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, August 6, 2022

Saturday Night Review & Blessings...


If you read my previous post HERE,, then you will know the story of this rose.  This is how it looks tonight, August 6th. Tomorrow is that special anniversary date, and yes, it is blooming beautifully just in time. A very special "heavenly gift" indeed. 


So what have I been doing since the last time I wrote? Well, let's see, besides helping out quite a bit at Dixie Cottage, we've also been eating a lot of good food at  Dixie Cottage.  I know, it's not an eating establishment, but one thing about this community, people love to eat, and we don't have a lot of restaurants to choose from, so there are many food trucks and other unique food tents that pop up here and there, like this one:
"Wicked Good Hot Dogs"
We've seen this tent usually near our local Dollar General store on the weekends and some weekdays, and my son spoke to the ladies who run it and asked if they would like to set up their tent here in our parking lot on Friday for a change.  You may be asking yourself what is a "wicked good hot dog"?
Well, if you've ever visited New England, Maine in particular, you will know that one of their most popular slang terms to describe anything they really really like is that it is "wicked good".  So we knew when we saw this tent that the proprietors must be from Maine, and sure enough we were right.

Of course I had to try it for myself...they have many delicious options for the hot dogs...sauerkraut (which is what I have below), chili and cheese, peppers and onions, red pepper relishes, etc., etc.  Oh, and they also bake their own special hot dog rolls, New England style, with the opening on top instead of on the side. It is very difficult to find that kind of hot dog bun here in the south, so they make their own! That was kind of the "icing on the cake", if you ask me.
I didn't think to take a picture until I was half way through with my hot dog. It was that good. Oh, and the drinks! Wow! They freeze several different selections of drinks in that special sippy pouch, and they are also "wicked good". My choice was fresh squeezed real lemonade! I haven't had that in ages. (not since the last time I was at the Fryeburg Fair in Maine several years ago!)  

I no sooner had posted about this on Facebook than I had a message from a former school friend that she and her husband were on their way to Dixie Cottage! We had actually gone home for a little break when I saw her comment, and so we jumped back in the car and drove back over to the store to meet them! Thankfully it is only about 3 miles from our house.  This particular friend lives in a nearby community about 20 minutes away.  She's the same dear friend who brought me a whole big box full of a series of Amish Mystery books to read back in 2020 (just at the beginning of the pandemic) while I was recuperating from some major surgery.  What a wonderful surprise to see her again! She and her sweet hubby also enjoyed some "wicked good hot dogs" while we visited back in the little break room that Ben and Rose have set up in the back of the store, and then they had their little tour of the store and before they left I remembered that we must have a picture taken of us together:

I never dreamed that this store would become the "gathering place" for old school friends from my home town, but this was the second one this week! What a blessing! I wonder who will be next? Of course, you don't have to be an old school friend to come and visit.  Any wonderful friend will do! We are finding that we are making new friends already here! What a blessing!

So now, today was another culinary adventure! Unbeknownst to our son, there was another food truck coming to set up business for the day.  Apparently this BBQ truck has been setting up here every other Saturday for quite some time. The previous tenants of our building were not open on Saturdays, so  the BBQ truck could make use of the parking lot without any competition for space (except for the Barber Shop, which is on the end of our building).  However, Dixie Cottage is open for business on Saturdays, so the BBQ truck had to move over and share the space.  Really it wasn't bad...kind of a symbiotic relationship..."you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours", or something like that. One business attracts visitors to the other, so it's all good.


And of course, we had to sample their food as well.  They had smoked ribs, chicken, brisket, pork, etc.
So I picked up chicken and some potato salad and coleslaw for our supper tonight. It was also "wicked good". LOL.

However, hubby and I decided we can't keep eating all this food out all week long. One day when we were there alone all day we ordered take-out for lunch from Nana's Country Cafe' across the road. (Hamburgers).  Starting next week we will pack our lunches when we have to be at the store all day. Otherwise we'll be going broke from too much good food.

But it's all good. We've had a great week, and the store did surprisingly well for their first week of business here in this new location. This morning people came to pick up the large pieces of furniture that they had purchased earlier in the week, and the store was looking a bit bare.  So Ben and Rose are busily trying to get more inventory ready for sale before they reopen on Tuesday. It's a good problem to have, but it is also kind of stressful for them.  Hopefully things will fall into a good pattern and they will be able to maintain their stock a bit better as time goes by.

Meanwhile, here on Still Waters Pond, life goes on as usual.
This Great Blue Heron
and this White Egret are busily "shopping" for their supper from the waters of the pond this evening.
I don't think they have any worries about supplies running out or the prices being too high.
God provides for them and they are grateful for His provision.


And so are we...grateful for God's provision in so many ways. 


Lamentations 3:22-25
22 "Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him."


Why not sing this beautiful favorite hymn along with us :

Great Is Thy Faithfulness (song above by Carrie Underwood and CeCe Wynans

1 Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
there is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

2 Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. 
[Refrain]

3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! 
[Refrain]



Thank you for coming along on this adventure this week. Tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and we will be worshiping at our church and hopefully taking some time to rest.
I hope you will be able to do the same.
Have a blessed SONday tomorrow! 
Good Night and God Bless.


 

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I hope to see that grin for real sometime soon. Let me know when is good for you. Ok?

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  2. Oh gosh, now you have me soooo hungry for some barbecue or a wicked good chilidog. Bare spots in the store because of sales is a great problem to have, but I get that it does put the pressure on to produce more. I'll pray along side you that things fall into an easy and less stressful routine. Beautiful neighbors you have there at the pond. Thanks for giving us a peek. Have a blessed Sunday!

