Friday Foto Friends

 Oh my goodness! Friday is almost over and here I am just sitting down to try to write something to you. I might have mentioned a few days ago that this week was going to be busy, and so I didn't know how much I'd be able to communicate here throughout the week...and I was right about that! It has been busy, but all in such wonderful ways!  If you're a Facebook friend, you may have already seen some of these pictures I'm going to share with you, but there are also some new ones from today that are brand new.  So you might want to get a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and pull up a comfortable rocking chair and let's visit a while, shall we?

We'll start out with yesterday (Thursday), which was just so very special.  Since our "kids" are unable to spend Mother's Day with me due to work schedules, etc., Benton and Rose said they would like to take us over to the beach and then out to lunch yesterday.  So we left fairly early in the day, which, BTW, was a very HOT 93+ day, but thankfully there was a nice breeze.  We arrived at Crescent Beach around 10:00 a.m., which is just south of St. Augustine a little ways, and about an hour's drive from where we live. I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Our first view of the ocean:

Flowers and grasses along the way on the sand dunes, all a necessary part of the protection from beach erosion...

My first step into the "cool" ocean waters....it really did feel wonderful!

Turn on your sound for a little "beach therapy"....

No, I wasn't wearing long pants...they were capris, but I ended up having to roll them up when the tide started coming in while we were walking in the water.

The "Three Musketeers" LOL.   All in serious need of some suntan! LOL.  (That's why you can't see my legs above!)

Oh, here's some cuties:

And this doggy was enjoying playing frisbee in the surf...

More birds:

And finally I managed to get some birds diving into the surf:

And no trip to the beach would be complete without seeing "Jaws"!  Thankfully not the real deal!

After we finished our walk on the beach it was getting time for lunch, so we headed down A1A highway, which skirts along the coastline through sleepy little communities along the way...well...I take that back...there's NOTHING sleepy along the beach anymore...except for these houses out on the shoreline, who are actually abandoned since the last hurricane that came through here. The beach erosion was so bad that it washed away their property, and the houses now stand empty and will be torn down because there's no way to fix the problem:

And there's actually no road left to get to them, so that's the bigger issue. It was all washed away.

Finally we arrived in what used to be a sleepy little beach town, "Flagler Beach", but no more. There are houses, condos, RV parks, hotels, cottages, etc., EVERYWHERE.  

These pictures are actually at the Flager Beach pier, which was washed away in the hurricane. They are still trying to repair it...but guess what...hurricane season starts again next month! I'm not so sure it's worth all the money they are spending to try and replace it...

But it is historical...actually I remember this pier and little beach front communityfrom over 60 years ago, when one of my school friends invited me and another friend to spend the weekend with her and her mother at their family's beach cottage! We were about 14, and we had the time of our lives! Oh, not to mention the cute boys who showed up with surf boards and tried to teach us to surf! Can't say that we learned all that much in the short time we were there, but it was fun trying...and did I say the boys were cute? When you're 14, even 14 year old boys look cute to you! LOL. 

I tried to figure out where the family cottage was, but the place has grown up so much since then there's no way I could figure it out. I just know it was within walking distance of this pier.

Finally we reached our destination of a place to eat. They were very few and far between, but this one sounded promising:

And it was in this hotel building where that porch is:

And this was the view across the street:

And THIS was my best view:

And next to me was my sweet daughter in love Rose:

And across from us her sweet hubby and my son Benton:

And here I was...as you can tell, I was quite windblown! Did I mention it was breezy? But that breeze felt wonderful since it was in the 90's.

Our food was really good...I had the grilled salmon and cole slaw...

And some seafood/clam chowder, which was really tasty:

It was a perfect way to spend an early Mother's Day!

Oh, we saw this BBQ place on the way over to the beach, and thought the sign was pretty funny:

And the party wasn't over yet. Last evening after we got home and (we took a nap, hence the bed head look), the kids came over and brought me this lovely planter that Benton made. It has some marigolds and a vinca plant in it, and I'm going to put it outside near my vegetable garden to help ward off the bugs.

Speaking of which, I didn't tell you that it has been raining this evening! Here's the current look at Still Waters Pond, which is damp on the top, but still has a LONG way to go before it will actually have water in it. However, there's rain predicted all weekend, so we are hoping and praying that it really gets down to business!

My vegetable garden is happy:

So now for Part 2 of the current activities going on.  Today was our church Ladies' May Fellowship Luncheon, where we invite ladies from other churches in our community and have a guest speaker and a nice luncheon.  It was really a lovely day, with about 65 women in attendance, which is a LOT for our little church. We had a soup and salad buffet, and it was really good.

Here's a smattering of pictures from the day:

Here's the table where I was sitting...(can you find me? LOL)

LOTS Of FOOD!!

Our ladies in worship and praise...

Our two youngest ladies!

A beautiful cake!

Our theme song was "Shine Jesus, Shine".

Here are the lyrics:

"Lord, the light of your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness, shining

Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us

Set us free by the truth you now bring us

Shine on me, shine on me

Chorus:

Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light

Lord, I come to your awesome presence

From the shadows into your radiance

By the blood I may enter your brightness

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

As we gaze on your kingly brightness

So our faces display your likeness

Ever changing from glory to glory

Mirrored here may our lives tell your story

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

Graham Kendrick

Copyright © 1987 Make Way Music,

www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

All in all it was a beautiful day, filled with the JOY of the Lord. The theme of the program was "Wildflowers of Joy, Growing in the Spirit".   We are the "wildflowers", planted by God  and filled with His Joy, as He leads us day by day in our walk with the Lord and as we "grow in the Spirit".  What a blessing to spend that time with our sisters in Christ!

Okay friends, I guess that should cover the past couple of days! Now I hope I can get caught up with the rest of you and see what you've been up to. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to spend some time visiting with you.  Until then, 

"Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light"

Amen!