Friday Foto Friends

 Oh My Goodness! It's Friday the 13th!  What does that mean to me? Absolutely Nothing! Except that it's Friday, and we'll probably have pizza for supper tonight! LOL.  We used to order Domino's pizza and go pick it up because it's not that far from us, but the last time we ordered it, let's just say it was not up to par, and we decided that we actually like baking our own "D'Giornos"  pizza here at home. I buy a supreme pizza at the Dollar General that is within a block or so of our home, and we doctor it up a little bit more and put it in the oven and eat it hot and fresh just the way we like it...and for a much lower price!  So that's our big Friday night splurge! LOL.  Sometimes, if Rose doesn't have to work late, they come over and bring their favorite pizza and join us. That's even more fun!  I enjoy working together with my sweet daughter in love in the kitchen. She's also a very good cook, and we work well together and have a good time.  

And that brings me to this, which is not in my kitchen, but thankfully it is currently in my sister Doris' kitchen.  This beautiful needlepoint picture used to hang in our mother's "kitchen" and dining room combination.  Our paternal Grandma Mursch did the needlework, and it is a sweet memory from my growing up years to see it again.  

The other day, Debby, a blogger friend  from My Shasta Home, made the comment on my Tuesday 4~A Cozy Home blog post that she used to have a plaque in her kitchen that said this same thing, and it reminded me of the one from my family home, so I asked my sister to send me a picture of it.  Thank you, Doris, for sending me this picture at my request.

This is actually a picture of my brother Clifford, which was taken right after he gave me my first digital camera. This was the first picture I took! You can blame him for me sharing so many photos all the time! He took pity on me for being the last person on earth who was still developing film...he worked for Kodak and happened to have an older digital camera sitting around that he thought I could use! I told him that he unleashed something crazy in me...I've been snapping pictures of everything I see ever since! LOL.  

Anyway, I wanted to share this picture because it is the only one I can find without having to do a lot of searching through old photo albums to show where this needlepoint picture used to hang in my parents' home.  This was the dining room wall, which was actually attached to the kitchen and close to the open living room.  This was the home my daddy built back in 1957, where I did most of my growing up until I got married and left home at age almost 19.  Sadly we had to sell the house after my parents left this earth for their heavenly home. So I'm glad I still have lots of pictures (just most of them are in albums or boxes since they were taken before the digital camera).  

And the saying on the needlepoint was very true concerning my mother's kitchen/dining room combination. That is where the memories were made...around that table, with loved ones and friends and so much good food that came out of my mother's kitchen!

The other counted cross stitch picture you can see on the wall was actually done by Clifford's wife Caryl, as a gift to my mother many years ago.  Cliff and Caryl live in Charlotte, NC., and that is where we often go for family reunions, although I haven't heard that there will be one this year.

This is the needlepoint picture that I have, which my grandmother also created, and it used to hang in her kitchen!  So my sister and I each have one of our Grandma Mursch's needlepoints to remember her by as well as giving us happy memories of home and family.

So I started writing this post early this morning, but as per usual we had things to get done this morning and now I am just getting back to writing at 2:00 in the afternoon!  I didn't write a Thursday Thankfulness post yesterday, not because I wasn't thankful, but because I just never got around to it! And I was kind of hoping for some news before I wrote. We finally got a phone call this morning from the specialist for my hubby to schedule an appointment for a consultation and evaluation of the results of his MRI on July 1st. Although that is still a few weeks away, at least now we have something scheduled and "progress" is being made.  Thankfully he is not in a situation where he is in a lot of pain or discomfort, but does have to be careful of what he does as he has issues with fatigue and balance, so we are just taking things slowly and trying to stay away from too much stress and activity.  It's good to know that help is on the way.

