Wednesday Blessings!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I hope your day has been extra special for you! I know mine has...and here's one of the reasons why:

This smiling group of people you may recognize, at least some of them...yes, we are blogging friends and we brought along some of our favorite subjects for our blogs...hubbies!

Left to right there is Mari Bruins, a.k.a. My Little Corner of the World and her hubby Bob, who traveled all the way from western Michigan to visit Your Friend From Florida, Terri D'Orsaneo, and she instigated this little get together with your's truly and my hubby John on the back row, and we met up at the Cracker Barrel in Ocala with Barbara Mims and her hubby Gary, a.k.a. Journal Memories.  We had such a great visit!  One thing I have discovered since joining this "blogging family", is that bloggers are a wonderful group of people to know!  It sure would be fun to meet ALL of you someday too!!   Thank you. Terri, for being the one with the true gift of hospitality to help bring us all together! What a blessing!!  Oh, and speaking of blessings... Mari brought us each a jar of these wonderful "Cherry Berry" Jam preserves, straight from her part of western Michigan, where the best kind of tart cherries are grown...the kind that make the best cherry pies.  I can't wait to try this on a fresh hot biscuit!  Thank you, Mari!!!

Today is another special day, because it is also the birthday of our "baby" son, Scott! However, because he is working and living a couple of hours away, we will not be celebrating together until Sunday afternoon.  Still, we called and sang Happy Birthday to  him this morning before he went to work.  I just can't believe my "baby" is 49 years old already!!!

Speaking of "babies"...our current "baby" Blackie was helping me in my office/Room with a View" early this morning...He likes to check out the waste basket to see if I threw anything important away...

I think he was actually trying to climb inside and sit a while, but he soon gave up and moved on to other things. It really is a lot like having a toddler in the house again...gotta watch every move they make! LOL.

Speaking of "children", here's my "Big Baby Boy"...the oldest, a.k.a Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop...

and these are two of the planters he has made for me to grow my new vegetable garden.  I will use these for the zucchini and yellow (summer) squash plants.  He's still making one for my tomato plants.

He also picked up some dirt for me so I can get started...but since we were busy today in addition to the fact that there was a frost this morning, I decided to wait until possibly tomorrow afternoon to do the planting. I have an my annual eye appointment in the morning, so we'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Meanwhile, I have all these things growing in my kitchen that need to get planted before they get too big!

Meanwhile,  I took these pictures Sunday morning next to our church parking lot. The purple wisteria vine is growing profusely and blooming beautifully, although I think it might even do better if it had been pruned a bit before it started blooming. Still, it is quite lovely,  and I will close this post with these thoughts tonight from John's Gospel:

John 15:1-10

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 

10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Amen.

Good Night my friends! I hope you have a blessed and glorious rest of your week.

 

Tuesday 4~ St. Patrick's Day

 I had another post started for yesterday and got busy and never finished it, so now today is St. Patrick's Day, and I guess I'd better address that first and go back to the other one later! LOL.  So here we go...

St Patrick's Day

It is St. Pattys Day here at Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...


1. Do you celebrate in any significant way?

Not particularly...I will probably be wearing green wherever I do and whatever I do, but I don't have any special plans for today except that I hope to plant my vegetables that I bought over the weekend...Benton is supposed to bring over the wooden planter boxes for me so I can get started on it...we'll see how far we get! 

Lily Grace and her dog Bailey are all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day...they are hiding in a forest of shamrocks and looking for the pot of gold! LOL.

You can click HERE for more adventures with Lily Grace!

2. Is it religious to you or secular?

It is a secular day in my mind. Although we appreciate the stories and legend of St. Patrick, we do not really connect that with anything "religious".  He was a good man and it's a fun day to remember what he did for Ireland.

3. Is there any green in your wardrobe ? Your home? Is it a good color for you?

I have some green in my wardrobe, but it is mostly either more of a forest green or a teal green. I do have one kind of emerald green top that I will wear today so I don't get pinched. LOL.

