Saturday Wanderings in December

 Here it is the 2nd day of December, and we are back to shorts and t shirts and AC clicking back on.  We had a couple of days of wintry weather (for Florida), and I truly hoped it would stick around for a while, but I should know better.  I've lived in Florida most of my life, and there's been many a Christmas day that we were wearing shorts instead of ugly Christmas sweaters! LOL.  This morning started out very foggy

And now this afternoon it is just a rather humid, muggy, late fall day on Still Waters Pond.

Mr. Great Blue Heron doesn't seem to mind.  Must be a good day for fishing...

Normally if I step outside he will fly away, but today he just stayed perfectly still, not wanting to lose his place along the shore...

Perhaps he is practicing this scripture verse:  "Be Still and know that I am God..."  Psalm 46:10

All of creation knows that God is always near.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Cardinal was chirping away at me, perhaps inviting me to tea...

Yesterday morning it was Mr. Pileated Woodpecker pecking away and getting my attention:

We do not get to see them very often here as they are usually very quick and fleeting in their search for the perfect tree to find some choice bugs for breakfast.  

 I was happy that I just happened to be looking outside when this one flew in and stayed around long enough for me to find my camera, turn it on, focus, and get a few pictures. 

And then he was gone.

I feel honored and blessed when God provides such beauty for us to behold.  I am thankful that I was listening and paying attention!

If you've followed my blog for a few years you will perhaps remember that when we first moved here to our home beside Still Waters Pond that we had some areas cleared out a little bit so we could have better access to the pond.  This was in addition to the area directly in front of our house, through the little bits of woods that surround our property along the shore.  Over the past few years we haven't been able to maintain those  clearings very well, as the underbrush grows faster than we can keep up with it, and we really don't have the equipment to keep it clear.  But I've been getting anxious to take a little walk down to the pond again through that woodsy area, and mostly there were prickly vines and small bushes in the way.  I took along my pruning shears and managed to clear enough of a trail for me to get through almost to the water:

Take a little walk with me...this is a much easier way than the way I had to do it! LOL.

There are lots of little holly trees along the way

Oh, at last we can see the water!

I love the reflection of the trees over on the little island...

Yeah, it may not seem like much to some, but I really enjoy walking through here and seeing the pond from a different angle.  Each direction has its own natural beauty.

Thankfully I didn't step on this mushroom!  Maybe someone can identify it.  I'm thinking it is a Cortinarius Violaceus, "Violet Cort", but really it looked more brown than violet. However, it may have been more violet when it was fresh.   I don't think it is edible...at least I wouldn't try it even if it was...

This is the top of it...isn't it interesting?

And a little further down the trail was this interesting discovery.  I am thinking it is some kind of "scat" of a wild animal, but I haven't been able to identify it yet. I thought perhaps a deer at first, but now I'm not so sure.  It looks like something has been enjoying eating the berries...

Well, I hope you enjoyed that little walk with me. I find myself wanting to go back again every chance I get. Meanwhile,  our son Scott wasn't able to come home today to get the Christmas things out of the storage shed. He said he will be here tomorrow afternoon.  So I did manage to pull out this one item to put on the front porch...this is the wild grapevine tree that son Benton and I made several years ago from the wild grapevines growing on our property in Salt Springs. It was quite a task to do this, but it has lasted all these years and was well worth the effort.  Today all I've managed to do is re-string some lights on it after removing the old dead ones.  The ornaments are still in the storage shed, so I will have to finish decorating later.  

If there has been any theme to today, it would be:

Yes!  "Let Heaven and Nature Sing!"....as we enter into this time of preparation for the celebration of the Lord's Birth...may we be tuned into all the ways God's creation is singing his praises around us!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come

Let Earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And Heaven and nature sing

And Heaven and nature sing

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns

Let all their songs employ

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness

And wonders of His love

And wonders of His love

And wonders, wonders, of His love

Have a blessed and joyous Advent season!!