Thursday Thankfulness

 Good Thursday Morning! I hope this day finds you all feeling '"fine as frog's hair" and warm and cozy wherever you are.  Not sure where that particular saying came from...some old country friend of mine used to say it, and it just seems to fit this morning. LOL.   (Do frogs have hair??? If they do, it must be very fine indeed! LOL)  🐸

It's currently 51 degrees here at 6:30 a.m., and our high is only expected to reacy 69 today, with clear skies and a wind chill that currently makes it feel like 47 degrees! That's a little chilly for us Floridians on a late October morning, but I'm not complaining. It feels like fall!!  And because there's a bit of a nip in the air, last night we had our first pot of chili for the season!  It was a communal effort...Rose and Benton and the grandpups came over, and we put our ingredients together and made some delicious chili!

This is my bowl, with shredded cheese, sour cream and fritos added for extra good yumminess!

Hubby was loving his bowl of chili too...and he says to thank you all for your prayers for his bout with the shingles...thankfully we did definitely catch it in time, and after the week of what he called taking the "big nasty" pill 3xday, he's completely well with no issues at all! Well, no shingles issues, that is! LOL.  We all have SOME kind of issues, don't we??? LOL.

Here's me with my bowl:

Sweet Rose with hers:

And sweet Benton with his bowl....now can we all eat please before it gets cold?

And guess what else we had?  I baked the first pumpkin pie of the season! Forgot to take a picture before we cut it...

Here's my piece of the pie!  It was yummy delicious too!

Now, another reason to be thankful...one of the reasons the kids came over for supper last night was because Benton had been busy building something special for our porch kitties...I heard yesterday was National Cat Day, and so it was fitting that something special should be done for them...

With the colder weather coming, I've been concerned about them having a warmer place to snuggle up and stay warm.  So Benton built these two "cat cribs"... and Blackie was right there ready to inspect and check them out as soon as we put them on the porch:

He jumped right inside and had a looksy...

He sniffed it all over and then jumped back out and went on his way.    

I put some little rugs in the bottom and a blanket, and although I couldn't get Blackie to go back inside it while we were there, I am hoping with the colder weather he and Sunshine will both be curious enough to try them out.

I am thankful for our kids, who do so many wonderful things for us, as well as just being here and being good "kids".  We are blessed to have them close by, and that is a blessing I don't take lightly!

It's hard to believe it's already the end of October and tomorrow is Halloween. I know many of you don't "celebrate Halloween", and I really don't celebrate it either. But I do participate in one way that I think is meaningful.  Our neighborhood actually gets a lot of trick or treaters, and to me, I think it's a good way to show some love and appreciation for the children of our community.  We've never had any unpleasant things happen on Halloween here, just a lot of little children with their parents, walking through the neighborhood dressed in their fun and pretty and interesting costumes, "begging for candy".  I love to welcome them and make over their costumes, and give them lots of smiles.  Last year I started a new tradition of including a card with a scripture verse written on it with their little ziploc bag of candy.  It is my hope and prayer that the parents will take the time to read the verse to their children (or the child read it for themselves), and that it will raise a question as to what it means or where did it come from.  I call it "planting a seed of faith".  We just never know how that little verse of God's Word might take root and bloom in the heart and life of the child and/or the parents.  This might be the only opportunity we have to share the love of Christ with these little ones.  

I know not everyone has a lot of children come into their neighborhoods anymore, and a lot of places don't even do door to door trick or treating.  But if your community does, maybe think about the opportunity you could have to share some words of hope and love and faith with others before you turn off your porch light.  Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 ~

... “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

This might be the only opportunity these little ones have to hear any positive things about God.  Just a thought to ponder...

Okay...enough said...I hope everyone has a beautiful rest of your October days. And don't forget to "fall back" with your clock this weekend!!! 

Tuesday 4~ Weathering the Storm

 Weathering the Storm

It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. After Toni passed into Paradise, I wanted to keep her memory and her meme alive.
When thunder and lightning happen, cats, dogs, squirrels like to be in a small, safe , enclosure. Inside animals will hide under beds, outside they are appreciative of a box or little house to hide in. People are no different it seems.


