Happy Sunday~Flag Day and Beyond~On Eagle's Wings

Happy Flag Day!  I proudly display our American Flag on our front porch every day, but today was extra special...

Just as I put the flag out, I noticed these clouds "flying" in towards the flag...and the one looked just like a giant American Bald Eagle soaring in the sky...what a perfect symbol of our very wonderful, strong, and powerful nation and American Flag.  But it's even much more than that...

God speaks to us about the Eagle's wings throughout Scripture, with messages of comfort and strength and protection for us as well as His chosen people Israel...

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Exodus 19:3-6

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

This made me think of the song "On Eagle's Wings"... 

The song is based on Psalm 91:

Psalm 91 NKJV

91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”

I don't know if you noticed it, but there is also "The Sign of the Fish" in a cloud just above the Eagle's Wings.   

I don't know about you, but I found these clouds to be quite a powerful display of God's love and power and strength today...for myself personally, and also for our nation as we celebrate "Flag Day" and all that our flag represents: 

Just prior to signing the Declaration of Independence, this was the final statement contained at the very end of the document:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

As long as our nation remembers that we are "One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all", "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," we will continue to be a powerful nation who represents trust in the One True God before the world.  But when we lose sight of that truth, we will fall captive to other world ideologies and failed systems of government, and our great nation will be doomed to destruction.

But God gives us (and Israel, as this verse was written for them, but we who are believers in Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ are also called by His name), this promise...that if we will humble ourselves and pray and seek HIS face, and TURN from our wicked ways (REPENT), then He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and restore our land.

I am very thankful for our country and our flag and all that it stands for.  May God continue to bless America.

Now, onto another note, thank you all who had such kind things to say the other day regarding the loss of my friend Maura (and her husband Woody). I did indeed go to their Celebration of Life service yesterday, and it was very moving and special in every way.  I felt like God was bearing me up on eagles' wings to help me get through the service. I sat with our mutual friend, Marian, and together we cherished the sweet and special memories that we have of our dear friends.  Maura, in particular, was such a powerful witness for Christ wherever she went. She loved the Lord so much and was never afraid to share her faith with others. She was such a positive and loving person...and there is such a huge void now that will be difficult to fill.  My prayers are with her granddaughter in particular, as she now must take care of all the details of their estate, etc. by herself. May God give her the strength she will need.

I also want to thank the Lord for the good rains we've been getting the past few days.  I said I wished that I could just sleep through the storm like my kitty...right there on the porch while the rain was pouring (it's hard to see it, but it was definitely raining).  Blackie seems to be in perfect peace...not even afraid when there is thunder.  He is definitely a sweetheart.  BTW: Hubby didn't feel up to going to the funeral with me yesterday, but I noticed when I got home that Blackie had been inside the house keeping him company while I was gone...Who was it that said he didn't want a cat in the house????? LOL.

And just to close out with some extra pictures of that old house in our historical section of town that I showed you before...word has it that it has been sold. 

 We had taken a little ride past there again a couple of weeks ago, and I got out of the car to get a closer look...

I was surprised that the old porch swing was still hanging there! I didn't try to sit on it just because I wasn't sure how secure it was, but I thought this made a wonderful picture...

And since there weren't any pictures of the kitchen on the Zillow ad for this house, I wanted to look in the "open" window to see what I could see...

But there really wasn't much to see, so that's probably why they never showed it in the listing. Whoever bought this house will have their work cut out for them to put in a working kitchen...but I just saw on the listing that they closed on the house with a sales price of $125,000., so they got a good deal and hopefully they will have plenty of money to do all the restoration that needs to be done to make it a beautiful restored home.  I may have to stop by sometime and get acquainted with the new owners!

But for now it remains a "Closed Door"....

And so I will close this post on that note.

I wonder how many of you put out your flags today? How many of you put a flag out every day?  Especially as we approach our 250th celebration of our freedom as a nation, I hope everyone will find ways to show our patriotism and pride in our amazing nation!  "One nation, UNDER GOD, with liberty and justice for ALL!"  Amen.

My door is always open to you!

 

Friday Foto Friends: TGIF!

