Tuesday 4~Simply the Best!

 Simply the Best!

Note from Annie, our Hostess: "Here is an older Tuesday 4 from Toni with a few changes I've made. I hope you enjoy."

I am scratching my head on all of these questions today. I am almost 76 years old. In 76 years of life, I cannot think of just one thing that was the best thing in each of these instances.  There have been so many wonderful things throughout the years...how can I possibly choose? I can barely remember all the things I've purchased or read or places I've been or TV /movies I've watched, let alone narrow them down to the best. There are so many different categories to choose from.  So I will do my best to come up with some appropriate answers, but I really can't say that any of these will be the very best...

1. What was the best thing you have ever bought?

Well, I was thinking perhaps our house, even though it's not perfect, it meets our needs and was an answer to many prayers.  But then, I thought how about my computer? It opened up a whole new world for me...and gave me a connection to people that I never would've known or met  or even heard about without this amazing invention. It also connects me to family and old friends that otherwise I would've lost contact with.   The other thing is my digital camera, but that was a gift from my brother when he felt sorry for me being the last person on earth who was still using a film camera! LOL. But then the cell phone came along with another camera, and that really opened things up! See? It's impossible to answer this question with just one thing.

2. What was the best book you have ever read?

Well, that one's easy: The Bible! It's a book that I keep on reading every day. It's a "gift that keeps on giving". It's a love story with a very happy ending. There's mystery, adventure, romance, poetry, everything you could ever ask for in a book...and it's  personal...written for each one of us...a love letter to us from God, through His Son Jesus Christ! It is the Word of God, inspired by God's Holy Spirit, and it is the Truth.  Other than the Bible, there is no other book to compare. I've read lots of good books throughout my life, and I even have collections of books that I loved, but none can compare to The Bible.

3. What is the best trip/vacation/holiday you've ever had?

 Again, it's impossible to narrow it down to one.  I've not taken many exotic trips to faraway places, (actually NONE), and throughout my whole life it seemed that the majority of our trips/vacations were to go visit relatives...grandparents when I was a child, and then to bring our kids home to visit their grandparents when they were children.  Those were our "vacations".  We did have some trips that were just vacations to different places, but I honestly cannot narrow it down to the best of any of them. I loved visiting my family as a child, and the trips we took to get there and back were wonderful. We camped in tents in the State Parks through the mountains, and waded in freezing mountain streams to find a perfect rock to bring home with us, we saw lots of sights along the way and played road games with my siblings as we traveled on the winding mountain roads and through the fields and woods and cities. I guess those special vacations that we took as a family when I was a little girl will always stand out in my memory as "the best".  This is a LINK to an older post about family vacations, with a surprise "visitor" in this post!

4. What was the best movie or TV series you've ever watched?

Again, I can't narrow it down.  I guess the movie would be "The Sound of Music". I can still sing most of the songs from it! I don't think I sound too much like Julie Andrews anymore, however.  TV: I remember enjoying watching Downton Abbey...and I did watch the last "movie" they did, but I was not overly impressed with it. It kind of fell flat if you ask me.  Oh, I loved the Anne of Green Gables original series...   As a child I loved to watch all the old shows, I Love Lucy #1, Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver...and there were SO many more.  I really can't narrow this down. Sorry!

So what would your answers be? Get blogging and let us know.

Those are my answers. I'll probably think of a bunch of other stuff once I hit "publish" on this one! LOL. Meanwhile. this morning we took a ride to the Kenwood Recreation Center/Boat Ramp. They finally have water again...Remember when I shared THESE photos in February? Click on the link.

Well, here's how it looks now. They opened up the dam again and allowed water to fill the river/lake. 

This "Little Blue Heron" was happy to be able to fish here again:

I love this tree...

It always makes me think of this scripture passage from Psalms:  (from "the BEST BOOK I've ever read!)

Psalm 1:1-3  KJV

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

And I found another little friend there...

Hello Mr. Squirrel:

He re"TREE"ted to a safe spot to watch me pass by! 

See? Without my "best purchase" of a cell phone/camera/and computer, I wouldn't be able to share these pictures with you. We wouldn't even know each other! 

Thank you, Annie, for coming up with these questions each week. I know it gets difficult sometimes to come up with good topics...and sometimes it gets difficult for us to come up with good answers...but at least we try, and that's all that matters!  It's all about making friends and getting to know each other better, and that's the best gift of all!

