Monday Monday~A Little This and That

 It's Monday evening already! I intended to write something this morning, but the day kind of got away from me.  This morning hubby couldn't get his laptop to work properly. It appeared that the system itself was working, but the screen was black and we tried every way recommended by experts online to troubleshoot it and get it to turn back on, all  to no avail.  Well, hubby enjoys sitting with his laptop and doing whatever it is he enjoys doing there for a very good part of the day.  We started looking online (on my desktop computer) for parts to repair it (if we could figure out how to do it ourselves), and then when that didn't seem to be going anywhere, we looked for a new (refurbished) laptop online...and even the refurbished ones are getting pricey and the ones that were more affordable still had the Windows 10 operating system, and now he's gotten used to Windows 11 and didn't want to go back to 10. (I have Windows 10 on my computer, but I don't have any desire to move to anything else at this point until I have to).  We were getting frustrated with the whole situation, when I suddenly had a bright idea! 

Recently we purchased a used smaller flat screen TV at a yard sale. We really didn't have any particular plan for it, but the price was right and it worked, and we only had one TV in our house and thought it might be a good idea to have a "spare" to be used in the guest room or in Scott's room when he comes home occasionally to spend the night.  I read online that we could hook up a TV to the laptop with an HDMI cord, and after a search through the house in all the places I could think of, I found one in Scott's room that worked perfectly. And so after rearranging some little tables to accommodate the TV and his laptop from his recliner, here's the result:

He uses a wireless keyboard and mouse anyway with his laptop, so the set up works great, and he can actually SEE the computer screen now! LOL. Before he was always trying to adjust glasses and even a magnifying glass to see the screen on the laptop!  So this is a BIG (pun intended) improvement for him. However, it kind of takes up a lot of space in the living room and isn't exactly ideal, but it will do until we can figure out what else to do.  We really didn't want to have to spend more money on a new computer right now, because I just had to replace our printer this past week!

My old printer was giving me all kinds of trouble, and kept saying there was a paper jam when there was NO jam anywhere, and it would take 3 or 4 times over and over trying to get it to print one page, and it was extremely frustrating. Finally the other day it just quit printing altogether, and so that was that, and I ordered a new one. It's a less expensive one than what I had, but it appears to be adequate for our home office needs. I really don't do a lot of printing anymore, but when I need to, I want it done NOW and not have to keep trying over and over again.  So there! We took care of THAT!  LOL.  It's just crazy that we should have all these technical issues all at once, but our equipment was getting old, and you know what happens when your equipment gets old...like our bodies...they break down. LOL.

I like what God tells the "House of Jacob and the remnant of the house of Israel" in the following verses...and even though He's speaking specifically to them, I believe we can also  glean some words of hope and encouragement from these verses as well, particularly verse 4...

 Isaiah 46:3-4

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,

And all the remnant of the house of Israel,

Who have been upheld by Me from birth,

Who have been carried from the womb:

4 Even to your old age, I am He,

And even to gray hairs I will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

I do believe that God carries us personally from the womb and into our old age, and that He will indeed carry us until the day He calls us home. That is a great comfort to me.

Switching gears here with a few random photos...

Remember last week I showed you our first tomato from our garden?

Welll, yes, it was delicious!  I asked hubby if he wanted any of it and he said no, so I just had to eat the whole thing by myself. LOL.  Here it is on top of my salad, and it certainly was good!  Thankfully there's a lot more growing out there so we should be enjoying them for a while!! Praise God!!

If you are on my Facebook page you may have already seen this...Saturday, May 16th, would have been my parents 84th wedding anniversary.  They did manage to get almost to their 64th anniversary together, and the picture below on the right was taken at their 60th anniversary.   Anyway, I was happy to see these roses growing just in time to be picked in memory of their anniversary.  Here's a link to a story I wrote about my parents on a previous anniversary.

