Tuesday 4~ Summertime

 Summertime

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...
Summer time is upon us.


1. What special memories do you have about summer when you were younger?

Between the two of these links below from older posts about my summertime adventures as a child, you will get the big picture of just about everything I can remember.  Let me suffice it to say that I have a lot of happy summertime memories of vacation trips through the mountains, camping in the State Parks (in a tent) along the way to and from Ohio to visit relatives. Those were the happiest times of my young life. In addition to these memories  there were day trips to the beach or the springs that are all around us in the Ocala National Forest. Some of these excursions  (to the springs) were with the school summertime program, and that was always a lot of fun. 

I hope you will take the time to click on these links and get the whole story of my summertime childhood memories. They are too numerous to repeat  writing again! LOL. (and my memory is fading. LOL).
Here's a link to some of my favorite summer memories

And HERE is another link to more summertime memories

2. What is the highest temperature you've experienced in summer? What about so far this summer? How do you weather the heat or humidity?

We've been having heat indexes of over 110 degrees, which means the actual temperatures were in the very high 90's, with humidity also in the high 90's. Last week we were under a heat advisory almost every day. So far this week it has been a tad cooler, only in the high 80's and lower 90's, which is a nice break. We've also been getting more afternoon pop up thunderstorms. We still need a lot more rain to fill  up our pond, but at least the grass and plants are being watered for me. LOL.   As far as in my whole life, probably the highest temperature I've experienced would be what we had last week, although I do remember times when the actual temperature was over 100.  I know some places in the country have hotter temps than that all the time, but they don't have the high humidity usually to go along with it, which truly makes it feel a lot hotter.  

When it is this hot we stay indoors with our air conditioning running around the clock. We avoid going out in the afternoon as much as possible, and try to get all of our errands and outdoor chores done in the early morning or after the sun starts going down in the evening.


3. What's been on your menu so far this summer?

Nothing extra special, I'm sorry to say. I try to avoid using the oven as much as possible, so very little baking is done or any kinds of meats/roasts that have to be cooked in the oven. However, yesterday afternoon was cloudy and rainy and a bit cooler, so I decided to cook a meatloaf in the oven. We can eat on that for a few days with sandwiches, etc.   We do eat more salads and fresh fruits in the summer.  

I had a root beer float last night. Does that count?

4. What is on your reading list this summer... anything to recommend to us? What's on your TV this summer. Any music you're liking this summer?

I have still been "binge reading" books from this author, Rhys Bowen. I am about finished with this stack, and will take them back to the library tomorrow, where there is at least one more waiting for me to pick up. I think I have a couple more on "hold", which means when they are available from other locations in our county they will transfer them to our library and I will be able to check them out. Ilove that we have this system so that we can order books online through their website and they keep me quite covered with good reading material.  I enjoy these mysteries by this author.  She is quite a prolific writer.

We were surprised to find this little book inside our mailbox last evening when I went out to get the mail. It was not something I had ordered, and it was literally just placed in our mailbox with a card on top addressed to us, but not sent through the mail. It was a gift to us from our Pastor, who apparently was passing by and put it in our mailbox.  We were surprised and blessed by the little gift, and we definitely called him afterwards to let him know how much we appreciated it.

The book is delightful. It is the story of the two ladies who were the original authors of the song "Jesus Loves Me".  They had written the words into a novel they had written, which was published into a book.

Here are the original lyrics:

The novel was entitled "Say and Seal", written in 1860 by Susan and Anna Warner. The Gospel Hymnwriter William B. Bradbury later read the book and the words to the song, and he added the chorus that we know so well and set it to the melody that we sing still today. Actually, we sing this little song every Sunday morning in our church when our children are dismissed to go to Children's Church.

The little book tells the life story of Susan and Anna Warner and their family. One thing that really stood out to my hubby and me (we read this out loud together last night...it's a short book and well worth the read...) was the fact that early on in their lives they had suffered some severe setbacks in their financial status along with other great sorrows.   This says below that "Anna Warner lived long enough to realize that had there been no black sheep (one of their brothers), no moments of bereavement, no stock market crash, no eviction from New York (city), no financial worries--if there had been none of those things, there would have been no books, no worldwide ministry, no thousands of inspired Cadets (West Point was across the Hudson River from their home, and the ladies did Bible studies with them in their home), and no "Jesus Loves Me."   (Page 91).

That little paragraph really spoke to us, because we have also experienced great setbacks and difficulties and sorrows in our lives, and yet God used those experiences to shape and mold us and literally make us stronger in our faith.  Oftentimes it's the things we fear the most ever happening that become the very things that help us become the people God wants us to become.  Those life experiences teach us to rely more on God and His faithfulness, and not so much on our own resources and strength. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

"9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Does that last verse above remind you of something?   How about the first verse to the song Jesus Loves Me?

"Jesus loves me, this I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak, but He is strong."

And the chorus:

"Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me,

the Bible tells me so.

So yes, this was a great little gift to find in our mailbox last night. You know, I used to sing this song to my babies while they were still in my womb.  And I continued singing it to them every time I rocked them to sleep.  More than anything, I wanted them to know "Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so!"  If they never learned anything else from me, that was the one thing most important of all.

I guess this answered the question about what we are reading and what music we are liking this summer. 

As far as TV is concerned, hubby is watching the FIFA Soccer matches, and then together we watch things like "Maine Cabin Masters", "Castle Impossible", and the old Price is Right shows from when Bob Barker was still on there, among other things.  I am not into TV as much as he is. I enjoy reading and writing more than TV.

Well, friends, I guess that's all for now. It's been raining pretty hard while I was finishing this up. Another severe thunderstorm blew through.  

Oh, one last thing...I'm falling behind again in my photo-a-day challenge.  I never did do yesterday's "shadow" picture. It's been too cloudy!

And today (14), is "On the floor".  Let me take a look around and see what I can find...

Well, the only thing on MY floor is probably a lot of dirt and dust to be swept up, so I decided to look outside my window in my room with a view, and I saw this little Wren on the porch railing. 

Because it has been raining and is so cloudy, it's not very clear, plus I am taking this picture through a tinted window.

He was having a conversation with the Red Headed Woodpecker doorknocker.

And finally he flew down to the "floor" of the porch, although he is not very clearly seen here, but he is on the floor, so that should qualify for this picture! LOL.

And with that I will call this post finished!  I hope you are having a lovely summer day wherever you are! Blessings to all of you, and remember, "Yes, Jesus Loves Me (YOU!)... The Bible tells me so!"

Amen and good day.