It Was A Foggy Saturday Morning!

I started writing this post early this morning when it looked like this outside: 

We've had a lot of these foggy mornings lately, and my heart goes out to those who have to drive in it. It may not be as bad as a snow storm, but the visibility can be just as bad in some places. 

I much prefer to drive when it looks like this, which was yesterday morning:

And I also prefer to be home when the sun is setting in the west like it did last night:

It can be brutal heading west when the sun is going down, so it's much nicer to just stay here and enjoy watching it over "Still NO Waters Pond".  I do miss the beautiful reflections we used to get on the water during the sunsets.  Hopefully we will get some spring rains that will bring the pond back to its natural beauty.  We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow and again sometime during next week, along with a drop in the temperatures again...back into the 40's and high 30's in the mornings, and 50's and 60's for the high. Today it's 83 degrees right now. No wonder people keep getting sick!

I finally got all the Christmas decorations and the tree down and put away yesterday.  So instead of the tree in front of this window, here's the view now:

Oh, wait! Who's that???  Blackie? Where did YOU come from??? You're supposed to be on the outside looking in, not the inside looking out! LOL!

I wanted to thank you all for your input regarding flea treatments, etc. for Blackie.  I did zero in on one that sounds affordable and safe for an outside/inside cat. One of my very old friends from many years ago sent me a private message to tell me what she uses for their inside/outside cat. She reads my blog, but never comments on here, so it was a surprise to get an email from her with just the information I needed.  I ordered it from Amazon and it came today and we already applied it to Blackie's back of the neck...and he promptly went outside and rolled in the sand and now the spot has sand stuck on it, but hopefully that won't affect the effectiveness of the treatment. He does love to roll in the sand!!!!

I don't foresee Blackie becoming a full time indoor cat anytime soon, but we do enjoy letting him come inside for a few minutes and explore, and then I scoop him up and give him some snuggles and put him back outside (until the next time he manages to scoot in the door when we open it). For now he's happy and so are we with that arrangement.  Time will tell what will develop.

As I was cleaning off the kitchen counter where  so much of the Christmas decorations were, I rediscovered this little knicknack...

Here's what it says:

Amen!!

The little saying above that says "Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark" actually came from a Chinese Fortune Cookie, and I kept it because it spoke to me. 

It reminds me of this verse from Hebrews 11:1:

"1.  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

To me, that means that faith is having confidence that the things God has promised in His Word will indeed happen, even when I can't see them yet.   And so, like the bird who can "feel the light and sing while the dawn is still dark", I too can sing and smile with confidence that what God has promised to us, He will deliver.  

Even though the Christmas items have mostly been put away, there's still little reminders here and there...like that cup full of Christmas candy that no one seems to want to eat...

And I still haven't taken down the Christmas cards that were strung up on the room divider in the foyer...

We did enjoy receiving so many lovely cards. There were a few more that didn't make it on this arrangement because I just got lazy, but we enjoyed them just the same. LOL.

I know we didn't get as many as usual, but I didn't send out as many as usual either, because I was sick most of the month of December. I feel blessed that we somehow still managed to have Christmas at all! God is good, and we are very thankful. And as someone said recently in their blog (I'd have to go back and check to see who it was), we need to keep the Christmas spirit going on into the New Year and all year long, and continue in the spirit of love and kindness and generosity and hope and joy and peace and faith!

On another note, after the fog lifted we took a little ride this morning. Remember last week when we went to the Kenwood Boat Ramp and saw how little water was there?  Well, yesterday someone told me that if we took another little road right next to that location, we would be able to drive all the way to where the water is and where the boaters can still put in their boats and go out into what's left of the river/lake and go fishing or take a boat ride.  And so this morning we decided to ride down there and see it for ourselves, and here's what we discovered:

You can see a lot of trucks/boat trailers lined up along the shore...and there were a lot more than this, so they are out there somewhere in that water having a great day hopefully and catching whatever fish are there!

Normally there was water all the way to the tree lines, and when they release the water again in March all this bare ground will be covered in water again.

It was fascinating to see all the mussel shells all over the ground.  

There were a lot of water birds along the shore finding something good to eat.  Also, in the distance, if you notice all those tree stumps...those are cypress tree knees and or/trunks, from where they cut the trees years ago to create this reservoir.  The water in the middle is apparently the original river that flows through there naturally.

This place is fascinating to me...it's like being on a different planet! LOL.

That's an interesting cloud floating up in the sky (below).  Kind of looks like an angel!  You can also see there was still some fog lingering along the top of the water.  

I hope you enjoyed these photos. I really enjoyed being there. It was a unique experience.

After we left the river/lake/resesrvoir ?,  we stopped in at the Deep Creek Game Farm and Trading Post. Our son was there selling his garden planter/containers, so we visited with him a while, and then I went around to the different vendors and into the Trading Post store.  Out of everything there to look at, this is the main thing that caught my attention...can you guess why?

I was really tempted to buy it as it really wasn't very expensive, but to be honest, I wasn't too thrilled with the giant sea turtle flying into the window, so I decided to pass it up. I loved the church and the window and everything else about it, however.  It's still tempting because it goes along with my blog so perfectly, but I am proud of myself for not giving into temptation.  It's just kind of a strange painting I think.

Still, the theme makes one think, doesn't it?  "When God closes a door, He opens a window". That's the quote that got me started on this blog some 16 years ago.  HERE is a LINK to that very first blog post.

And the verse mentioned in that post goes along very well with the pictures above of the "rivers in the desert".    I know I've often quoted these verses, but they bear repeating as we are still beginning a new year, hopefully filled with many "new things",  and roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert of wherever we may find ourselves from time to time.  

Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV

18 “Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert."

May we be like that little bird, who "feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark."  Amen? Amen.

And also, "Just as God gives the birds an abundance of seeds, He sends us His blessings and cares for our needs."   Amen,  and Praise the Lord!

It's almost dark now, and I've  finally finished this post. I hope you have a blessed and wonderful evening and "SONday" tomorrow.