It's Blueberry Time!

 I hope you will go visit "The Adventures of Lily Grace" and see what we've been up to today.  I am sorry I didn't get the Tuesday 4 meme done about Spring time and the seasons, but maybe this will suffice...this is something special about where we live in spring time! It blueberry picking time already where we live!

Here are a few pictures to help you appreciate what we did today...but please read the WHOLE story up above over at It's Blueberry Time! with Lily Grace.

And now I have to go eat a piece of that pie while it is still warm!!

Yes, this is something I think I can get used to in springtime here where we live!!

Bye bye for now.

Random Sightings

Do you ever wonder how a Canadian Goose sleeps?

Well, wonder no more...standing on one leg with his bill tucked into his wings, he is resting peacefully, but keeping one eye open for any impending danger and ready for action...

Meanwhile, his lady-love is still obediently sitting on the nest over on the island, safe from any danger we trust...

"Father Goose" Statue...He loves to stand one-legged on that tree stump, and can stand there for long periods of time just like a statue...

Uh Oh! It is no longer a SECRET!  Now we know who keeps drinking all the water out of the birdbath in the Secret Garden, and sometimes tipping it over on the ground!

That is one loooonnnnnng kitty cat! Poor kitty...that birdbath is almost empty...and there is a whole pond not even 15 feet away...

Who you lookin' at? Never see a cat drinking from a birdbath before?

Well, I'll just mosey along, but I'm sticking my tongue out at you...

Now, see? Aren't I the picture of innocence?

Meanwhile, Mother Goose is still safely sitting on her nest over on the island. Good thing cats don't like to swim that far...

Oh, while I was writing this I looked out my window of my "room with a view", and I could see a lot of activity way over on the other side of Still Waters Pond.

"Father Goose" is having himself a grand old time splish-splashing about, taking a bath...

He found a nice shady cool spot where the water is a bit clearer and deeper,

And for the last half hour or so he has been diving and swimming and splashing about, have a grand old time.

I'm sure this serves a good purpose besides just having fun in the water, but then again, who knows?

Maybe Father Goose is getting bored with just sitting around waiting for Mother Goose to hatch her babies, and he said "I'm going to go for a swim and take a good bath!"

Looks like he is really having a great time! Makes me wish I could join him!

But trust me, Still Waters Pond is only a good swimming pond for the ducks and geese...No way am I putting my body down in that dark  water where I can't see what's under there...no way!

Switching gears...yesterday was chilly and rainy...stormy actually. Just the opposite of today.  Definitely not a good day for swimming the pond! When we came out of church and headed to our local "Hog Wild Cafe'" for lunch, we got kind of wet and chilled.

It sure was a welcome sight when we stepped inside the restaurant and saw they had this cozy warm fire blazing!

Of course, I wasted no time getting right up to the fire...

And then Hubby joined me. 

And then our Pastor and wife joined us too...if you look closely you can see his shirt is very wet from the rain...it rained so much yesterday we were about to wonder if we should have called Noah to come pick us up on the Ark...

But we warmed up and dried out and had a great lunch with family and friends. Such a blessing after a wonderful morning in God's House.

After a long day of stormy, wet weather, we were blessed to see this gorgeous sunset to end out the day.

It never ceases to amaze me the many ways God has to surprise us and bless us with His lovely creation.

"They who dwell in the ends of the earth

stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."

Psalm 65:8

What kinds of random sightings have you had lately?

Why not keep your camera handy and take pictures whenever you see things worthy of note.

It is always a blessing to see the many ways God chooses to show us His glory and beauty and even fun all around us.

Have a blessed and wonderful week.

 

"You Ain't Seen the Last of Jesus"

 

What a great day in the Lord today!  Although it has been a rainy day all day long, it did not dampen our spirits as we went to church and worshiped the Lord and had fellowship one with another in God's house.