 You know, even though I am retired, I still seem to feel some kind of excitement when Friday rolls around! There's just something special about Fridays! That feeling of "TGIF" must be inherent in my bodily makeup, or it's the anticipation built up from years of school days and/or work days where we can't wait until Friday so we can feel that sense of "freedom" to do what we want to do at least for a day or two. It's crazy, since I am retired and I can pretty much do what I want to do every day, but there's just something special about the weekends, isn't there? 

Well, that being said, it has been my tradition here in blogland for a long time, ever since one of our blogging friends who no longer blogs, Debbie from "Breathing in Grace" started the Friday Foto Friends day, to share whatever photos I have accumulated throughout the week that I haven't already shared.  So grab your teacup or coffee cup (or glass of iced tea), and sit down for the show. LOL.  My last posts have seemed kind of heavy, so today I promise to be full of light and joy...

Like last evening's sunset!  I hurried outside to catch it before it disappeared into the shadows of the night, even though the mosquitoes were out there, so eager to greet me (and eat me!), it was worth it to watch the way the sunlight was shimmering against the clouds...

Thankfully we had had a wonderful rainstorm a little earlier, and everything was fresh and wet and rejoicing!

Psalm 8:1, 3-4 NIV

"1 Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens."

"3 When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?"

I just can't help but rejoice when I see the beauty of God's Creation in His skies.

And my neighbor's dogs were "rejoicing" along with me...bark, bark, bark, bark!  I said hello to them from a distance, but I'd have to trespass across their side yard to get to them and pet them, so it's probably best that I don't do that. But they do get really excited when I come outside.  They aren't bad dogs, just a bit noisy sometimes, but thankfully they don't stay outside for long. They are well loved by their family inside.

Oh! My first zinnias are starting bloom!!!

This overgrown patch of flowers is getting ready to burst into bloom. I do need to pull a few weeds and some grass from around there.  I think you know by now there is nothing fancy or proper about our garden/yard.  It is what it is...pretty much wild and natural...like me! LOL.

OH!!! LOOK AT THIS TOMATO!!!  It's the first really perfect one I've seen! Most of the others were small and had lines in them or lumps and crevices...but this one is perfect in every way!!  

And here's a couple more that look really pretty!! I'm so happy to see what God has provided!  Having some rain has helped too!  Last evening I actually "stewed" some of the smaller tomatoes with some onion, green pepper and celery, and then mixed it in with some leftover cooked cabbage and sausage and added some leftover cornbread, and that was SO GOOD!

Last night was eat up the leftovers night. I think I mentioned that our son has been coming over for supper every night while his sweet wife Rose is in Minnesota visiting her father and family up there, and of course he brings the sweet pups, Sugar...

And Spice...

We've had a good time, and as I said, last night was leftover night, to clean up all the leftovers from the meals we've fixed every night. So it was a smorgasboard of salisbury steaks, cabbage and smoked sausage, and pizza! What a combination! But it was all good, and my fridge was finally cleaned out a bit.  Not sure what we are having tonight. We will have to start from scratch (or go out to eat! Hey! It's Friday! Why not????)

Yesterday morning hubby and I had our follow up appointments to review our lab work from last week. This pink tree has been in the waiting room ever since Christmas, and every month they change the decorations to go with whatever the season/holiday is.  However, they need to do something with the huge "inflated" pink flamingo that is supposed to be standing up on top of the tree!  I said, "sometimes that's just how I feel...deflated and hanging upside down!" LOL. OH, btw, Thankfully both of us had excellent results on our lab work! Praise the Lord!!  I just wish we felt as good as our lab work looks, but I guess that's just how it is when you get to be so "OLD".  I'm thankful there's nothing seriously wrong...just aches and pains that come with the territory.

Since last night was kind of hot and sultry and muggy after the rainstorm, we decided to take a little ride and then ended up at our local Dollar General and bought a package of these wonderful drumstick ice cream cones! It was the perfect ending to our day!  

And with that, I will close this post because it is now time for breakfast! So I hope you have a lovely Friday! What fun things do you do on Friday night?  Do you get all excited because it's Friday?  Tell us about your Friday adventures!!

