Saturday Photo A Day Challenge and More

Happy Saturday Everyone! I hope this day finds you relaxing and enjoying a beautiful day wherever you are.  It's already getting hot and steamy here, but it is July in Florida, so what can you expect? We are thankful not to have any severe weather or smoke here, like they are having up north from those horrific fires in Canada. We pray for our neighbors to the north, and pray that the fires will soon be quenched.

So, we are a little more than half way through the month of July, and also through this photo challenge. The challenge for today (18th) is animal or insect.  I took this photo at the boat ramp the other day...do you see the green dragonfly on the green leaves?  Yeah, he was hard to see for me too! I'm glad the camera had better eyes than I did!

Here's the July list if you want to join in...it's still not too late!  

I took a little walk about the yard this morning, and I also saw this little orange grasshopper on one of my dying zinnia plants.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but perhaps it is a Schistocerca rubinginosa Grasshopper.  All I know is the bluebirds love to catch grasshoppers to feed their babies, so I hope they find this one, because actually there were two of them, but I only got a picture of this one.  

Then I discovered this immature Argiope Aurantia Garden Spider on the Rose of Sharon bush.  Look at that zigzag web! Isn't that amazing? Spider webs are so interesting, aren't they? I just don't like to walk into them!  

Then when I walked around to the front yard, I saw these two immature White Ibis looking for food alongside the road.

It's unusual to see them here, so that was interesting!! Ater yesterday's rain, I am sure they are finding something good to eat in the grassy area there.

Sadly, a few minutes later I saw this fire truck and ambulance parked in front of the house across the street.  There is an elderly man living there who has some chronic health problems, and this is the 2nd time in a couple of months that he has had to go to the hospital via ambulance. We really don't know him very well as he keeps to himself and normally there is someone from the family who comes and checks on him every day.  We prayed for him as they took him away.  I'm wondering if he'll be able to continue living at home alone.   He's blessed that he does have family living nearby, but still it is difficult to stay home alone when you get to a certain stage in life.  We are praying for his family as well, that they will have wisdom to know what is best for him.

Sadly, we have another Celebration of Life to attend today. A former member of our church passed away recently after a battle with cancer.  She and her husband still lived in our area, but they started going to a different and smaller church in a nearby community a couple of years ago to help them out. But then she got cancer, and well, she fought hard, but it was time for her to be called home to heaven.  This is the seventh woman from our church community that has passed away in this year, and they weren't all that old. Only two of them were older than me.  It's really sad, but yet again, we know they are all with Jesus and they are not suffering anymore.  What's hard is that all but one of them left behind a husband, so our little church has a rather unusually large group of widowers who are struggling to find their way.   

I honestly think it's harder for men to get along on their own than it is for women.  You know, the Bible talks a lot about taking care of widows and orphans, but it really doesn't say anything about taking care of widowers.  But God promises to take care of those who mourn, and also we as Christians and friends and family should do our part to encourage and help those who are grieving as much as is practical and possible.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,

And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 34:18

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 

4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

A little later...

Well, I am sorry to end on a sad note, but this is the reality of life...and it helps us to remember that our time on earth is very short...so we need to live our lives in such a way that is meaningful and that in some way we make a positive difference in the world around us.  A copy of this poem was included in the bulletin for the service today:

The Dash

by Linda Ellis

"I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth
and spoke the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read,
with your life’s actions to rehash…
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent YOUR dash?"

Copyright ©::

Linda Ellis

Something to think about!  Now, let's go fill in our "dash" with the very best life we can...and remember this...(another saying I heard a long time ago):

According to AI:
"That powerful quote is the refrain of the famous poem "Only One Life" written by British missionary C.T. Studd. After giving away his wealth and serving in China, India, and Africa, he penned these enduring words to encourage believers to live with an eternal perspective. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Here are a few stanzas from the original poem: [1]

"Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in 'that day' my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last. [1, 2]

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
Living for self or in His will;
Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last. "[1, 2]

Amen!!

 

Friday Foto Friends and "Photo-a-Day" Challenge

 Well, one thing's for certain, you can expect a LOT of photos on this post. I never was very good at posting just ONE photo ever! LOL.  Happy Friday everyone! While I am writing this I hear thunder rumbling outside, and we are supposed to get some much needed rain any minute now. To answer some questions, no, our pond is still not filled up, nor does it even look like it's trying to be. It is like a giant sponge that keeps soaking in whatever rain we get, but there just hasn't been enough yet to make any difference.  Hopefully with these afternoon thunderstorms we've been getting, one of these days I will see a puddle on top of the "sponge". I will be sure to let you know when that happens! 