Here is the song our choir sang today, followed by the Pastor's sermon from Luke 24:13-49, about Jesus on the Road to Emmaus, which I previously shared with you last week, but you will enjoy this sermon about that special walk on a country road...

But first, I hope you enjoy the song, "You Ain't Seen the Last of Jesus, I know He is Alive!"

"One early Sunday morning Mary went to the garden tomb

Surprised to find the body of her Savior had been moved.

An angel stood before her and said, “Jesus is not here!

Three days He laid in the mortal grave, but Mary don’t you fear!”

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, I know He is alive.

He shattered Satan’s victory when death He did survive.

You will see Him in His glory right before your very eyes,

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, He’s alive!

On the day of His ascension Jesus went to complete His plan

And you may say that I’m foolish to believe He’ll come again.

But I’ll still hold to the promise that He’ll return some day.

Go on and doubt but I’m gonna shout, He is on His way!

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, I know He is alive.

He shattered Satan’s victory when death He did survive.

You will see Him in His glory right before your very eyes,

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, He’s alive!

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, I know He is alive.

He shattered Satan’s victory when death He did survive.

You will see Him in His glory right before your very eyes,

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, He’s alive!

He’s alive! He’s alive!"

And also during this service today we had the great joy and privilege of seeing our kids Benton and Rose become members of our church:

And then we extended the right hand of Christian fellowship to them and the other gentleman who also joined today.

Well, actually, because of Covid restrictions, we couldn't do the normal routine of having everyone come and shake their hands, but as you can see it is hard for us to stop ourselves from doing what is in our hearts to do. This is our dear friend "Norma", who I told you about once before.  As you can see, Norma still exemplifies Christ to us.  I told you in that previous post back in December that I wanted to be more like Norma, who is more like Jesus...and now you can see what I mean. She just can't stop reaching out to share her love of Jesus with everyone.  

It's as if she really believes what the song said that the choir sang today:

"On the day of His ascension Jesus went to complete His plan

And you may say that I’m foolish to believe He’ll come again.

But I’ll still hold to the promise that He’ll return some day.

Go on and doubt but I’m gonna shout, He is on His way!

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, I know He is alive.

He shattered Satan’s victory when death He did survive.

You will see Him in His glory right before your very eyes,

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus

You ain’t seen the last of Jesus, He’s alive!"

And guess what?  I really believe that too!

  

"Go on and doubt, but I'm gonna shout,

He is on His way!

You ain't seen the last of Jesus,

I know He is alive!!"

I hope you believe that too!!

Have a blessed and wonderful Sunday!! He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!! Amen!

Friday Foto Friends

Good Friday Morning, Friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful post-Easter week.

When I think of the week following Easter morning, I always think about the story of the men on the Road to Emmaus.

You can read the full story HERE from Luke 24:13-35

But here are the first few verses to set the stage for the story:

"13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him."

I love this picture of Jesus walking with the two men...and also I love this cut glass "rock" with the cross in the center. I think of that as the empty tomb, and the cross in the distance, to remind us of what Jesus did for us on Calvary...and how He is no longer in that tomb...and as He walked with the men on the road to Emmaus, they did not recognize Him until later when He gave thanks and broke the bread with them at suppertime, and then He vanished out of their sight. It makes me wonder just how often Jesus has come very near to us in this life, and we were too burdened down with our grief or cares of this world and we did not recognize Him until after He blessed us and then "vanished" from our sight...and in hindsight we realize we had actually been in the Presence of the Lord and did not know it...just something to ponder on this Friday morning after Easter.

But now on to my pictures for the week.  I really didn't have a lot except for what "Lily Grace" shared with you so excitedly last night.  But  here are a few other highlights from our week. Nothing quite as exciting as that was...

I am sure you recognize this picture from my header above. You may even be tired of seeing that same picture there every day. I don't change my header often because I feel like it is a kind of identity photo for the theme of my blog, and sitting there looking out at Still Waters Pond is such a joy and blessing to me that I want to share it with you as well.