Bye for now!! Be blessed, and look for the bright shining moments in your day!

Thursday Thankfulness~The Blessing of Friends

 Good Thursday Morning!  The days of June of are spinning faster than a merry-go-round on a school playground!

Internet Photo-Remember When we used to do this as a child? 

I much preferred THIS kind of Merry Go Round ride (below)...yes, that's me when I was about 2 years old, with my Mother standing close by to make sure I didn't fall off that big horse!  Oh such a sweet memory, although I don't think I can actually remember this, but it's somewhere back there in the recesses of my mind...

I must have been having a good time...can you see my tongue hanging out?  That either meant I was happy, or I had been running really fast! LOL.

I am thankful to have such pleasant memories from my childhood. Even if I can't remember the actual event, I'm thankful for the pictures that show that it happened, and it was a happy time. I was blessed as a child, and I am still blessed as a much older adult. God has been very good to me.

This week has been a difficult one for me. But it has also been a blessed week, with sweet memories and kindness extended toward me that I feel unworthy of, but am so grateful for...

I received the above devotional book in the mail this week...a gift from a new friend. I met this dear lady at our Ladies' May Fellowship Day at our church, where we had invited women from many area churches to come and fellowship with us. This particular lady stood out to me, because I was very surprised to see her there! It's a long story, but I think a remarkable one. You see, I had actually noticed this woman's picture on Facebook for a little while as "someone you might know". The fact is, she is married to one of my best friends from childhood's cousin, and the interesting part is I had actually dated her husband when I was a teenager. It had been a kind of "long distance" "friendship" with him, because he lived over an hour away and I only saw him when he came to visit his cousin...and as young teenagers we "hit it off" and became friends, and we probably saw each other maybe once a year from then on, and he actually escorted me to "The Holly Ball" when I was a senior. But after that we never saw each other again until one chance meeting some 40 years later. Click HERE to see more about THAT story.  

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this lady at our "Ladies' May Fellowship".  She came with our guest speaker, and they are from another church in a nearby city. Thanks to wearing name tags, I knew it was her as soon as I saw her, so I introduced myself to her, somewhat timidly, because how do you introduce yourself to someone whose husband you once "liked as a teenager"?   I think she was just as surprised to meet me as I was her, but she was so very kind and friendly, and we hit it off right away. I was very pleased to know that my former "friend" was married to such a lovely Christian woman.  And so she and I became friends on Facebook and have determined that we might get together sometime for lunch...but she is busy with her family and I am busy with mine, and we live maybe 45 minutes apart, so who knows when it will happen ...but in the meantime, she sent me this beautiful devotional book in the mail this week!  It was written by a friend of hers, and she thought I would enjoy it. Would I!?!! Oh yes! What a blessing indeed!  This first chapter in the book starts like this:

"Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew 18:3

"I guess even in Bible times adults needed to be reminded to simplify and look at life through the eyes of a child. It's morning, and the mountain may already be staring you in the face. The list is longer than your arm, and it feels like the impossibles are stacking higher than the laundry..." 

(Jennifer Cremer, This Moment Matters)

OH yes, that resonated with me this week! I've already shared with you the deep sorrow and shock of losing a dear friend earlier this week HERE in this post.... That sudden loss has thrown me for a bit of a loop, and I am still having to work through the grief process.  Her granddaughter contacted me and asked if I could send her any pictures that I have of her and also with her husband.  I had many pictures as we spent so much time together in the 7 years that we lived in Salt Springs.

Maura, celebrating her birthday with us several years ago at our house in Salt Springs.

Actually, this is the complete picture. We celebrated her birthday with our son Benton's birthday, because they were both born in August.  Our mutual friend Marian on the left, and my DIL Rose on the right, both adding some fun to the picture.

I think we flipped the candles around as well. I'm quite sure Benton wasn't 80, and neither was Maura 47. LOL.  This is just a sample of the fun we used to have together.

Here's another picture of Maura with her hubby Woody, at a 4th of July celebration at our house. I just realized that the person Maura is smiling at across the table was our dear dear friend Sharon, who was undergoing chemo at that time for cancer, and sadly, she passed away about a year later, in 2019. Sometimes it seems like I have more friends now residing in heaven than I do here on earth...I know my Daddy used to say (when he was almost 90), that it seemed the only time he ever got to see his friends was when he went to their funerals.  Sad, but true, the older we get.