Here's how it looks right now:   It just started to rain!

Here's basically that same view, taken in February of 2025:

What a difference!  Now you see why we need a lot more rain!

It's raining outside pretty good now (but it's too dark to take a picture), so if it keeps raining like this for many more days, we may get back to that beautiful pond once again. Praying it doesn't take a hurricane to do it, however.  We can live without those!

Life does continue on out there along the "shore" of Still Waters Pond anyway.  Here's Mrs. Bluebird, sticking her head out of the birdhouse, and Mr. Chickadee is on top of the house saying hello:

Mr. Bluebird is up above, keeping an eye on things, and making sure Mr. Chickadee doesn't  try to move in on his territory!

Apparently Mrs. Bluebird is still taking care of babies in there. I thought they were farther along than that, but either she's still sitting on the nest, or she's feeding babies. Time will tell.

Mr. Hummingbird says he doesn't care what they do, just please keep my bird feeder cleaned and filled with fresh sugar water so it doesn't ferment in this high heat.  I try to change it about every 2-3 days. The hummingbirds have been quite active this summer in spite of the heat.

This morning we took a ride down to the Kenwood Boat Ramp and came upon this family of wild turkeys out for a morning stroll:

They were doing the "Turkey Trot" across the road in front of us:

You just never know what kind of slow moving traffic you will run into around here!  LOL.  

 

So now we come to the Photo-a-Day Challenge for July, and today is July 17th, which means I have to look for something that is "on the shelf".  Well, if you came to my house, you would see that I have way too many shelves to look at, so I tried to narrow it down to just some here in my "RoomWith A View"

I'll start with this bookshelf (which is something my son Benton built for me quite a few years ago).

This sits beside my desk, and I keep a lot of different kinds of things on it...a lot of special books about tea, devotional books, Bible Study books, a few cookbooks, and other various gift type books that I've been given over the years.  The top shelf has some special treasures that remind me of my "boys", but I won't go into all of that today.  The photograph hanging above the shelf is of "My Three Sons", taken way back when our boys were still just "our boys", before they all went their separate ways in life. It's pretty special to me.

This shelf has some special gifts from my sister Doris...she gave me that sweet teapot with the little bird on top of the lid, and the little book that says "Sisters!", and the other things in the background...

This little framed picture that says "Sisters Are Forever!, and one is a redhead and the other a brunette, which would be just the way we were when we were younger.

And also this greeting card, that has a story.  You see, my sister liked this card so much, she gave me the same identical card three years in a row (not realizing she'd already given me the same one the year before).  I still have two of them, but the third one I sent back to her to see if she would recognize it! LOL.  We both agreed that Hallmark needed to change up their cards each year so that wouldn't keep happening to us! LOL.

I am very thankful for my dear sister.  Yes, we do "belong to each other", and yes, we are Sisters Forever!

Further down on another shelf on this bookcase is this little "teapot for one" with the attached tea cup. This was a special gift from a dear friend of mine named Sharon, who gave this to me just prior to her moving away to go back home to be near family in Minnesota as she lived out her last days after a valiant battle with cancer. There is the last sweet note she wrote to me before going away enclosed in the teapot.  I keep it there to remember this precious friend and what a courageous woman she was.

This verse from 2 Corinthians 12:9 would be representative of the way she lived even until God called her home. Her faith in God never wavered, even though it meant leaving behind a young son who had just graduated high school, whom she had adopted when he was about two years old. He also moved back to Minnesota, and we keep in touch with him. He has a good job and a year ago he became a father to a precious little girl. Little "Ellie" is adorable and I pray for her and keep up with her via Facebook. I know my friend Sharon would be so proud of her son and this precious little granddaughter that she can only see from heaven's windows.  But I can assure you, if our loved ones who have gone on before can have any positive influence in the lives of their dear ones still on earth, Sharon is definitely keeping a close watch over little Ellie and cheering her on as she grows up and hopefully learns how much Jesus loves her.  I don't know if that's possible or not, but I can't help but think that Sharon is well aware of this dear little girl.

Across the room is another set of shelves, another cabinet built by our son Benton! (Yes, I've been blessed!)

Yes, there's a LOT of stuff on those shelves, but I am just going to zero in on another special item from another special friend, who also happens to be named Sharon!

