Friday Foto Friends, It's June!

 Happy First Friday of June! Seems like we just started May the other day...and here we are already on the 2nd day of June. Guess I'll start off with my June calendar pictures to get this month rolling along:

This sweet little Susan Branch calendar always has such cute pictures. I love the Vintage Hall red pitcher on the calendar. It is similar to the one I have below:

And speaking of teapots...here's the picture from this month on the Teapot Calendar:

I love the interesting quotes they feature...this one from Jane Austen:

Does anyone purchase "sponge cake" anymore?  And have you ever had one like this particular one below?  Sounds interesting...

Now we move along to the Thomas Kinkade calendar, and as always there is a lovely painting that makes you sit and ponder the beauty captured by this artist.  I also appreciate the different scripture quotes that are given each month...this one is particularly comforting...

and this one is a good challenge...

Moving into my bathroom, this is a lovely photo which I will name "Tiptoe through the tulips with me..."

Now we come to my favorite, the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar.  These paintings always captivate my imagination and take me back to a kinder,  gentler time...

This was aptly named "Secret Spot".   After looking at this picture I felt driven outside to my own "secret spot" in the "Secret Memorial Garden".  It was a lovely afternoon, with a gentle breeze as I sat on the swing in the shade, watching the bluebirds come and go to their house:

In these pictures Mrs. Bluebird is sitting in her doorway, and Mr. Bluebird is perched on the pole above the blue teapot. They are literally having a conversation with each other, chattering back and forth and enjoying the beautiful day.

I hope you can see them.  They let me get pretty close. Sadly, I didn't have my "real camera" with me, only my cell phone, so I couldn't get a better closeup. But I was thankful they let me get this near without flying away.

This is an earlier photo taken the other day, when they were still building that nest. You can see who's doing all the work here...yes, that's the mama...

I think the nest building is complete now, and they just seem to be waiting for the eggs to hatch.

Now, changing gears a bit, I bought myself a gift today...a new outdoor wildlife camera. It was quite inexpensive at Ollie's, and even came with the 8 batteries that are required, so that about paid for itself.  I've set it up out on the deck, looking out toward the pond, hoping to see what kind of "night life" is out there that we've been missing.  So stay tuned for further developments.

Our tomato is still growing...I hope it will be ready to eat soon! I wish I had more. There is one more smaller one growing, but it doesn't look like it's going to get very big.  Next time I will plant more and do it earlier.

Here's a random photo of one of the Sand Hill Crane colts, either Pat or Val, taken the other day. You can see how his colors are changing into the more gray feathering of an adult.  And there's a little bit of a reddish tinge on the cap of his head. They sure are getting big.

Oh, we have been enjoying the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds coming and going to the feeder. This is a male. It seems as though the females came first, and now we mostly see the males. Not sure how many different ones there are as we only see one at a time.

This Great White Egret was enjoying being perched in the trees on the island:

She sat there quite a while, just taking a sunbath I guess!

If you read my last post here the other day, you saw pictures from our church Memorial Day picnic. You didn't see this one...Our pastor's wife sent me this picture that she had taken of me with our son Benton and my hubby.  Rose had to work that day (at Home Depot), so she couldn't come.  We had a great time with our wonderful church family.

Here's another picture she shared...her hubby, our Pastor, doing the grilling of the hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone! He definitely exemplifies a true servant in every way. We are blessed to have him and his wonderful wife at our church. 

By the way, here was last Sunday's message on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) Our choir is singing "Spirit Song" at the beginning of the video.

"O let the Son of God enfold you with His Spirit and His love

Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul

O let Him have the things that hold you, and His Spirit, like a dove

Will descend upon your life and make you whole.

Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill Your lambs

Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill Your lambs

O come and sing this song with gladness as your hearts are filled with joy

Lift your hands in sweet surrender to His name

O give Him all your tears and sadness; give Him all your years of pain

And you’ll enter into life in Jesus’ name

Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill Your lambs

Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill Your lambs"

I appreciated all of your wonderful comments on my last post. I haven't been posting much this week and have been slow to getting around to reading. It's been a bit of a stressful week in some ways and I was also under the weather for a couple of days. But I am better now and very thankful to God for His healing power and for His Holy Spirit, Who comes and fills His lambs and gives us peace and wholeness and much joy.  Where would we be without God's Holy Spirit?  Jesus promised to send Him to us when He left earth for heaven, and promised that He would be here to comfort and help us always. 

John 14:15-17

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

The more we watch the news and see the things that are happening in the world today, we can understand what Jesus meant when He said in verse 17 "whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him:"   It breaks our hearts to see the blindness of our world, especially in our own country.  All the more reason that while we are still free and able to speak the truth here, we need to take a stand for the truth that is found in Christ and His Word.  I make no apologies for sharing God's Word  here in my blog.  My prayer is that it will help to encourage, inspire and enlighten us as we go about our daily lives. 

16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes..."

Romans 1:16

So, that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful weekend my friends. I will try to get around to visiting more consistently. I love you all and always look forward to what you have to share. Thank you for being there! We need each other!!