Have a blessed day my friends! You're "Simply the Best!"

Monday Monday! Praise The Lord!

It's Monday morning, and a beautiful day so far!  I was just outside walking around and watering my plants, and I could hear the birds singing in the treetops so sweetly!  I love how they always lift up their voices in praise to their Creator every morning! It's truly a wonderful sound!! 

I don't have any new bird pictures to go along with this, but I will just post the pictures that I did take while I was outside...

All Creatures of Our God and King

(St. Francis of Assisi originated this song in 1225)

1. All creatures of our God and King,

Lift up your voice and with us sing

Alleluia, alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam,

O praise him, O praise him,

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Our small bottlebrush bush finally blooming after about 4 years of watching it grow!

The Zucchini and Yellow Squash plants are growing, but I think they need some fertilizer. I thought the potting soil we bought had some in it, but apparently not much.  But still, they are growing. I have to water them every day.

The "Beefsteak" tomato plants are growing also...

2. Thou rushing winds that art so strong,

Ye clouds that sail in Heav'n along,

O praise him, alleluia!

Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,

Ye lights of evening, find a voice.

O praise him, O praise him,

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

It's a sunny, breezy beautiful day! God Bless America!!

3. And all ye saints of tender heart,

Forgiving others, take your part,

O sing ye, alleluia!

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

Praise God and on him cast your care:

O praise him, O praise him,

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Blackie and I enjoyed some "Secret Memorial Garden" Bench time together. It was so pleasant this morning.

This picture was taken earlier this morning...Even though I put my purse on that chair to keep him from getting on it, he got up there anyway.  He definitely has a mind of his own, but I keep trying to teach him. Not long after this picture was taken he woke up and was sweetly "removed" to another location.

4. Let all things their creator bless,

And worship him in humbleness,

O praise him, alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

And praise the Spirit, Three in One:

O praise him, O praise him,

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

This rose was blooming in the garden, but it needed to come inside where we could enjoy it. It will last much longer in here, and I love to "stop and smell the roses" every time I pass by.

Another thing to praise God about: The Blueberry Farm is open and they have beautiful lucious blueberries!  This was our first batch. I will go back and get more to freeze, but I wanted to enjoy these while they are fresh picked right from the farm...

And so we had homemade Blueberry Muffins this morning:

Along with some scrambled eggs and cantaloupe:

I went outside and checked on my blueberry bush that I've had for a few years, and it is really loaded with berries too! I really wonder about this drought we are in...and the cold winter we had...some things are actually growing better. Of course, I do water them almost every day...

This is the whole bush. It is loaded with berries that are still ripening! What fun!

Now I have another story to tell you that is really strange... The other day our AC started not cooling properly...Yes, we've had days warm enough to need the AC already. This is Florida.  We've often needed AC on Christmas day!  Anyway, it was actually Easter Sunday, after everyone had left after a lovely afternoon, and I noticed that our thermostat was registering a temperature that was several degrees higher than it should be.  So I sent a text message to our AC repairman asking him to call us in the morning, which he did.  He came over Monday morning to check it out, and couldn't quite figure out what was going on with it, and said he would have to come back later in the week when he had more time to take it apart and look it over really well. Thankfully it is still under warranty, but he did remind us that we would have to pay the labor charges.  We understood that, but we were concerned about  him having to "take it apart" and needing more time to figure it out...but he assured us he would be fair. He's a good man and is always fair, so we weren't too worried.

So you may wonder what this towel is.  Well, on the day that he came back and took apart the the unit, he found this towel in the bottom of the outside air handler...

Yes, down inside this unit:

That was pretty astounding.  He said that somehow it had been sucked through the ductwork into the outside unit! What????? How could that happen?  He said he's seen some pretty strange things before in AC units, but this was pretty unusual.  After I thought about it, I remembered a day when I was changing the filter on the AC unit inside, and I had a little "accident".  This shelf unit below sits beside the cold air return/filter...