1. Do storms frighten you or make you cautious?
Certainly if there are big bad storms I am cautious and nervous about it. Especially if we know a hurricane is coming...we always have concerns and take a lot of precautions to get things ready so we will be safe and have everything we need on hand in case the power goes off.  Thankfully we have never had to evacuate because of any storms where we live. We are far enough inland that we don't get the worst of the storms, but we usually get a lot of wind and rain and the danger is always that trees could fall on the house or roads.

2. What is the worst weather you can remember?

I honestly don't remember the names of the storms, but we've been through some pretty scary hurricanes in our life time of living in Florida.  We've also been through some snowstorms and ice storms when we lived in the north, but we were never snowed in for any length of time, thankfully.


3.Are you in a personal storm right now and do you need our prayers to help you through it? I think many bloggers are prayer warriors indeed.

Thankfully, nothing major right now. We've been there before, and were so very thankful for all the prayers we could get during those times. Prayer really does help, even from people we may not know personally...but just to know that people are out there praying on our behalf is always a great comfort. And yes, I am very thankful for our blogger prayer warriors. You are all a beautiful and wonderful family. Thank you for the times you prayed for me and my family. And I consider it a privlege to be able to pray for you as well.  


4. What is the best advice you can give to others about weathering storms of any kind.

Click HERE for a link to a list of scripture verses from the Bible about weathering the storms of life.   It is printable if you wish to print a copy and keep it in your Bible or in a place where you can see it when life is getting "stormy".   Here's a few of the verses that are listed that I find helpful...

Psalm 91:1-16

English Standard Version

My Refuge and My Fortress

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—

the Most High, who is my refuge—

10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12 On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 34:17-20  English Standard Version

"17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones;

not one of them is broken."

Isaiah 43:1-2  English Standard Version

"1 But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you."

The best advice I can give is to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, because He has already led the way for us. He knows our sorrows and trials, because He also suffered for our sakes. He will not fail us nor forsake us. Cling to Him, and He will carry you through whatever trials come your way.

Hebrews 12:2

Good News Translation

"2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne."

Here's a few pictures of our skies before and after some "storms", although we did not actually get much of a storm here, just a little bit of rain that didn't amount to much. Some places about an hour south of us received about 20 inches of rain in about 5 hours time and experienced a lot of flooding and severely damaged roads and washouts. And right now the people of Jamaica are experiencing a horrific hurricane. My heart goes out to them as I know there will be serious casualties and destruction there.

God's beautiful rainbow, sent to us to remind us of His promise to never destroy the earth by flood again, and to remind us also that He is always with us, even until the end of the age.  (Genesis 5-9)

Lovely sunset over our still very dry Still Waters Pond last evening...but every drop of rain that falls is a blessing, and we will praise the Lord for His refreshing rains and be thankful for no terrible storms here.

Have a blessed day my friends, and may God be with you in whatever kind of storm you may be enduring right now.  

Click HERE to join in the fun. Thank you Annie, for being our hostess each week!

Come Saturday Morning...

It's Saturday morning, and this song popped into my head. I wonder how many of you remember this song by The Sandpipers, from late 1968-69?  Hubby and I actually had this album when we were newlyweds, and it was a favorite of ours back in the "olden days". 

"Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend

We'll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day, just I and my friend

Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning

Come Saturday morning, just I and my friend

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on

But we will remember long after Saturday's gone

Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning"

Wasn't that a pleasant way to start our Saturday morning? I hope you enjoyed that little blast from the past.

So here it is Saturday morning, and I thought I'd start this off with a little 5 second video from last night, which was taken on our back porch by our little Blink Camera right after we'd gone to bed.  If you look closely, past the dangling spider web that is hanging down in front of the camera, you will see Blackie the fearless running off a raccoon from the back porch...well, Blackie is actually jumping up into his favorite blue chair and the raccoon is running, and then stopped and watched for a minute to make sure no one else was following him because the big motion detector spotlight came on and put him in the spotlight. By the time I got out of bed and ran to the door to see what was going on, he was gone, but we have this little video to tell us that the "Masked Bandit" was here.  He apparently had cleaned up all the remaining crumbs of catfood and washed his dirty hands in the water dish and took off like the bandit he is.  I must remember to remove those food dishes from now on once the cats have had their fill of food.