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  3. Oh those hotdogs in the homemade rolls! I'd love to have one, but it is ridiculous to go to Florida for a wicked good hot dog. 😉 The BBQ looks good, too. You'll have to plan a monthly meal or something. So tempting!

    How wonderful to be seeing your friends. Hope many more drop by.

    Oh my! I love that hymn. I prefer CeCe's singing over Carrie's, but they both sound nice. Sort of like comparing flowers or blogs or anything.

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  4. I love that hymn!! Amen!! I am so happy for the great success of Dixie Cottage in their first week of business!! I know that you and John are a blessing to Ben & Rose with all of your help!! xo

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  5. I loved reading this post! I am a huge fan of Maine Cabin Masters and I love their show and one day would love to visit in the Fall/Autumn. All that delicious food. Y U M !!! I love the pond and your hungry visitors. When we walk at the open spaces we often see a few Egret's and there was a pelican swooping down stealing all the fish from the other birds. We haven't seen that greedy bird for a long time but the others still stop by. Oh how I love Carrie Underwood singing all the beautiful hymns. We caught the CMT Fest the other night on TV. So disappointing. I was sad to hear Carrie Underwood screaming out a song. She had such a lovely voice and she has gone out of country music too with whatever they call all that jumbling to loud music. I don't think we watch anymore of those specials. It was sad.
    We have had such hot weather and tonight we were given a reprieve with some nice rain. Someone captured a photo of a beautiful rainbow over the tent at a Mario Murillo revival here in Colorado. Just W O W! God is moving people. A lady from Ohio said the same thing happened there earlier in the week at the revival in her state.Praying hard for all who need prayer and for all of us in this turmoil our country has been experiencing. Have a blessed SONday.

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  6. The rose is gorgeous and the food all looks delicious. But I agree it will be much better on the pocket and on the heart (and health) to start taking packed lunches now that you are through with the hardest part of the new routine. Once Rose and Benton see how the business ebbs and flows int he new location they will hopefully have less stress. Hugs to all.

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  7. Love this success story…love the song.

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  8. So great to hear that Benton and Rose had such a successful week with Dixie Cottage. May they enjoy many more "wicked good" days ahead. :)
    Blessings, Pamela!

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  9. WooHoo, so happy that Dixie Cottage did so well on the first few days of being open. Hope they have many, many, many more great days. Barbecue and hot dogs, sounds like a Texas thing to me (with a Maine flare) taking place in Florida. :) Always enjoy your nature photos around the pond.

    Great is thy faithfulness!
    Great is thy faithfulness!
    Morning by morning new mercies I see;
    all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
    Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
    Amen!!

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  10. What a week y'all enjoyed! Unlike my hubby, I'm not a big fan of hot dogs but yours sounds soooo good. AND I'm besotted with that lemonade. I'm going to look and see if those sippy pouches aren't available at Wal Mart. (If it wasn't for having worked with a gal from Boston, I'd have had no idea about the 'Wicked Good' reference.) Hope you're both getting some well-deserved rest!

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  11. Pam, beautiful photos!!! those hot dogs look delish!. Love the song! that squirrel is pretty brave, I have 3 hummingbirds visiting the feeder haven't gotten a pic as they are very quick. have a new post going up in just a few

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  12. Sounds like you have had a busy but good week.

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  13. I watch Maine Cabin Masters and hear them use the term Wicked Good often.
    I did not realize it was a Maine saying though.
    How nice to have the food trucks close to the store. I hope it continues to draw customers for both the shop and the food trucks. I would be tempted to continue sampling foods!

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  14. Pam, I've been reading most of your posts and just love to wander sloooowly through a stores like Dixie Cottage. My favorite! So happy for you and your family.
    And what is it about food truck and pop up food that seems so much better? Usually so yummy. I love a good sauerkraut hot dog too!

    Sorry for not commenting recently. I have been reading you on my new phone and it is not recognizing me when i comment so it wasn't working. today i specifically grabbed my laptop instead so I could finally leave you a comment. Love you my friend.

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    1. Oh Susie, it is always so good to hear from you...and also I loved the text messages with the picture of your beautiful granddaughter! She is really adorable. I wish you could come sloooowly wander through Dixie Cottage with me...we've been owing each other that visit for how many years???? A long time!!! We keep saying maybe someday... Thank you for popping in. This was a blessing.

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  15. Pam: I am thankful that Dixie Cottage had a good week. Your posts about the food tent and food truck made me hungry. (LOL) It is still hot up here. 92 degrees today. My blog's theme is "Faithfullness" and I included "Great is Thy Faithfulness" as a video on my next offering. Peace and Blessings to you and yours.

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    1. The above comment is from me. I don't know why it didn't post my name.

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  16. The rose is stunning. ((HUGS)) That hot dog looks delicious. The other items from the BBQ looks delicious too!

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  17. I'm so glad to hear that the shop is doing so well! You and your hubby are really helping free up Ben and Rose to build up their inventory. The "wicked good" does indeed look good. There was a flea market near where I lived in Florida that had a concession for hot dogs like that. Delicious!

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  18. It sounds like it has been a yummy few days!!:) I don't even eat hot dogs (although they would easily be one of my hubbie's top three foods!) but you make them sound delicous. We might need to make a road trip just so he can try one!! And how fun to have your friends stopping by - what a blessing! Enjoy the rest of your week!!

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