Friday Foto Friends: The Month of May and Memories

I cannot believe that the month of May is 3/4 over and I still haven't posted my May calendar pictures! It's just been a very busy month and I haven't done a lot of things I thought I'd do, but a lot of things I never dreamed I'd be doing!  But it's all good. I am very thankful for the ways that God is taking care of so many things and blessing us along the way.

I LOVE the verse on this Thomas Kinkade calendar below:

"For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37  I am claiming that verse by faith.  

Oh, and don't you just love the painting of that beautiful garden gate and cottage?  The name of the cottage is "Hummingbird Cottage".  I guess with all of those beautiful flowers around the hummingbirds do love to come there. Do you see the cat sitting on the brick fence?  I hope he's not waiting for the hummingbirds.  Oh, look again in the background...do you see the deer and their fawn?   So many sweet details in this painting.  I see a swing hanging from the tree...and the sign on the gate post says this was established in 1958.  I would have thought it was much older than that! I guess it was created to look old, like it had been there forever.  I would love to live in such a lovely place, wouldn't you? (I would need to hire a good gardener, however! LOL)

The verse below is written on the bottom of the calendar...another wonderful verse to ponder and give God the glory for all the wonders He has done!

Okay, moving along to the calendar that hangs in my bathroom...a lovely blue picket fence with beautiful red tulips blooming in front! That's a happy little scene as well...

Now this Susan Branch calendar blesses my heart each month when I discover the new pictures on the new month:

"Blue skies smilin' at me, Nothin' but blue skies do I see..."  

I love the cute little red headed girl with her wheelbarrow full of beautiful spring flowers, and the birdie singing that song for her.  Oh! I do love this picture so much. (Thank you, dear friend, who gave this sweet calendar to me. You know who you are, and I hope you see this!)

And I love the little quote above as well.  These things make me smile!!

Now we come to the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar...and I LOVE this painting of the red covered bridge and the beautiful deer and her fawn crossing the stream on the rocks...May must be the season for deer! I know that out there in the woods the deer are giving birth to their fawns and if one is fortunate enough to see a sweet fawn in the spring, you are blessed indeed! I do miss seeing them. When we lived at our last house in the forest we used to see them all the time. 

And last, but certainly not least, is this beautiful picture from my Teapot Calendar...

Isn't that simply lovely?

I found this quote interesting..."...an artist should only eat good things, and should flee from ill food as much as from ill sights."   Not sure what he means by "ill food"...I guess food that is not healthy to eat and not prepared and served in such a way as to make us enjoy and appreciate the "art" of dining. I know I don't always take the time to arrange our food in ways that appeal more to the aesthetics of fine dining, except for on special occasions.  I do always try to set the table appropriately, but with our family/crowd that usually comes to eat here it is more an issue of making sure there's enough food for everyone and then just sitting down together and enjoying the fun and conversation of family and friends being together.  We do sometimes take shortcuts like using paper plates/plastic when there is a large group of us so that we are not stuck in the kitchen forever washing dishes afterwards. (I don't have a dishwasher anymore, but I do have some wonderful people who don't mind pitching in and washing and drying! That's a real blessing and help to me!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed all the lovely photos on the May calendars. I enjoy looking at them throughout the month as I write down our many appointments on them so we can keep track of what, when, and where!  

Speaking of which, yesterday hubby had an appointment out of town, and I always like to take advantage of that opportunity to go out to eat afterwards.  So here we are:

It was mid morning and still too early for the lunch menu, but they did have a BLT on the breakfast menu, so that was my choice (above).  My only complaint was the bacon was way overcooked and was crumbling apart, but it still tasted good. The bun was their "home cooked" fresh bread, which made it all ever tastier.

Hubby had a more traditional breakfast...oh, here he is now! Hello!

No selfies of me. It was probably a bad hair day anyway. LOL.

Speaking of bad hair days, did you see this old photo on my FB page?

This was taken many moons ago at my brother Clifford's house in N.C.   probably around 1978-79.  My niece has been going through a lot of her parents' old photos and scanning them and sending them to family members. I had never seen this one before.  Look at all that hair!  I don't remember that dress, and no, I wasn't "expecting". It was apparently just a comfy, cool dress!  Hubby was nice and tanned as he had been coaching football and teaching elementary P.E., in addition to being a full time pastor at that time.

We were very busy with our three sons and a happy life:

Our three sons above with their cousins. 

L to R: Matthew, (always the cut-up!) Benton, Scotty, Leslie and Sandy, standing on the running board of a car that my brother Clifford had restored. He started restoring cars when he was just a teenager, and I think this was his masterpiece.  

Here's Matthew "driving" the car, while little Scotty looks like he wants to get out of there! LOL.

Some sweet memories of days long gone by...

These next two pictures were taken at the same place, but a year or two later. We used to pass through N.C. on our way back and forth between Ohio and Florida when we had moved up to Ohio for hubby to attend Seminary and later pastor a church up there.  So when we were able to come back home to Florida to visit the grandparents, we'd often stop at my brother's home in N.C. for the night.

Here below are our three sons being goofy, with a little help from their cousin Leslie...while "Daddy" sits there in the background doing what appears to be counting some money!  LOL. Probably making sure we had enough to get back home. LOL.

Benton, Scott on top of them, and Matthew, with Leslie doing the "bunny ears" in the background. Crazy kids! Happy days.

Here's another fun pose...I hope they all got out of that unscathed....LOL.  (And hubby is still counting his money. LOL).

Going back in time even farther... (below)This was another Mursch family portrait...circa January 1969. This was before I was married, although if my calculations are correct about the time, I had just gotten engaged! I was told this picture was taken on my mother's birthday, which was January 6th, and I think we got engaged on January 5th. (I'd need to go check my old scrapbook to make sure of that date...lol)

So here we are:

My Dad, My Mother, Me, my "little big sister Doris", (now you see why I call her that), my brother Clifford, and my brother Russell.  Another side note, my brother Clifford and his wife Caryl were expecting their first baby when this picture was taken, and she (Sandy) was born just 3 days later! That may explain the solemn look on his face in these next two picture. He had a lot on his mind about becoming a new father in a few days! 

Here we are again, standing in our "stair step order", the oldest down to the youngest. We used to be like stair steps, until I outgrew my "little big sister" Doris! LOL.  Another side note: I just remembered that my sister Doris had just given birth to their 2nd child, David, on December 1st. He was 2 &1/2 months early and weighed just 3 lb. 3 oz.   I am thinking that he must have come home from the hospital by the time this photo was taken and that is why she's smiling so big. He was definitely a miracle baby, and is a robust 50+ something years old today.  What a blessing!

Here's the original "stair step photo", circa 1953:

Well, with all of this reminiscing, I guess it's time to get back to the present and get a move on for the day. 

I do hope you are having a wonderful month of May...

and no matter what challenges or obstacles may come into your lives, remember:

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37.

God said it, and I believe it, and that settles it for me!

Amen.