Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 It's that week in between Christmas and New Years Day, when we try to play catch up on the "normal stuff" after the Christmas rush and activities, and prepare our minds and hearts and bodies for whatever may lie ahead in the New Year.  2023 is soon becoming a "Closed Door", and 2024 is now an "Open Window", with a brand new blank slate waiting to be filled with whatever adventures God has in store for us.  Peering through the window right now I can't see too far ahead.  There's still a kind of a veil between now and then...

Scenes from my walk to the shore of Still Waters Pond through the woodsy veil.

But soon the veil will begin to open and we will be able to see what new adventures await us...

(I enjoyed a little walk down through the woods to the pond...the foliage is dying out and it is easier to get through now without having so many branches and vines in the way)

Still a little challenging, but isn't that the way life is?  There will always be challenges in our pathway, but "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Much better view!

Looking around in another direction, toward the little island in Still Waters Pond:

 One of my favorite Scripture passages for the New Year:

Isaiah 43: 18-19

18 "Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert."

Today was rather cloudy all day, with intermittent bouts of light rain. It was in the low 60's most of the day, but cooler weather is on its way. The next few days will see lows in the low 40's/high 30's and highs in the 50's and low 60's.  So for us here in Florida, winter is upon us.  It seems as though the birds are well aware that change is on the way. There was a LOT of bird activity out on the feeders and in the trees around us. Here's a few of the visitors we had today:

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird stop by periodically to check on things at "their spring and summer home".  They seem to still lay claim to this house even though they are not staying in it during the winter.  But whenever any other bird shows any interest in it they somehow swoop in from somewhere and drive them off...

Like this unsuspecting Carolina Chickadee. He likes to poke his head in the house and look around once in a while,

 but the Bluebirds always manage to drive him away pretty quick...

It's like they are standing guard over the house from somewhere in the treetops even though they don't need it right now...but they are not about to rent it out to "strangers".

I don't know if you can see him or not, but there is a "Yellow-Rumped Warbler" in that tree below. How do I know? Because I can see the yellow spot on his rump!  Look very closely:

Mr. Bluebird is checking things out in the house...making sure there are no squatters inside.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are having a conversation about their house...

After a while they took off for wherever they are roosting in the trees in the meantime.

Sometime later there was another visitor coming by to check out the house:

A female Red-Bellied Woodpecker must have heard the news that this house was vacant and came to see for herself:

She seemed to like the roof top patio...

But soon she noticed there were some juicy bugs on that pine tree just beyond, so she decided to go check that out:

She inspected the trunk up and down and I am sure she found some good afternoon snacks...

After her snack she also took off for other trees in other places around the pond...

And Mr. Carolina Chickadee flew back in for a short visit before he took off again also...

There were other birds flying in and out all afternoon, like Cardinals and Doves and Tufted Titmouse, but these were the only ones that I managed to get pictures of. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten anything else done today!  

So, what else did I do? Not really a whole lot.  Well, this morning we drove into town to Walmart so I could do some shopping for our upcoming weekend family Christmas event here on Saturday. Just as I was finishing up our shopping I got a text from my sister that if at all possible it would be better for everyone else there if we could do it on Monday, New Year's Day, instead of Saturday.  So I checked with our family members on this end, and it appears that will be okay for them, so the "party" has been moved to Monday!  Thankfully the food I bought will keep until then.  We will be doing mostly things like finger foods and veggie and/or fruit platters, Charcuterie style, if you know what that means.  It's a new term that I've been learning about in the past year.  I am anxious to use one of my Christmas gifts:

"Bless the food before us, the family beside us, & the love between us".
Amen!

Isn't it beautiful?  It was a gift from Benton and Rose, and no, they didn't make it. (I asked that question right off, LOL). It really is amazing, and it will be such a joy to use! I intend to put crackers around the edges in that indented area, and cheeses/sliced summer sausage in the middle. 

And now that we will be gathering on New Year's Day I guess we will have to have some black-eyed peas too...it's a southern tradition.  So I will probably make the usual "Hoppin' John"., which has the black eyed peas and rice combined. Now that I think of it, we probably need some Collard Greens and Cornbread as well. Might as well do it up right.  LOL.  So much for simple "finger food" and platters,  etc.  But it will all be fun and good...it always is when family and friends gather in love and harmony.

We will also be celebrating Rose's birthday on Saturday, but that will just be the immediate family. We plan to go out to eat...Rose's choice...so we shall see what she decides!

I guess that's enough for today's Thursday Thankfulness post, which is also for tomorrow's Friday Foto Friends. Maybe I didn't say what all I was thankful for...but if you read between the lines I think you can see that I am very thankful for all of the above events and people and God's creation all around us. I am also thankful that our family has made it safely through 2023, even with a few health issues here and there, but we are arriving on the doorstep of 2024 with renewed health and strength and so much to be thankful for! God has been very kind and good to us and we are very thankful indeed.

I'll try to check back in after our Saturday event and then again after our Monday event.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!