Upon a closer look, I believe I see another cat under the table. I don't know if that is Sunshine or another neighborhood stray, but it looks like they were having a party there! 

And especially we need to keep the cat food cleaned up because look who else showed up the other evening:

This is a MALE Muscovy Duck...

Some may think he's handsome, but I do not!

Here he is with his mate, or at least one of them. I don't know if they are monogamus or not, and probably not, because I know there was another female way across the pond waiting for them on that fallen tree where they like to perch and watch and see when there might be food over here on our porch.

 

And our "guard kitty", Blackie, just sits and watches them clean up bird seed under the feeder. He doesn't even try to shoo them away.  No, I do NOT want Muscovy ducks laying eggs and breeding here in my yard! Some say the eggs are very good to eat, but these ducks tend to be very messy, dirty, and they think they own the place! I really do NOT want them here in our yard.  

They weren't the only ones who showed up...Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane came over and were looking for some bird seed too. I guess because the pond is so dry they are all looking for extra food...and you can see just interested Blackie is in their activities! Ha!

Yes, the pond is very dry, and I should not begrudge any wild creatures food, but I do draw the line when it comes to those Muscovy Ducks. If you've ever had any around you, you will understand what I mean.  I've already contacted my friends who tried to capture them and remove them last year. We'll see if they can do any better this year.

Meanwhile, let's enjoy this lovely sunset over the very dry Still Waters Pond:

And lest you think I am cruel and heartless, here's a picture of Blackie in his new little soft, cozy and warm bed on the back porch:

We bought two of them, one for Blackie, and one for Sunshine. But so far only Blackie has shown any interest in it. At least it's perhaps making him want to stay closer to home for now! Also, the temperatures are starting to drop down in the low 50's at night, so this is a way to help them stay a little warmer. When the temps drop further we will figure out a better kind of warm "shelter" for them on the porch. 

Peek a boo! I see you!

So, yes, it's Saturday morning, and it's time for the Deep Creek Farmer's Market and Fall Festival. We went over to see Benton at his booth...he's starting to display/sell the Christmas stuff he's been making:

As well as some of the other planters and fun stuff he makes:

Lots of great stuff!  

Cute guys too!  Sorry, They're not for sale! LOL.

You never know what you might see at a Farmer's Market! LOL.

And don't tell Rose, but I bought this beautiful orchid for her, because it's name is "Melinda Rose".

I know she will take good care of it and keep it alive, whereas I am not so sure that I would...

They have an anniversary coming up, so this will be a little surprise for Rose. She loves plants and flowers!

We've been reading through Proverbs this month, because there are 31 chapters, one for each day. However, we missed a few while we were on vacation and I am trying to get caught up.  Here is a portion of Proverbs chapter 25, verses 11-12:

 

"11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold

In settings of silver.

12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold

Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear."

Some wise words of advice when you think about things to say in response to others, perhaps on Facebook. 

And this was on the daily devotional calendar words for the day: 

These two different quotes seem to go hand in hand...a good reminder to be "slow to rebuke or discourage" others...and in this case, to be a wise counselor/mentor for a younger person is something to think about...be "sympathetic, encouraging, eager to develop, and slow to rebuke or discourage".  I don't have too many children or younger people in my life right now, but I pray that if I should  have one come my way that I would be this kind of friend to them. I know I am thankful for the older, wise counselors that I had in my life when I was younger.  They knew how to speak the right words at the right time to encourage me in the right direction. Most of them are long gone on to heaven now, but I thank the Lord for them and remember them fondly.  May the Lord help me to be that kind of person always. Amen.

Have a blessed and beautiful day, my friends.  I hope you are enjoying this "Saturday Morning".

