Saturday Revue

 Here it is Saturday afternoon, and there really isn't much to report! It's been TOO HOT to do much of anything!

This is our current reading on the themometer on the back porch. (Around 3:00 pm) However, I understand that the "heat index values" are up to 111 degrees, according the the severe weather alert we have on our phone app.  That's pretty doggone hot for us here in this part of Florida, and there's no rain in sight!  We are extremely thankful for our central AC, which is running all the time, but it is doing the job! Thank You, Lord, for whoever evented air conditioning!

Even though I grew up in Florida in the days before air conditioning...we didn't have it at home, or at school, or at church, or in our cars, or anywhere!  Somehow we survived, but looking back I do remember that as a child I either stayed outside and played...

yes, that's me...keeping the intruders out of my wood pile fort. LOL

 or I sat in front of a fan a lot.  I wore as minimal amount of clothes as I could and it seems like we made koolaid or juice popsicles in those tupperware things and enjoyed eating them to cool off. Life was much simpler then, even if it was hot! The windows were open at night and we could hear the tree frogs "singing" back and forth to each other. Sometimes they got so loud, especially after the rain, that we could hardly sleep for the noise. But thankfully my Daddy had put a big attic fan up in the attic, and he would turn that on at night and it would pull in a nice, albeit humid, breeze and also the whirring of the fan helped drown out the sound of the frogs.

My Sister Doris (washing the dishes) and I , drying the dishes, barefooted and trying to keep cool in our short shorts in the summertime.  

I know some of you may live where you don't really need central air conditioning that much, but trust me, if you lived in Florida in the summertime, you'd be very very thankful to have it.

So what else is new?  Let's see,

There's a new store in town!  "The Trading Post" at Deep Creek...

Deep Creek is the Farmer's market place where our son sets up a booth a couple of times a month in their outdoor Saturday morning market.  But now they have added a very nice indoor "Trading Post" store, where vendors can sell their products  every day (Wed-Sun) without having to be there because the store owners will handle the sales.  It's a lot like what we did at Dixie Cottage, and since that store is no longer in our town, the timing was just right for this new store to open.

No, this isn't our son's booth, but he does do similar work as this, and I thought it was interesting that this fellow's store name is "Benjamin's Sawmill".

Our son Benton doesn't have a booth yet in this store, but he does plan to set up one soon. He's just been too busy with their other projects to do this one too.

Some of you who remember our Dixie Cottage days may remember these items...yes, this is the same woman who was in our store, with her beautifully made bird baths and bird feeders, crafted from vintage glassware...

You may also recognize the items in these photos below!  I was surprised to see these pictures of MY birdfeeders that I purchased from her a few years ago. I had sent these pictures to her, showing how much our birds loved them, and she had asked permission to use these photos in her booth display some time ago. I'd forgotten about that, and when I saw these pictures today I was so surprised!!

You may recognize our Sand Hill Crane family when they had two little colts! This was several years ago!

Here's another interesting woodworker booth.  I love these items...and so many more that are there for sale in this new store.

Many many interesting things to look at...

And I found something special for Sunshine and Blackie!

These two little mice are stuffed with catnip!  I was so excited to get them and couldn't wait to give them to our kitties!

LOL! Here's Sunshine...he got up and moved away and wouldn't go near it!

Blackie wasn't there at this time, so I am still waiting as I write to show it to him. I will keep you posted.

Okay, I tried again when I fed them.  Blackie sniffed the mouse, but was more interested in eating.  Sunshine gave it a wide berth once again.  Wouldn't even sniff it. So...maybe mice stuffed with catnip isn't exactly their "thing". LOL. I think they'd prefer the real deal...you know...real mice? LOL. Thankfully I don't have any of those to offer them. 

I suppose since these kitties have been raised in the wild they aren't interested in fake toys. Oh well, I tried. LOL.

This is how they wait for me to bring them their breakfast in the morning...

The longer I stall, the closer they get to my window! LOL.

But this is how they spend the rest of the day...

On these "dog days of summer" I can't say as I blame them.

