A "Blue" Tuesday!

Good Morning Dear Friends in Blogland and beyond! I hope this Tuesday finds you enjoying a beautiful summer day...the last Tuesday in July!  It's still hot and dry here in north central Florida...all the rain storms have somehow managed to circumvent our area once again, but the rest of the week does show a good possibility of rain each day, so here's hoping and praying!   These were the clouds in the blue skies yesterday evening, and you can see there may have been some stormy skies in the distance, but they just didn't quite reach us here: 

These cloud pictures also fulfill the Monday Photo-a-Day Challenge, which was "clouds".

I'm sorry I didn't get around to posting anything yesterday (Monday), but we had a kind of busy morning/day.

Our "kids" had the day off yesterday, and we took a little ride together and then decided to go out for lunch.  We drove by this location to see if this "new" restaurant was open yet, but it is still awaiting inspections from the county before it can open. You may recognize the building as the former "Hog Wild Country Cafe" that we used to go to frequently before it had a kitchen fire that shut it down last year. They ended up selling the building to a new owner, and he has been making all the repairs  and preparing it to become this "Backwoods Country Kitchen", that will serve Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. Our whole community is anxiously awaiting its opening.  

So we ended up going to try out this other new restaurant to our town:

(Internet Photo, not mine)

Not to confuse you, but it took the place of the temporary location of where the Hog Wild Country Cafe' moved to after the fire, but they (Hog Wild) have moved to a different location that I've already shared the full history in THIS former Tuesday 4 post HERE.  If you think you're confused, you ought to live here! LOL. 

Anyway, long story short (kind of), we ate at the new Cowboy's Philly Cheesteak and Chicken place, and it was really good!

Here's a sample menu. There's more than this, but you get the idea.

The food was good and the prices were very reasonable. We will probably go back again. 

I must apologize to our Tuesday 4 group this week (link here), as it's all about movies, and to be honest, I just don't watch many movies these days and I really couldn't come up with anything sensible to say, so I am skipping it for this week. However, you can check out what others are saying on that link above if you wish. I intend to go visit everyone as soon as I finish this post.   What I have been doing is the July "photo-a-day challenge", and we are winding down the month this week with some good challenges. Today's challenge is "BLUE".  

And I thought, what better blue is there than the amazing blue of the male Bluebird!  Here is our Mr. Bluebird, with a mouth full of some kind of bug or grasshopper to feed to his babies in the birdhouse this morning...

It just seems to me that the most beautiful "blues" are those found in nature, in God's amazing creation! If you scroll back up through this post, you will notice the blue skies in the background of several pictures...and then this gorgeous blue of the bluebird...I don't believe that man can create any shade of blue any more perfect than those that God has already given us in His creation!

I asked my computer for some references to "blue" in the Bible.  There was a link to this blog post: First Century Christian Fellowship - "Blue: God's Favorite Color", by James Collazo.  I found it very interesting to read.  Here are a couple of verses that were referenced in his post:

Exodus 24:10 NKJV

10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very[a] heavens in its clarity.

Ezekiel 1:26 NKJV

26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

I like that those verses mentioned the "paved work of sapphire stone", and the throne, "in appearance like a sapphire stone"...because blue Sapphire is my birthstone!! 

And yes, this verse may not use the word "Blue", but we get the message from the blue skies of the heavens...they "declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands."

Internet Photo

I do believe God really does love the color blue! 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this "blue post" today. Thankfully, it's a happy post, not a "blue post" in regards to feeling "blue".  I am very thankful today to be alive...yesterday when we were leaving the restaurant we were waiting at a red light for the arrow to turn green so we could turn left.  Finally the light changed, and my husband pulled out to make his left turn with the turn arrow. Suddenly out of nowhere a car came flying through the intersection and had to swerve to keep from hitting us broadside where our son Benton was sitting in the front passenger seat and his wife Rose was in the back seat.  The man had totally flown through that red light, and if we had not suddenly stopped and if he could not have swerved around us, it would have been disastrous. He was driving extremely fast, and never attempted to stop at that redlight. Of course he just kept on going, and never even slowed down.  We really wanted to report him, but he was long gone and they wouldn't have done anything even if we did get his tag number. 

