride in the morning and see if there's any interesting flea markets or yard sales going on. Tomorrow morning our church Thrift Store is having a yard sale, so we may stop by there and see what fun stuff they are trying to sell. I may see something I donated (and hope someone else will buy it!) LOL.

Our Church Thrift Store

And for the Blackie fans, here's a few pictures of this character. This is what he loves to do while I am trying to write on the computer. Most of the time he is batting at my hand and not allowing me to type, or he lays his head on the keyboard and causes all kinds of chaos.  Quite often I get a page open up from Google Help asking "how may we assist you?"   And I want to say, "Someone please come get this cat off of my computer desk so I can get something done around here!" LOL.

I guess he thinks he's helping me. LOL.

Someone asked me what Blackie thought about Lily Grace's new "cat costume".  Well, here's his first reaction. He refused to look at her...literally turned his back on her when I put her down on the floor and asked him to come say hello to Lily...

But Lily Grace was not going to be ignored by Mr. Blackie, so she marched right over to where he was sitting and asked him to please notice her cute little cat costume...

At first he wanted to bolt...

I'm not sure what he's looking at...he refused to look at me or Lily Grace..Maybe he's saying, "The things I have to put up with to be the King around here..." LOL.

But at least he didn't make her a chew toy...There's still hope they will become good friends. LOL.

Praise God!  We have had a wonderful rainy afternoon today! And I couldn't help but notice this Red Shouldered Hawk way out on the pond,  standing next to a PUDDLE on top of the dry pond bed! I think he was fishing for worms or tadpoles. LOL.

Yes, that is water along the edge of those bushes...everytime it rains, that puddle gets bigger!

One day at a time!

And  please don't judge me for the weeds in the flower bed! I know what I have to do. But the kids gave me these pots of mums for my birthday, and I needed to put them someplace  where I could water them (before the rains came back) and this was the closest to the garden hose. Maybe tomorrow if it's not too hot I will pull some weeds and plant the mums appropriately. (Or maybe I'll get Scott to do it for me when he comes to visit...that's a thought! He's a pro! And so much younger and stronger than I am! LOL)

Oh, one more thing, thanks for saying a little prayer for hubby today when he went to the dentist. They x-rayed and examined the broken  tooth, and said he had 3 options. Pull it and be done with it, Do a root canal and put a crown on it, or do an implant/crown.   Option one wouldn't cost us anything because our insurance would cover it, but he'd have a big gap on the top left side of his mouth where it could be seen and may cause the surrounding teeth to weaken over time. Option two would cost a bit of money, but it could be done next week with a temporary crown, and then the permanent crown a week or so later. Option three was the most expensive and would take 3-4 months for the gum to heal before they could put the actual crown on top of the implant/screw.  After much discussion we decided on option #2, the root canal and crown. Our medicare advantage plan will cover a part of it, and we can put the rest on a Care Credit plan with no interest for a year.  (of course, I am still paying for MY root canal and crown that I got earlier this year...but I guess that's the high cost of getting old). Nothing comes cheap or easy these days,  that's for sure.  I told hubby that we will tie a red bow around his new crown for Christmas as that will be his Christmas gift. I guess I'll have to do the same for mine. LOL.  

I am just so thankful that God has provided a way for us to take care of these things. No, we don't like to use credit unnecessarily, but there are times when that is the only option and we are thankful that it is available. We will trust God to help us pay it off as soon as possible, but we are thankful to not have to put things off that could cause further issues and make matters worse and possibly bigger expenses in the future.

Well friends, I will close this post for tonight. It's always wonderful to hear from you, and I  look forward to visiting more with you as the days go by. Take care, and may God open the doors for you that you are asking, seeking, and knocking about.  Amen.

It's October!!!

 It's October first! And you know what THAT means!  It's time for the Calendar Roll Call!!

No better way to express the essence of Autumn than with this beautiful picture by John Sloane, from his Country Seasons Calendar..."Welcome to Autumn"...