Thankfully while I was writing this earlier this afternoon, the sky turned dark and I could hear thunder in the distance, and sure enough, we got a surprise afternoon thunderstorm!  It cooled things off all the way to 92 degrees! LOL.  But we are truly thankful for the rain, and also that it didn't bring any strong winds or other severe weather.  It was a good reminder to be patient and wait on the Lord, and He will bring good things to pass!!

Psalm 37:3-8 has some good reminders for us today...

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

I underlined the words that show us a better way to live, especially in these difficult times when the world is trying to go in the opposite direction of what this psalm is teaching us to do.  If we can just remember these words and apply them to our own hearts, we would be amazed at how much better we will feel and get along no matter what is happening around us.  

Trust, Dwell, Feed, Delight in the Lord, Commit, Rest, and Wait on the Lord, Do Not Fret, Cease from anger, forsake wrath, and again, Do not fret!  

God's Word is right and true...we just need to believe and do what it says.  Amen!!

Have a blessed and beautiful rest of your weekend, my friends!!  

Wednesday Treasures

Might as well start this post with something "interesting"... what is that, you say?  Looks like an upside down umbrella! Yes, that is exactly what that is!  And why is it upside down on the ground?  Well, because a couple of days ago a very big wind blew through here and literally picked it up out of the table on the FRONT PORCH, and carried it UP AND OVER THE TOP OF THE HOUSE and dropped it in the back yard beside the BACK PORCH!! I kid you not!  The wind came up so suddenly that we didn't have time to go close the umbrellas on the front porch.  I heard a loud bumping noise and knew it had probably gotten blown out again, because that happened a few weeks ago in a storm.  So I went out front to look for it and couldn't find it anywhere! I thought to myself, "Wow, that was some kind of wind! It must've blown it down the street somewhere!"  Then my hubby said "Look out in the back yard...there it is beside the back porch!"   The only way it could've gotten there was to be lifted up and over the roof of the house!  That's pretty amazing!!   Yes, we had quite the thunderstorm with a lot of wind, but thankfully no other damage was done here.

A little while after the storm was over we decided to take a little ride into town. I told hubby that I'd like to drive by our church and see if they ever put the new sign up, because it was supposed to have been done over the weekend and for some reason it never happened.  So as we turned onto the street where our church is, we could see that there were people there actually installing the sign right then! That was a surprise, and I was so happy because I was suppposed to try and get pictures of it being installed for our church Facebook page, but I had been sick over the weekend and didn't get out of the house, and they didn't do it then anyway.  So God's timing was perfect! He gave me that little nudge to go see if it was done yet and there it was being completed right before my eyes! I love it when God brings a plan together like that, don't you?

We are excited to have this new sign because since the highway out in front of the church was four-laned, it is difficult for people to see where our church is and where to turn.

This sign has an electronic billboard so we can put messages about services and special programs, or even a Scripture verse on the sign.  I can't wait to see it all connected and working...but the weather has been bad the past couple of days and they haven't been able to finish setting it up yet.

I didn't get a picture of this, but something else happened at this same time. When we turned on the street beside the church, we noticed power trucks down on one side of the street, and a police car next to a little house on the corner that belongs to one of our church members. Then I noticed that a large tree had fallen on top of her house, and had pulled down the power lines, so that is why the power was off on the street.  Thankfully, the 99 year old woman who owns that house is now in a nursing home and she wasn't at home when this happened.  However, her daughter lives here in town, and so I called her to see if she'd been notified about the tree on her mother's house, and no, she had not! It had just happened during the storm, and most likely the police wouldn't have known to call her since she's not the owner of the house. Of course she was very upset about it happening, but so thankful I had called so they could get someone over there to check it right away. Again, this was God's perfect timing! If I had not been "nudged" to go check on the church sign, I wouldn't have seen the tree on the lady's house, and with the rainstorms that we have had the past couple of days, there would've been a lot more damage done to the inside of her house. Thankfully her family was able to get over there and put tarps on the roof and boarded up a broken window. They said that it was a blessing that their mother wasn't still living there because where the tree hit the window and broke it was right beside the chair where she would normally be sitting! 