This picture actually was one that the granddaughter has shared, as she took it of her grandparents on their 70th anniversary, a few months prior to her grandfather's death in March, and Maura's passing now in June.  There will be a Celebration of Life for both of them this Saturday, as they never did have any kind of service yet for Woody because Maura was struggling with her own health issues and just wasn't ready to do any thing. So now there will be a joint "celebration" for them, which is fitting. They lived 70+ years together on this earth, so it is only fitting that they should be celebrated together.  I do plan to be there on Saturday.

Anyway, as my heart and mind and body have been dealing with that emotional shock, I knew I had to get busy and take care of some other things already scheduled this week.  Yesterday was our monthly Women in Faith meeting, and I was scheduled to be the co-host with another lady. We meet at our church Parsonage, which is the house that we ladies have taken over for our Bible Studies and Women in Faith meetings, because our Pastor and wife do not live in the Parsonage since they have their own home.  It's a lovely big house and is perfect for our women's meetings. Each month different ladies sign up to be the hostesses for the little light luncheon we have following our meeting. There are usually anywhere from 15-20 ladies present. Yesterday there were 15.  

Anyway, my co-host and I had already planned to do a variety of little sandwiches in mini croissants, some chicken salad, chips, and fresh fruit salad and dessert.  My co-host ordered the trays of sandwiches and chicken salad from Publix, and she baked a delicious cake. I was going to get the fresh fruit already cut up at Publix and make a big bowl of it, but the already cut fruit was SO expensive that I decided to buy the fruits whole and cut them up myself.  I cut up  a small seedless watermelon, cantelope, pineapple, and added some blueberries to a large beautiful cut glass punch bowl that we have at the Parsonage. It made a beautiful display, but I forgot to take any pictures of it. I also had fresh grapes, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries on a separate platter so they could eat them separately or add them to their own fruit bowls.  

This wasn't my bowl of fruit, but you get the idea.  

(Pinterest)

It may not have seemed like much, but when your mind is already dealing with other things like grief and shock, having to do something like this project seemed monumental to me and I didn't sleep well the night before.  But I prayed my way through it, and once I got started on cutting up the fruit and putting it all together, it was actually good therapy for my mind. And the ladies all loved it and raved about having the fresh fruit, so it was a win-win.

This morning as I was thinking about writing this post, I was also thinking about some of the sweet memories I have with my friend Maura, and that led me to think about some of the little gifts she gave me over the years.

She knew that I loved to collect china creamers...and she gave this one to me. It is so delicate and sweet. I love it, and I will always think of Maura when I use it.

Also, Maura had taken a trip to London with her Step-Mother, (who wasn't too many years older than Maura and they had not always had a good relationship, but she considered the fact that her Step-Mother wanted to take her to London with her to be a real blessing and answer to prayer.) Anyway, while there, Maura thought of me as she knew how much I loved tea, so she brought me this cute little British teapot and tin of English Breakfast tea, which is in a tiny tin that looks like an English Telephone booth:

Isn't it cute?  It was so sweet of her to remember me while she was traveling abroad....

And then one year she gave me this beautiful tea pot for Christmas...and I love to use it and display it at Christmas time. Now all of these items will take on even more meaning to me ...

This is a picture of the two of us...

This was our sunrise here the morning after Maura passed away, and I wondered to myself what the sunrise must be like in heaven. Can you imagine how beautiful every morning must be in heaven, with Jesus as the LIGHT that shines forever and ever?  

Revelation 21, verses 2-5, and 23 give us a glimpse of what "the New Jerusalem" in heaven shall be like:  (Read the whole chapter for a complete and beautiful description of this)

"2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

I Can Only Imagine

Song by MercyMe

Lyrics

I can only imagine

What it will be like

When I walk by Your side

I can only imagine

What my eyes will see

When Your face is before me

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel?

Will I dance for You, Jesus

Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence

Or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing, "Hallelujah!"?

Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

When that day comes

And I find myself standing in the Son

I can only imagine

When all I will do

Is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus

Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence

Or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing "Hallelujah!"?

Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine

I can only imagine!

Oh-oh, surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus

Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence

Or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing "Hallelujah!"?

Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine, oh, yeah

I can only imagine

I can only imagine, yeah

I can only imagine

And I can only imagine

When all I will do

Is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Christopher Maurice Brown / Dwayne Carter / David Guetta / Jacob Elisha Luttrell / Frederic Jean Riesterer / Giorgio H. Tuinfort / Nasri Tony Atweh

I can only imagine Maura with this kind of joy and delight on her face when she saw Jesus face to face! And then to see her beloved Woody again...I'm sure he was surprised to see her arrive so soon after he got there! But maybe not. Woody was probably helping Jesus get Maura's "Mansion" ready from the day he arrived.  

Yes, they will both be greatly missed.  Rest in Peace Maura and Woody

Tuesday 4~ On Holiday

 

On Holiday

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...
Summertime means travel time for many people.
Let's talk about travel and holidays.

1. Will you be traveling this summer at all?

Not that I am currently aware of.  We prefer to do our traveling in the fall, but I am not too sure that we will even be doing that this year.  Everything has gotten too expensive and we really don't feel like traveling that much anyway. However, I never say never.  If the opportunity arises, and it's something we really want to do, then I suppose we might just do something spontaneous. (But I'm not holding my breath on that idea)

2. Will there be day trips in store for you? visits to the beach, evenings out:?

We do plan to go meet up with my hubby's brother and wife (and kids? not sure) for lunch one day this month. Our "kids", Benton and Rose, will go with us, and we will travel about an hour or so south to meet them at a restaurant that we always enjoy.   Other than that, I don't know of anything else at this moment.

We don't do "evenings out" now that we are old retired people. If we go anywhere,it is normally in the day time, and preferably for lunch.  We already did a visit to the beach for my mother's day treat, and I don't foresee us going again anytime soon. Too hot and crowded. (and too much traffic between here and there). Let's face it, we are homebodies these days.  We may take short rides here and there just to get out of the house, but that's about it.
3. Do you eat out more in summer... do you go for ice cream or treats more?

I wouldn't say that we eat out any more in the summer than we do in the rest of the year. We may average going out to eat once or twice a month year round.  Re: ice cream...if we want ice cream we buy it at the store and bring it home to eat. We can't justify spending so much for an ice cream cone as a whole carton of ice cream! Sorry to be a kill-joy, but we are retired and on a fixed income! LOL!

4. What is your favorite place to visit and what is the most exotic place you've been to?

Well, our favorite place to visit would probably be the mountains..north Georgia in particular, and that would be in the fall if at all.  Most exotic place I've ever been?  I'm not sure I could classify any place we've been as exotic. We live in Florida...isn't that exotic enough? LOL.  Never been to an island or on a cruise, and don't have any plans to do so. When we were younger we would sometimes go spend a night or two at the beach in a nice hotel, just the two of us. That was pretty exotic to us. Sometimes we talk about doing that again. I'd love to go just to wake up and see the sunrise on the beach and take a walk on the beach early in the morning before the crowds arrive. That's my idea of paradise. LOL. 

Sorry I wasn't more exciting on this week's meme.  We just aren't travelers anymore, and we are on a tight budget, so we are careful about what we do. And to be honest, "there's no place like home."  You can make your home as exotic as you like. It can be your own little hideaway if you need it to be...and since we are retired and no one else lives here with us, that's pretty easy to do. 

Now on another note, Let'swalk around my "exotic" yard and see what we can see...Oh, this is the first yellow squash to get big enough to eat...

And because our "boys" were going to be here for Sunday dinner yesterday, I picked the squash and cut it up to put in our tossed salad...

It was perfect!  We did add tomatoes from our garden also, but I keep them separate and let everyone add their own tomatoes since not everyone wants them.  

