April Fool's! And Much More

Hey! Look at me, Mom!  I'm a giant chocolate Easter Bunny and I'm sitting on your dining room table and you can't make me move! April Fool's!!! LOL.  

Do you see that pink tongue sticking out at me??? This young man is certainly getting sassy in his new life as an indoor/outdoor kitty cat!  The nerve of him to think he can get on the dining room table with all of my cherished little Easter Bunny collections, and pretend he's one of them!  I think he was jealous! LOL.  And for those of you who will most likely want to ask, "What happened to his ear?"  When we had him neutered through the local TNR program, that is what they do so that if he's released back into the "wild" they will know he's already been "fixed." Apparently it didn't hurt and he's never complained about it. Makes it easier to identify him if necessary. Well, I know who he is and where he is, and right now he's back outside! So there, Mr. Chocolate Easter Bunny wannabe! LOL. (don't worry, he'll be back inside soon. It was just time for him to go out and chase lizards for awhile like a good kitty. LOL.)

So, today is April 1st, also known as April Fool's Day! And Mr. Blackie already had his fun with us.  I wonder what other fun things will happen today! Do you play April Fool's jokes on people, or do they play them on you? It's all in good fun!

There was a full moon last night, and here's this morning's view of it through the trees as it was descending...

And here's the sun rise a little bit later...a lot of jet contrails in the skies this morning!

And again, just a few minutes later...a LOT of jet activity in the skies. I wonder if this is because of that  rocket launch to the moon this morning at Cape Kennedy?  Oops! April Fool's on me! It's not scheduled until tonight at 6:45 or thereabouts. My mistake. So I guess it's just a busy morning for air travel.

Oh, another April Fool's joke on us! We are on a community water system here, and they did send out a notice last week that there would be a need to boil water on April 1st after they do an annual system maintenance.  What didn't register with my little brain was that in order for them to do that, they would be turning OFF the water this morning! It didn't register until I went to start washing the breakfast dishes and hubby went to do his morning bathroom activities, i.e., shaving, brushing teeth, grooming, etc., etc...and also subsequently I went to do my morning bathroom routine of the same (except for the shaving, LOL).  Thankfully I had several gallon jugs of water that we keep on hand for emergencies, plus we have a case of bottled water for drinking purposes, so we will survive. It was just a shock to realize that we had no water right when we wanted it most! So my dirty dishes are waiting in the sink. I'm glad I didn't start a load of laundry...and also glad we have no particular place to go today so we really don't need showers, etc. Hopefully this little inconvenience won't last too long...but then we will have to boil our water probably for a day or two until they give us the all clear notice. 

Still, I am thankful that we have water in our little world here at all. With the drought we are experiencing there is a real danger that water levels in the aquifer will continue to lower, which causes people's wells to go dry and also increases the danger of sinkholes in places that are prone to that.  So we continue to pray for rain every day. It's not just our Still Waters Pond that needs it!

Okay,  moving right along...since today is the first day of April, it's time for the calendar roll call!

We'll start out with this one that is closest to my desk...The John Sloane Country Seasons Calendar for April:

"Good Morning Sunshine".  Oh,  I love that for many reasons. Isn't it beautiful? Perhaps some of you can relate to that picture even better than I can. We don't have daffodils here (sadly), and I think most of the blooming trees are already bloomed out or haven't bloomed yet. Plus, we don't have those lovely rolling hills or mountains here either.  It truly is a beautiful scene that I would love to step right into, if I could.  Especially the daffodils. 

I've mentioned this before that my mother always put a little vase of daffodils in the center of an angel food cake for my sister Doris' birthday on April 5th. Since we moved to Florida from Pennsylvania way back in 1956, daffodils became very hard to find and so we often had to resort to using artificial ones. Anyway, my sister and her husband are coming HERE on Saturday to celebrate their birthdays with us. They both were born on April 5th. I will be baking an angel food cake for Doris, (it's her 80th birthday!) and a coconut cake for Art. (it's his 82nd birthday!)  I am on the look out for a pot of daffodils somewhere in a store between now and then, and if I can't find any, I will have to use the artificial ones. Tune in later (after Saturday) to find out if I was successful or not.

Back to the calendars...here's the log cabin calendar I have in my bathroom...this little rustic cabin looks like it's seen better days...but still there's a fire in the fireplace apparently, so someone must be at home. It would be fun to go knock on that door and say good morning! 

Love this little Susan Branch calendar and the pictures on it... that looks like my bluebird going into the nest.  

I just got up and went to the back door to look out and see if I could get a picture of any action at the Bluebird house, and this is what I saw:  If you look closely at the birdhouse, you will see mother Bluebird sitting in the door, and you will also see to the right a beautiful male Cardinal on the birdfeeder. Just after I snapped that picture the bluebird chased the cardinal away... (oh, look how beautiful the bottlebrush tree is blooming now!!!)...

The mother Bluebird flew up to the top of the post above her nest, and waited for the coast to be clear before she flew away to get some food for her babies...

Meanwhile, a female Ruby Throated Hummingbird flew up to the feeder for a drink (all this was happening in seconds of each other)

And Papa Bluebird kept a close watch over the nesting area while Mama went to find food. 

Yes, I am "in love with nature", just like that calendar above said!! God's creation is so interesting! There's never a dull moment, if you just look for it!

Okay, back to the calendars...This is the picture for the Tea Pot calendar this month...isn't it the strangest teapot you've ever seen?

This is in the description:

This Chinese Yixing Teapot has a lid  "shaped like the face of a panda..."

It's certainly different! LOL.

Let's finish up with this beautiful Thomas Kinkade calendar for April, with a picture of Notre Dame, in Paris, France.  

An appropriate picture and verse as we are in the middle of Holy Week.

And this is the verse at the bottom of the page.

Well, friends, I don't know where you are in your mid-Holy Week journey, but as we progress to the cross on Good Friday, may we be ever mindful of the great sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for our sins.

Here are some words to ponder that Jesus shared with His disciples as He was making His way to Jerusalem, knowing that He was going there to die for the sins of the world...

Luke 9:23-26

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 

24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 

25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 

26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

I wonder if we have truly counted the cost of what it means when Jesus said to all of us who would be His disciples... to "take up (his) cross daily, and follow Me."  As the days draw closer to Christ's return for His "bride", the church, I hope He will find us ready and worthy to be a part of His heavenly kingdom for eternity. I know for me, "this world is not my home, I'm just passing through", and I eagerly await  His trumpet call. Are you also ready to follow Jesus wherever He may lead? That's what this Easter journey is really all about...being ready to take up Christ's cross and follow Him wherever He may lead us.  It's truly something to think about while there is yet time.

And that's NO April Fool's Joke!!!

Have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.