What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

"Let Heaven and Nature Sing" Again!

 People have asked where I was going to put this sign in our new house. It used to be the banner picture for my blog until we moved here. (For more history about this sign, go back and visit HERE) It has taken some time to be sure exactly where I wanted to put it. To me, it needed to be over a window that speaks to the subject. Although this particular window in my little den is rather small, it is where I sit to write to you and I can view "heaven and nature" singing all day long, and so this is the place that answered the call. Here on this wall I have put some of my favorite nature photos from our previous home, as well as the little cross-stitched plaque that reads, "When God closes a door, He opens a Window"...the inspiration for this blog (you can read more about that HERE)
And so now that that is settled, I can relax and begin to enjoy all the beauty and joy of "heaven and nature singing" all around me.

One thing that is different here at our new house is we don't really have a good place to walk right in our own neighborhood like we used to. Hubby and I used to faithfully take a walk every morning and evening on our old road, because it was a quiet, peaceful walk through the woods, and nature abounded on all sides.  Here we have more neighbors, more traffic, and not much to look at of real beauty outside of our own back yard and pond.  So we decided we needed to find a place to take regular walks before we get too much out of shape! If you will recall, this past summer while we were waiting to move into our current home, we were staying at our church's parsonage temporarily.  That house is located on a quiet street with more woods surrounding it, and it was a good place to walk. It is about two or three miles from our new house, but not too far to take a little ride over in the mornings and take a walk...so that is what we decided to start doing.  Here are a few pictures from what we saw while on our walks:

 I absolutely love seeing the fall wildflowers blooming all through the woods and along the roads.


And then we came to a spot where someone had abandoned this boat...in the middle of the woods, away from water...no houses around...someone apparently just decided this was a good place to dispose of it. Why? I don't know...but if you know someone who would like a "project" boat...
 I know where you could find a couple of them to fix up...

Back to the lovely wildflowers...

Purples and yellows seem to be the color theme for fall wildflowers...

Oh, big foot showed up...actually, that is MY big foot, size nine, next to this giant pine cone!

Back to the flowers again...

There were so many and so lovely that I decided I just had to bring home a bouquet...

 However, I soon discovered that wildflowers do NOT have a delightful fragrance to go along with their natural beauty...and the scents perfuming the air were actually causing me some sinus distress...so out to the deck they went...and eventually I had to put them even further away outside because the odor was so strong we couldn't sit on the deck near them....so I guess that is why they are meant to grow out in the wild, and not in people's gardens!

However, speaking of people's gardens, the "memorial garden" Don Juan Rose bush is at it again...blooming and giving me such joy...and this fragrance is truly heavenly!!!
You may note in the bottom corner of that picture a little bit of my flannel shirt showing...yes!!! It was actually cool enough these past few mornings to put on a flannel shirt while going out for our morning devotions on the deck and then our walk to the woods....Hooray! Fall has finally arrived in Florida!  Today we are getting some much needed rain from that tropical storm that passed through. I hope it isn't doing any serious damage anywhere else. We are very happy for the rain. Our pond was starting to evaporate!! Now it looks much happier.


 This giant blue heron was walking quite close to shore the other day...and I could tell that the water was getting rather shallow by where he was able to walk...


Our resident hawk continues to keep a watchful "hawk eye" on everything that happens around here.

The hawk may have even noticed that we had some lovely visitors pop in for a delightful visit this week:

You may recognize Barb and her "beloved" husband Tom from her blog, "Sweet Tea and Sandals", located HERE.  If you know Barb, you know that she and her hubby love to take little day trips, and they often link up with some of our other blogging friends in the process. We were so blessed to have them visit...this is actually our third visit within the past year! Now that they are located just  a little over an hour away, we hope to get together more often.  We would also welcome other blogging friends to join us! We may have to plan a meeting at a location that would be more central for some of our Florida friends, and have a real "blogging-gab-fest". 
It's always nice when friends go out of their way to make something special for you...this banana nut bread, baked by Barb, was delicious!!! Thank you so much!!!


This was our view the other evening as the sun was going down across the pond. In the early mornings and the evenings we can truly hear "heaven and nature sing" around the pond...in the mornings the birds are eagerly awakening and calling to one another as they seek out their food for the day, and in the evenings the frogs and the cicadas and night birds call out that the evening has come and it is time to settle in safely for the night.

I will close with these words from Psalm 105, which we read in our morning devotions today:

1.  "Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
2.  Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
3.  Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
4.  Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face forevermore!"



