Thursday 6 and Thursday Thankfulness

 My friend Syl over at Sylify is the hostess for this Thursday 6 meme each week. Just six questions. Syl lives in the Netherlands (right, Syl?), and I enjoy visiting with her on her blog throughout the week.  Since I didn't have anything else in particular planned for today, I thought I would give this a try, so here you go!

Welcome!
Theme of the week:  Greetings

1. Did you already have snow this season?

No, because I live in Florida, where snow would be quite unusual, especially in November. It has happened before in January or February, but never enough to accumulate...it usually melts before it hits the ground, but when it does happen, everyone goes crazy for a few minutes just wanting to enjoy it!

Newspaper articles about when it snowed in Central Florida in 1977.  I remember this night, because I was about 8 months pregnant with our youngest son, and I had just arrived at church with our other two children for Wednesday night church, (or some other program).  We had just gotten inside the building and had taken off our jackets when people came in saying it was snowing...and the kids and everyone ran back outside without jackets to see the snow!  My hubby was working as a FHP State Trooper at that time, and he was actually directing traffic out in the snow. He said people were driving like they forgot how to drive. It was crazy everywhere! But so much fun for a few minutes.

2. Who puts the rubbish outside? How?

Usually my hubby and I take the rubbish out together, and we just did that a few minutes ago, because the garbage truck will arrive around 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, and we need to put it out tonight rather than try to wake up on time to catch them in the morning.  

3. At what time did you close the curtains yesterday?

Well, the curtains on the front side of the house stay closed all the time because we live on a rather busy street and I don't like people looking in our windows as they drive by. Plus the sun is very bright on that side of the house in the morning, so we keep them shut to keep the sun from being too hot in the house. 

Here's the view from the front porch early this morning:

 The blinds on the back side of the house overlooking the pond are open for much of the morning, but when the sun moves around to the southwestern side of the house, we have to close them during the middle part of the day or it makes it too warm in the house and the glare off the pond (when there's water in it) is hard to look at.  Then we usually open them back up when the sun goes down in the evening (or on a cloudy day they stay open all the time, which I love).  We don't normally close them back up at night on that side of the house because there's no one behind us to look in them.  

This was the view from our back porch windows last night:

Blackie and Sunshine were enjoying watching the sun going down:

Psalm 113:3 NKJV

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4. How do you keep warm during the night? What kind of cover?

Funny you should ask...when the cold snap hit a week or so ago, we brought out the new set of flannel sheets that I bought at the end of last winter. I've been anxious to put them on the bed, because I just love the little cabins and pine trees in the snow...

Aren't they cute?  And they are so soft and warm and cozy.  They make me smile just to look at them!

And when I really get chilled, I add this sherpa lined blanket that I got for Christmas last year:

It is super cozy!! Especially when I snuggle up with my little brown "Bear Bear" you see there...and of course my big Teddy Bear hubby too...

When the temperatures start to drop, I think "cozy" is my favorite word...

5. Have you bought Christmas cards yet?

I actually just ordered some yesterday. They don't seem to be carrying them at Walmart anymore and I have a hard time finding any locally, so I had to order them. I also bought some Christmas postage stamps today, but what a sticker shock that was! I may be limiting my Christmas card list this year to people that I don't communicate with online  that much...I don't know...we'll see. I do love to receive cards in the mail, so it's only right that I should send them out too...but it's really getting to be quite expensive!

6. Do you feed the birds when it's cold?

Yes...Feeding and watching the birds is one of our favorite pasttimes in the winter/spring months.

 

Now that we have these porch kitties living here, I do hope they won't scare away all of our pretty birds this winter.  Time will tell.   Mostly our cats just lay there on the porch and watch the birds...they really haven't been that interested in stalking them, so I hope that will be the norm for this winter...

I guess that's the end of the questions for the week for Thursday 6, but I still have more to say! (Of course!) LOL.

Yesterday we had some fellas from our church come and trim those big oak trees in the front. They cut back a lot of low hanging branches and really made them look a lot better!

Here's the finished product!  They cleaned everything up and it looks so nice!  We are very thankful for their hard work and excellent job!

While I was standing on the front porch, this beautiful Gulf Fritillary butterfly came and landed on the pot of Penta that is still blooming so prettily! What a blessing! 

Another thing I am thankful for this past week was as I mentioned in an earlier post HERE, that son Scott came home and cleaned up his room so very nicely.  Then son Benton came over on Tuesday and hauled away some things to the dump, and also helped me get the bed set up the way I wanted it.  I didn't take any before pictures (because it was too big of a mess!!) but here's the after pictures:

The bed used to be turned so that it was up against that wall where the head of the bed is now. You couldn't get beside it on that side so it was very hard to make the bed, but that's the way Scott always liked it.  This way is much better for my purposes and to possibly use it as a guest room now. 

Here's the organ that Scott inherited from my parents' house...(he's the only one that wanted it). It's quite old now and very heavy, but it still works, and he still loves to play it when he comes home, so it will stay there until he has a house of his own to move it to someday.

