Tuesday 4~The Best Part of Waking Up

 ~~The Best Part of Waking Up~~

Well hello again! I am so glad you stopped by and I do hope you are here to join in for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.
We ask 4 questions each week to get you blogging, thinking, discussing and visiting with other bloggers.

The commercial song said "the best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup".

1. What is in your cup in the morning? 

Tea!  No coffee for me, but I do make it for my hubby every day.

2. What brand of coffee or tea is the best in your opinion and why do you think so?

Well, I prefer Lipton's tea for my everyday cuppa. But I do drink other brands and varieties when I want to have a little "tea party".  

Twinings makes a lot of good teas. There are many different herbal teas and loose teas that I like to try,

 but I always go back to Lipton for my morning cup of hot tea and also to make iced tea.

Our Tea and Coffee Station

As far as coffee goes, hubby isn't picky, so I usually buy whichever one is on sale, Folgers or Maxwell House, and he is happy with that.

3. Where do you drink your cuppa in the morning? Do you have a nice view?

Yes, I usually sit here at my computer in the morning and drink my cup of tea while I check messages and comments on blogs, read blogs, etc., and I also can look out the window in "my room with a view" while I write. However, oftentimes it is still dark when I am drinking my cuppa tea, so I really don't see anything until later on. 

4.Besides the morning, do you take little tea or coffee breaks during the day? If you are out and about where is your favorite place to get some tea or coffee?

In the winter time I am more apt to take a hot tea break in the afternoon, and sometimes I do in the summer as well if I am feeling a little tired or just need to sit and relax and think about something else for a while.  I usually have iced tea with my lunch.  

Oftentimes I will sit here in my rocking chair in this little section of the kitchen and drink a cup of tea while cooking supper or baking cookies. That way I can keep an eye on things cooking while I relax. As you can see, I have plenty of company. LOL.  Lily Grace and her friends are always ready for a tea party. 

And sometimes I enjoy having a little tea party on the porch...this was a few years ago when Lily Grace and her dog Bailey and I did just that!

I may need to do this again before it gets too hot!! It would be nice to have someone join me...it's always more fun when you have someone to share this time with you. And if you'd prefer, I could make coffee for you!

As far as a place to go and get some tea or coffee, there really isn't such a place here, at least not that appeals to me. They have just opened a Dunkin' Donuts here in our little town, but it is mostly a coffee kind of place and also primarily a drive-through, although I did just notice that they have a few tables outside...but who wants to sit there when it's 90 degrees and drink something hot? Not me!

HERE is a link to a post I wrote about this a couple of years ago.  And also, if you click on Tea Time in the side bar of the blog, or Tea Party, you will find many other posts about tea time from the past.

Goodbye May! Hello June!

We are rapidly approaching the half way mark of the year, and it just doesn't seem possible, does it?  Today is the last day of May...I remember that on this day many many moons ago I walked down the aisle to graduate from high school...I'm sitting here trying to calculate how many years ago that was, and it's hard to believe that it was 57 years ago!

Where has the time flown?  Well, let's see, do you really want to know my whole life story?  LOL. Not today...that would take up way too much space and time and I am not sure anyone really wants to read all of that.  So let's just skip over the past 57 years and that will bring us to today.  57 years later and I'm sitting here in my "Room with a View" watching the sunset in the west over Still Waters Pond,

It's not anything too spectacular tonight, but  someone seems to be enjoying laying down in the grass beside the pond and watching the sunset...or watching for frogs or other little critters...

Yes, that's Sunshine basking in the Sunset.

Here he was a little earlier, when I was out in the yard checking on flowers that are blooming...he stayed on the porch and watched me...

While Blackie came down in the yard and followed me around.   

This was Blackie earlier enjoying some porch sitting time too...

Oh, and I keep forgetting to share pictures of the hummingbirds ...

Here's a few of the flowers that are blooming in the butterfly garden right now...

This hibiscus bush that we planted in memory of our son on his birthday this year has just bloomed and bloomed and bloomed! I've really enjoyed watching it open up with new blossoms every day. And the butterflies and hummingbirds love it too!  

I planted these zinnias  a short time ago, and they are finally really starting to bloom:

These zinnia plants are loaded with buds, so hopefully they will be blessing us with blossoms very soon:

This is a large-flowered tickseed plant, and it looks like a tiny little moth is enjoying getting some nectar from it!

Here's a marigold plant too...