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

The Autumn season always brings out such feelings of gratefulness... 

Grateful to God for His abundance of harvest and gifts of grace...

This little daily devotional calendar has a good thought for today:

"I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God."  Abraham Lincoln.

"When you pray, I will listen. You will find Me when you seek Me."  Jeremiah 29:12-13 TLB

Although, technically, to me, even looking "down upon the earth", I could never see how anyone could be an atheist. Maybe if they look at the evil in the world, perhaps, but not when you look upon the world that God created. There is so much beauty all around us if we just stop and take the time to look and appreciate it. Especially during the fall season...so much color on display for us to enjoy! Only a creative God could design such perfection in all of the seasons...

And we are indeed thankful to have been where we could enjoy such beauty in the mountains last week, but we are equally thankful to be back home again..."Home Sweet Home", and yes, I hope to "Stay Awhile"...

How do you like my fall pillow? It was actually a cloth shopping bag, but I wasn't using it as such, and I thought it would be prettier as a pillow. So I stuffed a pillow inside and stitched the top closed so it can be enjoyed  every day as a place to be comfy and cozy during this season. When the fall days are over and it's time to start decorating for Christmas (after Thanksgiving!), then I will just snip the stitches off the top and pull out the pillow to be used elsewhere...maybe I'll find a Christmas bag to put it in!

Meanwhile, back to nature and God's beautiful creation all around us...

I saw this beautiful Red Shouldered Hawk yesterday afternoon here on the shore of our very dry Still Waters Pond.

Even though the pond is indeed very dry...

the Hawk continues to hunt and find food out on the marshy areas and along the shore.  These hawks nest here every year, and so they are a pretty common sight in our neighborhood.

I was happy to get these close up views of him in the pine tree just outside our back porch.

You can see why he's called a "red-shouldered hawk", by the rusty reddish area on the shoulder of his wing.

Isn't he beautiful?

Thankfully our kitties are too big for him to try to pick up. However, if we had smaller kittens around, I would be concerned for their well-being.

Mostly he likes to get mice and moles and lizards and probably frogs on the pond if he can find any these days.  We sure do still need a LOT of rain to bring the pond back to where it should be for this time of year. I am missing our Canadian Geese and Wood Ducks and others. We aren't even seeing much of the Sand Hill Cranes anymore, and when we do it is only the two adults. I think the youngster, "Trumpet", has moved out on his own already. I hope the adults will still be able to build their nest out there on the pond...usually in January. Time will tell. Praying for rain in the meantime.

This is a picture/painting that was in our bedroom at the cabin we stayed at in Georgia. I think God knew I'd love seeing that! I've missed our Bluebirds here at home.  They never did nest here this year, although they kept coming to the birdhouses and looking inside them, they never really moved in. I've missed them.

This was another painting that was in our bedroom. It's a Thomas Kinkade painting, appropriately of a little log cabin in the mountains, and I love the verse below it,  John 4:13-14.

John 4:13-14 NKJV

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Back at home again, we were concerned that Blackie had not showed up yet since our return. Sunshine came in time for supper the day after we got home, but Blackie apparently was still off visiting somewhere else until last evening when I was outside visiting with our neighbor and thanking him for taking care of the kitties while we were gone. I looked across the street just in time to see Blackie running along in front of our other neighbor's house, and so I called to him and when he heard my voice and saw me he came running right over!

Again, Sunshine was a little standoffish with Blackie, but one Blackie ate his supper and started cozying up to Sunshine again, he relented and allowed him to lick his head and show his affection once again.

Yes, Blackie, you are a scamp! But we all still love you!

I am indeed thankful for our home and family, even our little wild kingdom here. There's never a dull moment, that's for sure!

I am also thankful that hubby is feeling better and that the shingles never did completely develop since we were able to catch it in time! That's a real blessing.

We are thankful that we were able to take that little vacation, but we are also thankful that we are back home safely and that life is getting back to normal once again.  (whatever "normal" is...it's all good!)

Psalm 145:1-3

"1 I will extol You, my God, O King;

And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is unsearchable."

Amen.