Last Saturday of 2023

 Hey! Did you know this was the last Saturday of 2023?  Yep, it sure is!  And the other night I took a picture of the last full moon of 2023:

Yesterday morning hubby wanted pancakes for breakfast. I haven't made pancakes at home in a long time. We usually get pancakes when we go out to breakfast at our church community breakfast once a month, so I really don't need to make them! But we missed the last breakfast a couple of weeks ago because hubby wasn't feeling well, and well, I guess he just had a hankering for them, so here they are:

I also added blueberries from my stash of frozen blueberries from our local blueberry farm from this past summer.  They were pretty doggone good, if I do say so myself!

I also had a cup of "Gingerbread Joy" Christmas tea one afternoon...'tis the season for something a little more interesting than my normal plain black Lipton tea.

Let's see, what else has been going on this week?  Well, today is our sweet daughter in love Rose's birthday! Since our plans for our extended family "Christmas/New Year's gathering" was moved from today to Monday, we still wanted to do something special with Rose.  We left it up to her to decide where she would like to go out to lunch.  At first the plan was we would go to a BBQ restaurant in a neighboring town.  But Rose and Benton both have had a very busy and tiring week at work and neither one was feeling really great this morning, so we opted to just have a simple lunch here at home and have a low-key birthday celebration.  She didn't really want a cake, so I baked an apple crisp, and after a lunch of homemade broccoli cheese soup and deli meat/cheese sandwiches with lettuce and tomato, we had some warm apple crisp with whipped cream for dessert.  Here's the pictures from her birthday "party".

I know it doesn't look like there's very much apple crisp in the bowl. Well, the apples really shrunk when they cooked down, (and the bowl was too big to begin with). But it was plenty for the four of us, and it really was good on this very chilly day.

Yes, Rose has one more year before the big 5-0!  We'll have to plan something much grander for next year.

Her really "exciting" gift was some new "Pioneer Woman" dishtowels and utensils in a nice metal container.  The best gift was in the card/envelope. This was just something to wrap up and open, but I know for myself that I am always needing some new fresh dishtowels in the kitchen. I often use them until they are practically rags.

I thought this one was especially cute: I love you like biscuits and gravy". Here in the south that's a real thing.

In between lunch and dessert some of us took a quick nap as we were pretty tired...and it was nap time, after all!

Someone wanted to sit in Grandma's lap...

I'm sitting here holding Sugar in my lap and looking at the new doggie beds on the floor that were Christmas gifts for the grandpuppies, and thinking so much for that idea! LOL.   (Yes, that's Benton watching football and trying to stay awake).

And looky here:  Rose was napping on the couch and Spice was snuggled up next to her...

She'd peek her head up to look at her sister Sugar with me just to make sure that she wasn't missing anything, and then lay back down where we couldn't see her.

Yeah, they are a little bit spoiled, but we do enjoy them.  And kind of  like grandchildren...we enjoy them and spoil them and then they get to go back home with their "parents".  LOL.

Okay, this morning we took our last walk in the woods for 2023 (most likely).   It was 40 degrees, but at least the wind wasn't blowing so much and the sun was shining, so it wasn't too bad at all. Rather refreshing actually. 

Time for a nature lesson:  I've been noticing lately on our walks these little mounds of dirt spaced out all along the road.  They are too small to be a gopher mound, so I had to look them up to see what could be making these unusual mounds of dirt.

If you look closely in this picture, you will see the little mounds of dirt spaced out:

So I used my "Google Lens" app on my cell phone to take a picture of them and then search for what they could be.  HERE is a link to the story behind these piles of dirt.  And another link: They are the Florida Deepdigger Scarab Beetles.  If you click on those links you will get more information and a picture of what they look like.  Very interesting little critters that do this digging only during the winter months here in North Florida.  I didn't see any beetles on this walk, but I have seen them in the warmer months.  

Here's another interesting picture...this is Goldenrod gone to seed. I thought it kind of looked like it was covered in frost because we did have a frost warning this morning, but no, it's just  the was goldenrod looks when it is finished being 'golden'.  

And also there are signs of new growth already on our pine trees in the woods:  These little seed pods are full of pollen too...and so before you know it we will have yellow pine pollen to deal with again...

When I was taking a walk around our own little woods along the shores of Still Waters Pond, I saw some pretty mushrooms:

This one was actually a very pretty shade of purple, but the sun was shining on it so you can't really see how pretty it was.

And then there were these lovely orange colored mushrooms:

And here is an interesting crop of fungi growing on this dead branch which had fallen from a tree.

