Special Announcement and Tuesday 4: Friendship.

 Greetings from my desk to yours...This will be brief...our WiFi modem is dying and seems to keep dropping in and out. We have contacted our internet provider, and they cannot come to replace it until Thursday.   Right now at this moment it is working, but by the time I finish typing this, it may be back off again, so you may or may not ever see this message.  I didn't have time to do the Tuesday 4 meme today as I had other things planned and had hoped to get it done tonight.  But I don't want to chance it and will just say that most likely you won't be seeing much of me for the next couple of days.  

Of course without the internet, we also cannot watch TV...and I cannot access the WiFi items on my cell phone either, so things could get pretty quiet around here.  I told hubby we need to just take tomorrow off and go someplace, like the beach or some other interesting place rather than sit here staring at the four walls.  It's sad that we've become so dependent on the internet for our communication as well as entertainment, bill paying, GPS, all of the above and more.  We've forgotten how to "live" without it.  I've been reading a lot of Amish fiction lately, and they seem to get along just fine without it or any other modern convenience. We may need to get back to the basics again and try to spend a little more time focused on real life, right here in front of us without any technological interference. Sounds good to me. 

Well, right now we seem to have two green lights on the modem, so I'll keep typing. LOL.  

I don't really have anything much to share anyway...but the other morning I was in a "vintage mood" and decided to eat my breakfast on this vintage china that belonged to my hubby's grandmother. It was a very common pattern back in the day, seems like everyone had some kind of dishes similar to this. I love it and wish I had a whole set of it!

It was perfect for my two fried eggs and two blueberry bran muffins.

Later that day, after we had gone to the store, I had bought some very good fresh Bing Cherries. It made me think about Mary Englebreit's "Life is Just a Chair of Bowlies", instead of the saying "Life is just a bowl of cherries."  So Lily Grace got in on the act and sat in the chair with a Mary Englebreit placemat and had a bowl of cherries.   I had shared more about this particular placemat HERE sometime last year, when I first got it and thought it was so cute.  It's still cute, don't you agree? And it goes so well with the bowl of cherries and Lily Grace  wanted to say hello again!

Still in the "vintage mood", this was the bowl that I used for the cherries...Isn't it a beauty?

Here's the pattern name if you are interested:   It's the only one I have of it. Found it at a yard sale sometime ago.

Well, the internet seems to be holding up while I type, so I might as well try to do the Tuesday 4 meme for today.  Hopefully I will get it posted before it goes down again.

Here goes nothing... LOL.

Friendship

".,,there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" Psalms 18

It's time once again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.



Let's talk about friendship.


1. Do you have or have you had a special or best friend or do you consider all your friends the same? 

I was blessed all during my school years to have several really special friends. We grew up together, 1st grade through 12th grade, and so we shared many experiences together during all of our stages of growth...early childhood through adolescence and almost adults...Many of us have stayed in touch through the years, and especially now through Facebook.  I don't want to single out any one of them because I love them all.  HERE is a link to a post I wrote about my old school friends, complete with pictures, if you are interested in going down memory lane with me.  I was blessed to grow up when and where I did, and I treasure every friend.

2. Many in the past had close relationships and fell in love through letters. What do you think of online friendships.. are they real ? Are there friends who last a lifetime?

I think our online friendships are very real.  I consider every one of you a special friend, and I treasure your friendship very much.  I have been privileged to meet a few of you in person, and I wish we could ALL meet in person sometime.  Yes,  there are definitely friends who last a lifetime.  See my #1 answer above.  

3. Are there stories, movies or TV programs that you enjoyed because of the friendship or relationship portrayed in it?

I'm trying to think...Anne of Green Gables comes to mind...Here is one of several posts I've written about that particular character.

4. What does friendship mean to you?

All of a sudden I remembered that I had received the book "Friendship", by Ralph Waldo Emerson, as a graduation gift from a lady in my church. So I just went in search of it and found it on a bookshelf...goodness, I've had that book for 55 years!!  I will give one quote from this little book:

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.  

Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth Himself so to me in His gifts?"...

