Wednesday Treasures...Just Checking In

 Hello friends in Blogland! I am so out of touch as we have been away for several days, and just got home last night. I've been playing catch up with laundry, groceries, and preparing for a potential "hurricane/tropical storm" headed our direction tomorrow.  So I haven't had much time for visiting with you all, and I must say I have missed our daily communications.  And now I discover that many of my friends on Facebook have been leaving for other social  media outlets, i.e.; Parler or MeWe? I haven't had time to check them out and haven't really decided if I want to make that move. I have so many years worth of memories stored in Facebook albums. I know I can copy and paste, etc., but that's a lot of work and I'm just not anxious to start over at this point. And then there is the fact that many of my last communications with my son who passed away in 2014 are still there on his facebook page...and many pictures from that season of life. I love to go back there every so often and see what he wrote and remember our conversations.  Of course we talked on the phone almost every day for a long time, but I have no recordings of those conversations and very few handwritten letters, so the facebook conversations are the only tangible record of many special moments.  So you see, it isn't that easy for me to just walk away. 

Plus, many of my friends on Facebook are people that I've only met through Facebook and/or Blogging. We have developed warm and wonderful friendships that I've truly enjoyed and would hate to see come to an end.  It would just get too complicated for me trying to find everyone on different formats and I really don't want to spend that much time on social media anyway. I do understand about the political issues that created times of censorship and other negative communications.  Over the past few months I have tried to avoid much of that because it just became too difficult to always be so careful of what was true and what was hype, and what was "fact-checked" and what was conspiracy theory, etc., and I just wanted to be there to enjoy fellowship with friends and family and to share my faith with anyone who might be out there seeking some encouraging words in the midst of the chaos.

So all that being said, I want all of my friends near and far to know that I cherish your friendship whether you are here or there, and I hope that we will be able to stay in communication at least through blogging if not anywhere else. If things get too crazy on Facebook I may go looking for alternatives, but for now I am just not up to making that big of a change.

Now, on to my "Wednesday Treasures", which are, for today, some pictures from our trip to the Georgia Mountains with our kids.  We actually not only were just having a great time, but we were also celebrating their third anniversary! It was very sweet of them to invite us to come along on their special trip. We rented a house in the north Georgia mountains, and traveled to many interesting places from there...mostly to the tops of mountains! Whew! What views! I will post pictures without a lot more dialogue except to tell you where we were. Just let me say, the pictures do NOT do the views justice. I wish I had a 3D camera to show you the depth of these mountain top views, but then you might get dizzy and fall off your chair! LOL. Buckle up, Here we go!

This one speaks for itself: Welcome to Georgia! Our son was driving our "new" car, and I was in the back seat trying not to "drive". LOL.

Hubby was co-pilot in the front seat...

And Daughter in love Rose and I were supervising from the back seat...

We all got excited when we began to see the colors changing as we started to reach the higher altitudes:

Picture may be blurry because it was taken through the car window, but it was so neat to see the beautiful autumn leaves...

We stopped in Helen, Ga., before we began the winding steep ride up into the mountains...

Here we go:

 Up, up and around and round, many hair-pin turns and dizzying drop offs...

And finally we reached our destination, a lovely private home that is rented out through a airnb or something like that. Actually, the owners live next door so they are handy in case we run into a problem.

But the house was cozy and the surroundings were so lovely...

The property sits beside a rushing stream...

And this barn/garage that seems to have a strange personality if you look at it's "face". LOL.

Many of the autumn leaves had already fallen around their property, but there was still some lovely color to enjoy.

After settling in we headed to the nearest town where we could find some supper, and found this great BBQ place that had the best view of the lake and mountains across the street:

The mountains and scenery were surrounding us everywhere we went. This picture below was from the parking lot of the local Dollar General this next morning...sunrise over the mountains:

The morning started out kind of cloudy, but thankfully the sunshine managed to break through and it was a glorious day.

From there we headed up to "Brasstown Bald" mountain, the highest point in Georgia:

The sun played peekaboo with us, but we managed to see some amazing mountain views surround the top of this mountain:

Always be sure to pay attention to the signs!

At the summit of the mountain there is a wonderful museum and observation tower. And an old locomotive from the past trips in the mountains:

All aboard!

There were also some wild animals about...4 legged and 2 legged:

Oh, and you may wonder why we are so bundled up...well, it was quite cold and windy at the top of the highest point in Georgia.

One of the views:

Yes, this is a part of the Appalachian Trail:

As if one mountain peak wasn't enough, the next day we had to conquer another. This time we went to Black Rock Mountain State Park:

That's our "newlyweds" above...

I wish these pictures could help you see just how high we really were:

Hubby and me doing a selfie in front of the "view".

And another picture of the "young lovers":

Here's my own selfie:

And hubby and I found our perfect Christmas tree...now just to figure out how to get it on top of our car and take it all the way down the mountain and back to Florida! LOL>  (It's probably 40' feet tall).

Here we are at another overlook, and Benton is explaining to Rose what we are actually looking at:

I almost think we are high enough to touch the angels in the clouds:

I wanted to sit a spell at the Trading Post of the State Park campground...

But "Willie" was keeping watch over the store since no one else was there. So we decided to leave...

In the evening we watched the sunset over the mountains from the yard of our house:

And we had a bonfire and wiener roast:

The Mallard Ducks went swimming past us:

Nothing tastes better than hot dogs cooked over an open fire:

Unless it is marshmallows toasted over an open fire:

And made into s'mores:

(I think my pants were on fire! LOL)

I sure am enjoying that s'more!

Here! You want a s'more?

(I'm really not standing in that fire pit and my pants are not really on fire...)

My son took this scary picture of me as we were cleaning up stuff and putting out the fire for the night...

Maybe this is a good place to stop for today. There's a lot more to show you, but I will save it for another post so as not to totally bore and overwhelm you.

One of the Psalms we read in our morning devotions was Psalm 46. I thought these first 3 verses and then verses 10-11 were appropriate for us since we were in the mountains, and also because of all the turmoil that is going on in our country right now:

1.  "God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

2.  Therefore we will not fear,

even though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3.  Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling."

10.  "Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

 I will be exalted in the earth!

11.  The Lord of hosts is with us,

The God of Jacob is our refuge."

Until next time, be blessed my friends, and be at peace.  Let us remember to pray for our friends...several of whom have some health concerns, and also for our nation.  May we "Be still and know that I am God..."  Amen.