Do you see what is on those shelves? Yes, Towels. Those are mostly old towels that our son uses when he comes home and is dirty from mowing or working on his car, or we use them for dirty clean up jobs, etc.   Do you also see that gallon of bleach on top of the shelf? Well, here's the story that I figured out must've happened  to somehow get that towel inside the ductwork:

One day I was going to change the AC Filter. In order to do that I have to pull that shelf unit out away from it so I can open up the grill in front of the filter.  On that particular day I was in a hurry I guess, and I neglected to remove the gallon of bleach from the top of the shelf (along with the other items up there) before I tried to move the shelf.  When I did that, the shelf shifted in my hands and the gallon of bleach fell to the ground and burst open, splashing bleach all over me and everything around it. Thankfully this is the laundry room and there was nothing of any great value that could be harmed, but it just made a huge mess as you can imagine. I was grabbing those towels and mopping up the bleach (you should see the outfit I was wearing...talk about a tie-dye look with unusual bleach splash patterns all over me. Thankfully I was wearing my old house clothes...nothing good!)  Anyway, apparently I had already opened the grill over the filter and big cold air return duct before this happened...I don't totally remember all the details because it was such a big mess! But apparently one of those dry towels fell into the open duct, and it was eventually sucked all the way through to the AC unit outside.  This happened over a year ago, and so it took that long to travel!  There are some small bleach stains on the towel, so that was my clue as to what must've happened!

Anyway...thankfully it didn't do any permanent  harm to the AC unit, and once it was removed everything started working properly again. And thankfully all we owed was a service call amount, which wasn't too bad all things considered! Whew!!! Praise God it didn't do damage to the unit, because that most likely would NOT have been covered by the warranty!!  

So now we are nice and cool as a cucumber and thanking God for His mercy! And I will be more patient when changing the filter from now on for sure!!!!!

Psalm 150 NKJV

Let All Things Praise the Lord

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;

Praise Him with the lute and harp!

4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;

Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;

Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Sunday Morning~ Walking with Jesus

The Road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-35

"13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was even miles from Jerusalem. 

14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 

15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 

16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him."

 I love this picture of Jesus on the Road to Emmaus with two of His followers. I have it framed and sitting where it can be seen in our living room all the time. Why? Well, I just love this story...and it makes me wonder sometimes about how often I may have actually been walking with Jesus and didn't really recognize Him...you know what I mean?  It could have been a stranger who needed some food, or perhaps just some words of kindness and welcome and comfort...or perhaps He had words of admonition or warning for me...or words of comfort when I needed it most...

You can read Luke 24:13-35 for the rest of the story...or listen in here to today's message at church!

This kind of reminds me of the song "In the Garden"...

1 I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

2 He speaks, and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing. [Refrain]

(Mama Bluebird is ready to feed her babies inside the birdhouse)

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

(Mama and Papa both are feeding the babies)

(Papa Bluebird is very cautious about who may be around the nest. It is getting close to time for them to leave the nest!)

3 I'd stay in the garden with Him

Tho' the night around me be falling;

But He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe,

His voice to me is calling. [Refrain]

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

Amen!

This was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon "In the Garden", beside the still very dry Still Waters Pond.  Thankfully the lack of rain does not seem to have bothered our fine feathered friends, the Bluebirds.  Hopefully their babies will be able to safely leave the nest very soon. I am keeping a close watch to make sure that Blackie is not too close when that happens.

I hope you are having a pleasant, restful and peaceful Lord's Day.  

Until next time...why not take a little walk with Jesus?

Splashdown!

Splashdown!  The Orion Astronauts from Artemis 2 mission to the moon have landed!  

How many of you stayed up and watched the return of Artemis 2 last night?  I stayed up until I saw each astronaut WALK across the landing deck of the The USS John P. Murtha.  These are photos I took on our TV as we watched all the excitement, but I didn't get pictures of them on the ship.

Above, the astronauts are sitting on the "front porch", (inflated raft) in front of the Orion space capsule,  while they await the helicopters who came to transport them to the ship one by one.

Here are the helicopters hovering over them and pulling them up inside to carry them to the ship.

I love this photo:

Hooray! They all made it safely! Praise God!

These pictures were taken earlier as they entered earth's atmosphere from outer space:

 This is a link to more information about the Artemis 2 Splashdown!