Here he is playing it at my parents' home when he was about 11. That was where you'd find him everytime we went there.  He doesn't read music, but he makes it up as he goes, and it's actually quite nice. I wish he'd taken piano lessons when he was young...but he calls this his "therapy".

Here's Scott a few years ago when we were in the process of moving and had our stuff stored at the church parsonage where we stayed until we closed on this house...(another long story).

I am very thankful for our family and for these sweet memories.  

Well, it's getting late, and I need to wrap this up.  If you wanted to join in the Thursday 6, it's not too late. Click HERE for the questions.  Thank you, Syl, for coming up with the questions for the week! I enjoyed this!

Psalm 100  NKJV

A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

"1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations."

Tuesday 4~ Starry Nights

I'm a little late getting to the Tuesday 4 party, but it's better late than never, I always say! So here we go! Thanks, Annie, for another thought provoking and interesting meme this week!  You all can click on this link below to see what others are saying about this:

 Starry Nights

Welcome Friends to another Tuesday 4 started by Toni Taddeo and kept up in honor and memory of her.
Let's talk about starry nights....


1. Have you ever seen the milky way or been to one of the designated black out areas where no light can obscure the starry night?

Well, I guess we are looking at "the Milky Way" whenever we look at our stars and moon and planets, because that is our galaxy, and I assume that is what we are looking at.  I've never been to a "designated black out area", but I've lived in the forest where there are no other kinds of lights around, i.e., street lights or city lights, and the stars are so much more visible there, it's really awesome!

2. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork." (Psalm 19:1)
Are you in awe of the starry skies. Do they inspire faith for you?

Yes, I am in awe of the starry skies, and yes, they are very inspirational to me. I echo what King David wrote in Psalm 8, especially in verses 3-5...

Psalm 8 NKJV

"1 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!"

3. Have you ever wished upon a star or seen a meteorite fall to earth?

I probably have wished upon a star as a child, especially as most every child in America and beyond probably learned this little nursery rhyme at some time:

 

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!", 

but we added the phrase, "wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." 

 

And who can ever forget Jiminy Cricket singing to Pinnochio, "When You Wish Upon A Star"....

Of course, as an adult, we know that wishing upon a star won't make all our dreams come true...We are better off to make our wishes known to God in prayer, and He will give us the desires of our heart if they are in His divine will for us.

Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, 

with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 

7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

4. Do you think money is wasted on the space program that might be better used on earth?

I don't think it is wasted...I believe that the more we know about the universe, the more we see just how marvelous God's Creation really is. What God has designed and created for our benefit is far beyond what any man can even imagine.  Everything in the universe points to God our Creator.   Certainly there are many important things on the earth that need more support and help, but if our governments would use the money wisely (and that's a big IF), there should be plenty of funds to cover both outer space and the earth as well!

Monday Monday from the Back Porch

 Here it is Monday afternoon, (EVENING NOW!) and I can't believe how far behind I am in reading your posts and writing my own!  I kind of took the weekend off from blogging...not intentionally exactly, but it just happened that way. Nothing major going on except for the usual Saturday and Sunday routines...church, family, and catching up with things around here.

This morning's sunrise...I love how the sun is glowing through the flag. 

The temperature was a tad bit warmer this morning, around 59 degrees, and with just enough humidity to create some fog out over Still Waters Pond

Sunshine and Blackie were wide awake and watching the activity out there...and it appears that some critter came and knocked over the birdbath during the night while trying to get a drink of water. What's silly about that is that we have put a little kiddy pool filled with fresh water right there on the lawn, so that thirsty critters can come get a drink any time.  But some raccoon probably (or it might have been Sunshine the cat...he likes to drink out of the bird bath too!) tried to get a drink from the bird bath and over it went! Thankfully it's not breakable.

If you look out on the pond, which is basically all dry land except for a few puddles here and there, you will see the Great Blue Heron and the Sand Hill Cranes, going through their morning routines of finding food out there somewhere...

With the sun shining through the trees, it looks like a beautiful fall morning. And it is exactly that.

Sunshine says good morning to you.

He was being particularly clingy and not eating his food this morning. I think he wants to be fed some of those fancy cat foods they advertise on TV. He must've been watching the commercials through the window.  

I put their normal food out as usual this morning, and Blackie  dove right in and started gobbling it down. But Sunshine kept following me back to the door and acted like he wanted something different. I would redirect him back to the food, and he'd look at me like what, Meow Mix again? And then he'd follow me back to the door. We went back and forth several times before he finally gave up and decided to go ahead and eat a little bit of what was provided. He tends to be a more finicky eater than Blackie (and if you look at Blackie, you can tell he eats most anything and everything!)

  

I think he decided to just nibble on Blackie's ear for a while instead. LOL.

I'm thinking they both need to learn that this is the season of Thanksgiving, and they need to be thankful for what is being provided.  Actually, I think they are thankful. They are sweet kitties, and we are enjoying them, and I want them to be happy and healthy.