4.March has a lot of things associated with it... The Ides of March on the 15th, St. Patrick's Day and the old saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.
How is your March going thus far? Is it quiet? Is the weather good, bad or ugly? Is it a lion or a lamb?

Well, yestereday was certainly a lion as far as the weather is concerned! We had quite the thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, and I hear that there are trees down in various places around here. There was a lot of lightning and thunder and very wild winds for a while. Thankfully we are fine and we didn't lose power, so that's good. It also has cooled down to 40 degrees this morning after being in the 80's yesterday!

These photos of the skies were actually taken the night before last, (Sunday night), when we also had a good rain! Rain two days in a row! Woo Hoo! Prayers are being answered!  

But this is the Still Very Dry Still Waters Pond after the rain...it's like a big sponge soaking up the water, but there is still not enough to have any water on top of the ground. It's going to take a LOT more rain for that to happen.  

But hey! There's one blossom on the Bottlebrush Bush! That's a start! LOL.

Hopefully today Benton is going to bring over my above ground wooden planters so I can get the vegetable plants planted. Although I hear we might get a frost tomorrow morning, so we'll see...I may decide to wait...but then again...I hate to keep putting it off...decisions, decisions...I can always cover them...Tune in for further developments! LOL.

In keeping with the tradition of the day, HERE is a link to a post I wrote a few years ago for Toni's Creative Adventures.  Our Toni Taddeo was a very creative lady, and she often did these special "Creative Adventures" for us to make up little stories to go along with a theme. This one was my favorite, and it bears repeating again today especially for St. Patrick's Day. I hope you will take the time to revisit it and enjoy this little fairy tale today with a lovely Irish little lady.

Saturday Revue

 Hello friends! Here it is Saturday afternoon already...and I'm just sitting down to write...and hopefully I can get this finished in time to start cooking supper! Actually, supper will be easy, because we picked up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store this morning, and had some delicious hot chicken breast with fresh slices of tomato and lettuce sandwiches for lunch...and there's plenty of meat left to make something good for supper. Haven't decided exactly what yet, but I'll let hubby help me decide when the time comes. LOL. That's one good thing about retirement and being just the two of us...meals can be very simple and casual if we want...and thankfully, hubby prefers that, so it makes things easy for me!

I mentioned stopping at the store this morning. That was after we went to the Deep Creek Trading Post Farmer's Market, where our son Benton had set up his booth to sell the above ground planters that he makes.

And I stepped across the way from him and purchased these vegetable plants to plant, and he has promised to build some planters for me to make this job easier on my poor body. LOL.   I bought 4 beefsteak tomato plants, six little pots of zucchini and six little pots of yellow (summer) squash plants. Those are the main vegetables that I find myself buying all summer (and beyond), so I decided to give growing them myself a try.  Since with his wonderful wooden planters I don't have to dig in the ground to plant them, hopefully they will actually grow and produce "fruit"...or vegetables...Tomatoes are a fruit, so they say, and the squash are definitely vegetables.   (Hubby is busily guarding my stash while I walk around. LOL). 

Speaking of hubby...I caught him having this conversation with Blackie on the front porch last night...He literally sat down on the steps to sit and visit with Blackie on "his level".  I was impressed...and amazed at this man who really didn't want us to get too involved with this outdoor neighborhood cat...

But who can resist that face? LOL.

Or his cuteness?

He's not too sure about Lily Grace and her dog Bailey...

Especially when he'd rather be left alone to sleep on the couch...

But yesterday was such a pretty day, I had to get outside and sit a spell in the "Secret /Memorial Garden", beside the Still Very Dry Still Waters Pond...

(Although we DID get a very nice rain shower the night before last...and I saw our first male Ruby Throated hummingbird, but he got away before I took this picture as I had not yet put out that feeder for him...so I immediately went and made some sugar water for him and put out the feeder so hopefully he will be back ...The males come first, and then soon after the females arrive...and it's interesting that they know exactly where to to come back to each year!)