I don't usually get all this excited about such things, but the older I get, the more amazed I am at the miracle of space travel.  I am amazed at the knowledge that God has given these extremely intelligent engineers and flight controllers at NASA, to design and build and carry out these missions with such precision and perfection! When I think of all the calculations that had to go into creating the spacecraft and giving it the ability to carry people around the moon and back so flawlessly, well...only God could give people such knowledge and ability. Yes, I know, so much is computerized...but people built the computers...and God created the people with the intelligence to figure all of that out!  I know it's way above my head how they could do all of that! So I just want to give God the glory and thank Him for their safe journey there and back home again!

Psalm 8 NKJV

The Glory of the Lord in Creation

To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.

1 "O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!"

I saw this on a post on Facebook, and I thought it was something worth sharing:

"Astronaut Quotes Jesus From the Far Side of the Moon

NASA's Artemis II mission marked America's return to deep space with the first crewed lunar flight in over 50 years. As the Orion spacecraft prepared to swing behind the Moon and lose all radio contact with Earth, pilot Victor Glover delivered a direct message rooted in Scripture.

"Christ said, in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are," Glover stated. "And he also, being a great teacher, said the second is equal to it, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself."
He continued: "And so, as we prepare to go out of radio communication, we're still going to feel your love from Earth, and to all of you down there on earth and around earth, we love you from the moon."

Glover, a U.S. Navy captain, ISS veteran, and committed Christian, has openly carried his faith into space before. The moment came as the crew ventured farther from Earth than any humans in history, a stark reminder that core truths endure even when signals fade.
In an age of division and doubt, this simple declaration from lunar orbit cuts through the noise: love God fully, love your neighbor as yourself. No politics, no lectures, just timeless commands echoed from the void. Americans should take note. Faith, duty, and exploration still define the best of us. Godspeed to the crew."

Amen!

Have a blessed day my friends!

Friday Foto Friends

Good way to start my Friday morning...Morning Tea Time with Blackie...

"Someone" has decided that he likes my lap best here lately...

This was last evening...

we both took a little "cat nap" for a while...

It was very peaceful and relaxing to sit with a warm kitty in my lap for a while,  but it does make it difficult to get much done! LOL.    However, last evening it felt good to just sit and relax with Blackie. I had started out my day by having to be at a dental appointment by 8:00 a.m. for a "periodonal maintenance cleaning". What a way to start the day! And then I finished up the afternoon with an ultrasound mammogram as a follow up to my regular mammogram, because it had shown some areas of "concern", but they said it most likely is because of "dense tissue"...which comes with "old age". Although I won't know the results of the ultrasound for a few days, the technician who did it said that he didn't see anything to be concerned about, so I will take that as a good thing and not be too concerned. I wasn't too concerned anyway, but it's always a good idea to follow up with things when there is any question or doubt.  

All that being said, it was nice to sit in my chair and relax with a warm kitty in my lap for a while. However, Blackie could probably just stay there forever if I'd let him, but eventually I had to pry him out of my lap (with his claws clutching at my leg...LOL).  He is a character, and I think God knew we needed him.

I don't really have any new other pictures to share with you today, but I thought I'd go back a week or so to some that I took and never showed you because there was too much other stuff going on (Easter, etc.)

I know we've all been watching the flight of the Artemis 2 around the moon...and at the time of the launch I took some pictures that I wanted to share with you...

First off was this calendar picture that I forgot to include with the batch of April calendars....This is the one that has quotes from Billy Graham on it, and I found this month's quote to be quite appropriate for what we are currently experiencing:

Isn't that perfect?

Well, what is even more exciting and 'perfect' to me, was that I was able to literally see the rocket launch from our front porch, over 100 miles away!  Here is when it was going up into space:

Yes, that little smoke trail going out toward the eastern sky was the trail of the rocket going up into space from Cape Kennedy!

I was really excited to be able to see it all the way from here! That was pretty amazing!  And also amazing was that we were having a beautiful full moon at that time as well...

Here's a few pictures I took at that time, this was in the early morning...while the moon is setting over Still Waters Pond:

And these were as the moon was rising the night before.

I was just amazed to think that those four astronauts would be literally circling around that big old moon and sending us pictures from the dark side of the moon!

And now they are on their way home and hopefully will touch down safely today, so we are praying for their safe return to earth.  

May God bring them safely home with no issues.   News article about their expected trip home.

Okay, I have to go. Today we have grocery shopping to do and we want to get out before the Friday rush.

May God be with you today and this weekend, and may He give you peace and joy and comfort and strength!!