Friday Foto Friends From Still Waters Pond and Beyond...

This "Wild iris, or African Iris, or "fortnight lily", was growing outside of the eye doctor's office.

I thought, how appropriate that there is an "iris" planted beside an eye doctor's office. 

This was at the eye doctor in St. Augustine where I went with my hubby yesterday to see about whether or not he is going to have to have cataract surgery. Well, according to this doctor, not yet. His real issue is not cataracts, but something to do with the cornea...so there will be some further tests and possibly a referral to a cornea specialist. Right now he will be using some special eye drops to hopefully help the situation.  So we pray for a reasonable solution and healing.

These big beautiful trees are growing next to Still Waters Pond, near the little canal around "Goose Island".

I thought these verses went well with this picture...

Psalm 1:1-3

"1 Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper."

Speaking of Goose Island, if you recall I told you HERE the other day that I was not sure what exactly was going on with the geese. 

Well, later that same day I saw Father and Mother Goose out on the little marsh island that was the Sand Hill Crane's nesting place, and they were both just sitting there.

Mother Goose kept tucking her head into her feathers, and I thought perhaps there were babies tucked inside there, although I wasn't sure how they got from the nesting site over to this site  so quickly.  I assume they spent the night out there, but they weren't there in the morning, so I went back around to check their nest on Goose Island.

The nest appeared to be abandoned...

And then I saw this down in the water just below the nest...it appears to be a cracked egg shell...

And this, which appears to be a lot of downy feathers scattered from the nest...

And this, which appears to be a whole egg, floating in the water...

Another close up of that cracked egg shell...

And very sadly there was no sign of Mother or Father Goose around, and no sign of any baby geese.  I have had to assume that either something destroyed their nest, or the eggs were not viable and they abandoned the nest...we haven't seen either of them since that last evening.  So, I am feeling kind of sad about all of that. Apparently this just wasn't their time to bring some new baby goslings into the world. King Solomon, with all of this wisdom, seems to address this subject very well for all of humanity, and perhaps, in a way,  it applies to the realm of nature as well...all God's Creation...

Ecclesiastes 3

1 To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

3 A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break down,

And a time to build up;

4 A time to weep,

And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones,

And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,

And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to gain,

And a time to lose;

A time to keep,

And a time to throw away;

7 A time to tear,

And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence,

And a time to speak;

8 A time to love,

And a time to hate;

A time of war,

And a time of peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

And so we move on to the next event...I can't linger here for long as I have to just trust that the God of all creation knows best in every situation, and we have to trust Him, even for the lives of the geese, the bluebirds, the Sand Hill Cranes, and everything else that wanders into our pathway.

Today was actually a happy day.  Our church ladies' group, "Women in Faith", held their annual May Fellowship Day, where we invite ladies from all the neighborhood churches and beyond to come for a luncheon and a little program and just a time of fellowship and sharing God's love with one another.  It was very well attended, with almost 70 ladies!  Here are the pictures I took...later I realized that I didn't manage to get into any of these pictures, but you know what I look like anyway! LOL. 

I will not attempt to identify everyone in these photos, because I don't know many of these ladies myself, since many were from different churches.  But for those that I think you will find significant, I will identify them.

I am sure you will appreciate this picture below, because many of you will recognize Lily Grace.  The lady who is holding her is the sweet lady who made her Easter dress for her...and this was the first time she had actually gotten to "meet" Lily Grace in person! This is Ellen, and she is one of our snow-birds, and will be heading back home to NY state tomorrow, so this was a special time for them to meet:

This was my table, and you will recognize my sweet DIL Rose on the left. I was so happy she could make it for the luncheon, because she had to get up at 3:00 am to get ready to be at work by 5 a.m.  She works at Home Depot, and she worked from 5-9 a.m. this morning, and then came straight here to the church.  Such a sweetheart!

These sweet ladies below are each over 90 years old, but they remain very active in church and would not miss this fellowship for anything. Actually the lady on the left recently moved away from here with her son and daughter in law, but they came back to be with us today.

This is her daughter in law.  We sure miss both of them and wish they hadn't moved away, but that's just how life is sometimes...It was really great to see them both today.

We call this happy lady "Mary Sunshine". She's just a very special lady...and "Sunshine" fits her fun personality...

This was our speaker for the day, who is also a member of our church, and our Pastor's wife in the middle, and Norma, our group President. They were testing the sound system to get ready for her presentation, which was a monologue in the person of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, from His birth to His death and resurrection. Very powerful message.

Norma, our President, and a lady who just knows how to get things done. I've talked about Norma before...she's just really, really special...

Our speaker Barbara again:

The food table...it was all so good!

Everything was so nicely decorated...

This is my plate, and there's Lily Grace again. She enjoyed the "party" so much! And everyone just loved having her there. They may have thought I was a little bit crazy, but what else is new???

The dessert table:

I guess that's a good place to stop for the night!  

Here are a few verses to ponder from Proverbs 31, talking about a "virtuous wife", a role model for women everywhere...

"25 Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,

And on her tongue is the law of kindness."

"30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,

And let her own works praise her in the gates."

 Good night my friends. I hope you have had a wonderful day and that your weekend will be filled with joy and blessings.