When we lived in New Hampshire there was a very dear friend in our church named Sharon.  She was such a precious soul, and I loved her dearly.  She gave me this sweet doll, and I named her "Rose of Sharon".  (Little did I know at that time that one day I would also have a sweet daughter in law named Rose!)

When we moved away from there, she gave me this plaque, which reads:

"God in His wisdom and His love very often sends His angels down to walk with us.

We know them best as "friends."'

I can only tell you that the only "angel" in this case would've been this dear friend Sharon. She was a woman of a very special kind of wisdom...someone who would appear to be kind of humble and simple in some ways, and yet when she spoke it was with such wisdom and faith. I truly treasured our friendship. Sadly, again, another dear friend who was called home to heaven  much too soon.  All I know is I've got two very special friends named Sharon waiting for me in heaven some day. They both came from different places and in different times in my life, but they were both God's gift to me for that time.

Well, friends, the rain has stopped, and as you can see, even after a couple of hours of rain, there is still no sign of water on the pond...but every drop counts, and one day we will all be surprised!

Oh, btw, we stopped by to see our son where he was working at the Trading Post at Deep Creek on our way home from the boat ramp this morning, and I noticed this sign on the inside of their gate...and I thought I should add it to the 'signs' from the photo challenge from the other day...I liked this...

And with that, I will close this post with a Psalm of Praise to our Awesome God!!

Psalm 66:1-5

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

"1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

2 Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious.

3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

4 All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing the praises of your name.”

5 Come and see what God has done,

His awesome deeds for mankind!"

Amen!

Thursday Thankfulness: Something to "Write Home About"

Happy Thursday! I hope your week is going well so far!  It's been fairly quiet here this week, with no special events going on, "nothing to write home about".    Do you ever wonder where such sayings come from? This one just struck me as I wrote it, and so I consulted my new friend "AI", and here's what he (or is it a she?) said:

"The phrase "nothing to write home about" emerged in the late 1800s among travelers and deployed soldiers. It comes from the idea that when away from family, you would only fill your letters with truly exciting or noteworthy news; therefore, an unremarkable event or mediocre place is "nothing to write home about". [1, 2, 3, 4]

The idiom became widely popularized during World War I, as troops stationed overseas routinely used the phrase to describe mundane or disappointing experiences in letters to their loved ones. The earliest known written record of the phrase dates back to North America in 1905, though the concept of being "worth writing home about" was used in advertising and literature as early as 1860. [1, 2, 3, 4]"

I kind of figured it had something to do with soldiers, but just didn't know how far back it went. Now we know! Do you ever use that phrase?  I feel like when I am writing a blog post it is a lot like writing a letter to home...and you are my family.  Sometimes I have exciting and interesting news to share, and sometimes I have to search for something noteworthy.  Today seems to be one of those days. Although I did do something interesting and special this morning, but I've promised not to share it until after the person for whom it is intended has been properly notified and surprised, so you will have to wait a week for that. Now I've got you wondering. LOL. Just stay tuned until next week.  

Thinking about having "something to write home about"...back in the days many years ago when we lived far away from home while serving in the ministry, I wrote a lot of letters to my parents, and I asked them to try and save some of them so that I would have them to look back upon and maybe use them to write a book someday. Well, my mother was diligent to save a lot of them in this little box, but I still haven't written that book:

There is a smattering of letters and cards  and pictures from many years ago, when our boys were very young (and so were we)...and these are a treasure trove of memories...

Here's one card/letter that I sent...that would be typical of me and the kinds of pictures that I liked on cards...

Anyway, back then I usually had something "to write home about" because we were young and our kids were little and doing something different all the time, and I wanted our parents to know what was going on since they were so far away.  Gosh, I just started reading some of these letters, and decided I'd better stop or I'd never get this post written! In one of them I even told my mother that I'd just felt my 1st baby move for the first time!  That was definitely something to write home about!  

So meanwhile, let's get back to this July Photo a Day Challenge.  I'm still trying to get caught up. 

I never did do the "shadow" picture for the 13th. We had such cloudy days and I just couldn't find anything really "shadowy" to capture in a photo.  Then finally when we took a walk yesterday morning I noticed the sun was shining behind us, so I called hubby over to me and said, "Stand still a minute and let me take a picture of our shadows!".  Thankfully he was a willing companion.   If his head looks kind of like he has long hair, it's because he's wearing one of those hats with a bug screen over his face. My hubby is so sweet that the bugs just seem to flock to him when we go outside, so this bugscreen hat is really a life saver for him.  The bugs don't bother me as much. Not sure why. Perhaps I'm just not sweet enough? LOL. Probably so.