One thing I've been trying to do is order new Skechers shoes for hubby. Everytime I order them online and get them, for one reason or another they do not fit/work for him, so we have to send them back, which of course is a hassle.  Finally this morning we had to go to town to send back the last pair of shoes I ordered on Amazon. If you take them to Staples they will package them and ship them back for free, so we did that and I finally talked hubby into going into a real shoe store and trying some shoes on before we buy them! (what is it about men and shopping and trying things on?  At least my hubby just never wants to do that)  And I know he doesn't feel well and his energy level is limited, but we went early before any crowds, and discovered that they have a great supply of all kinds of shoes, including Skechers, and he was able to try some on and discovered that he needed a whole size longer than what he's always worn. I think they are making the shoes smaller since they are made in China, and the sizing isn't true to what we are used to. Anyway, thankfully he found a pair that he liked that fit, and they were even on sale! So we actually saved money in the long run! Win Win!

Seems like I haven't shared much from Pamela's Wild Kingdom on Still Waters Pond lately...so let's see what's been going on out there...

I've mentioned that it's been very hot and dry lately, even with a few thunderstorms here and there, they have not brought enough rain to refill Still Waters Pond yet. It will take a LOT more rain (and possibly a hurricane!) to bring it back to where it needs to be.  All that green grass you see in the picture below behind the bird house should be under water, and those "lily pads" you see are sitting in muck right now...no water!  So it is no wonder that "Trumpet", our young Sand Hill Crane, might be thirsty for some fresh water in the little swimming pool.

And he's not the only one enjoying the pool these days...Yes, that's our resident Muscovy Duck taking a swim in the pool.  Again...there's just not much water left anywhere in the pond for swimming even for a duck!

And since she is putting on quite a lovely show for us while she bathes, I decided to quit fighting it and let her stay around...as long as she doesn't eat our cats' food before they get a chance to finish it!

I think she's thankful for a good clean place to bathe and cool off!

Although the Sand Hill Cranes aren't always so welcoming of Miss Duck.  They had just chased her away by flapping their huge wings at her, and she flew back across the pond to get out of harms' way.

We had a nother surprise visitor!  Remember here when I shared pictures of a Florida Soft Shelled Turtle supposedly laying her eggs in our yard?  Well, actually, I never could find any real evidence of her laying any eggs at that time. It looked like she was trying to, but there wasn't any dirt dug up or anything that resembled a turtle "nest" after she left, so I am thinking that attempt wasn't really successfull.  However, we came home from town the other morning just in time to see this turtle covered in sand and heading back to the pond from our yard...

Yes, that is what the pond looks like right now in most places...very very dry...

The turtle had a long ways to go to finally get back to some water.

But this is the mess he left on our yard...you can see where she apparently had been wallowing in the sand and making a hollowed out area where hopefully she was successful in laying her egss this time:

(those are my big feet, not turtle eggs! LOL!)

Here's another view of the area and how far it is is from the pond... hopefully eventually the pond will fill back up to almost that same area and the baby turtles won't have so far to go to find water when they hatch.  

Hey! It just started raining right this minute while I was writing this!

According to my phone, it is only going to last about 10 minutes, but at least it's something! I won't complain! Every drop counts!! Praise God!

Actually, just to show you how dry it is, I took these pictures around the pond over next door at the new house that is still for sale (and the price has been reduced again recently!)  Most all of that green grassy area should be under water...so that gives you a good idea of how far the pond has receded.

This is looking from their yard back toward our yard:

And this was taken from the yard of the neighbor's house, looking into the pond, which is mostly dry there too...

It's still such a beautiful location, and I continue to pray for whomever our new neighbors will be. They must be someone really special, because God has been holding this house for them and reducing the price so that whoever it is will be able to afford it when the time is right!

These sweet little yellow flowers are still blooming alongside the pond. They don't seem to mind that the pond is almost dry. They know the rains will come and the pond will fill back up, so they keep blooming where they are planted.

Well friends, it's almost pizza time, and I haven't bought it yet from the store, so I'd better get a move on and go get it while the rain has stopped for a while. 

Here are some words of hope and encouragement from 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

"15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, 

may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Amen.

Have a lovely weekend, my friends!!

Time "Marches" On!