For those of you who live in the region where there are scenes like this, I know you can well imagine the "thrill" of raking leaves with your children...and perhaps falling into a pile of leaves as soon as they are raked up!  That's what my little boys did way back many moons ago when we lived in Ohio:

This is from the Susan Branch calendar for October:

I see that she listed October 12th as "Indigenous People's Day", and neglected to add that it is also "Columbus Day". Although I have no problem in setting aside a special day for the "Indigenous People", I do have a problem with the movement to erase Columbus Day from our calendar. But I won't get political here...just wanted to remember that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And who remembers the names of the three ships?  The Pinta, The Niña, and the Santa Maria.   And please be kind...no debates here regarding this special day from our history. Thank you.

Oh, the Susan Branch calendar did add something really good...a recipe for Corn Pudding!  Who doesn't love a good corn pudding at Thanksgiving (or any church pot luck dinner?) Yum!

Well, after raking the leaves out on a chilly, windy, autumn day, why not come inside for a cup of hot tea with me? Although this particular picture doesn't depict our typical kind of fall fare...and is that a grasshopper on that teapot? It is an interesting Japanese design.

This is actually a teapot designed for drinking "sake" during New Year's celebrations in Japan...

Okay, if you like that, be my guest, but I will be serving tea...

It's really not that difficult:

Now, this is more like it...wow! What a beautiful stone cottage beside the creek... This painting by Thomas Kincade is entitled "The Valley of Peace".  It certainly does look peaceful now...and I love the verses included on the picture and below..."Casting all your care upon him; (the Lord), for He carethe for you." 1 Peter 5:7

And now we move on to the Billy Graham calendar for October...love those beautiful red apples...

And I love this promise quote from Billy Graham...especially the part, "God has not yet finished with us."   That's good to know, isn't it?  

And I love this verse from Psalm 139:16...God knew us even before we were born...and every day of our lives is already recorded in God's book!! Wow...that's certainly a major thought to consider...

And last, but not least, we can ponder all these things while we cozy up in front of the fire in this lovely little cabin in the woods...Oh my! I can hear the fire crackling in the fireplace, and perhaps there's an apple pie in the oven and something good bubbling on the stove...chili? soup? stew?  What's your favorite comfort food to make on a chilly fall day after being outside raking leaves and/or taking a walk in the woods on an autumn day?  Any of the above sound good to me, but chili is probably the easiest to make, so that's most likely what I'd do.  Gosh! This all makes me anxious to have those cooler fall days get here!  Here in Florida we may have to wait a while, but we can still pretend...

Speaking of using a "physical calendar...", my friend Debbi from Debbi's Front Porch, sent me this picture.  I told her I couldn't believe how much that actually looks like me...

It reminded me of this picture below, taken many years ago at our last house, and when I had a permanent in my hair that looks just like that lady above! LOL.  In this picture I wasn't writing on my calendar, but I was writing a post on my blog and wearing my favorite flannel shirt, that I usually start wearing again about this time of the year every year. I will probably continue to do so until it just falls apart from wear...don't you have any special shirts like that? It fits me the best of any of the flannel shirts I own, and is the most comfy of all. Anyway, I thought the resemblance was uncanny and had to look up this old photo to show you! LOL.  

HERE is a link to the story about when this flannel shirt was brand new.

Meanwhile, while we wait for flannel shirt weather to begin again, this was our sunset last night...the last sunset of September...

Still no significant water in Still Waters Pond,  but over under those green bushes it is very wet, so keep praying! It's supposed to rain a lot this week...and I heard we are in for a wet winter, so there's hope!

And here's the sunrise this morning, October 1, 2026!

It's going to be a great month! I can feel it in my bones! LOL.

Thank you for hanging in there with me through all the calendars this morning. I pray that your October is off to a great start too! Now I have to go call the dentist as my hubby broke a tooth last night...actually the tooth was apparently cracked around an old filling, and a part of the tooth broke off while we were eating dinner. So now we can add that to the calendar...a dentist appointment! 

God bless you all with His love and kindness and tender mercies throughout this month and beyond. Amen!