Later that day hubby was watching the movie "Blackbeard" on TV, and I remembered that my Uncle had a bit part in that movie, so we scrolled through it until we found the exact spot where he could be seen:

And there he was!  Here's a close up:

And here he is below, with my grandfather (his father), and my mom. This was taken when he came home from WWII.   After he got out of the Marines, he went to Hollywood and was in a lot of movies during the late 40's and early 50's. They were only bit parts, and I don't know that he ever had a speaking part. But he enjoyed doing a lot of parts where he had to be a "muscle man", and he always kept himself in great shape even up until he was an old man in his late 80's...he'd still go to the gym and work out! And actually, during the 1960's he used to have an exercise show on TV in the Columbus, Ohio area. It was called "Tone Up With Tedlie".    He led a very active life!

Speaking of "active life"...well, maybe not...Here's some pictures of Blackie this evening on the back porch...just because...

He really doesn't like to have his picture taken. LOL.

It's getting late so I guess I will close with this beautiful prayer and benediction from the Apostle Paul...

Ephesians 3:14-21

"14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Amen! And until next time, be blessed my friends.

Sunday Evening Thoughts

Today on the church calendar is what is remembered as Ascension Sunday...the day we recognize and "celebrate" when Jesus was caught up in the clouds and ascended back into heaven 40 days after His resurrection on Easter Sunday.  You can read more about that in the first chapter of Acts, with particular attention to the following verses:

Acts 1:9-11 Jesus Ascends to Heaven

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 

10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 

11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Our Pastor preached a very good sermon on this topic today, and if you wish to hear the whole message, you can watch it here, right after the choir sings.

This morning before breakfast we were reading our daily devotions and scripture verses, and this was also the topic for today.  When I got to these verses above, I was overcome by emotion. It took me back to when I was a little girl, sitting in our church services in the old church building, where these two big stained glass windows adorned each side of the sanctuary:

On the right side was this one above, the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and on the left side was this one below, of  Jesus as The Good Shepherd.   I've written about this before, and the link is below, but today in particular my mind went right back to that picture depicting Christ ascending in the clouds, and I can remember as a child thinking about that and wondering how He did that...because at that time I didn't really understand the whole story of Jesus overcoming death and then going up into heaven right before their eyes, and also hearing the angels stating that He would come back again in the same manner! But as I grew in my relationship with Christ and studied the Bible more, the wonder and amazement that I felt as a little girl actually became even more pronounced, and so much so that even today I was overwhelmed with emotion in thinking that one day we will see Christ coming back in the clouds to call us all up to heaven to be with Him forevermore... But in the meantime...

Psalm 47

"1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2 For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

3 He will subdue the peoples under us,

And the nations under our feet.

4 He will choose our inheritance for us,

The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah

5 God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

8 God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

9 The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is greatly exalted."

I think it is amazingly appropriate that today also marked a Day of Prayer for our Nation to turn back to God...Reclaiming our nation for Almighty God, because our country was founded as "One Nation, Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  And also that even our monetary system proclaims, "In God We Trust".   I didn't get to watch any of the proceedings at the Washington Monument in our Nation's Capitol today, but I hope to see some of it tomorrow on YouTube.  However, we definitely prayed for our nation this morning in church, and in my heart it felt good to know that churches and people throughout the country would be doing the same thing.  I do believe God is at work in our midst, and there are some very good things ahead. May we continue to pray.

You can Click HERE for another post on the back story on these windows.  And I thank my sister Doris for these current pictures of the new windows that have replaced the old ones in that same building, which you can read about in that post linked above.

I was going to write some other stuff and show a few pictures from the past couple of days, but I think I will save that for another day and  just close this post now with all of the above giving us all much food for thought and prayer.  

So until then, good night my friends. Be blessed.

 

Friday Foto Friends~Be My Guest

Today was one of those kinds of days when you just don't feel like doing much...Oh, I did my normal routine in the morning...cuppa tea while checking messages, and then reading our devotions together before breakfast...This morning we had fresh blueberry pancakes, sausage links and scrambled eggs for breakfast...So I guess I did do something!  Then after cleaning up the breakfast dishes I went outside for a little while and checked on the garden...

I picked our very first tomato!! And yes, we are "thankful and blessed!"  I intended to eat it today, but for some reason I forgot. It probably needs a day on the shelf to finish ripening up at bit anyway.