"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!"
Psalm 150:6

Have a blessed day, my friends.
Perhaps you can looks for places where you can hear
"heaven and nature sing"...

32 comments:

  1. I JUST LOVE THIS POST! (sorry for shouting and waving to Tom and Barbara, smiles)--we have all this barnwood laying around and I showed hubby your sign and he goes, "Linda, I can do that." He has been so busy lately making signs for me. His latest is a USA sign he saw online (I have a wall dedicated to Patriotism). ANYWAYS--I am so glad the sign found a new home (big smiles). I was wondering where you were going to put it, smiles.

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    1. I guess that is a "sign" that it is in the right place...and certainly, I hope your hubby will make you one like it if that is what you want! Mine has brought me such delight. Would love to see your patriotic signs. We need more of that in this country!! Thank you for visiting!! You made me smile too.

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  2. I am glad you found the perfect spot for your sign and that you have a good place to walk. I love that your friends stopped by to visit you. I hope you love your new home and I am smitten with the pond. I hope you love Florida living! I did! xo Diana

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    1. Thank you Diana...yes we love Florida living, especially in the winter..."when you've got it bad, we've got it good...come to Florida"...remember that ad a few years ago? Of course, many snowbirds do just that every year...and Florida gets a bit crowded...but we are in a good spot away from the "maddening crowds". LOL. have a blessed day!

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  3. People around here take those old boats and use them as huge planters. Glad you have other bloggers around to visit with. That must be so nice. Also nice the fish got more water in that pond. There has to be fish for the heron to visit. Herons and egrets are my sworn enemy! I had to put Mr. Alligator on prominent display to keep them away from my fish. They had a feast on my beautiful fish this year. So sad :( Have a lovely day today.

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    1. I can imagine a boat planter, but that one in particular would be quite the large planter. It really doesn't look like it's in too bad of condition, but probably has a leak somewhere. Yes, it was wonderful to meet with Barb and her hubby. I wish we could all get together somehow. I guess we just have to be content with our gatherings here, which are very special in themselves. I am sorry about your fish. I know how you loved them. I hope more will come back. have a blessed week dear friend.

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  4. Pam: I love the location of your sign. It is perfect for you. Those flowers are beautiful in their settings. One July 4th, I sent Hubby on an errand to collect wild flowers for a bouquet for me to make for my stepmother, she had been diagnosed with a second round of breast cancer and I wanted to brighten her day. We even had a patriotic ribbon I made into a bow for the occasion.

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    1. I can imagine that your stepmother cherished that lovely bouquet. What a wonderful gift. And to have it decked out for the 4th of July made it even more special! I hope you are doing well. So wonderful to have you visiting here today. God bless you.

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  5. Have a blessed day, Pamela.

    Beautiful photos!

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    1. Thank you, Sandi! I hope your day has been filled with many blessings. Thank you for stopping by. Always love to hear from you.

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  6. That wall really is the perfect spot for your sign, Pam! How fun that Barb and Tom were able to visit! We love them too. I think picking a spot somewhere closer for everyone is a great idea for a bloggers' get-together! Let's work on that soon!!

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    1. Yes, we want to get together with you especially. But you have some things to get through first...and then we will talk about it! You were definitely in our minds as we discussed this possibility! Praying for Joe this week, and for you, to have the strength to help him in his recuperation. One day at a time! God is with you.

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  7. What beautiful wildflowers...even though they stunk... lol! So glad you found a lovely place for your walks. We have TONS of beautiful country roads with not very much traffic so we have no excuse not to do lots of exploring! Oh... and be careful who you call Bigfoot... I wear a size 9 too... lol!!

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    1. Ha Ha! I knew you and I had a lot in common! We could exchange shoes with each other if we lived close enough! LOL. (I don't really do that, but it was a fun thought). I know you will be exploring your new neck of the woods...so happy for you to be there. Such exciting days ahead for you. God bless you!!!!

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  8. I love the placement of your sign above the window where you sit to blog. The photos from your walk nearby are so pretty. I'm glad you have a safe and beautiful place to walk each day. We are fortunate to have a dead end street to walk on with very little traffic. That is a big pine cone! Nice that you had a blog friend and hubby to stop by for a visit. Have a blessed evening.

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    1. Hope you have had a pleasant day today. Thank you for stopping here for a visit. Maybe some day we will get to meet in person. You live in a very favorite place of ours...so who knows? Maybe some day!! God bless you and have a wonderful week.