"My friends have come to me unsought.  The great God gave them to me."

That is an excellent way to describe how I feel about my friends...they are gifts from God to me...to bless my life with their presence and kindness and sincerity.  I am indeed very thankful for all of my friends, old and new, near and far...

Here are some other little quotes that are hanging on the walls around my home that will also give an insight to how I feel about friendship:

Each of these special little plaques were actual gifts from dear friends.

Friendship is a very special gift that I truly cherish. 

Thank you for being my friend.

Well, I guess I made it all the way through this post without the internet going down! Maybe it has healed itself...or maybe God touched it with His special grace so that I could share this post with you.

Either way, I am happy I was able to spend this time with you.

Now let's go see what our other friends are writing about over at

Tuesday 4 ~ Friendship  

Thank you, Annie, for making this possible.

I will try to get around to visit you all, but if I don't it will probably be because the internet went back down. So bear with me please, friends!

💕

Thursday Thankfulness

You know, when people go the extra mile to send you some cheer when you've been feeling bad, I call that God's amazing grace shining through His people. One of our dear blogging sisters, who shall remain unnamed but she knows who she is, blessed my heart with a lovely card in the mail today. Thank you, dear friend! It made my day. It also made me wish I could be more like her...sometimes I think about doing that extra special nice thing, and then I get side tracked and forget until it's too late. I pray that God will help me to be more thoughtful...and I thank God for those who already are. What a blessing!

And I thank the Lord that I am starting to feel much better, both with my shoulder/arm, (thanks to the steroid shots and also the Lord's kindness) and also the laryngitis and sinusitis/coughing is gradually returning to normal. I still can't sing, but I am praying that I will have some kind of voice by Sunday morning so I can sing God's praises! If not, I'll mouth the words and He'll know my heart anyway.

Also, I will be starting physical therapy on Monday for my shoulder, so I pray that will help my arm to get stronger and heal the tears inside. One step at a time.

So often I show you the beautiful sunsets that we enjoy here on Still Waters Pond, but I rarely share the cloudy skies.  This is how it looks out there right now...and I am thankful for the cloudy skies, because there is a hope and promise of some much needed rain inside those clouds:

It has been so very dry and dusty and the air is full of pollen and often smoky as well. That contributes to much of our sinus issues here at this time of the year, and so we are very thankful when God sends the showers to cleanse the air and give us fresh air to breathe again. The weather forecast says it's coming, so I am waiting and praying.

This afternoon when I went out to get the mail I stopped to smell the flowers along the way (yes, I know that will also trigger a big sneeze, but they were so pretty!)  Actually I just took their picture.

This is the Carolina Jessamine that grows wild in the trees and along the fence at this time of year.

It is a beautiful herald of spring.

Another herald of spring is the azalea bush, though not wild...this is one that I planted a couple of years ago, but it is blooming now as well.

Back inside the house I have managed to put out a few decorations for Valentine's Day. Nothing too elaborate, just a little bit of hearts and color...

Lily Grace and her friends are ready for a Valentine's Tea Party...

Lily Grace sends her love to you all.  

I just saw this picture on Facebook...my sister had shared it.  I guess it kind of fits me perfectly! Or at least I hope it always does !!!

I kind of like this very rustic rocking horse at Dixie Cottage, although it may be a little too rustic to let a little grandchild play on...I think it's meant more for "decor" than actual rocking rambunctious children.

Here's just a few pretty and interesting things that caught my eye this week at Dixie Cottage:

I think this refinished French Provincial style dresser is very lovely.

And I think this antique vanity/dresser would make some young lady very happy...(or maybe some more mature lady as well!)

Now this is something I wanted for a long time at our last house where I was doing a lot more with my back yard "decor"...This garden potting bench is really cool...

I just think that would be so much fun to have...

Now, here's a wonderful vintage chest of drawers with a lovely design...I think it would be perfect for my guest room...but I can't take home everything I see...I may just have to paint the one I have...

Now here is something very unique! Can you guess what they are made from?

I would have never guessed...now, they can be used either as a flower pot or a bird feeder...and they are made from...