All we could do was praise God for giving His angels charge over us and for protecting us from what could have been a terrible tragedy. For the rest of the day our lips were filled with thanksgiving and praise for God's protection, and we prayed for that man driving that car to be duly warned and awakened before something truly tragic happens to him or others in his path.   And yes, we do always take a quick look before pulling out in an intersection at a traffic light to make sure nothing is coming, but there was a car beside us in the other lane blocking our view, and also this guy came so fast we could not see him until he was right there on us. Again, we just praise the Lord for His protection.

Here's a happy song to close this post..."All Night, All Day, Angels Watching over Me My Lord".  Sing along and enjoy!

Be Thankful for those angels God has watching over us!

Have a blessed Day my friends!! 

Sunday Evening "It's About Time"

I thought you might like to see that the Sand Hill Crane couple still stops by in our weedy yard every so often to say hello, 

My poor zinnia garden is pretty well toast and weeds. They also had a fungus and didn't do very well at all. I've planted some new seeds in a different location, and if they make it I will let you know. It's just been too hot and dry for anything nice to grow.

And to get a drink from the swimming pool that we keep filled up just for that purpose since it's so dry and Still Waters Pond is still very dry.

They seem to be most appreciative.

And Blackie loves to watch them from a distance. He's knows better than to get too close. It they had babies with them they would definitely chase him away...

"Hi Mom! Don't worry, I'm being good."

Here it is Sunday evening, and we are winding down with July as well as the photo-a-day-challenge. Today's challenge was 9 o'clock!  Well, at 9:00 this morning I was getting ready for church and didn't have time to take a picture of a clock.  And now it is about 8:11 p.m., and I don't feel like waiting until 9:00 to take a picture tonight. So, I cheated a bit.

This "Anniversary Clock" has been sitting on the Secretary Desk for ages, and it needed a new battery put in. So I decided to go ahead and put in a new battery and set it for 9:00 so I could take a picture. But by the time I got the battery in and the time set, and the mirrored back put back on and arranged it in such a way so you couldn't see my reflection in the mirror so well or on the glass...well, it was already past 9:00! 

I tried a couple of times (actually several, because of the reflections...I didn't want you to see my hands on the camera)

Or too much dust in the corners so I had to take it apart and clean it better...LOL.

This clock was given to us by my husband's Aunt Florence many years ago. She owned a furniture store in New Jersey, and I can't remember exactly when she gave this to us, but I'm thinking it's when we went there to visit her. BTW, the Army Soldier in the background was my hubby's father...and Aunt Florence was his sister. So this clock holds special memories, dust and all!  

And by the time I get finished writing this post, it will probably be 9:00! LOL

Today was a lovely day. We were blessed this morning to receive 10 new members! That is quite remarkable for our small church! Such a blessing! As you can see by all the gray heads in the pews, we need to keep bringing in new members, and especially some that are younger! 

It was also wonderful that our "kids" were here for lunch after church. Here's Rose and Benton and our grandpups Sugar and Spice. We were having some "cool" dessert, Marie Callendar's frozen Key Lime Pie and/or Banana Cream Pie. They were refreshing and I didn't have to bake.    Scott was also here, but I failed to take his picture.  He was busily enjoying his piece of Key Lime pie too.  We also had Fried Chicken that I picked up at the grocery store on the way home from church,  along with some coleslaw and Hawaiian Rolls. I did cook some mashed potatoes and made a tossed salad. It was nice not to have to cook anything but the potatoes, as it is SO hot, and I didn't want to ask Scott to grill anything outside in the heat.  All in all it was a good meal and a good time visiting with our kids. Always such a joy.

