What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Saturday, June 1, 2024

Saturday Wanderings

Happy Saturday!  I hope this day finds you enjoying some beautiful skies, fresh air, and God's lovely world around you!  Or, maybe you are enjoying staying indoors in your "cool" house, away from the heat and humidity and/or other weather issues.  Wherever you are, I hope you are doing well.  
It was such a lovely morning, we decided to take a little ride to the Kenwood boat ramp...not to go boating as we do not have a boat, but just to enjoy the natural beauty of a morning that started out a few degrees cooler than it has been the rest of the week, and humidity was lower as well...so it was a good time to get out while the getting's good!  This lovely dragonfly above was enjoying sunning himself on a picnic table. I appreciated him staying still long enough for me to take his picture!

It was a picture-perfect morning...blue skies and green trees reflecting in the cool green waters of the canal leading to the Kenwood Recreation Area and Rodman Reservoir
I enjoyed walking around and taking pictures of everything I saw...I hope you don't mind a lot of pictures...I missed the weekly Friday Foto Friends post for yesterday, so this will make up for that.




Beautiful Live oak tree shading the picnic area...

 I am not going to attempt to identify all the water plants and flowers...just enjoy them...





Ah, but those eggs are actually Florida Apple Snails, and I believe these are the native variety. There are many invasive species starting to takeover our fresh waters, but these look like the native snail eggs.




It's a great day for boating and fishing, and there were many trucks with boat trailers in the parking lot already, so I assume the lakes/rivers are full of fishermen out enjoying a beautiful day on the water. 

We were quite content to stay onshore and admire God's wonderful creation.  

Back on the home front, last night I noticed this little Brown Anole (lizard) on our back porch. He looks kind of funny because he is shedding his skin.  Apparently they do that several times a year. It is interesting to get to see this actually happening:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."


Here is the latest photo of the Century Plant/Agave, that is blooming as it is actually dying:

It is still quite beautiful, even in its last days of life...


We stopped by to see the Hawthorn bush that I've been watching on our walk, and this strange thing was growing on the tree.  Here is the link to what it is...a kind of fungi.




Here is what the actual hawthorn berries look like:
I just think that's interesting!

Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are at it again, building another nest in the birdhouse!  They've been quite busy at their task, even though we've had 95 degree temps most every day this past week. Seems like it would be too hot to stay in the birdhouse and sit on a nest...but hubby said maybe the heat will help incubate the eggs for them so they can take more breaks! LOL. Probably not, but I hope the baby birds will develop and maybe we'll get to see them this time!

And Mr. Red Shouldered Hawk has still been fussy about the loss of so much of his habitat on the lot next door...
He was scolding me for being so close (although I was really quite far away...trust me!)


I hope the Hawk family will be okay once the dust settles.

Oh, btw! Today is the first day of June!! Hard to believe we are already to the half way point in this year! My, how time flies!  

As per my usual post for the first of the month, here are the calendar photos for June:
This is the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar, which I love so much. This picture is so beautiful...I can just visualize myself standing there with that sweet doggy, looking at "Out Town". I think I would love to live in a town that looks like this...no cars, just horse and buggies...sometimes it's nice to dream about living in such a world...but then reality hits...no air conditioning, no electricity, no indoor plumbing...so, if we could live in a town like this and have all the amenities mentioned above, that would be lovely...what do you think?

And then we could have a tea party...although this particular picture/tea display looks more modern than the above picture.

Here's the quote for the month from the Teapot Calendar.  Funny...


Now, here's the cute little Susan Branch calendar for June...cute ideas for summertime picnics...speaking of watermelon...I have one waiting to be cut, but I don't have room for it in the fridge, so we are waiting until we can make more room, or until there are more people here to help us eat it. "The Kids" said they'd come over tomorrow afternoon and help us eat it! LOL.

Here's the Thomas Kincade calendar for June...isn't that a lovely garden?  Oh, wouldn't I love to have a garden that looked like this!!  I'm afraid my brown thumb just can't quite accomplish this kind of beauty, try as I might! LOL.  

Amen to this verse:
It goes very well with the following picture from the calendar in my bathroom...isn't that beautiful?


So, how does your June look? Is it going to be busy? Are you going on any vacations this summer? Our June calendar already has several medical appointments listed...still working through all the follow ups and test results, etc.  Hopefully maybe by the end of the month we can think about doing something fun, like getting away from the heat for a while. Not sure where or how, but we can dream, can't we?

Well, friends, here it is the end of the day and time to say good night.  Tomorrow is Sunday, and we get up early to get to Sunday School on time. Hubby is the teacher, so we'd better not be late! LOL.

One last verse from my daily devotional book...the header page for June...Good place to end the day...

Amen.

Good Night!