As I've said before, I don't really have a green thumb, and there are lots of weeds that need pulling, but I'm enjoying these flowers  while they bloom.  57 years ago when I graduated high school on this date, I would never have imagined that I'd be sitting here tonight writing to friends all over the world  in blogland and showing you pictures of a butterfly garden and my two cats that I never dreamed I'd ever have!  After all, my sister Doris is the cat-person and the one with the green thumb in our family.  Maybe a little bit of those genes finally blossomed in me too. It just took a much longer time. LOL!

Moving right along...tomorrow is the first day of June, and we all know what that means! It's Calendar Roll Call day!  Since tomorrow is Sunday and I don't know that I will have time to write a post, I decided to give a sneak preview tonight of the June calendars.  Probably most of you won't see this until tomorrow anyway, so it will be right on time for you.  

This is a good place to start, with the Thomas Kinkade calendar and a beautiful church along the shore. And since June is the month we celebrate Father's Day, this verse from Jeremiah 17:7 is very appropriate:

And here is another verse that is one of my favorites...Deuteronomy 31:6

Can you read it okay?  It's kind of hard to read...

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

It's a verse that we need to always remember, no matter what or where our life has taken us.

This is the Teapot Calendar for June...looks like a lovely tea setting for an outdoor picnic...

What a delightful thought!   

Maybe this is the setting for our little garden tea party...look at those lilacs!! Oh wow!! For those of you who live where the lilacs are blooming, will you please go pick some and smell them for me? I'd love to see some pictures of your lilacs! We can't grow them here in Florida, and it's such a shame!! 

Hey, it looks like these people don't pull their weeds much either! LOL.  This might be a little too much grass around our ankles for a tea party, don't you think? Still, it looks pretty lovely to me...

Oh, I love what the Susan Branch calendar has for June...perfect for our outdoor tea party/picnic, don't you agree?

"Bring along a jar of water for just-picked wildflowers"....what a fun idea!

Jane Austen says to "Run mad as often as you 'chuse', but do not faint..."    Okay...I guess...LOL.

I saved the best for last...the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar for June:

Perfect!  She's carrying the picnic basket loaded with the tea things and the fresh home made bread and real butter and honey...and maybe a jar of water for the fresh picked wildflowers...and some other delightful goodies for our tea party picnic! What a beautiful setting...and so nice to have a sweet old doggy for our companion!

This certainly makes me want to go outside and have a tea party picnic sometime soon...if the weather will just not get too hot too fast...it actually was a tad bit cooler today...stayed in the 80's and didn't reach 90, and it wasn't quite a humid...would've been a perfect day for a picnic!  I don't have a doggy companion, but I know a couple of kitties who just might want to come along and join us.  What do you think? Let's go!

Well, friends, it's already almost bedtime, so I'd best close the calendar for May and get ready for June. Praying that June will be a month of hope fulfilled and promises kept and days of beauty and joy. 

Friday Foto Friends and Showers of Blessing

Happy Friday, Friends!

Two Great White Egrets and a Sand Hill Crane.

Here are some early morning views on Still Waters Pond today.

The sun was shining so brightly that it was difficult to get a really good focus of these Great White Egrets.

This one was "up a tree", enjoying the view, I guess...

There were actually three egrets out there...two Great White Egrets, and one smaller Egret, not a baby, just a different species.  

I enjoyed watching them flying around the pond this morning. They were much prettier than they look in these photos,  because of the bright sun reflecting off of their white coats.

There may not be many "fotos" for today...seems like I've already shared most everything of note lately, and speaking of which, in my last post HERE, where I showed pictures of a small alligator, apparently I didn't make it clear enough that we saw that gator when we traveled down to the Kenwood boat ramp about 5 miles from here.  He was NOT in our Still Waters Pond!  Thankfully, we have NEVER seen an alligator in our pond, and I truly pray that we never do.  Our pond is rather small and shallow, and gets even more shallow when we are going through a dry spell, and it seems to me that it is not a favorable environment for alligators because the water just isn't deep enough.  So, although I appreciate everyone's concern that the little alligator is in our pond and might get too close to our "friendly" wildlife, thankfully that isn't the case.  