Funny thing, that evening hubby was asking me if I had any mushrooms to put in a salad. I said no, but I knew where I could find some in the woods, but he declined. LOL.  No, I would never attempt to figure out what kind of mushrooms in the woods are safe to eat.   Maybe if we were starving I might study up on it, but for now I think I will pass on that delicacy that could be deadly!

Safely back inside the house there have been some sweet little moments...Lily Grace (a.k.a. The Adventures of Lily Grace) received some very nice gifts for Christmas from her "Auntie" in S.C., (who is actually kind of like her "fairy godmother" who loves to send her fun things).  This same dear friend also sent me some nice little Christmas gifts as well, and one was that book you see on the left, "The Blessing of Friendship", which is truly a very lovely book between friends. I love it so much.

And also this book, "The Best Loved Doll", which is a very nice story about a little girl who went to a party where the children were told to bring a doll, either a very old doll, or a doll who could do some special things, or a very beautifully dressed doll, and there would be prizes given for the best of each category.  This little girl had several very nice dolls who could easily have won the prize in any of those areas, but she chose to take her favorite sweet old doll that was obviously very well "loved", based on her condition of a rather worn dress and some little bandages on her cheeks, etc.  When the lady who was giving out the prizes saw this doll, she realized that there needed to be a prize for "the Best Loved Doll", and of course this little girl and her doll won that prize. Sorry to be a story spoiler, but well, I couldn't help it.  

As most of you are aware, I have several dolls and they are all special and unique in their own way...and they have been gifted to me by wonderful people throughout the years of my life.  I keep them not because of their rarity or antiquity or particular beauty, but because each one has a history of some kind or another because of where it came from or who it may represent.  I know if you've followed me a long time you most likely already know the story of this doll seen below, "Baby Elva".  Here she is all dressed up in her Christmas outfit...

If you don't know her history, HERE is a link to the history of this sweet doll. and how she was originally sent to me, and by whom. That story in itself is quite amazing.

But HERE is a link to the story of why she is named "Baby Elva", and why her story is so important.  I neglected to write anything this past week on December 27th,  which would have been the 128th birthday of my Grandmother, Elva Sowers Smith Hill Mursch.  I did some extensive genealogical research into my grandmother's history a few years ago, in 2020, during the pandemic, and in honor of what would have been her 125th birthday. Because my grandmother was adopted as an infant, it was quite an interesting and eye-opening search...so if you click on that link just above you can read about that if you wish.  It's quite a story, and I am thankful for Ancestry.com and DNA research for being able to discover the real story behind my Grandmother's birth and life.

Well, it/'s time to wrap this up for tonight.  Tomorrow will be New Year's Eve, the last day of 2023, and the last Sunday as well.  We will be going to church and then plan to come home and rest up before the big gathering of family here on Monday. Our son Scott plans to come home and spend the night with us and maybe bake some more cookies...we shall see if he really wants to do that or not. We still haven't eaten all the cookies he baked last time and I had to put some in the freezer so they will still be good for Monday. 

Some have asked me if I have chosen my "One Word" for 2024 yet.  I think I have narrowed it down, but I was surprised when I went back and checked my words over the past 12 or more years of doing this that I have already used a variation of both words I was thinking seriously about using this year.  Maybe I need to go back and do them over again, because obviously I must not have learned everything I needed to learn if I can't remember that I'd already used them! LOL.  So I am still praying about this and trying to "listen" to God's voice telling me which way to go.

Isaiah 30:21 says: 

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,”

The Bible tells us to Ask, Seek, and Knock...and "to him who knocks, it will be opened."

Matthew 7:7-8 says:

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

(based on Revelation 3:6-8)

And so, as we await the beginning of another new year, the "opening of doors that no man can shut"...I pray for God's direction in many things...not just the choosing of a new word for the year...as that may seem a bit trivial in light of all the things that are most important in life,  but I seek His direction in how He wants me to live my life in the new  year...what things are most important to Him that He wants me to do?  Are there new steps of faith that I may be asked to take? Will there be challenges to my mind, my body, my life that will require me to walk even closer with the Lord each day than I have been doing?  No one knows what the future may hold.  Every day is a new day, every week a new week...etc....and all I know right now is that I must be willing to accept God's will and follow Him wherever He may lead me. I do not fear the unknown, because I know Who is leading the way.  So every day will be a new adventure with God.  Nothing can be better than that.

Okay, my friends, it's definitely time to close this post on this last Saturday of 2023. If I don't get around to writing again tomorrow, I will see you next year!  Until then, be at peace and be blessed. Amen.