Well, anyway, why am I showing you this picture again when it is already up there, you may ask?

Well, because those chairs are what I wanted to show you.  You can't really tell it from the picture above, but the Adirondack chairs, which I brought with us from our former home, were becoming very faded and dried out and needed a new coat of stain to preserve them. I've had the paint for a while, but was just waiting for the right weather and time to embark on such a venture.

I had some lovely "before and during and after" pictures to share with you, but somehow when I was transferring my pictures from my phone to the computer, I accidentally deleted them. My hubby had so graciously taken pictures of me with my stained paint shirt on, holding my paintbrush, and working so hard on these chairs, and I wanted you to see me hard at work so you don't think I just sit around lounging in these chairs all day looking at the pond (even though I would Love to do just that). But they are gone into never never land never to be recalled...so all we have are these pictures of the chairs almost completely done.

I still have to finish staining the bottoms so they will be completely covered and preserved...

But I am so sore from all the stooping and bending and moving that I had to give myself a couple of days to recuperate before I tackled the final finishing touches. Maybe today...

Meanwhile, I've been enjoyed watching "Father Goose", and sometimes "Mother Goose" as they come and dine in our yard on the birdseeds that fall to the ground under the birdfeeder.

But mostly "Mother Goose" sits on her nest over on the island. I don't know if she really has any eggs yet or not, as from what I read, they never leave the nest once they start incubating the eggs...but she does come over to the shore at least once a day for a seed snack, while Father Goose stands by on guard.

Last night I went outside to take those pictures of the chairs so I would have something to share with you today, and I didn't even notice Father Goose right there in front of me.  He actually lowered his head and started to hiss at me as I was a bit too close, but then I very carefully, all the while talking softly to him, went over to the bird feeder and shook a few more seeds out on the ground for him.  He backed away for a minute until I was gone, all the while with his head lowered and sticking out his tongue at me...and I hurried away before he decided to attack...but he just went right to the seeds as soon as I was past and seemed very grateful for the treat. He didn't even look up when I came back by on my way back in the house. Whew! That was a close one!

This funny Father Goose was standing across the street from our house when we came home from the store yesterday...not sure why he was over there, but as soon as we got home he flew right over my head as I was going into the house and flew over the house and landed back in the pond.

This is where he likes to spend much of the day...right there along our shore, nibbling at grasses and coming up on shore to eat the seeds.  I do hope "Mother Goose" is going to surprise us with some babies this time!

Okay, now here's something you don't see every day...a lizard who is shedding his skin:

Yes, that is what they thin white stuff is around his neck. At first I thought he had some kind of paper or plastic stuck on him, but then I realized he was just shedding, as all reptiles do!

I had some really cool pictures of a big tree frog, who I accidentally put my hand on when I was opening up the umbrella on our front porch one morning. 

He was sleeping up under the umbrella and when I reached in to crank it open, I put my hand right on him. I screamed and he jumped, and then when I recovered my wits enough I got my camera and took some great photos of him as he was stuck on the wall of the house recovering from his shock...but those pictures were also with the ones I accidentally deleted.  And they were so good!

So I just went outside now to take those pictures of the umbrella above so you would know what I was talking about, and decided to end this post with a picture of the sun rising in the east and our American Flag flying on the front of the house as it does every day, weather permitting.

I hope and pray that you and yours will have a blessed and wonderful weekend.

And don't forget to watch for those possible encounters with Jesus as you 

"walk on the road to Emmaus" in your daily living. You may be surprised to find that He is walking with you when you least expect Him.

 

Come Check Out our News

 Come over to The Adventures of Lily Grace and see what new adventures are happening in our family.  Lily is sharing some exciting news!

Something good is happening in the shadow of that lighthouse!

And Lily wants you to come and see...

Come on inside...

And look who's here!