I had mentioned the other day that we needed to have some tree work done on Friday. One of the windy storms we had earlier in the week had knocked down some very large and heavy branches from some oak trees in the woods lot next to our house. Thankfully they weren't close enough to the house to hit it, but they did land on the chain link fence and needed to be cleaned up. So our son Benton came over and also a fellow from our church who helps us with our yardwork, and they worked really hard in the extreme heat to cut back those branches and clean it up the best they could.

It really was a bigger job than what they had equipment to handle, but they got the worst of it done and we are very thankfuly they managed without injury or too much heat exhaustion.

It was only 9:00 in the morning, and yet, it was already so hot that they really couldn't stay out there for very long.  

Someday when it's a bit cooler  than it has been we will get a lot more work done, but right now they did all that needed to be done.

Since our photo theme was about time, I thought I would close with a few Scripture verses about Time:

Isaiah 64:4  NIV

4 Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Psalm 31:14-15a

But I trust in you, Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

15 My times are in your hands;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Well Folks, I did it! I managed to keep writing until 9:00, and then I had to run around like a crazy person taking pictures of clocks before they changed the time. so these are the ones I managed to get!:

(on the bottom of my computer desktop screen).

The kitchen wall clock

My cell phone screen

The clock that sits in front of our TV in the living room.

My wrist watch. I almost didn't get there in time!

Well, now it is TIME for bed, so I will say good night and God bless you all!

"Where Eagles Soar" UPDATED on Saturday, 7-25-2026

Yes, an American Bald Eagle in flight. Nov., 2016.  Read on for more information.

As most of you are aware by now, I've been participating in the July "Photo-a-day Challenge" this month, which was started by our blogging friend Chrissy T., at One Season to the Next.  It has been a fun way to zero in on special photos, kind of like a scavenger hunt.  Well, today's challenge is for something 'far away'.  I have lots of far away pictures that, with thanks to my handy dandy digital camera with a zoom lens, I can bring things up close.  

Today I decided, since it is  extremely hot outside and we are under a heat advisory, that I don't want to go outside searching for the best far away photo. Therefore, it's a good excuse to go back in time and find something extra special that was worth revisiting.  This post goes back almost 10 years, to November of 2016, when we were in the middle of a very important Presidential election.  Don't worry, this is not going to be a political post, but there are references to that event in the original post, and they tie in very well with the subject of the far away photos you will see.  So once again, I ask for your indulgence as we travel back in time to see something "far away".  It's interesting that this original post was also a part of a weekly photo "challenge" of sorts, our "Friday Foto Friends". We are no longer organized as a weekly meme, but many of us still do this on Fridays.  

Original Post written 11/4/2016:

Today our Friday Foto Friends, via our friend Deb at Breathing in Grace, is celebrating a one year anniversary of this weekly gathering of "photo-genic" friends, sharing our favorite photos of the week with you and the world.  Click on the link above to see what others are sharing today.

I only recently joined this pictorial group...and was so happy to become a part of a lovely new family of friends who share more than just pictures.  We've become friends who share our lives with each other with words of faith and encouragement along with our photos...giving each a glimpse into our personal lives and the world as we see it.  With my love of photography, and my desire to make new friends as well, it was a win-win blessing!!

The other day I wrote about our visit with some new friends on Lake George, Florida...and "Walking in the Light of His Countenance". (Click here for that story).  The views from our friends' pier and yard were amazing, and I was so excited to share them with you.  However, those weren't the only pictures I was able to capture that day.   I hope you will be blessed by these additional views God provided for me to share with you.

When we first stepped out of our vehicle at our friends' lovely lakefront home, I couldn't help but notice a large bird in the tall pine tree just above us. At first, we couldn't tell exactly what it was, and some thought it was perhaps a buzzard.  How surprised we were when I zoomed in on him with my camera and discovered that this was actually a juvenile American Bald Eagle!  He just hasn't developed his white head feathers yet!!! What an amazing sight!  I was excited to see this beautiful young eagle, because I knew that he was just the beginning of even more interesting sights yet to see!!  And also, because I had never had the privilege of getting a picture of a juvenile eagle before...so this was another marvelous gift from God!