This next picture was taken when we took a ride last evening. Although you can't really tell they are shadows, we were driving through the combined shadows of those trees over the road, also known as "shade", but you can see the sunshine in the distance where the trees have disappeared.

So I already did the picture for the 14th on my last post, but I haven't done the one for the 15th and 16th yet. So this morning I went around and took some pictures of some signs inside our house, and therefore they should suffice for both prompts...signs, and indoors.

Our son Benton used to make all kinds of signs and sell them. He doesn't do so many signs now, but I happen to have quite a few of them in our house. Here's a sampling of a few. 

This one is in my bathroom, above the bathtub:

Yikes, don't look too closely, or you will see our unmade bed reflected in the mirror. I did these when I first got up this morning before I got around to making the bed, so please forgive the untidiness of this picture. LOL.

Sadly I don't ever use this bathtub. It's too big of a risk for me getting in and out and it uses too much water that we have to pay for! But if you are a guest and wish to take a bath in the tub, I will only charge you 25 cents...however if you want soap and a towel, we'll have to discuss that! LOL.

This was the original sign at our entry table at the front door, where you are supposed to sign the guest book when you come to visit (if I remember to remind you, which I seem to always forget anymore!)

But then last year Benton and Rose made this sign for me for Christmas,  "Come in and Cozy Up", because I had seen one like it at a store and wanted one like it. So now it sits on that table.

OH, this sign hangs over the door to our laundry room:

And this one, that they both made for me, sits inside my "Room With a View", where I can see it when I am writing to you. It's a good reminder for me to remember why I write this blog...even if I don't have "anything to write home about", there's always the Good News of the Gospel to share with you, and to remind you that Jesus Loves You.

And with that I think I will close this post for today.  I am thankful for my home and family, and for my parents, who have been gone to heaven for many years now, but I love that they saved my letters and cards so that I could go back and remember some really special times in our lives. Oh, and I have a lot of their letters and cards that they wrote to us as well.  I really don't like to throw things like that away.

I am thankful for you, and I hope that you are having a memorable day in some way as well.  I hope that you have "something to write home about" that you can share with us!

One more sign, which is hanging above our bedroom door:

And here's the verse that goes with that:

Yes, the "greatest of these is love."  Amen.  

Have a blessed and wonderful rest of your day my friends....

 

Tuesday 4~ Summertime

 Summertime

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...
Summer time is upon us.


1. What special memories do you have about summer when you were younger?

Between the two of these links below from older posts about my summertime adventures as a child, you will get the big picture of just about everything I can remember.  Let me suffice it to say that I have a lot of happy summertime memories of vacation trips through the mountains, camping in the State Parks (in a tent) along the way to and from Ohio to visit relatives. Those were the happiest times of my young life. In addition to these memories  there were day trips to the beach or the springs that are all around us in the Ocala National Forest. Some of these excursions  (to the springs) were with the school summertime program, and that was always a lot of fun. 

I hope you will take the time to click on these links and get the whole story of my summertime childhood memories. They are too numerous to repeat  writing again! LOL. (and my memory is fading. LOL).
Here's a link to some of my favorite summer memories

And HERE is another link to more summertime memories

2. What is the highest temperature you've experienced in summer? What about so far this summer? How do you weather the heat or humidity?

We've been having heat indexes of over 110 degrees, which means the actual temperatures were in the very high 90's, with humidity also in the high 90's. Last week we were under a heat advisory almost every day. So far this week it has been a tad cooler, only in the high 80's and lower 90's, which is a nice break. We've also been getting more afternoon pop up thunderstorms. We still need a lot more rain to fill  up our pond, but at least the grass and plants are being watered for me. LOL.   As far as in my whole life, probably the highest temperature I've experienced would be what we had last week, although I do remember times when the actual temperature was over 100.  I know some places in the country have hotter temps than that all the time, but they don't have the high humidity usually to go along with it, which truly makes it feel a lot hotter.  

When it is this hot we stay indoors with our air conditioning running around the clock. We avoid going out in the afternoon as much as possible, and try to get all of our errands and outdoor chores done in the early morning or after the sun starts going down in the evening.


3. What's been on your menu so far this summer?

Nothing extra special, I'm sorry to say. I try to avoid using the oven as much as possible, so very little baking is done or any kinds of meats/roasts that have to be cooked in the oven. However, yesterday afternoon was cloudy and rainy and a bit cooler, so I decided to cook a meatloaf in the oven. We can eat on that for a few days with sandwiches, etc.   We do eat more salads and fresh fruits in the summer.  