But if you want all the details, you will have to go over to Lily's post to read all about it.

https://adventuresoflilygrace.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-new-adventure-for-lily-and-for-our.html

I hope you are all doing well. I am way behind in reading and writing, but it has been a busy week.  I hope to get caught up soon.

See you over at Lily's blog...

Bye for now.

Springtime Joys

Well, (as I write) today is Easter Monday...the day after Easter, and we are settling back into our normal routines. Springtime has sprung most everywhere.  Here in Florida where we live it has been spring for a while, even though this past weekend even we saw some pretty chilly weather again for a few days.  But today was gloriously sunny and a bit warmer with low humidity, which is wonderful for us, even though we could use some more rain.

I've noticed some interesting signs of spring the past couple of days, so I thought I would share them with you.  On our evening walk there were actually two of these large dragonflies hovering around us as we walked.  One finally settled on a dried up bush to eat whatever it was that it seemed to like, and he stayed long enough for me to get a few pictures.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramea_carolina, or "Carolina Saddlebags Dragonfly"  

Isn't he interesting?

I was happy he stood still long enough to let us get a good look at him.

Until this evening, this was as close as I could get to him:

And then Lily Grace said, "Hey! Don't forget my picture with him!" Which I took when we were waiting for him to land somewhere long enough to take those pictures above.  Yes, Lily loves to go along for our walks and she especially likes to see these new interesting things.

Now, in this next series of pictures you may begin to feel a bit like a "peeping Tom", watching the private lives of the Great Blue Herons in our trees on Still Waters Pond.

First there was just this one:

And I thought he was pretty handsome up in the tree on our little island in Still Waters Pond:

Preening and just hanging out, actually just above the Canadian Geese couple down below who appear to be nesting also on the island these days...

But then I looked over at the next tree nearby where he was, and saw these two herons, obviously very interested in each other:

Our first Heron also noticed them, and seems quite interested in whatever is going on over there in the next tree:

They were enjoying each other's company:

And if you look carefully a few branches below that couple, there is another heron in the same tree!

They don't seem too concerned about him, however:

They do make a very handsome couple, don't you agree?

They seem quite smitten with each other:

I'm a little confused at this point which Heron this one is...#1, or the other one hanging around the couple:

Oh, look at the one's top notch! I think that must be a sign that he is quite interested in the young lady beside him:

Yes, she seems quite interested in him as well:

Maybe having a shy moment:

Probably because there are just too many onlookers to their courtship:

Wait a minute! Is that another one in the branches above the courting couple? Look up at the trunk:

Yes, they see him too:

Well I'll be jiggered if there isn't a total of five herons in these trees! How many do YOU see?

I did notice that one of the extra herons was gathering long branches as if building a nest, but this was Saturday, and they did come back for a while yesterday (Sunday), but I have not seen them at all today...so I don't know if they've decided to move on to a different location or if they will be back. But I was surprised to read in that article about Great Blue Herons that "breeding birds will gather in colonies or "heronries" to build stick nests high off the ground."  So we shall see what this "heronry" of birds decides to do.  

Meanwhile, Mr. Canada Goose has been standing guard either on our shore or out in the water, keeping a close watch on any other bird activity while his lady love is sitting on a nest on the same island.  I don't know if she has actually laid her eggs yet or not, because she does occasionally leave the nest, but she always goes right back there...so I am hopeful there will be some baby goslings sometime this spring.

Just as I was typing this I heard Mr. Goose start honking again and that was to let his lady love know he is swimming back around to check on her. It is getting dark:

But as I zoomed in on the island, I could see her sitting there eagerly awaiting him to come.

Well, the sun has gone down over our little island;

And the peepers and bullfrogs are starting their nightly singing...

and peace reigns once again on Still Waters Pond.

I hope that you have a blessed and beautiful night.

We read two different verses in our Ladies' Bible Study today that I liked:

Proverbs 3:24
"When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet."

And 

Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."

May your sleep be sweet tonight...and may you actually hear the voice of God as 

He rejoices over you with singing.

Good Night dear friends.