And also, as far as the turtle eggs go, I hope we might get to see them hatch, but over the years we've lived here, we've had other turtles come and lay eggs in our yard, and I have yet to ever see one turtle egg hatch. I think they must do it either at night when the hawks or other predators aren't looking, or something else gets the eggs before they ever have a chance to hatch. Actually, when I went and took a close up look at where the turtle appeared to be laying her eggs, I couldn't find any evidence of it in the ground.  So maybe it was another one of those "false pregnancies" around here! LOL.  So, I apologize for any false hopes or misconceptions about life here at "Pamela's Wild Kingdom".  Sometimes it is quite interesting and exciting, and then other times, like right now, I can't find much of anything interesting to take a picture of. LOL.

However, we DID get a lovely rain/thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, for which we are most thankful!

The storm rolled in while we were over in the "city" about 15 miles from home, where hubby was finally having his MRI.  When he was done and it was time to drive home, it was thundering, lightning, and blowing rain so hard that we had to wait inside the building for a while before we could leave. Then, thankfully I had brought in our umbrella, and we were able to make a mad dash for the car in a momentary lull in the storm.  However, driving home in that rain another story! Hubby wasn't quite up to driving, so I took the wheel and managed to get us home safely. By the time we got here the rain had pretty much stopped for a while, and then another storm rolled in later.  These pictures don't really do it justice.  But it was definitely a "Shower of Blessing" for us...and we hopefully are going to be getting some more much needed rain tonight.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers over the past couple of weeks for my hubby. He is feeling much better than he was, and we will have an appointment to go over the results of the MRI next week with the doctor.  I think he's mainly relieved to finally have that test over with. For those who have had them, MRI's are not much fun,  especially if you tend to be claustrophobic.  We are taking things one day at a time, and trusting God for a good outcome.

These verses seem somehow to be appropriate for all we've been talking about here today...

Ezekiel 34:25-27a

25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 

26 I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. 

27 Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord..."

That makes me think of this favorite old hymn, "Showers of Blessing".   Sing along with me...

1

There shall be showers of blessing:

This is the promise of love;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

Sent from the Savior above.

Chorus:

Showers of blessing,

Showers of blessing we need;

Mercy-drops round us are falling,

But for the showers we plead.

2

There shall be showers of blessing—

Precious reviving again;

Over the hills and the valleys,

Sound of abundance of rain.

(chorus)

3

There shall be showers of blessing;

Send them upon us, O Lord!

Grant to us now a refreshing;

Come, and now honor Thy Word.

(chorus)

4

There shall be showers of blessing;

O that today they might fall,

Now as to God we’re confessing,

Now as on Jesus we call!

(chorus)

5

There shall be showers of blessing,

If we but trust and obey;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

If we let God have His way.

Chorus:

Showers of blessing,

Showers of blessing we need;

Mercy-drops round us are falling,

But for the showers we plead.

And with that I will close for today.  I hope you are all doing well wherever you are and whatever is going on in your lives.  I will try to get caught up with you later...Bye for now, and God bless you all.

Wednesday Treasures in Pamela's Wild Kingdom

 Here it is Wednesday already! This week is just a flying on by! I guess because we had a holiday on Monday, and that always throws me off as to what day it is. It also means our garbage will be picked up a day later than normal as well.  We always have to keep track of those days since it is only once a week, and if you miss it, well, then you're stuck with stinky garbage for another week!   

Oh gee, I guess I didn't really intend to start this post off by talking about stinky garbage! LOL.  Let's see, what can I share that would be more appropriate and pleasant? How about this:

The Bluebirds continue to come visit the birdhouse every day, but so far I cannot tell that they have built any nest inside. They often stick their heads inside and look around, and sometimes even go inside, but then they come back out and think about it, but never really do anything.

And even more strange, this male decided to go check out the other birdhouse too, but then he just flew away and his mate soon joined him.  However, in a few minutes they will be back again, and go through this same routine, but without ever actually building a nest. This has been going on all spring, and for some reason they just haven't decided to settle down to nesting.   Now with these 95 degree days it is really too hot.  So I guess they're bypassing raising any new babies this year.

Speaking of nesting...this very large Florida Soft-Shelled Turtle waddled up onto the shore of Still Waters Pond and decided to lay her eggs in the middle of my butterfly garden last night! 

I was happy that our "kids" were over last night and the grandpuppies were busily watching the kitties through the sliding glass doors and therefore we saw the turtle come up on shore at the same time. 

The incubation period is 60-90 days, so I hope nothing digs up the eggs or destroys them before then. I noticed that the Sand Hill Cranes went right over there after the turtle went back in the water, and they were poking around in that area, so I hope they didn't poke the eggs.