Wow!  I tell you all of this because it is an example to me of the ways that God works.  We may never know all the ways that God uses His little "nudges" to get us out of harms way in time, or put us in a place to help someone else.  

Here are some words of wisdom and treasures from God's Word for today that goes along with what I am trying to say!

Proverbs 2:1-9

"1 My son, if you receive my words,

And treasure my commands within you,

2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,

And apply your heart to understanding;

3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,

And lift up your voice for understanding,

4 If you seek her as silver,

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,

And find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

8 He guards the paths of justice,

And preserves the way of His saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

Equity and every good path."

Yes, yesterday was a total washout day weatherwise.  It rained and stormed pretty much the whole day. And I woke up with a bad case of vertigo, and so I ended up pretty miserable and "out of it" for the day. I was actually thankful for the rain and clouds so the house stayed dark and quiet and I could rest.

But I woke up this morning feeling much better, and when I went outside at 7:00 a.m. to feed the kitties, I did a little walkabout the yard to look at Still Waters Pond and to see how nice it looked after so much rain had fallen to help fill it up.

Eventually all of that green grassy area you see along the shore will be under water. That's the true shoreline for the pond, so we still have a ways to go, but every raindrop counts!

Oh, and look at this great big "bird" that was drinking in the bird bath! I believe that is what they call a "cat bird". LOL.  

Sunshine was reminding me that I had neglected to refill their swimming pool after the guy came and mowed the grass the other day.  He prefers to drink from the pool rather than the bowl of water that I keep refilled for the cats on the porch.  He would rather drink the dirty pond water or kitty pool water than the clean water I give him.  Probably because our water has chlorine in it. I don't blame him. I don't like it either! I always drink filtered water, so maybe that's what I need to give the cats too. They're pretty smart.

His little pink tongue was just a lapping up that bird bath water. Thankfully it was clean from all the fresh rainwater.

Yes, I see you, Sunshine! You are definitely a character!

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine 

 You make me happy when skies are gray

You’ll never know dear how much I love you

Please don’t take my sunshine away!"

Well, I guess that's it for today.  The storms have pretty much gone further away,  although as I look out my window right now I see some storm clouds gathering in the west, so maybe it's not quite over after all. That's fine. Still Waters Pond says "Thank You, Lord!".

And I say "Thank You, Lord," as well.  Thank You for the rain, thank you for the sunshine, and thank you for giving me strength and healing today.  And thank You for giving me little nudges to do things in Your perfect timing. These are truly my special treasures today. Amen.

Monday Monday ~ Blessings

 Psalm 96:1-6

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Happy Monday! I thought I'd start out with that beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly enjoying sipping the nectar from the Bottlebrush Tree in our yard.  When I first planted that bush, it was small, and I really didn't think about how large/tall it would get. I mainly wanted it for my butterfly garden area so it would attract butterflies and hummingbirds. 

 It is definitely doing exactly what I wanted it to do! My only complaint is that it is getting quite tall and is starting to obstruct a part of our view of Still Waters Pond!

I thought about transplanting it to a different location not quite so central to our view of the pond, but then we wouldn't be able to see the hummingbirds and butterflies when they are on there...so I guess we can sacrifice the one to be able to enjoy the other, and yes, we can still see the pond.  And actually, once the blooming season is over and the hummingbirds and butterflies have moved further south for the winter we can trim the bush back down to a more reasonable level and let it grow stronger before the next blooming season begins.

Oftentimes in life we do have to learn to make some sacrifices of something that seems really good to achieve something even better.  It's not always easy to do, but when we think about the overall bigger picture, it makes sense. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 seems to sum up this thought about making sacrifices in our lives now for that which is greater for us in the long run...that is, for eternity!

"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."