The rain was falling so gently and it lasted a pretty good while, but alas, the pond was still dry when all was said and done...

But at least it's a start, and we are scheduled for more rain tomorrow and the next day...so please keep praying that we are finally getting into a rainy pattern again!

We read this passage in our devotions this morning, and these words gave me great hope...not just for our pond, but for life in general, especially in the current world situation...Although it was originally written for "Unrepentant Israel" some 750 years B.C., I believe we can learn from this today...and it does give me hope...

Hosea 6 NIV

1“Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces

but He will heal us;

He has injured us

but He will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days He will revive us;

on the third day He will restore us,

that we may live in his presence.

3 Let us acknowledge the Lord;

let us press on to acknowledge him.

As surely as the sun rises,

He will appear;

He will come to us like the winter rains,

like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Anyway, I digress...back to the next day when the sun was shining, but it was much cooler as the rain had ushered in a bit of a cold front, which actually is quite nice! Blackie was enjoying watching the birds in the trees while I sat in the swing...

And then he decided to come and sit and swing with me, although I don't think he really liked the swinging part of it, so I tried to sit still. Didn't want to upset his tummy!

I was noticing how brown/auburn his coat is in the sunshine!  

It's as if he's a different color altogether when he's out in the sunshine...

Speaking of "Sunshine", our beautiful Orange cat who passed over the rainbow bridge back in November, and who was Blackie's bonded buddy...it made me wonder if perhaps Sunshine and Blackie were actually more closely related than just buddies?

Sweet Sunshine, R.I.P.

Best Buddies

It's really a strange kind of markings...maybe Sunshine was his daddy? I do think he was much older than Blackie...

So I looked up this color phenomenon online, and here's what "AI" has to say about it:

"A black cat with an orange or reddish undercoat is often a black "smoke" or "ghost" tabby, where the hair shaft is black at the tip but banded with orange or red near the skin, sometimes caused by sun bleaching ("rusting") or hidden tabby genetics. These cats often appear entirely black until sunlight or movement reveals the warm orange tones.
PetMD +4
Common Reasons for Orange/Red Undercoats:

Sun Rusting: Sunlight breaks down the black eumelanin pigment in the fur, revealing red/orange highlights (pheomelanin) underneath, especially in black cats that spend time in windows.

Smoke/Tabby Genetics: A "smoke" black cat has a white or silver undercoat, but if it carries hidden "red" (orange) tabby genes, it can produce a smoky-orange or black/red effect.

Torbie or Tortie Influence: A very dark tortoiseshell or "torbie" (tortoiseshell + tabby) may appear predominantly black, but has intense orange streaks or patches hidden throughout the coat.

Nutritional Factors: A deficiency in tyrosine, an amino acid, can cause black fur to turn a reddish-brown color, which some owners perceive as an orange undercoat, as discussed in.
Facebook +4

If the cat looks black but has reddish undertones in the light, it is most likely a "rusting" black cat or a black smoke cat with underlying red genes."

It doesn't really answer my question about whether or not Blackie and Sunshine could be related, but it's possible...whatever the reason, Blackie is still sweet and handsome, and Sunshine will always be missed by all of us.

Moving right along...The azaleas have been so pretty this year!

And I'm just going to keep "living life in full bloom" and enjoy the beauty of all of these things while I can! 

How about you?

Have a blessed and beautiful weekend my friends.

Wednesday Hodgepodge on Thursday...I'm Late! I'm Late!

 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 644
I'm late! I'm late! To a very important date! But as they say, "better late than never!"  I kept reading everyone else's answers to these questions and was thinking, I should do this, but I got too busy and ran out of time yesterday...and so I noticed that others were still posting today, so I decided, "why not?"  So here we go...

