Monday Monday-May Already?

Wow! Here it is the Merry Month of May already! How can that be? I think we are all kind of reeling over how quickly time seems to be passing by...especially the older we get...

As I changed the pages on my calendars I thought this would be a good place to start out on this Monday morning:

I love these John Sloane calendar pictures that he paints.  This is my Country Seasons calendar, and every month is a new delight. Wouldn't you just love to be sitting there on that beautiful front porch, surrounded by spring flowers and such a lovely view?  And that bicycle is just sitting there tempting us to come go for a ride.  I haven't been on a bike in many many many years, and I fear what might happen if I tried...I never was very good at it. Even though they say once you've learned to ride a bike it will always come back to you... I mostly remember falling off my bike in the middle of a busy road when I was 12 and skinning my knee and ripping my slacks, and turning around just in time to see a big semi truck barreling down the road toward me.  Only God could have given me the supernatural strength at that moment to pick up my bike from the pavement and throw it into the grass and jump out of the way just in time...yeah...I think that's the last time I remember riding a bike...But still, the simple joy of a delightful spring morning, riding along a country road where there are NO trucks, might be very pleasant.  Still, this old body is a bit out of shape and I can only imagine how I'd feel later...

So moving right along to the next calendar...this one is in our bathroom, where we keep all of our upcoming Dr. appointments and other important events written down so we will see it first thing in the morning.  

Don't you just love Thomas Kinkade artwork? This lovely garden roadway is very inviting. And I love that verse in Proverbs, don't you? How many of us are claiming that still for our grown children? As I was saying to a dear friend just yesterday after our Sunday School class...she was sharing with me some concerns about her adult son and whether or not he will make it to heaven...Here's the verse...that part has been done...and the son, when he was quite young, made a commitment to Christ and was baptized. So even though he may not be living like it right now...we have this promise from God. I told her to claim it by faith and just keep praying for him.  God will never let go of him no matter how far he may wander. I firmly believe that. We may not always get to see the grand reunion of our child with the Lord here on earth, but we will see it through heaven's eyes one day...just keep believing and praying...

And then there is this verse at the bottom of the calendar page:

I am waiting on this Easter lily from last year to open up any day now. This is in the Secret Memorial Garden.  I am getting ready to plant my new lily from this year as well. One day there will hopefully be many lilies blooming in this special place.

I've got a few other flowers waiting to be planted there also...I just need my son with the strong back and arms to dig a few holes for me so they can get planted...

And speaking of flowers...these lovely amaryllis flowers are blooming in the front yard.  I went out to look at them this morning and was taking this picture when I noticed that one of the flowers was missing some of its petals...

Something has been munching on my flowers!!!

I found the culprit (actually, I found 3 of these ugly young Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers on or around my amaryllis plants...one of their favorite foods.

I will only state that these particular ones are no longer there. And if any of their cousins come calling, they will soon be "dismissed" as well. They have a voracious appetite and will eat your beautiful plants in no time at all. Sorry, buster! Not this time!!

Now on to more pleasant thoughts again...

Here is my other favorite calendar, the Teapot calendar that my sister gives me each year for Christmas...it's a tradition that I hope won't change! I love these calendars and their beautiful pictures of all different kinds of teapots. They often include recipes and other interesting histories of the teapot shown or of the time period from which it came:

And there is always some kind of pleasant quote about the lovely art of tea time.  I like this one in particular below:

Speaking of tea time...I told you in my last post HERE about the lovely visit I had with my blogging friend Debbi from Debbi's Front Porch. Although we did not have "tea time" per se', we did drink iced tea while we visited and had such a wonderful wonderful time.  Debbi is a very loving and kind and thoughtful person, and she loves to give gifts. It's just her nature.  I already shared a little about that in the previous post, but I didn't show you this:

She knows how much I love having tea parties, and she found this beautiful antique china sugar bowl and creamer and wanted me to have them for my tea parties. Aren't they gorgeous?

And here's our "little girls", my Lily Grace, and Debbi's Tracie, and Amybelle, along with Bailey the puppy, enjoying our visit...

Another thoughtful gift was this book

"The Tea Party Book"

It is primarily a book filled with wonderful ideas for tea parties for children, with all kinds of fun things to do for party decorations, favors, and recipes that even a child can make (with a little help from Mom).

I love it. And since I don't have a little girl child to have tea parties with, I may just have to use this for future adventures with Lily Grace.  I know I promised she was going to write her own post about our visit, but I haven't been able to sit down with her and get it done yet...so thought I might as well share this part now while it is fresh on my mind.

I just love these ideas, don't you?  I may have to adopt some little children to have tea parties with.

Or, maybe we could just be little children again and enjoy them ourselves??? Why not?

Oh, but that' not all! Our dear friends also raise chickens!  

"Beauty, Polly Anna, Blondie, and big Goldie" provided us with some delicious and very fresh

"real chicken eggs".  (that's what I call eggs that I know came straight from some real happy chickens that are loved and cared for by sweet people who enjoy raising their chickens. Happy chickens produce the best eggs!)

Aren't they lovely?  And they sure taste good! There's nothing better than fresh farm eggs!

Back to the Secret Memorial Garden again for a minute...

I looked out the window this morning and this was the view in the garden:

One of our neighborhood cats was sitting and watching the birds, 

and more importantly, watching this one:

Thankfully Mom and Dad Crane were close by so "Colt" was not in any danger. But  I wanted you to see how big he is getting now.  And you can see a more defined wing on his side.  Not sure when his wings will be big enough to fly, but for now he's just eating and eating and growing and growing and growing!

Now, back to what's going on with me personally...I know many of you were wondering if I would get to go visit with our other blogging friends on Saturday...Well, no, I didn't get to go, but they sent me this picture of them together:

You may have already seen this on their posts if you know these wonderful ladies....and if you don't, you need to go visit their blogs and get acquainted. They are lovely women who mean so much to me.

Terri "Your Friend From Florida", Barbara, "Sweet Tea and Sandals", and Linda, "Just Simply Linda".

I was very sad not to be able to go, but to answer your other question that you probably have, yes I did go to the Doctor on Friday. I was very pleased that I actually got to see someone different than before. He is a P.A., but I think he ought to be the doctor. He took his time and listened to my concerns and was not so quick to just dismiss me with strong medicines that would take more than a month to work. He recognized the problem right away and tried a different approach.  However, what he prescribed involved a muscle relaxer and some prednisone, and I wasn't too sure how I would react and be able to drive an hour and a half away to have lunch with our friends, and my husband was not able to take me, and so I sadly made the decision to not go to meet the "girls". It was the right choice, as I found that the medicine did make me rather jittery and tired that first day and I probably would have driven off the road at some point. LOL.  But the good news is, I am adapting to the medicine and have not had the bad headaches since I started taking it!  So I am hopeful that we are on the right track and that I will be getting back to "normal" (whatever that is) soon.

And I was happy to be able to go to church yesterday, as my hubby was preaching!

Our Pastor was out of town on vacation, so he asked if my hubby would fill in for him. He was very pleased to do so. He doesn't get too many opportunities to preach anymore, and it's good for him to do this.  God truly blessed and the service was wonderful.  Praise God! This service wasn't pre-recorded like our others are, so it will just have to be in our memory!

Although here is nice picture that my friend Debbi took of us the other evening when we were out to dinner with them. We are so thankful for good friends and God's blessing.

I will finish with these thoughts for today:

Psalm 28:6-7

"6 Blessed be the Lord,

Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

And with my song I will praise Him."

Amen.

Happy Merry Month of May everyone!!