I saw this little brown moth on the marigolds...looked it up and it appears to be a Dusky Herpetogramma If you want to know more, you can click on that link. It says it feeds on the leaves of grasses. So I'm not sure what it's doing on the marigold, which is supposed to keep pests away from our garden...hopefully he'll be happy to eat that instead of my squash and tomatoes! LOL.

Back inside...Blackie is watching the birds outside. I'm trying to keep him inside a little more during the day because the Bluebirds are nesting again, and they do not like him hanging around!! He likes to lay in the grass right under the birdhouse...which is like an invitation to get bopped in the head by an angry Bluebird parent! So, if I can keep him from getting into trouble, so be it!

Today a fellow was coming to mow the grass since our big mower is no longer working and it is going to be too expensive to fix, so we decided to pay this friend to mow rather than spend more money on equipment that we are getting too old to operate anyway.  He is very reasonable and does a good job, so we are thankful that he is available.  He also was cleaning out the gutters today as they are full of leaves and with the rainy season hopefully coming soon, we need them cleaned out.

Anyway, hubby was outside with the guy watching him climb up and down the ladder and making sure he didn't fall...and I decided that I really wanted to just go lay down for a few minutes. I haven't been sleeping well lately, and my body was just plain tired.  Instead of going into our bedroom, I felt the lure of the guest room drawing me in to come and "be a guest" in my own house for a little while...to see what it feels like to lay down in someplace different and feel like I'm on a little holiday...

This little sign hangs in the guest room. It originally belonged to my maternal Grandmother, and then my mother put it in her guest room...and it was one thing I really wanted to take home with me for my guest room when the time came to disperse the treasures among the remaining heirs...

"Welcome Guest, and howdedo!

This small room belongs to you.

And our house and all that's in it~

Make yourself at home each minute.

If the temperature displeases,

Take a couple of our breezes;

And if that should chill you later, 

Sit upon our radiator.

If a hungry pang is twitchin', make a raid upon our kitchen;

Help yourself to book or blotter,

easy chair or teeter-totter;

All is yours that you like best.

You're at home now!

Welcome Guest!"

by J.P. McEvoy, 1927

And so as I lay there upon the bed, instead of closing my eyes and resting like I should have been doing, I found myself looking around the room and imagining what it would feel like to actually be a guest in this room for the first time...

It's a cozy little room, filled with many treasures from loved ones who have gone on to heaven...

Nanny Martin's Singer Sewing machine...and her jar of buttons...

Quilts to lay across the bed and curl up under if the "breeze"  gets too chilly...

Many volumes of antique books, filled with stories of romance, adventure, and mystery, many written in the late 1800's  or early 1900's...the kind of books that you won't want to put down once you start reading...

Family portraits lined up on the shelves...and Teddy Bears to snuggle...

I wonder what's in that old wardrobe?  Oh...if you only knew! There are boxes and boxes of photo albums and packages of pictures that never made it into albums...but the stories these old photos could tell... (You can click HERE for the full story on this wardrobe.)

And I wonder where that Indian Brave came from?  The painting was done by a young warrior himself, many years before he knew what battles he would have to fight for his life...who now rests with his loved ones who went before him to heaven and with the Lord after he fought the good fight...

2 Timothy 4:7-8 NKJV

"7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 

8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

Oh, look at this lovely young lady taking her dog for a walk...can you imagine the work that went into stitching that beautiful vintage piece?  It certainly makes for a comfy pillow for some sweet young lady to rest her head upon....

This piece was originally embroidered by my hubby's grandmother, Nanny Martin, and was on a table scarf. Part of the scarf was soiled and damaged, so I rescued this part and made it into a pillow case. (HERE is a LINK to when I made this, and the story connected to it.)

If you need to refresh yourself, you could use this lovely pitcher and bowl with some hot water....Also, the picture of the lady(s) on the dresser...the big one is Nanny Martin, (Pearl Waters Martin) and the photograph inset is her mother, Georgeanne Jarrard Waters.