Well, after our long walk on the pier out to the fishing dock...(yes, it was a very long walk out over the water with no hand rails...but that's another story!)

our friends started fishing...and actually catching fish:

Hubby and I sat and mostly watched them fishing , because we are not experienced fishermen, and hubby was suffering from some inner ear issues (which almost kept him onshore...but he made it out on the pier in spite of the feeling of being unbalanced).

I did try to fish, but I was too interested in watching all the activity around us and just couldn't concentrate on sitting still with a fishing pole...


So, while they were catching fish, I was hearing the eagles calling each other in the sky...

and then I noticed that the two eagles landed in a large pine tree back on shore:

Can you see them up there?  No?  Well, let me zoom in on the tree with my camera...and here is what I saw...

Oh Wow!!!! Isn't that marvelous??? And so, I just had to stand there on the pier and continue taking their pictures 

Oh, look at this one!  They moved closer to one another, and seem to be having a conversation.  Probably talking about the crazy lady standing way down there on the pier watching them...

Then they moved together on the branch and seemed to enjoy being close together...perhaps this is their mating season?

Isn't that sweet????

And then they took off and soared above the lake, back and forth, calling each other and watching us...probably hoping we would give them some of our fish...

In seeking a scripture verse about eagles for this post, of course there was the most well known and beloved verse from Isaiah 40:31

"But those who wait on the Lord 

shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint."

During these hectic and stressful days preceding the presidential election...those of us praying for our nation need to remember and heed the promises of this wonderfully encouraging message.  If we wait on the Lord...and put our trust in Him...He will renew our strength...give us the wings of eagles to soar above the cares of this old world. 

But I found another, perhaps less known set of verses that I found interesting and maybe even more pertinent to our current situation:

"And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying,

'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, 

and tell the children of Israel: (and perhaps the children of America?)

'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians,

and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice 

and keep My covenant,

then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people;

for all the earth is Mine."

Exodus 19:3-5

Wow!...What a message to America indeed! Oh, how I pray that our people will truly obey the voice of God...and keep His covenant...and remember that we are a special treasure to God. I wonder if this is why the Bald Eagle is our National Bird?  Something to think about...

One more set of verses I found that spoke to me about how special the eagle must be to God. In the book of Revelation, chapter four, and particularly verses six through eight, we see a vision of the four living creatures who worship our Creator Who is sitting upon the throne.  Verse seven tells us

"The first living creature was like a lion, 

the second living creature like a calf,

the third living creature had a face like a man,

and fourth living creature was like a flying eagle."

Verse eight tells us that these four living creatures do not rest day or night, saying:

"Holy, Holy, Holy,

Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come!"

The Eagle is actually going to be represented in heaven in such a marvelous way...one of the four living creatures chosen by God to be encircling His throne night and day, calling out His praises and worshiping Him without hesitation or rest.  

Awesome! Now I really feel blessed by this special visit with the eagles! To think, these magnificent creatures are a part of God's eternal home...calling out day and night

"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty, Who WAS, and IS, and Is to come!"  

I wonder if that is what these eagles were calling to each other as they flew around...and if they were sharing words of encouragement to us to keep looking up to God...don't lose hope...don't grow weary...God is bearing us up on Eagle's Wings...right up to the throne of God!!!

Whoa! How can we be discouraged, when God sends us such powerful messages each day through so many special messengers?  I wonder what God might be using to send you words of comfort and hope today?  Are you listening and watching for His messengers?  They could be soaring right above you right now! Keep your eyes on Him, and He will not fail you.

Do you know this little hymn?

ON EAGLE'S WINGS

by Michael Joncas

1. You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

REFRAIN: 

And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, 

bear you on the breath of dawn, 

make you to shine like the sun, 

and hold you in the palm of his hand.

2. The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield. (REFRAIN)

3. For to his angels he's given a command to guard you in all of your ways; upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. (REFRAIN)

For previous posts regarding eagles: Click HERE,  And HERE