 Welcome to the month of March! Not sure where February went...I guess it blew out with the wind! It has been rather windy here lately, but also very dry. We need rain really badly. I know some of you have had plenty of rain and snow to spare.  I pray you are all safe and warm and dry by now, wherever you are. 

As per my usual habit at the first of the month, here's a few pictures of my calendars. They always bring a smile to my face when I turn the page to the new month!  I hope the new month will also put a smile on my face (and yours) as we live day by day.

What a lovely place to be!! This Thomas Kinkade painting is entitled "A New Day Dawning".

How many of you still hang out your clothes on the line?  I wish I could. I don't have a clothesline currently, but I do love the fresh clean scent of clean laundry dried outdoors.

Here's a few links to previous posts I've written regarding clotheslines:

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2016/04/some-things-are-simply-irresistible.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2012/01/whats-my-line.html

Painting by John Sloane on the March 2023 Country Seasons Calendar, "Catching the Breeze"

I love the creative ideas on this "Heart of the Home" Calendar by Susan Branch. Do you see any of these that you already do or would like to do? 

And then this is from my Tea Pot Calendar:

This teapot would make me clasp my hands, but I'm not so sure about the "delight" part...LOL. It's unique, that's for certain!

Ah, now, this is more my style:

Such a beautiful setting under a rose covered arbor.  

This is what I had in mind when we built the arbor in our Memorial Garden back at our previous house....this picture you may have already seen in my last post, which was just taken the other day.

This is how it looks now, with no one living there and maintaining it:

I do like that the new owners after us painted it white. I wish we had done that!

Click HERE for a post from that garden BEFORE we moved away from it.

This (below) is how it used to look when every thing was in bloom:

You can tell that the azaleas have really grown since we left there. I planted them a couple of years before we moved away almost 4 years ago.

This is our "new Memorial Garden", here at our current home:

These azaleas were planted within the last couple of years, so they are still developing, but doing well.

This is the view from the Garden Bench as the sun was beginning to set in the west across Still Waters Pond:

We chose this spot for our new "Memorial Garden" because we knew our son would have loved the pond so much. It's a perfect spot to sit and meditate on God's Word and be at peace.

The late afternoon sun is glowing in the trees...

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird seem to be spending a lot of time going in and out of the nest now. I believe we may have some new babies that they are feeding already!

Mr. Bluebird stands guard while Mama is inside feeding the babies.

Isn't he beautiful?

I love the faithfulness of the bird couples we see around us. God has certainly created them to be good parents!

Meanwhile Mrs. Sand Hill Crane continues to sit on her nest faithfully day after day. Mr. Crane comes and goes. When he shows up she takes a little break and walks around and stretches her legs and gets a bite to eat. They are also very faithful to their duties as parents. I expect we may see some action around the middle of the month. I hope there will be two babies this year. I am pretty sure there are two eggs in the nest. Time will tell.

Back to the bird feeder in the garden; "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me!"...

It was quite breezy this afternoon, and this wind spinner was very busy spinning around and round. This was a gift to us from my sister as a memorial gift when our son passed away.  You may have already read about this in a previous post HERE.   Her idea for giving us this particular gift was based on THIS STORY.  It was a very meaningful gift to us. I love to watch it spin. It's very calming.

Oh, the little Ring Necked Ducks were out there still, bobbing up and down and swimming around and round. I don't know when they will head back up north, but we are enjoying watching them as long as we can!

Soon the sun began to slip down behind the trees and it was time to leave the garden.

And thus ends another gorgeous day, filled with God's love and promise.

Here is a passage of Scripture that is comforting and full of hope, so appropriate for today, the first day of a new month:

2 Corinthians 4:14-18 says:

"14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, 

and will present us with you. 

15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Even though our outward man is perishing, 

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, 

but the things which are not seen are eternal."

I hope you have enjoyed this peaceful time in the garden with me today.  

May March be a month of joy and beauty for you, wherever you may be.

God bless you all!

Oh, I wanted to thank you all for your very kind comments on my last post HERE.  I found your words to be very comforting and I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you for taking the time to visit and share your kindness and love. You are a blessing to me!