Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 

My recliner, where I sit when I'm taking a break from everything else! LOL

Oh my oh my, here we are already up to December 19th, tomorrow is the 20th...5 more days 'til Christmas! Please don't ask me if I am ready, okay?  I will just say that I think my shopping is done, I'm sending out cards a few at a time, and the bed in the guest room is full, not of guests, but of gifts waiting to be wrapped.  Little by little it will be done, but we've had other things going on at the same time, so it's not like normal life just stands still so we can get things ready for Christmas! This week has been busy enough...

The full moon was beautiful! This was at night...

Monday morning we both had follow up doctor appointments to get our lab results, which were pretty good for two old people. No major issues there, so we are both very thankful.  However, I did talk to the doctor about my back/neck issues, and he agreed to send me for some X-Rays to make sure there's nothing new going on back there.  That happened this morning, and I already have the CD of the films taken along with the written report.  Nothing majorly different going on, thankfully. No bulging discs, etc., but something called  "mild multilevel degenerative disc disease and facet arthropathy."  I had to look this up, and here's what it is: "Multilevel degenerative disc disease means disc degeneration is occurring in more than one of the spine's intervertebral discs and in more than one spinal section."  "Facet arthropathy is a type of arthritis that affects the facet joints in the spine, causing pain and stiffness due to the degeneration of cartilage within these joints, which are responsible for allowing the spine to bend and twist; essentially, it's a condition where the joints in the back of the spine wear down and become inflamed, often resulting from aging and wear and tear."

This was in the morning! We've had to get up early every day this week because of  appointments!

In other words, I'm getting old and so is my spine! I will have to wait for the doctor to discuss this with me and determine what is the next step. He said something about pain management the other day, but I don't want to take more pain medication. If there are other methods of strengthening and helping me by doing therapy or non-invasive methods, I am all for that. So we shall see what he suggests and what comes next. Meanwhile, I just have to pace myself as I try to do things as nearly everything just causes me to hurt one way or the other. Thankfully it isn't severe, but it is no fun either and it definitely limits my ability to keep going at a steady pace.

"Blackie" the neighborhood cat has been visiting the back  porch again. Maybe it's because of the full moon. He has nice posture, maybe he has some good ideas about back exercises! Ever watch a cat stretching their backs? LOL.

Also my hubby had an eye appointment this week at the Cornea Specialist.  He has an eye condition that is being carefully monitored regarding the cornea, but he also has cataracts, and the doctor wants to take care of that first in the eye that is most affected by both conditions. Therefore, he is scheduled for cataract surgery the end of January.

We had a nice ride going to his eye appointment in Fleming Island, which is about an hour's drive north of us.  We decided to take a back road on the way over, which took us past the Georgia Pacific plant in Palatka. That is where they manufacture toilet paper and paper towels .

It is also a rather smelly place, think "Paper Mill". When the wind is "just right", or maybe "just wrong", we can smell it all the way to where we live, but thankfully not very often. We are far enough away to not have to smell it all the time. I feel sorry for those who live closer to it. However, if you ask the locals who either own it or work there, they say "it smells like money" to them.

Those are huge stacks of pine tree logs, which are brought in daily by many logging trucks from all over the region. 

Yes, that's what toilet paper is made from, in case you didn't know it!

It was also a foggy morning, which made the smoke hang lower to the ground than usual...

Yes, it is a smoky place.  Don't ask me about the pollution issues from this. I can only imagine...

There were long lines of train cars on the tracks, waiting to ship products or whatever they ship away from (or to) the factory...

These were all stationary, just waiting for the next load to begin I guess.

Now, trains are something I can relate to! Thankfully our little train doesn't have to go to any stinky factories! LOL.

But back to our trip...we had to cross over the Black Creek inlet at the St. John's River, and it was a rather foggy morning, but I thought that made for some pretty pictures of the river and the sailboat masts in the fog...

On  the thankful list is that the appointment with the eye doctor went very well and he reassured hubby of some things that made him feel better about the whole situation, and then we went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday:

Hubby had his eyes dilated, so he looks like a movie star. 

This was my lunch: Salmon on a salad, so I guess technically it's salmon salad, but not the old fashioned kind made from canned salmon! LOL. This was very good.

And hubby had a Philly cheese sub. He said it was a little spicy, but still good. I'm thinking some of those peppers weren't just plain old green peppers! LOL.

One afternoon this week I took a little walkabout over to the house next door (it's still for sale, btw), just to look at the pond and island from that perspective.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and the clouds in the blue skies were so big and fluffy!

I was trying to see if I could tell where the Sand Hill Cranes and the Canada Geese have been hiding out, because I'm not seeing them so much from our part of the pond right now.  But there was no sign of them over there either, so I guess they were gone for the afternoon. They tend to fly in and out at night and morning and spend their days in other places. There are lots of lakes in this area, (hence the name of our town is "Interlachen", which actually means between the lakes), so they could be anywhere exploring and feeding for the day. Just so they come back home to roost, I am happy.

Well, it's getting close to bedtime. I'm quite ready to get there a little early tonight.  I like this little scene of the cabin on the pond and the deer and the skaters and sledders and a couple of little churches . It's just a peaceful little setting and I enjoy looking at it. Would love to go crawl into that cabin and light a fire in the fireplace and curl up and go to sleep.  It just looks so nice and cozy, doesn't it?

Speaking of nice and cozy:

After my appointment at the imaging place this morning we stopped by the Dollar Tree to pick up a few things. I needed to get a few more gift bags, and saw these...

I fell in love with these bags. You can't see the glitter on them, but they have glitter on the front of the bags in all the prettiest places to make them shine and shimmer.  I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time giving these bags away! LOL  I may have to tell hubby to wrap my gifts in them! LOL.

Isn't this church beautiful?

Which one is your favorite?  I don't know about you, but I enjoy shopping at the Dollar Tree. I guess it should be called the dollar twenty five tree now, but still, you can get some neat stuff for $1.25! Somehow I always manage to spend more than a few dollars there, but it's still fun.

Okay, now I really do need to head to bed. I hope you've had a good day and a good week. I hope you are ready for Christmas!  

Makes me think about Jesus' Birth...when it was time for Him to be born, there was no waiting around. He came in the fullness of time...

Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV
"4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 

5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 

7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

This is a little "sneak  preview" of one of the songs that we are singing in our Christmas Cantata on Sunday.  It's really beautiful...I hope you will enjoy it and think about what Mary had to go through to bring forth the Savior of the World..."It was a Labor of Love..."

A Labor of Love

It was not a silent night

There was blood on the ground

You could hear a woman cry

In the alleyways that night

On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean

And the cobblestones were cold

And little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

Was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side

His callused hands and weary eyes

There were no midwives to be found

On the streets of David's town

In the middle of the night

And so, he held her, and he prayed

Shafts of moonlight on his face

But the baby in her womb

He was the maker of the moon

He was the author of the faith

That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

Was a labor of love

For little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

It was a labor of love

It was not a silent night

On the streets of David's town

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Andrew Peterson

Labor of Love lyrics © New Spring Publishing Inc., New Spring Publishing Inc.

And with that I will say good night, and may we never forget what Christmas is really all about...