Good November Tuesday 4 Morning to you...

Good Morning! Not only is it Tuesday, but it is the first day of November! 

And as per my normal routine at the beginning of a new month, I turn the pages on my calendars to see what's there...and this picture on my Country Seasons calendar with paintings by John Sloane really caught my eye and took my breath away...

That scene just seemed to leap at me from a place deep inside my childhood memories.  When I was a little girl we lived on a farm in Pennsylvania. Now, I didn't live so long ago that we dressed like the ladies above, but everything else is the way I remember it. Me, being the youngest of four children, had the glorious joy of having my Mama all to myself on those lovely days while my other siblings were off to school. I don't remember a lot from those days because this was all before I turned six, because by then we had moved to Florida and I started school as well.  But until then, every day my Mama and I and our faithful dog Laddie, would take a walk down the long lane to the mailbox and back to get the mail. I doubt that we carried picnic baskets as it wasn't quite that long of a walk that we needed to stop for lunch (lol), but it was a beautiful walk past the fields and some woods, and it seemed pretty long to me! Those are sweet and precious memories to me and I feel so blessed to have had that special time with my Mama and our sweet doggy.  Once we moved to Florida everything seemed to change.

When we sold the farm, the animals all went with it. Our dear Laddie was given to the new farm owner and left behind when we packed up our remaining belongings and headed south to a new world. When we arrived in Florida we no longer had the vast expanse of fields and woods to explore, and certainly no long lane to walk together each day for the mail.  We moved our family of six into a small two bedroom apartment temporarily until more permanent housing could be secured. And soon my Mama had to go to work to help support our family, and I went to school with the rest of my siblings each day. It was the beginning of a new life for our family...one that had its ups and downs like it does for everyone. 

Eventually my daddy was able to build us a home in the country, but it still wasn't the same as the farm. My Mama continued to work as a secretary for the rest of her working days, but she always longed for the farm in her heart and talked about it often. But life was good and God blessed our family in so many ways.

So now we come to today's Tuesday 4, which is about PETS.  

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday

Let's talk about pets okay? Some people love them, some can't be bothered and some dislike them. Where do you stand?  



1 Do you have pets? No, we do not have any pets currently. We have moved a lot in our lifetime, and when we had pets, it seemed like we ended up having to give them away because we were moving to a location that would not allow them or for some other reason, and so after too many heartbreaks over our dear pets, we just gave up on having them.  We do have our son and daughter in law's two sweet Pekinese pups, which we call our "Grandpups", Sugar and Spice.  They come to visit us frequently, or we go to visit them at their house, and that helps fill the "pet" void in our lives.

 

2. Did you have a pet growing up? Tell us about it please. See my opening story about Laddie at the farm. At that farm we also had other dogs and cats.  Bullet was an older Beagle, and we also had Cherry, a young Beagle pup.  Cherry sadly got run over by a tractor or something, and Bullet was old and I think he died of old age before we left the farm. My sister had lots of cats (she still does...she's the cat person in the family).  When we moved to Florida we did eventually get another Beagle, "Colonel", and I loved him so much.  But something happened to him...we were never sure...he disappeared around hunting season and could have been stolen, or he used to swim in the canal where there were possibly alligators. I prefer to think he was stolen by a hunter as he enjoyed hunting squirrels and rabbits all the time.  

We were not permitted to have pets in the house, so they had to live outdoors, which of course was not ideal in Florida where there were other predators about, so having pets really wasn't a real pleasant situation for us.

3. Are pets too much trouble, or , do you find neighbors pets to be a problem?

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood kitty, who showed up for Halloween last night...I don't know who she belongs to...another neighbor feeds her, but I don't know that she really has a "home".

She likes to sit under our bird feeder and watch the birds come and go, hoping for an "opportunity".

So from that perspective, I find her to be a bit of a problem, but not enough to be mean. The cat is friendly and actually came and rubbed my legs while I was sitting on the porch waiting for trick or treaters last night...so there you go...

4. Do you think dogs make good housemates, watchdogs? Do you think women living alone need a dog for security or companionship?  I think dogs do make good housemates/watchdogs. If I lived alone I might consider having one.  But for our current situation we are better off not having that responsibility or extra commitment.

You can click HERE to see what our other friends have to say about this subject.

Now back to November....the month to express our "Thankfulness".

I will soon be exchanging the more Octoberish decorations for the Pilgrims and Turkeys, but not today. Gotta get a move on...

My Teapot calendar has this pretty Japanese teapot for November:

And has this to say about tea, which I tend to agree with. I don't drink wine or coffee, but occasionally love a good cup of hot Ovaltine. (I can't drink pure chocolate).

Most of all, we should in every month look for opportunities to 

"Be still and know that I am God..."

 

And to give Him the glory and honor and praise for all that He has created for us to enjoy in this life.

We are blessed with so much beauty and majesty around us, and yes, even sweet pets can be a reason to be thankful and give Him praise. They are a gift to us from God for us to enjoy while we can.

Happy November Everyone!

Here's Lily Grace, wishing you all a Happy Halloween from last night...

and a few other of our goblins...

A great time was had by all.

Bye for now!!