Friday Foto Friends Ducks and Birds and Miscellaneous Stuff!

The Ring Necked Ducks are back! I first told you about them three years ago HERE and again HERE,  and as I went back and re-read those posts from exactly three years ago, I was amazed to see that all of the same things are happening again right now just like they did then! All of these pictures are current, but if you go back and read the previous linked 3 year old posts you will see what I mean!

These fun little diving ducks haven't been back over the past couple of years, except for maybe one or two of them by themselves.  And now here they are again, in a big group, males and females...all having so much fun swimming round and round in circles and diving down and up for their food. It's like they are playing "marco polo" in a pool.  Please forgive so many photos...I just can't stop watching them!

We are so thankful for our Still Waters Pond and all the beauty that God provides for us to enjoy.

Psalm 27:7-8 NKJV

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Psalm 28:6-7 NKJV

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.

And the next surprise was to see Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird make an appearance!  They were checking out the birdhouse...I'm not sure if they are ready to start building a nest yet, but time will tell.

Spring must be in the air, even though it is still technically winter!

And again, here are the wild plum blossoms. I went back to check on them since we had a little freeze the other morning, and they look just fine. 

And yes, when you look back at those early posts, you will see they were blooming at the same time then as now. So I guess everything is right on time and in it's season...

Song of Songs 2:10-13 NIV

"10 My beloved spoke and said to me,

“Arise, my darling,

my beautiful one, come with me.

11 See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;

the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one, come with me.”

Switching gears a bit...Yesterday hubby said he would like some kind of oatmeal bars to snack on...some kind of "healthy snack".  So I looked up some recipes and this is what I came up with:

Easy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars Recipe 

I like that they are no-bake bars! They should be kept in the refrigerator, however, because the peanut butter and honey mixture might become too soft if left out at room temperature. They are very good. I added some raisins and lightly salted peanuts to the recipe to give them more texture and flavor. The recipe also called for drizzled melted chocolate over them, but I didn't do that as I really don't eat chocolate and to me that would take away the "healthy part". LOL.  They would kind of remind you of those chocolate peanut butter no bake oatmeal cookies we used to get at school, but without the chocolate.  (Remember those?) I think this qualifies as a healthy snack. Oatmeal, honey, peanut butter, cinnamon, raisins and peanuts! Fiber and protein and no cholesterol! 

Today was a long day, and that is why I didn't post earlier. We had to go to St. Augustine for a Dr. appt. (hubby), and that took longer than we expected. I had hoped to do a little bit of sight-seeing along the way, but there was no time by the time we got out of there and it was time for a late lunch already. So we tried a new to us place for lunch on the way home: Culver's.

  It's basically a fast food hamburger place, but they make the burgers fresh, never frozen, and the other stuff is fresh and good too. We both decided to get the fried jumbo shrimp instead of burgers (I was shocked! Hubby always wants a burger when they are supposed to be good ones! LOL).

I like the cup:

The food was good and I would go back...but I still prefer a place to sit down and be waited on as opposed to fast food style. They did bring our food to us after we ordered and sat down.

I guess they are based in Wisconsin. Hey, our blogging friend Nana Diana Takes a Break was just writing about the fact that she lives in Wisconsin and she listed some things that are special about her state. She didn't mention Culver's, however, so Diana, maybe you need to check this out if it is near you!

So on our way home I was thinking I needed some real photos for today's post, but hubby was anxious to get home. So I just snapped a few pictures as we drove through the city of Palatka after making a wrong turn because of road work and having to detour around the town...and this was a much better view than the way he was going anyway...That's a quick glimpse of the St. John's River at the riverfront park downtown.

Here's one of the big very old homes near the riverfront, and hey! It's for sale! Any takers?

And those of you who have driven through the old part of Palatka will recognize this walkthrough "tunnel" under the railroad tracks:

Well folks, that's all for today. It's dark out there now. I did have some beautiful sunset pictures that I took a few minutes ago, but somehow I lost them when I was trying to post them into my computer from my phone. You'll just have to take my word for it, it was a very beautiful sunset tonight! I am hoping the pink/red skies will mean that we are going to get some rain tomorrow, because it is getting very dry and smoky out there. Must be some woods burning somewhere nearby, which is always a concern this time of year.

Some final words of wisdom for today:

Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV

3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, 

and show you great and mighty things, 

which you do not know.’

My "One Word", Listen, doesn't just apply to me listening, but also to the wonderful promise that God also listens to us when we call upon Him...and not only that, but He will answer us when we call, and show us "great and mighty things, which you do not know."  Oh, how great is our God! Amen? Amen.

Good Night dear friends.