I felt extra cozy and comfy on this sweet pillow with the bluebirds embroidered (again from Nanny Martin) on the edges (or are they Swallows? I prefer to think they are Bluebirds, since we have so many of them here).

It's so pleasant  here...

I wonder what's inside those pretty boxes? Actually those are Lily Grace's wardrobe boxes...if you felt like playing with dolls, that could easily be arranged...

I pulled up this old quilt, which was the one that Nanny Martin made for my hubby when he was young, and she saved it to give to us for our wedding gift. As an inexperienced young bride who knew nothing about old quilts, I almost ruined it for good, but thankfully a dear friend new how to restore it and saved it for future generations to enjoy.Here's a LINK to that story too.

And what about the quilt hanging on the wall behind the bed? Here's that story...another special gift. It seems like everything in this room has a story.

Oh, I just noticed this sweet picture of the two little girls walking together, holding hands...like dear sisters or special friends...

I love what it says:

"Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.

Just walk beside me and be my friend."

So, I really never took the nap I intended to take. But after laying there for a few minutes and looking around the room and remembering all the special people and gifts and memories that were surrounding me, I felt rested and refreshed and comforted.  I felt the love of so many who had gone on before us...and the heritage of their faith and love gave me renewed strength.  I was reminded of what the Lord told the Apostle Paul when he asked to have certain "thorn in his flesh removed" (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10),,,

And I concluded that perhaps I needed that "nap" just to be reminded of all that God has done for me and what He is continuing to do...and that even when I am feeling weak or weary and worn, He will give me His grace and strength to carry on and do the next thing, whatever it is that He needs me to do. I look forward to seeing how His power is going to be "made perfect in weakness".  Because the rest of that passage above is this: 

 

"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

No, I don't want to be infirm, reproached, in need, persecuted or in distress, but oftentimes as Christians today we do find ourselves in such situations as that, and when whatever it is that comes along gives us an opportunity to stand up for our faith in Christ, then even in our weakness, He will make us strong. I know I can rely on Him, so I do not need to worry or fret over my own weakness or inabilities. God is in control.  Praise God!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little visit to my guest room. It seems as though lately it has become more of a catch all room as we seldom have any overnight guests. The past couple of years have been difficult in some ways for us with health issues, etc., so we really haven't encouraged too many guests to come. But it is always available should there be an opportunity to serve someone in their time of need or who just wants a place to rest from the cares of the world for a while. God knows...yes...He is in control.

And Now I'll Say Good Night! My own bed is calling...

 

Wednesday "Treasures"

Happy Wednesday Morning everyone!  I hope this middle of the week day finds you enjoying some lovely treasures of life and living around you.  That's what I try to do on most Wednesdays...I share things I see or have or that are special in some way, or that caught my attention for some reason.  Yesterday was a rainy day all day, which is a blessing in itself!  We rejoiced in God's blessing of rain, and enjoyed a rather peaceful and pleasant day.  So that's pretty much what I am going to share with you...pictures from our "rather peaceful and pleasant day"!

We started out early for a ride and a walk, before the rains got started.  One thing on my list of places to see was this old house in our historic section of our little town...I had just heard through the "grapevine" that this grand old treasure had just gone up for sale. It's been sitting vacant for years, and we'd often drive by and try to imagine what it must have been like back in its hey-day.  I don't know too much about the history of it,  But here's a copy of what is written in the listing (which I have included below as a link if you are interested in more information):

"This turn of the 19th century home is waiting for you to restore it to its original glory. Known as the Wimberly - Eckhardt House in the early 1900s, it hosted many events by Judge Jared Wimberly and was proverbial for its hospitality. The original structure built in 1884 was an eight-room house finished in curly pine. That woodwork still adorns the windows and magnificent stairway today. The electric was updated in the 1980s."