I had a root beer float last night. Does that count?

4. What is on your reading list this summer... anything to recommend to us? What's on your TV this summer. Any music you're liking this summer?

I have still been "binge reading" books from this author, Rhys Bowen. I am about finished with this stack, and will take them back to the library tomorrow, where there is at least one more waiting for me to pick up. I think I have a couple more on "hold", which means when they are available from other locations in our county they will transfer them to our library and I will be able to check them out. Ilove that we have this system so that we can order books online through their website and they keep me quite covered with good reading material.  I enjoy these mysteries by this author.  She is quite a prolific writer.

We were surprised to find this little book inside our mailbox last evening when I went out to get the mail. It was not something I had ordered, and it was literally just placed in our mailbox with a card on top addressed to us, but not sent through the mail. It was a gift to us from our Pastor, who apparently was passing by and put it in our mailbox.  We were surprised and blessed by the little gift, and we definitely called him afterwards to let him know how much we appreciated it.

The book is delightful. It is the story of the two ladies who were the original authors of the song "Jesus Loves Me".  They had written the words into a novel they had written, which was published into a book.

Here are the original lyrics:

The novel was entitled "Say and Seal", written in 1860 by Susan and Anna Warner. The Gospel Hymnwriter William B. Bradbury later read the book and the words to the song, and he added the chorus that we know so well and set it to the melody that we sing still today. Actually, we sing this little song every Sunday morning in our church when our children are dismissed to go to Children's Church.

The little book tells the life story of Susan and Anna Warner and their family. One thing that really stood out to my hubby and me (we read this out loud together last night...it's a short book and well worth the read...) was the fact that early on in their lives they had suffered some severe setbacks in their financial status along with other great sorrows.   This says below that "Anna Warner lived long enough to realize that had there been no black sheep (one of their brothers), no moments of bereavement, no stock market crash, no eviction from New York (city), no financial worries--if there had been none of those things, there would have been no books, no worldwide ministry, no thousands of inspired Cadets (West Point was across the Hudson River from their home, and the ladies did Bible studies with them in their home), and no "Jesus Loves Me."   (Page 91).

That little paragraph really spoke to us, because we have also experienced great setbacks and difficulties and sorrows in our lives, and yet God used those experiences to shape and mold us and literally make us stronger in our faith.  Oftentimes it's the things we fear the most ever happening that become the very things that help us become the people God wants us to become.  Those life experiences teach us to rely more on God and His faithfulness, and not so much on our own resources and strength. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

"9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Does that last verse above remind you of something?   How about the first verse to the song Jesus Loves Me?

"Jesus loves me, this I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak, but He is strong."

And the chorus:

"Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me,

the Bible tells me so.

So yes, this was a great little gift to find in our mailbox last night. You know, I used to sing this song to my babies while they were still in my womb.  And I continued singing it to them every time I rocked them to sleep.  More than anything, I wanted them to know "Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so!"  If they never learned anything else from me, that was the one thing most important of all.

I guess this answered the question about what we are reading and what music we are liking this summer. 

As far as TV is concerned, hubby is watching the FIFA Soccer matches, and then together we watch things like "Maine Cabin Masters", "Castle Impossible", and the old Price is Right shows from when Bob Barker was still on there, among other things.  I am not into TV as much as he is. I enjoy reading and writing more than TV.

Well, friends, I guess that's all for now. It's been raining pretty hard while I was finishing this up. Another severe thunderstorm blew through.  

Oh, one last thing...I'm falling behind again in my photo-a-day challenge.  I never did do yesterday's "shadow" picture. It's been too cloudy!

And today (14), is "On the floor".  Let me take a look around and see what I can find...

Well, the only thing on MY floor is probably a lot of dirt and dust to be swept up, so I decided to look outside my window in my room with a view, and I saw this little Wren on the porch railing. 

Because it has been raining and is so cloudy, it's not very clear, plus I am taking this picture through a tinted window.

He was having a conversation with the Red Headed Woodpecker doorknocker.

And finally he flew down to the "floor" of the porch, although he is not very clearly seen here, but he is on the floor, so that should qualify for this picture! LOL.

And with that I will call this post finished!  I hope you are having a lovely summer day wherever you are! Blessings to all of you, and remember, "Yes, Jesus Loves Me (YOU!)... The Bible tells me so!"

Amen and good day.