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  9. Let heaven and nature sing, indeed, Pamela! So happy you found the perfect place for your sign. And I loved your photos of the wildflowers - reminded me of my Dad, who was a botanist, and would never go on a fall walk without bringing back natural bouquets for my mother. Always beautiful and unique! Saw Barbara's post about y'all's visit with them, and love the reciprocation. :) So wonderful to be able to connect personally with blogging buddies!
    Blessings!

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    1. Would love to connect with you some time as well!! I feel like we already know each other so well and we would just take right up like old friends! Yes, I love wildflowers, and always want to bring them home...but these just didn't quite bless our home with wonderful fragrance, so they had to go out. I hated to do it because I was enjoying them so much. I guess I will just have to appreciate them from afar from now on! Hope your day is filled with bouquets of joy and happiness.

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  10. All your photos are lovely. We seldom see many fall flowers in our neck of the woods, probably because the fall is still hot for weeks. We do have lovely Queen Anne's Lace that grows rampantly in the wild. Wish I had some of those BIG pine cones. I have wanted some for a long time to decorate with at Christmas. I have PLENTY of little ones...the 2 pines in our backyard are very generous with their pine straw and cones!!! I love your sign...definitely a great spot for it!

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    1. Come on down and I will show you where to find the big pine cones! Thank you for visiting here...I believe this is a first time visit, am I correct? If you've been here before I apologize for not remembering. So glad you came...and I have now visited your "space" as well! Oh, I love Queen Anne's Lace. We really don't see that here in Florida much, at least not in our neck of the woods. I do love it. I know what you mean about fall being hot, but here in Florida it is also hot, but the fall wildflowers seem to make their debut in October regardless. I love to see them. Thank you for coming. Please come again!!

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    2. Pam, yes it was my first visit...but not my last:)

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  11. I so enjoyed your posting with all the beauty of the flowers, gorgeous!
    Isn't that something that their odor is meant for the outdoors.
    Looks like you have settled on a great place to walk.
    That boat made me think of the TV series, Gilligan's Island. 😉

    I think you have picked a perfect place to hang your sign.

    So nice to visit with this evening ♡

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    1. Ha ha, "Gilligan's Island". I will have to name our walking place "Gilligan's Island". I will think of that every time we go there now! Thank you for stopping in for a visit today! Hope your day has been filled with many blessings.

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    1. Thank you, Karen! I am so glad you enjoyed them. Thank you for stopping in for a visit! Hope you are having a blessed day.

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  13. Bummer about the wild flowers you brought indoors... (smile) Thanks for the wisdom on that. We learn from each other's experiences.

    Love love love wall groupings, which is exactly what you've got above your desk computer. It's cozy, inviting, and a wonderful place to be.

    We loved our visit with you. The lunch was perfect, the homemade pumpkin pie was delicious. Thank you for having us!

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    1. You are SO welcome! We've been enjoying the banana nut bread too!! Oops, now you told on me...the "pumpkin pie was delicious". I'll have to be baking more pies for people now! LOL. Just kidding. Thank you again for being a part of our real world as well as our blogging world!! :)

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  14. Enjoyed all of the pictures sweet lady. That ROSE is beautiful...just like you! Awe..such a sweet picture of Barbara and Tom. I know y'all had a great visit. Hugs and blessings to you. P.S. I am just so happy for you Pam! God is good!

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    1. Thank you, Cindy. The roses are still blooming, although a little wilty now, but I just can't throw them out yet. Yes, we had such a great visit with Barb and Tom. I hope we can all get together one of these days! And yes, God IS good!! All the time, God is good!!

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  15. I think your sign looks great! It's so nice that you have a window looking out at nature, it must be very inspiring. Your walks now might not be quite as convenient as they were at the old place and it's great that you're putting forth the effort to keep walking. One year we had a birdfeeder hanging over one of my flower beds, next thing I know I'm growing wildflowers from the seeds that fell in the beds. It was great, at first I thought it was weeds, took me a little bit to realize what it was...we enjoyed them that year.

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    1. Thank you, Mary. I just saw this tonight. Yes, the new walk is a little inconvenient, but we are determined to keep trying. We need the exercise so badly. I love that your birdfeeder brought you wildflowers! What fun! One of God's little surprise packages! I always love it when God surprises us with something a little extra! Have a blessed day/night/weekend!

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  16. Pam, this is another amazing post. You truly have a gift for capturing the whole of life. Life with the Lord is amazing!

    Love and blessings!

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Thank you for visiting here today. I would love for you to sign my guestbook and let me know you stopped by. I always enjoy reading your comments and words of encouragement! May you be blessed as you go on your way. Please come back and visit again soon.