Friday Foto Friends - A Day to Remember

Hello Friday Foto Friends

It seems like Friday comes and I have already posted all my interesting pictures throughout the week either here or on Facebook, and then I realize I didn't save much for Friday.  So I went back through the week to see what I might have missed that you would enjoy...So here goes:

We've had a lot of rain lately, with much more to come this weekend.  One morning I noticed these mushrooms on the front lawn, looking like little flowers blooming...

I love to see all the different varieties of mushrooms that appear throughout the year. They are each so unique and interesting...Here's another example from a previous post

One rainy afternoon I decided to sort buttons from my hubby's grandmother's button collection...(Nanny Martin).   I loved looking through them and imagining what dresses or blouses they may have been on...Nanny Martin had four daughters, so she did a LOT of sewing for her girls as you can imagine.

I keep them in this old blue Mason Jar.

 Remember this picture from last Friday?  Do you recall that I told you that the picture was of some "borrowed ancestors" that we really have no clue who they are...

Well, I finally updated this plaque with a picture of "Nanny Martin" when she was a young bride (age 15).  She is the creator of that lovely old quilt, and the scraps of fabric on here are from the quilt...
I also added one of her pins...on the bottom left corner of her picture...it has an aqua gemstone in it (but some of the other smaller stones are missing), and I also added the larger key, which I believe was a key from her house.  So now this picture plaque has more personal meaning and looks nice in the guest room...

Totally changing gears here...This is a Pawpaw bush, and these are young pawpaws developing.  Just thought you'd want to know...they grow wild here in our woods ....and they will get much bigger when they are ripe. The animals apparently like them. I tried one once...they are edible fruit, but not exactly what I like to eat, so the animals are safe to have them...

This Bird Sanctuary birdhouse sits in The Secret Garden.  I've never yet seen a bird go in it, but these two lizards seem to have made it a home. Every time I go by there I see them on it.  Notice, the small one on the left is the female, and the large one on the right is the male. They are very territorial too...

Now, if you have watched the news this past week you may have seen that there have been some large sinkholes forming in The Villages, Florida, which is about an hour's drive from where we live.  I had to make a trip to The Villages this past week to see a specialist for some therapy, and I can tell you that the sinkholes are not the only thing stopping traffic in The Villages.

This Florida Soft-shelled Turtle was also stopping traffic on a busy road in the middle of The Villages.  He had apparently wandered out of a neighboring pond onto the road. Thankfully someone was stopping to put him back in the water...

And here is our friend "Smiley Bear", who stopped by one evening for a drink.  I love how he literally smiled for the camera!!!  (yes, I was inside the house sleeping when this happened. Our wildlife camera had the honor of capturing this lovely photo.  No humans were eaten in the filming of this bear)

Now I know everyone watched the Royal Wedding last Saturday.  I recorded it and watched it later in the day.  Everyone has already posted their favorite pictures of the Prince and his lovely bride, but I thought it would be good to give some attention to the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.  I understand that Prince Philip is almost 97 years old, and he was able to walk in and be a part of this royal wedding.  I think that is pretty remarkable and deserves some applause.

 I think they still make a very handsome couple...and we may not have too many more times to see them together like this...

Oh, and by the way, did any of you wear a hat to the wedding? Here you will see the corner of my  hat as I took this 'selfie' while watching the wedding...Yes, I wore it for the whole wedding. That was the only part of me that was "dressed up", hence you only see the corner of the hat.  The rest of me was sans makeup and in my old house clothes...

 I took a lot of pictures of the wedding, but I really liked this view at the end of the wedding, while they are waiting for their carriage to arrive.  I love all the people watching, and all the chimneys standing at attention in the background...

Switching gears again:  We went to visit a friend in the hospital yesterday, and this was the view from his window...they are adding on to and remodeling the outside of the hospital, so there is scaffolding everywhere...this worker was busily working while we visited...Not sure I'd want workers outside my window while I was recuperating in the hospital....

Also, outside the hospital was this "horse"...If you have ever visited Ocala, Florida, you will know that it is well known for its horse farms and breeding of race horses.  Click here for more information about these painted horse statues, that you will find scattered all over Ocala.    Here is a Pinterest Link to more of them...

This is the plaque for this particular horse, "Mistaken Identity".  Someday I would like to drive around and see how many of these horses I can find to photograph.

I will close with these pictures of this beautiful rose, that was blooming in "The Memorial Garden" this week.

The Memorial Garden was established four years ago in memory of our son, who entered heaven's gates on May 25, 2014.  

I'm afraid the garden is looking a bit jungle-like right now since we've had so much rain, but I was so thrilled to see the rose blooming, as well as the Rose of Sharon bush behind it, which was also planted in memory of Matthew.

Later today we will be participating in a Memorial Service for our daughter-in-law's mother, who passed away several weeks ago.

I trust that you and yours will have a safe and memorable Memorial Day weekend. May we always remember the sacrifices that so many have made for our freedom, as well as take a moment to remember our loved ones who have gone on before us.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord

Is the death of His saints."

Psalm 116:15

Now let us travel over to Deb's Place at Breathing in Grace and see what our other Friday Foto Friends are sharing...

Also, I just learned that "Networked Blogs" is discontinuing its service today. Not sure how that will affect any of us...I believe it mainly was the service that automatically connected my blog to Facebook, so I will have to do that manually.  I have removed it's "widget" from my blog per their instructions, so if you disappeared as a result, it was through no intention of my own.  I truly hope it doesn't disconnect any of my wonderful followers.  Please give me feedback if you know more about how this loss of service will affect our blogs.  I value each and every one of you.