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here Wednesday (March 11th) to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

I think I am a naturally trusting person...but I've learned over the years through trial and error that not everyone can be trusted, even those who come with sweet words and tell you they "want to be your best friend".  After many years in the ministry as a Pastor's Wife, I am sad to say that there were those who pretended to be my best friend who ended up being much like the one in our theme..."Et tu, Brute?" ...Brutus, who betrayed and assassinated Julius Caesar.  I'm afraid it has made me a bit more cautious about the friends I pick.  However, yes, people do deserve a 2nd chance, if they are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness...

 We probably all know "The Lord's Prayer", but I wonder how many know the verses immediately following it... Matthew 6 :14-15

"9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 

your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,

 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses"

 So, yes, I do believe people deserve a 2nd chance, unless the offense is something truly grievous. We can forgive, but that doesn't necessarily mean we let them come back to hurt us again.


2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to Rome?

No, I've never been to Rome. And yes, we read MacBeth in our 12th grade English class. I remember it well, because I got to read the part of Lady MacBeth, and I read out loud her famous quote, "Out, damned spot!"  And because curse words were forbidden to say in our school, I got a lot of  "Ooooh, Pam, you said a bad word!" kind of comments from the rest of the class, until the teacher had to tell them to hush, since I was just reading the assigned passage after all!! LOL.

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favorite salad dressing?

Caesar salads are okay, if that's the only choice. But I prefer a garden/house salad, no anchovies, and at a restaurant I usually get honey mustard, unless they have an interesting house dressing. At home I use Marie's Cole Slaw dressing on my salads. It is a creamy kind of sweet and sour dressing with celery seeds in it, and it's great on regular salads as well as coleslaw.  

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

If you've known me long, you know that my designated office space is my "Room With A View", which I talk about frequently. Rather than talk about it, let me show you some pictures from this room where I work at my desk with a desktop computer.

These are some photographs I took at our last home in the Ocala National Forest:

And this is the "sign" that started the theme of my blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows".

This is the little tea towel that gave me the name for my room, "Room With a View", and it was actually a gift from one of my blogging friends when she and her husband visited our home for the first time!

Moving clockwise around the room, this is my little bookshelf with all kinds of gift books, devotionals, miscellaneous cookbooks, Audubon bird books, etc., and a picture on top of "My Three Sons", when they were much younger and before they all went their separate ways in life...

The china cabinet belonged to my husband's grandmother, and the rocking chair was a gift from a friend, who said she found it alongside the road put out for trash!

This china hutch was built by our son Benton, and the bottom section holds a lot of office supplies and other miscellaneous stuff, like games.

The Hoosier cupboard also belonged to my husband's grandmother,  and I restored it to the original wood after stripping a multitude of layers of paint off of it... A true labor or love!

One my favorite little tea towels...A gift from my sister...

And this is my 2nd childhood corner...Pamela's Victorian Cottage, which you've most likely heard about already...and the shelf unit above was built by my son Benton. The Buster Brown Tea Set belonged to my Aunt Margie, and then to my mother, and then to me! The little white tea set belonged to my paternal grandmother.

So there you have the whole room...my "designated office space", which is so much more, as you can see. It's my favorite room of the house.

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favorite early Spring flower?

I'm sure I would love them all, but they don't grow here in Florida. I wish daffodils did, because my sister's 80th birthday is coming up on April 5th, and the family tradition started by my mother when we lived in Pennsylvania was to put a little vase of daffodils in the center hole of an angel food cake for my sister's birthday cake. We've always tried to find live daffodils for her cake every year, but it's not always easy to do, so I often have to resort to using artificial ones. I am on the look out for a pot of real ones now, but they have to last until her birthday! (no easy feat, trust me!). OH, it's also her husband's birthday on the same day! This picture was 10 years ago, when I actually found some real daffodils:

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is Blackie, our indoor/outdoor porch kitty. This is what he was doing while I was working on this post this morning...he found a little box to sit in, and he was quite happy for a few minutes.

Psalm 89:1-2

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”