We also had hamburgers cooked on the grill by son Scott. However I didn't take any pictures of that or of us eating. DIL Rose is still in Minnesota, so son Benton came over and brought the 'pups' with him. I've told him he can plan to eat supper with us all week while she is gone if he wants to.  I always cook too much food anyway, so he might as well come and help us eat it. And so he did come again tonight, and I expect he will come tomorrow, etc. as well. It's good for us and good for him too, as I know he really doesn't enjoy cooking and eating alone all that much.

Finally we also have a zucchini squash growing. I will probably pick it before it gets too big and we will most likely put it in a salad too.  There aren't enough squash yet to cook up at batch, so I'd just as soon eat them in a salad.

Some of my wildflowers are starting to bloom that I planted:

And my blueberry bush is really loaded with berries, and they are finally starting to ripen!

Who is that hiding under the bush in my shadow?

Ah Ha! Caught you Blackie!!  He was right there under my feet, and sniffing at the blueberries. I hope he doesn't decide that it's something he wants to eat!! I have other plans for those blueberries!!

Now, talk about "exotic"...or maybe just strange and unusual...

We kept noticing some buzzards landing on our still very dry "Still Waters Pond", and it appeared they were guarding something and also kind of fighting over something laying there on the surface of the dry pond. These pictures are kind of bright because it was a bright sunny day, and also because my photo editor program is not cooperating with me on pictures from my "real camera", and so I am not able to edit pictures very well right now. I've got to figure out what's wrong, but it's a frustrating process, so what you see is what you get for now...

I tried to zoom in on what they are looking at, and because it was at a great distance, and also because of the bright sun, I wasn't too sure, but it sure looked like a fish!  Now, where on earth would a fish come from on top of our very dry pond????

A little later my curiosity got the better of me, and the buzzards had flown away, so I decided to try and venture forth across the dry pond, and I actually made it! Thankfully this was only as far as the island, and not all the way across, but still, it was a journey frought with a bit of trepidation because I was afraid the crust of the pond would break through and I would be in the muck beneath. But apparently the ground is SO dry, that wasn't a problem.  Anyway...YES, it was a FISH!!!! Amazing!  The only thing we can figure out is that most likely a big bird like an Osprey or maybe even an Eagle could have been flying over with the fish in its mouth, flying from the bigger lake nearby, and the fish fell out of its mouth and landed here on the pond. That's the only explanation we can figure out.

Oh, and to answer a question from the comments on my last post, someone asked me how deep our pond was before, and the best answer I can give is that when I was able to paddle the kayak around the pond, I had a long walking stick that I took with me, and I stuck it down into the water as far as I could at one point, and I would say that it was about 3-4 feet deep. There may be some other deeper pockets here and there, but that would be the average depth out in the middle of the pond when it is full. It's hard to believe it now when we see how extremely dry it is. And I do wonder where all the fish, frogs,  and turtles went when the pon dried up...and will they come back whenever the pond is full again? Time will tell. Keep praying for rain. We are supposed to get some starting this Thursday through next week.  

Here'a another unusual sight: the clouds this morning at sunrise:

Now on a very sad note...I learned this morning that our dear sweet friend Maura had passed away. She was 87 years old. This picture was taken in April, and I wrote about it HERE.

When we last were together in April, Maura had just recently lost her husband of 70 years, "Woody". He was 91.  After 70 years of marriage, you can well imagine she was feeling very much alone, even though her granddaughter and great-grandson had moved in with her to help out. But sadly she became very ill recently, and one thing led to another and she was placed in Hospice care over the weekend, and passed away peacefully this morning. 

I am still in shock. Maura was always such a lively and happy person, so full of the joy of the Lord. I know she is rejoicing in the Lord's Presence tonight, and also I know she is so happy to see her precious Woody and their son Mark again. Mark had passed away a couple of years ago after a very long illness.  So she is with the ones she loves and her pain and sorrow is over.  

One of my favorite pictures of Maura, taken at our previous home, where we were "neighbors" and spent a lot of happy times together.

Maura and her husband Woody. This was taken at our son Benton and Rose's wedding in 2017.  Such a dear sweet couple.  May they both rest in peace and in the joy of the Lord.  

"Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning."

Psalm 30:5b

John 11:25-26

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die..."

John 14:1-3

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God,  believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

And with that I will close for the night.  Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers .