Friday Foto Friends and Much Thankfulness

 First of all, thank you all for your prayers and kind comments regarding our cousin in California who had to evacuate due to the horrific fires in that area.  Praise God, yes! Their home was spared and apparently most of their neighborhood was also spared. They are back home now and they even have power, which was surprising. However, they cannot drink the water due to pollution.  They said that several streets over from them were not as fortunate as they were.  Not only is there devastation all around, the smoke is everywhere and they probably shouldn't be breathing that air, so please continue to pray for them and the many others who are dealing with much much worse.  Before this happened they had already planned on putting their home up for sale this month as her husband has just retired from many years of working for the Rose Bowl Parade.  They are hoping to move to the mountains of north Georgia to get totally away from California, but now I can imagine that selling their home is not going to be so easy as before, so their future is up in the air. So please pray for God to give them direction about what they are to do next.  Thank you.

Back on the home front, Thankfully the only fires we are seeing are the beautiful "fires" of sunrise and sunsets. Although there have been some "controlled burns" going on in the forests nearby and we can smell smoke and see it in the distance, but thankfully it is controlled, and doing controlled burns regularly actually helps prevent forest fires and wildfires from ever happening. I am thankful that here in Florida we have very careful management of our forests.  Yes, we've had our share of forest fires throughout the years and some have even been way too close for comfort, but when there is careful planning and management from the forestry service and our state government, it helps to protect us from the kind of devastation they are seeing in California. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those who are suffering loss, and also to the heroic first responders who are risking their own lives to save others. May God protect them and keep them as safe as possible under these circumstances.

This was our beautiful sunrise a couple of mornings ago:

It was 32 degrees, and there was frost on the ground, so I risked "frostbite" to go outside and put the flag out and take these pictures. I hope you appreciate my sacrifice! LOL.  I know many of you are enduring MUCH colder temperatures than this, and my thoughts and prayers are also with those who may be "snowed in" with all the heavy snowfalls that are happening up north, and some even in the deep south. Please stay safe and hopefully you don't have to go anywhere when the roads are still bad.

I thought these clouds were especially interesting...

So back inside I am finally in the process of taking down the Christmas tree and all other decor. It's a slow process. I have to work around other appointments and activities and also giving my back time to rest in between projects.  Right now I am still enjoying the tree with just the lights. But as soon as I finish this post and we have breakfast, etc., I will be back at it, removing the lights and getting things finally put away hopefully, barring unforeseen circumstances.

I like the way the lights are reflecting on the white board we put under the tree this year to set up the train and village on. Yes, putting away the village was somewhat of an ordeal, getting down on the floor and scooting around from one building to another and packing everything up, but it's done now, thankfully.  Hubby did help me as much as he could, but he's no better than I am about being able to get down on the floor and do these things.  We may have to figure out a different plan for next year...

Here's the scene right now as I write.  Hubby is having his morning coffee and patiently waiting on me to finish writing so we can get on with the "program".  It's still dark outside, so the blinds are closed...also to help keep the cold air from seeping in around the cracks.

Now, here's a lovely scene I wouldn't mind sitting in!  Yes, another calendar!  I finally got a calendar for my bathroom. I had to order it online because there were none that I liked left at Walmart and none at all at the Dollar General. Usually someone gives me one more calendar for Christmas, but not this year, and there were no freebies being handed out anywhere either, so I had points on Amazon that I could use up and this was virtually free! This one has quiet and peaceful scenes on it that I am sure I will enjoy sharing with you each month when I do the monthly "calendar roll call".

Yes, I like to hang a calendar in my bathroom, and it is placed where I can read it while I "rest upon my throne". LOL (TMI?)  It helps me to contemplate our schedule for the day/week/month and keep track of important dates. Before the month is over, I am certain there will be a lot more written on that calendar.  We also keep one in hubby's bathroom for the same reason, so he knows what's going on each day. Hey, it works for us!

While I was putting up the calendar and taking a picture of it, I accidentally took a picture of my cane that sits right there below it!  Our friend Sandra over at "MadSnapper" had recently posted a picture of a cane, and so I guess my cane wanted some recognition as well.  I've written about the history of this very special cane before HERE, so you may have already seen it, but apparently it needed to be seen again.  I keep it handy in that particular spot in case I need help getting up off of the throne, and also it serves as a way to reach the door knob in case I was in too big of a hurry to shut the door behind me! LOL.  Okay, that's enough TMI for this morning! 

Okay, breakfast is over and done. We had some poppin' fresh cinnamon buns with orange icing on them and an omelet with bits of bacon, cheese and chopped fresh spinach inside. It was good, and now I am ready to face the day and get that job of "undecorating" finished. I want to get it all done today so that Benton can help John put it all back in the shed tomorrow when he comes over to take him to lunch! 

Now, you may ask why is he coming to take him to lunch? What about you?   Well, that's another story...tomorrow, and I keep saying, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise!", I will be traveling to a city a little over an hour's drive away to meet up with some of our wonderful blogging sisters!  We've had this planned for a little while, and of course we never know from one day to the next what might be going on by the time a day comes, but it looks like it's really going to happen!  Terri, from Your Friend From Florida, Linda, from Just Simply Linda, and Barbara, from My Journal Memories, and me from you know where, will all be converging upon a Bob Evans restaurant for lunch and wonderful conversation and laughter and hopefully some good pictures to share with you when it's over with!  I am very excited to be able to go and meet up with them, and just pray that we all have a good day for doing just that. Terri has to travel the farthest, and then me, and then Barbara and Linda both live in the city where we are meeting, so just pray for traveling mercies and good health for all of us!

Meanwhile, good son Benton said he would take his Dad out to lunch since Rose has to work and he'll be on his own anyway! So that will be nice for both of them too.

With all of this frigid weather we've been having this week, (low 30's to high in the 50's...that's cold for us Floridians), I haven't been doing much outside. But one day we saw some different kind of ducks swimming around pretty fast in Still Waters Pond, and so I tried to get some pictures, but they were too fast for me.  Here's what I got:

Now, if you can figure out what kind of ducks these are, you're a better woman/man than me! LOL.

Actually, in this picture, I can barely make out the color and markings of a Wood Duck, but I'm really not sure.

But in my pursuit of following the ducks around the bend (where they immediately flew away from so I couldn't see them anymore!), I discovered the Canada Geese hiding out in the little cove/canal by the island:

Yes, they are both there. This is the same area where they built their nest last year, so I am hoping they will try again this year, and pray for better results. Last year something happened and their eggs did not produce any baby geese.  

When they saw me watching them, they immediately swam to meet each other...

All the while making some soft sounds to reassure one another that they are safe...

  

Aren't they a beautiful couple?   And so I left them there before they got too nervous and flew away.

Yesterday the Sand Hill Crane Family flew in for a treat, and after we gave them a little bit of bird seed to keep them going in this cold weather, they moved on in search of better things...

As I close this post today, I want to share this prayer from portions of Psalm 10 on behalf of those who are suffering in California and also we should not forget the folks in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, who are still homeless and in need of so much help, as well as the families of those who were struck down so mercilessly in New Orleans on New Year's Eve...and so many others dealing with wars and all kinds of terror in this world today...

Psalm 10:12-14

12 

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.

Do not forget the helpless.

14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;

you consider their grief and take it in hand.

The victims commit themselves to you;

you are the helper of the fatherless."

"16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;

the nations will perish from his land.

17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;

you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that mere earthly mortals

will never again strike terror."

Amen.