We've had turtles come and lay eggs in our yard before, but I've never yet been able to see when the baby turles hatch and head back to the water.  

I wish I could see it happen sometime. I'll have to keep watching from about the end of July through August I guess.

There's never a dull moment here at Still Waters Pond, that's for sure!

One reason the kids came over last night was to install this RING doorbell for us.  We didn't have a regular doorbell, and it's often difficult to hear when someone comes to our door, and it's also hard to see who's out there without being obvious about it.  So we decided to try this RING doorbell so we can see who is here even if we aren't home.  It's an added security measure that I think is wise in this day and age.  How many of you already have one of these?

And here's a video of me this morning, testing it out and then trying to figure out how to download it onto my computer so I could share it with you! Hey! It works!!

The other nice thing last night was that Rose had been off from work for a couple of days, and she had cooked a delicious beef stew in the crock pot and they wanted to share it with us. I made the cornbread, and we had a wonderful evening. It even decided to thunderstorm while they were here, which was an added bonus. I didn't take any pictures, however, because I was too busy with trying to get this RING APP installed on my cell phone. Actually, Rose did it for me, but I had to watch and see what she was doing so I would know how to operate it.  They already have this at their house, and they really like it.

Speaking of rain and the fomer lack thereof,  I had mentioned once that we were thinking about putting a small swimming pool in the back yard so the wild critters could get a drink of water while it has been so dry that even the pond was drying up.  Our intention was to set our wildlife/night cam on it so we could get pictures of whatever animal showed up in the night to drink from it.  Well, so far we haven't had any night visitors, but I didn't happen to see this sweet fluffy kitty, a.k.a. "Sunshine", getting a drink.

Yes, our cats have a bowl of fresh water up on the porch that is kept refilled and fresh all day long, but for some reason Sunshine prefers to drink out of the swimming pool and before that I often saw him going down to the edge of the pond and drinking, (before it was getting so dry that he would have to walk out on the mud to get to the water).  

Isn't he sweet?  Something got his attention here for a minute...maybe he was trying to tell Blackie to come and join him.  I have seen Blackie drink from it a few times, but never when I had my camera handy.

I think I need to fill it up a little higher so he doesn't have to lean so far over to drink.  Heaven forbid if he should actually fall into the pool and get all wet! LOL.  

Speaking of things in the water...we've been taking more rides lately as it is too hot to get out and do much walking and hubby hasn't felt up to doing much anyway, and I am doing most of the driving right now, so anyway, we took a little ride down to the Kenwood Boat Ramp, where we've been many times before. 

As I was walking along the shore looking at the reflections on the water and studying the lily pads, etc., I suddenly heard a loud plunk into the water off shore just beyond where I was standing...

Thankfully I had my good camera with the zoom lens, and I was able to see what had made that fast move into the water...

Yes, a "small" alligator apparently had been resting on the shore where I was headed, and he jumped into the water just before I got too close. Shew! That was a close one for me too!!

Some of these pictures are a bit blurred, but I liked the way the reflections on the water turned out, so just enjoy the abstractedness of them with me, if you don't mind...

And be thankful along with me that this guy was probably only about 4' long and not his Mama or his Papa alligator!  Believe me, I was being very watchful just in case they were still sunning themselves along the shore where I couldn't see them among the weeds...

His reflection of his eyes in the water looks rather strange...but we won't go there...

So , all is calm, all is well out there on the canal...

Just don't go swimming in there, okay?

Okay, back to this beautiful patriotic cross that our son made, which is a lovely way to express your faith in God and support of our country, especially for the 4th of July and other patriotic holidays...

Some of you expressed interest in it.  He doesn't have it on his Etsy site yet, but if anyone is interested in buying one, you can contact him on their Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop Facebook page and send him a message, and he will be happy to talk to you about this and any other items you are interested in, like the Easter Empty Tomb that he made. If you aren't on Facebook, contact me via  my email (link attached HERE), and I will forward your information to him.  I'm not trying to sell things here, but I am sharing this only because some have expressed interest in it.   Thank you!

2 Chronicles 7:14  KJV

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Well, I guess that's it for today's Wednesday Treasures.  I hope you enjoyed visiting here today in "Pamela's Wild Kingdom". LOL..you just never know what you will see!    Have a blessed and happy week my friends.