20 comments:

  1. It's been cool here. Unusual for June! I've been enjoying it too. We have a lot of dragonflies now. They are my favorite "bug".
    We used to fish in Rodman all the time. It seems it's changed quite a bit since we were there. Oh, well, things move on.
    One of our young Red shouldered hawks got eaten. Must have been a Great horned Owl. There were Hawk feathers all over the back of the yard. That made me sad but the Owl has to eat too. Probably has young to feed also.
    Have a lovely rest of the evening. 💙

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  2. Love the pictures you took while at the park and the boat launch. They look like the ones I posted of our walk last week! That dragonfly is stunning. And the lizard shedding it's skin, that's just amazing! The calendar picture with the flowers and bench, I could look at that a long time. Like you, I have a brown thumb too but I daydream about having a yard like that one! When I noticed the open book on the bench I imagined I had set it down to go refill my iced tea. :)

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  3. "Wherever you are, I hope you are doing well."

    🩵

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  4. Such a great post, Pamela. Have a beautiful Sunday my friend.

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  5. your photos are wonderful. i do love the outdoors and the boat ramp water views are gorgeous to me... i love the one with ripples on the water and the one where is is flat. you are the only person I know that has a calendar in every room. they are all beautful.
    i felt instant love for the cup and saucer that is with the teapot. I want one. I serched by google lens and found 3 that are almost identical. would you beleive the cup saucer is 40 and 44 dollars? to high for me to buy because i love it.. i don't need it i want it. ha ha

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  6. i just found a cup for 16.99 on ebay. maybe

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  7. I love how you and John truly enjoy being together, watching nature's panorama. My only calendar is that I make on the computer each month. Yet, those you share with us never fail to bring a smile to my heart. I hope you're having a blessed afternoon!

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  8. Examining the detail on the wings of the dragonfly, so intricate, delicate, and beautiful — and he has twice the number of wings of most flying creatures!

    The pictures you’ve posted are great. I love the quiet, mirror stillness of the water reflecting the trees nearby.

    Live Oak trees, while a challenge to clean up after when in a manicured neighborhood, are nonetheless so artistic, graceful, and inviting to those who can climb the branches.

    Snail eggs — I’ve never given thought before as to how snails procreate!

    Your application of scripture to the shedding lizard was clever.

    There are two Century Plant/Agave in my neighborhood where we walk. They look just like this one you’ve posted.

    The calendar pictures are beautiful, and I share your taste in the artists. Wish I had the talents of Susan Branch.

    As for Psalm 23:1-3, one of my prayers is that the Lord will lead me “beside still waters.” Or maybe I should say, that I will CHOOSE His still waters instead of the frantic ways of the world.

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    1. I love how you actually read and commented on everything in this post! Wow! I am impressed and blessed! And yes, let us "choose His still waters instead of the frantic ways of the world." Amen.

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  9. Pam: I love the calendar pictures. We have had the rainy season set in. Along with nights that require the furnace to run, followed by some rather warm afternoons. I hope you can enjoy your watermelon. Peace and blessings to you and yours.

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  10. I always love visiting with you here, Pam. Your photos and the scriptures you share to highlight them are always so meaningful. The dragonfly is so pretty and how interesting to see the lizard shedding his skin. Yes, the year is flying by, for sure. Hugs!!

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  11. It was nice to read and see that you were able to get away to hopefully a cooler spot, Pam, and enjoy the beautiful water scenes. Yikes, your weather is really hot 🥵compared to here in Nashua, where it was in the 80s this weekend. It is hard to believe this year is half gone already! Your calendar pages were very sweet. I have a calendar sent by a friend from the UK and its the only one I use.

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  12. I'm a day late, but I'm here! Mom kept us busy yesterday and today was Sunday School, Church and then my sister had lunch with us and then stayed to visit for awhile. That is a great benefit to being here in Omaha. I get to spend lots of time with her.
    Love all your pictures, especially of the lizard shedding his skin. I've never seen that before. I'm looking forward to seeing what develops in the saga of the bluebird family. I hope your Monday is wonderful.
    Blessings and hugs,
    Betsy

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  13. Oh, and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to live in that little town. That's always been my dream, to live in a small town or in the woods. Our life never allowed for that though.
    Bye-bye again,
    Betsy

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  14. What a beautiful place to spend time! I always enjoy seeing your photos. I hope the bird couple are okay in that hot bird house. I've heard you're having very hot weather. I do enjoy Susan Branch's artwork! I have an address book of hers. Have a lovely day, beautiful lady!

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  15. Lovely photographs...enjoyed the post

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  16. Never apologize for having mostly photos in your posts, Pamela! I love going on these nature adventures with you, always. And those medical appointments? We are in the same boat!
    Have a blessed week!

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  17. Your calendar pages are always a delight to see. I have the John Sloane calendar, and I love that picture. I imagine how nice it would be to attend a service in that lovely church. Mr D and I like to drive down to Sylvan beach, park and enjoy the view. We usually park at the boat ramp because there is never many people around. It's interesting to watch the boaters come and go. I always enjoy your pictures, ALL of them♥

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Thank you for visiting here today. I would love for you to sign my guestbook and let me know you stopped by. I always enjoy reading your comments and words of encouragement! May you be blessed as you go on your way. Please come back and visit again soon.