That is a good reminder for me today.  It seems like lately I've been making little sacrifices here and there in being able to do some of the things I enjoy because of my hubby's health issues, and then even this past weekend because of my own health issues. Nothing serious, just a virus of some sort, but I had to forego attending a baby shower at our church on Saturday and then also church services yesterday.  But I definitely didn't want to "share" any germs with the expectant mother or anyone else, and it was truly better for me to stay home and rest and get over whatever this is. Today I am just kind of washed out and still tired, so it is definitely best to just stay put and rest and recuperate.  

Friday evening we invited the kids over for "Taco Friday" (instead of "Taco Tuesday"). I was feeling fine then, and we wanted to give them a break from their kitchen redo that they were tackling all last week.  And no, they didn't get it finished yet, but at least they made some good progress. I will definitely post pictures when the job is done. 

And lest you think we don't pay enough attention to our Grandpuppies now that we have our own porch kitties...here's Rose holding Spice up to look out the window above the curtain we put up to keep the pups from seeing the cats out there.  Apparently the cats were not in sight at this moment or she wouldn't have been able to hold a squirming pup for long...LOL. 

And there's Sugar waiting her turn to look out the window, with her doggie toy squeaking away... LOL.

They sure are sweet pups and we enjoy them coming to visit...but the curtain idea really helps keep them from going crazy over seeing the cats.  At one time Sunshine peeked up over the curtain while sitting in the chair that it was fastened to, so we had to distract the pups really quickly and Sunshine was satisfied that there wasn't much going on so he moved on.  Blackie also peeked once as well, and again, quick thinking inside averted a noisy uprising. LOL.  

I guess there isn't much else to share today. I just wanted to check in with you and let you know I'm still here. I didn't get around to read very many posts over the weekend so I am a bit behind in knowing how all of you are doing.  Hopefully I will get caught up this week.  

Oh, one more special story...This is a picture of my dear friend Sharon and her son Robb. Sharon passed away from cancer in 2019.  Sharon adopted Robb when he was about two years old. Although Sharon was single, she raised Robb with so much love and care. He had some special needs and life was pretty challenging for them for a while, but with God's love and guidance, Robb grew to be a very fine young man.  They lived here in Florida for a good while, which is where we became acquainted, and we became their "Florida Family".  However, Sharon was originally from a very large family in Minnesota, and in her final days she went to live with one of her sisters there until she passed away.  Robb also went to live in Minnesota and eventually got a good job and met a very sweet young lady.  

We have stayed in touch with Robb through Facebook and also other family members. I was very thrilled and blessed to receive these pictures from Robb over the weekend:

Meet baby Ellie!  I knew she was expected, but she came a little bit early, so this was a pleasant surprise:

And here's Baby Ellie and her happy Mama:

Of course my first thought was how happy my friend Sharon would be to know that her Robb is now a Daddy, and that he has grown to be a very responsible and thoughtful man.  I know Sharon would've been thrilled to be a grandma, and I hope she can see Baby Ellie from heaven.  Who knows about these things? Only God knows for sure, but I have a feeling Sharon already knows all about little Ellie, and if people in heaven can pray for us here on earth, you can well imagine that little Ellie has been bathed in heavenly prayers and love ever since her conception.  

Psalm 139:13-16

"13 For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."

I wish they weren't so far away, as I would love to play surrogate Grandma for little Ellie, but thankfully Robb has many doting Aunts and cousins and family members nearby who will definitely make sure that Little Ellie gets LOTS of "grandma"  kind of love.  She will be much loved and blessed for certain. I know that she will be added to my prayers and who knows? Maybe I'll get to meet her and hold her someday. 

Okay, that's all for now. Thank you for listening. Have a blessed and wonderful week my friends.

Thursday Thankfulness and More

 Where has this week gone? I can't believe it is Thursday already! And it's almost over as I am just starting to write at 8:15 p.m. I may have to finish this post tomorrow. We'll see how far I get!

So, let's start out with some pictures to get our attention...

You may wonder what this picture is all about...well, I saw this while we were taking a walk the other morning and I had to take a closer look...

At first I thought it was just another tall skinny tree growing up in the middle of that oak tree and palm tree...

But upon closer inspection I realized it had climbing spikes in the sides of it...