My photo

(Internet Photo)

(Internet Photo)

My photo

(Internet Photo)

(Internet Photo)

Link to Zillow information on this house 

If you are an old house enthusiast and would like a "restoration project house", this would be a great bargain at just $149,900.   But keep in mind that it hasn't had much updating since the 1980's, so there's no telling just what all needs to be done. I do hope someone with "deep pockets" will buy it and restore it the way it ought to be done in keeping with its historical charm.   There are no pictures of the kitchen or bathrooms on the listing, so I'm thinking they are probably going to be major projects.  

Next on our little drive was a stop down at the Kenwood Recreation Park/boat ramp so we could take a little walk before the rains started.  Not too much different there to see, but here's a couple of pictures from along the way:

I noticed these pink flowers growing alongside the road, so asked hubby to stop so I could see what they were.

According to my research, this was called an "Early Wild Rose", but here is the botanical information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_blanda

Made me wish I could take some and plant them alongside our yard somewhere. So delicate and pretty!

Here's one picture I took at the boat ramp. The reflection of the trees on the water is so pretty, even on a cloudy day:

Going back out the road from the park is this little farm, and the cows were all up near the fence for feeding time, so it was a good opportunity to say "Good Mooooorning".  

I'd say they were largely unimpressed with my greeting.  They were obviously more interested in eating:

Hello!    The big whiteish bull in the background is most likely a American Brahman.  We see a lot of this type of cattle in Florida, because they do well in the warmer tropical climates.

It's always fun to see cows, isn't it?  And do you usually say "MOOOOO" when you see them? I do. LOL.

Our next stop was a real "Treasure"!   We saw this fellow alongside the road putting letters on this sign, and I said, "Hey! Stop! That's my son!"  LOL:

And so it was!! And so we stopped to say hello. I think I mentioned that our son Benton has started working part time at the "Trading Post at Deep Creek"

 

You might even recognize those little flower pots...

He also has a booth in the store, as well as he sells his large wooden garden planters here inside and outside at their weekend farm markets.

This store has lots of interesting vendors, and you might recognize the items in this picture below:

Yes, those framed photos above were taken in my yard. The bird feeders were some that I bought from this vendor when she was one our vendors at our Dixie Cottage store. I had taken those pictures to show her how the birds enjoyed the items I bought from her, and she has used those photos as a part of her booth to demonstrate how her bird feeder creations can be used:

Such fun!

Soon our little ride was over and it was starting to rain, and yes! It rained for most of the rest of the day, Praise God!  I decided it was a good day to make a pot full of "Brunswick Stew", using up the leftover BBQ pork from Sunday's lunch...

It was SO good.  I couldn't use my oven to make cornbread, so I tried to make "Hoecakes" in my iron skillet, but they didn't turn out too pretty.  But they still tasted good.  

My oven door gasket has come loose, and we need to replace it, and actually the part I ordered online arrived last night, so now we just have to figure out how to put it on. I may call my smart DIL Rose to figure it out. She's really good at that kind of thing.

Here's the info on "Brunswick Stew", in case you wonder what that is.  I used an old recipe from one of my school friends' Mama. They were originally from the Brunswick area of Georgia, and they made it the old fashioned way, sometimes using venison or pork. 

Brunswick stew

Brunswick stew is a hearty, traditional Southern comfort food, typically made with a mix of meats like chicken, pork, or even small game, along with vegetables such as corn, lima beans, and tomatoes, simmered in a savory, often BBQ-sauce-infused broth. While its origins are debated between Virginia and Georgia, modern versions often use leftover barbecue, and it's known for being a flavorful, one-pot meal that's great for feeding a crowd.

Key Ingredients
Meats:
Shredded chicken, pulled pork, or a combination; historically included squirrel or rabbit.

Vegetables:
Corn, lima beans, and tomatoes are staples; potatoes and okra are also common additions.

Base:
Chicken broth, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, and seasonings like Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and sometimes barbecue sauce.

Flavor Enhancers:
Brown sugar, vinegar, and hot sauce are often used to balance the flavor.


It was so good!!  

Here's some good words of advice for today from God's Word:

Proverbs 4:11-12 NIV

11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom

and lead you along straight paths.

12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;

when you run, you will not stumble.

So, if you go for a walk today...think about these verses!!  Have a blessed day everyone!!