Updated this evening...Well, I decided that since Sunshine really didn't eat hardly anything all day long it was time to try something different.  I had recently purchased some of this food, but hadn't tried it yet:

I wish I had recorded the looks on their faces and the sounds they were making ( VERY LOUD MEOW, MEOW, MEOW!)  when Daddy (yes! He wanted to be the one to feed them the GOOD stuff! LOL) came out the door and let them get a little whiff of what was in the bowls...Oh my goodness! I've never seen them so excited before!!!

Well, see for yourself!  They both gobbled this food down and licked the bowls completely clean in no time at all!  I was certainly impressed!  I had no idea how much they would LOVE this kind of food as opposed to the dry stuff! Shows you how little I know about cats! SO, I think we've decided to alternate the dry food with the wet food and see how they do for a while...or mix it together. What do you cat people recommend?  It certainly did my heart good to see Sunshine especially eat so well and be so happy and animated about it.  I guess they've moved up a notch in their status here on the porch. LOL.

Switching Gears:

We took a walk Saturday morning, and I was pleased to see these little bits of fall color...

Here in Florida we don't have a lot of the real showy autumn leaves like you do further north, so we celebrate any bits of color we see.

Our weather has been really beautiful...sunny days starting out in the 40's-50's mostly, and ending up in the mid to high 70's...perfect fall weather...(just too dry still).  We will enjoy this kind of weather for most of the winter, with the exception of a few really chilly days and nights now and then, but for the most part, this is the norm from November-mid April at least.  

Do you remember the old 1970's-80's Florida tourism commercials encouraging people to come to Florida in the wintertime...

"When you need it bad, we've got it good..."

I remember them because we were living up north, and we were from Florida originally, and we really "needed it bad"...LOL.

Now there are so many people living here and trying to move here that they don't bother running these kinds of commercials anymore...we may need to put a gate up at the border of Georgia and Florida and hang a "no vacancy" sign on it!  

But seriously, if you are coming to Florida to escape the winter weather, be sure to let me know so if there's anyway possible to meet you, we will try!
.

On another note, our "boys" were here yesterday for Sunday dinner...Scott came from his place where he works and stays up in Jacksonville, and Benton came over after church as Rose was working.  Scott came primarily to do his laundry and eat lunch and visit with us. He tries to come every other week. It's about an hour & 1/2 drive.  He also came with a purpose to 'clean  his room'.  When he moved out some time ago he only took the essentials with him, like his clothes and personal items, because he is renting a room in a house that is already furnished, so he didn't need much.  However, over time his room here has become more and more of a catch-all room and a lot of his stuff was getting scattered and littered about as he'd pull things out of the closet to look for things, etc., and I was tired of looking at the mess in there and mostly would just shut the door so I didn't have to deal with it. I did not take any before or after pictures as it is still a bit of a work in progress, but it looks SO much better after he got rid of a lot of cardboard boxes and cleaned out the closet so that everything that is left is nice and neat. The room is now so much better I could use it as a guest room if needed. Once I tweak a few more things I will take some pictures.    Anyway, in the process he found his old football lettermen's jacket from when he was in middle school:

He was surprised he could still fit in it!

Then of course I had to look for his team pictures to go along with it, and was happy that I had organized  my pictures so that I could find them! (That's was a small miracle in itself! LOL)

Wasn't he a good looking 7th grader?

This brought back some fun memories for him.  

So all in all it was a pleasant weekend and I am so thankful to have had our kids here to enjoy.  It's a blessing that I do NOT take for granted.  

Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths."

Our choir sang this song this past Sunday, but this recording by the original artists is so much better, I think you'll enjoy it more.  The message is really powerful...

Here are the lyrics so you can understand it as you listen:

"You've Already Won"

There's peace that outlasts darkness

Hope that's in the blood

There's future grace that's mine today

That Jesus Christ has won 

So I can face tomorrow

For tomorrow's in Your hands

All I need You will provide

Just like You always have

Chorus:

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done

And I'm fighting a battle You've already won

There's mercy in the waiting

Manna for today

And when it's gone, I know You're not

You are my hope and stay

When the sea is raging

Your Spirit is my help

He'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ

I'll say that it is well

Oh, I know that it is well

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done 

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

I know how the story ends

We will be with You again 

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death 

I know how the story ends 

We will be with You again

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death

I know how the story ends 

We will be with You again 

You're my Savior, my defense 

No more fear in life or death

I know how the story ends

I'm fighting a battle that You've already won

No matter what comes my way, I will overcome

Don't know what You're doing, but I know what You've done (thank You, God)

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

I'm fighting a battle You've already won

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bryan Christopher Fowler / Bethany Joy Barnard

You've Already Won lyrics © So Essential Tunes, More Songs From Wellhouse, Songs From Wellhouse

I hope this message blesses you, and if you're fighting a battle, whether it be in your health, or that of a loved one, or other issues that are a great concern, just know that Jesus Christ has already fought this battle and won it for us. We don't have to fear life or death...we know how the story ends...we will be with our Savior for eternity...we don't need to fear whatever is happening here. God is in control.  

"I know how the story ends!"

Amen.