And it wasn't a tree at all! It was an old telephone pole that was surrounded by two trees that grew up around it!  This is on one of those vacant lots where the old houses used to stand before the highway came through and they tore them down (or moved them) to make room for the highway...

No telling how long it has been there...long enough for those trees to grow all around it!  I just thought that was pretty amazing!  Sometimes when you open your eyes and observe things around you, you see all kinds of things you never noticed before. I bet I've walked by that pole at least 50 times and this was the first time I noticed it! LOL.

So here's some other pictures of  "do you see what I see?"

If you look closely, you will notice that the Sand Hill Crane family is standing out in the yard, right beside the back porch where Sunshine and Blackie are sitting and very quietly observing them.

The cats did not move a muscle while the birds were up close to them, because they didn't want Mama or Papa Crane to get all excited and start jumping up and down and flapping their wings at them to scare them away.   It was actually kind of a stare down for a little while, with the cranes staring straight at the cats, and the cats nonchalantly trying to ignore them, but also very aware of their presence.

Finally the Cranes started to move away, although they still kept a close watch on the cats, but Sunshine and Blackie finally felt comfortable enough to move and reassure each other that they had won the contest.  There's always something to watch around here!! Never a dull moment!

And speaking of "never a dull moment"...son Benton sent me these pictures a while ago.  They are in the process of doing a "kitchen refresh", as he called it.  

Rose took off some vacation time this week so they could do a lot of projects around their house, mainly this kitchen redo.  They are going to paint the cabinet doors and walls and brighten up the whole place! Plus they will be getting new countertops!

Here Rose is putting on the primer over the paneling, and then they are going to paint it.  As you can see by the amount of paneling, they have a big job to do, plus painting all of the cabinets!

Whew! I'm glad they are young and full of energy!  It makes me tired just thinking about all of this work!  But I know they will be happy when it's done and it will look so much brighter and prettier!

I am thankful for their talents and also their willingness to do these kinds of things together. They are a very special couple and we are very proud of them and thankful that God brought them together. (and that they live nearby so we can enjoy having them around!)

So now, I know some of you may be wondering how hubby is doing. He seems to be doing fairly well this week, but still dealing with so much fatigue.  Yesterday we met with our Primary Care doctor, and we were thankful for his listening ear and thoughtful approach to what we were sharing with him. After  going over every thing that has been happening, he did order a lot of lab work to be done. We had to go back this morning to get that done, and we will have to wait for the results to meet again, which will actually be in a couple of weeks because we wanted to be sure to get this same doctor. Our clinic has rotating doctors and you don't always get to see the same person every time, but we wanted to make sure that we would see  him again, so we are willing to wait until he is available. I'm sure if there was anything glaringly wrong in the results they would call us back in before then, but we are trusting that won't be necessary.

Actually yesterday, after leaving that office, hubby also had an eye appointment...so we headed there and once that was done it was lunch time so we decided to stop at Captain D's and eat. It's fairly new and we've never been there before. I was afraid that all they would have would be fried fish/seafood. But surprisingly they do have grilled dinners and several choices of healthy sides, etc., so we were pleasantly surprised and had a good lunch. I actually had enough to take home and have leftovers for supper.

Then this morning after hubby had to do fasting labs, we went to one of our local diners for breakfast! We haven't been out to eat two times in a row in a LONG time! I felt like we must be on vacation or something! LOL.  

I am thankful that things are under way regarding finding out what is going on with hubby. We are praying that it will be something that is reasonably "fixed" with proper medication or diet or some other treatment...but we are placing these things in God's hands and trusting Him to work it out. We take comfort in this promise from God's Word:

Psalm 55:22 NIV

"Cast your cares on the Lord

and He will sustain you;

He will never let

the righteous be shaken."

And also from 1 Peter 5:6-7

"6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, 

that he may lift you up in due time. 

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts and prayers. I will keep you updated as we learn things, but for now we are just trying to take things one day at a time and trusting God to work it out.

I hope you have a pleasant rest of your week!  I'm trying to get around and visit with you as I can. You are all very special and dear to me.  Good night for now.