Saturday Musings and Blessings

 Happy Saturday Morning to you! I hope this day finds you doing well and enjoying some lovely fall weather still! I know next week temperatures are expected to plunge into freezing for many, including here! We are expecting temperatures around the freezing mark a couple of mornings next week, which seems really early for us here in North Central Florida.  And judging by the number of acorns in our yard this year, I believe we are in for a colder than normal winter!

Upon closer inspection, I realized that we actually have two different species of oak trees in our front yard! Look at the difference in the acorns!  The round lighter brown shaped acorn is from a "Water Oak", and the long darker oblong acorn is from the Southern Live Oak tree.  (I hope I have that right...the descriptions I found were confusing in different posts).

Here's our two huge oak trees in our front yard:

I'm not sure which one is the Live Oak and which one is the Water Oak. I guess I could inspect their bark and leaves to figure it out. But suffice it to say, they are both huge, and they both put out a LOT of little brown leaves for us to clean up every year, and tons of tiny acorns to get stuck in the soles of my shoes when I walk out there. Skechers shoes have those flexible rubber soles that have lots of differnt "crack" in them, which are mainly good for picking up acorns and small sticks and then I have to clean them out. That is the only thing I don't like about my Skechers!  The trees also give us a lot of shade on that end of the house, but I do fear what could happen if they ever decided to blow over in a hurricane...that has been known to happen, even in healthy trees, so we try to keep them trimmed and keep a close eye on them. Oh, and you notice that the ground is all brown under them...leaves and also no grass because grass just can't seem to grow under them.

Here's the winter weather report According to the Old Farmer's Almanac for 2025-26:

Temperatures: Near normal to slightly milder across most of the country—except in the Appalachians, Southeast, Florida, and Ohio Valley, where colder-than-average conditions are expected.

It looks like we will be in for a cold, wet winter!  (See Florida) I think that is the only state that actually says "Cold, Wet".  The good news about that is the "wet" part! hopefully for us that will mean plenty of rain to refill Still Waters Pond!  

I was concerned about checking the Old Farmer's Almanac, because I heard on the news that it was going to stop publication this next year. However, apparently that is the "Farmer's Almanac", not the "Old Farmer's Almanac", which is the one I've always liked anyway. I guess I didn't realize there were two different almanacs. 

Okay, moving right along, this morning was a beautiful warmer morning than we've been having, and since it is a Saturday, we went to the Deep Creek Farmer's Market where our son has a booth:

You can also find his  Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop on Facebook HERE

If you see something you like, you can message him and discuss price and whether or not it is shipable! Most things are.

After we left there we stopped at a new store in our little town called "Blue Pond Market". You can check out their Facebook page here:  Blue Pond Market.  It is named "Blue Pond Market" because our town, Interlachen, used to be called Blue Pond before it became Interlachen. The little lake where the old downtown area is was once called "Blue Pond",   (and you can read more about the history HERE) and this particular house was built back in the mid 1800's, before the town was incorporated. It's probably one of the oldest, if not THE oldest house in our community!

I was excited to see this place open, as they are very similar to the store our family used to own here in our town, "Dixie Cottage".  They carry similar styles of merchandise and painted furniture, etc.  It is a welcome addition to our community since the people who bought Dixie Cottage from our family finally closed their store here and moved it to another town about 20 miles away.   I do hope this store, and also another new one called "The Trading Post at Deep Creek" (which is at the location where Benton was at the farmer's market today) will succeed. Our little town doesn't have a lot of shops (besides Dollar Generals (several) and Family Dollar and a few Thrift Stores and an Ace Hardware Store.  It's nice to have some choices without having to travel too far!

So what else is happening?  

Last evening hubby and I went for a walk around 5:30 p.m., just as the sun was going down. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but suffice it to say the sun was brilliantly golden and very bright...

This past Monday our Ladies' Bible Study completed our study on "It's All Under Control", where we learned about letting go of our own control and allowing GOD to be in control of our lives, because He is already in control whether we understand it or believe it or not.  It was a good study, but now we are done with that and ready to begin a new one this next week entitled "Joy! A Bible Study on Philippians for Women".  I am looking forward to that!

Speaking of "JOY", yesterday afternoon hubby and I were working on a little project in our workshop/storage shed, and it gave me great joy to see, first of all, our sweet Sunshine come inside and lay down beside the Nativity for our yard, which seems to be a spot that he always likes to be near whenever he comes into the shed with us...

He seems to be feeling okay and I think the cut on his hind end is healing okay, but I am keeping a close watch on it.

It wasn't long before Blackie discovered where we all were, and here he comes to join the party:

He doesn't want to be left out of anything that we are doing...and likes to be wherever Sunshine is as well:

Of course, after checking on Sunshine he went and did his own exploring, and then when it was time for us to close up the shed we had great fun trying to corral them both and get them back out of there...I definitely don't want them to get trapped inside the shed!

When I went outside I noticed this very tan looking grasshopper...It thought he was rather nondescript...can hardly tell his eyes from his body.  

He is called a Mischievous Bird Grasshopper. Not sure that he is so "mischievous", but he flies in swarms like a bird, so that's where the bird part comes from.  I don't mind him as long as he doesn't eat my flowers.

Okay, I guess that's all for now.  Time for my afternoon cup of tea...and also to thank the Lord for all of the wonderful ways He has blessed us.  

Psalm 16:11 NKJV

11 You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Amen! Have a lovely rest of your weekend.