Old vinyl records!!  Amazing! This vendor paints the record and then somehow melts it in the oven in a bowl...I don't know exactly, but that's how it turned out!  Very clever indeed!! (please look up specific instructions before trying this at home!)

Well, I am thankful for so many things...my family, my friends, my health...even with the little issues I have I know it could always be worse, so I am VERY thankful to God and do not take my health for granted.  

Oh...also I managed to get our taxes done this week! Hooray! and even bigger hooray, we are getting some $$ back!! Yay! Yay! Yay!  I am thankful for Turbo Tax, which makes doing our own taxes online very simple...and because ours are so uncomplicated with very little input, we can do it for free! That's even better!  I have used this method for several years and I even do our son's taxes on it, and I am very thankful for this method.  

I guess that's all for tonight.

Here's a verse to ponder:

Exodus 15:2

"The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation;

He is my God, and I will praise Him;

My father’s God, and I will exalt Him."

When my own voice cannot vocalize and sing God's praises, I can still praise Him with my words written here and with my whole heart.

Amen.

 

Waiting on the Storm to Pass By

Today has been a day of waiting and preparation for Hurricane Ian to arrive.

The outer rain bands have been gradually building throughout the day, along with the winds.

The real storm has not arrived here as of yet. It only made landfall this afternoon way down on the southwest Gulf Coast near Ft. Myers, as a Category 4 (almost 5) hurricane. It is a huge storm, but thankfully is beginning to gradually weaken in strength as it slowly works its way north east across our state. We are on the northern edge of its projected path and the impact will not be nearly as great here as it is further south, for which we are very thankful. However, I fear there will be much damage to those who are closer to its eyewall. 

I woke up this morning around 5 a.m. in hyper hurricane mode. My adrenaline kicks in when there is impending danger of any kind, and my main thought was to try and get as much done as possible today before we lose power...which is most likely inevitable possibly sometime tomorrow or tomorrow night, but I keep praying it won't.

For those of you who remember our sweet "Lily Grace", this is quite an adventure for her...Her first hurricane! But sadly I've been too preoccupied to help her write her own posts lately...however, she is very concerned about this storm and is watching all of the news/weather updates with us.  Her puppy Bailey keeps her company.

So some of the things I did today were:

1. Three loads of laundry, including our bedsheets.

2.  Cooked beef stew in the crock pot all day.

3. Baked a meatloaf to have for tomorrow's meal/sandwiches.

4.  Searched until I found the power cord for the generator, which was lost behind a shelving unit in our shed...It had slipped down behind the shelves and it took some praying and seeking God's help to direct me to find it.  Now we just need someone to come and hook it up when and if we need it if the power goes out. We do not know how to do that.  It requires someone with more electrical expertise than we have to do it correctly. I'm still praying we won't need it.

5.  I baked biscuits to go with our beef stew for supper. Our son Benton came over to join us as his sweet wife Rose is still visiting her family in Minnesota.

We have some biscuits leftover for breakfast tomorrow.  Maybe with applesauce?

As most of you know, I am looking forward to going to a special "tea party" this coming Saturday..., but now that is up in the air depending upon what is going on with this hurricane by then. It should be further on up the coast and away from us, but if we are without power then of course they will have to postpone it.  Already one of my friends who was planning to attend with me is not going to be able to come because they've been away on vacation and can't get back into the state because of the storm.  The southbound lanes of the major highways have been closed to southbound traffic so that people can evacuate to the north and get out of harm's way.  I am hoping that if they do have to cancel it for this weekend they will reschedule sometime in the near future.  And with that in mind I decided to work on my hat design today while I still had power to operate the hot glue gun.  Here is how it looks...

So my hat and gloves and little purse and fan are all ready to go...let's just hope it will still happen in the near future.

In the meantime, here's a song that is going through my mind that expresses my prayers and thoughts as we wait for the storm to pass by...

Till the Storm Passes By

sung by the Gaither Vocal Band

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face,

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place.

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry,

Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Refrain:

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,

Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Many times Satan whispered, "There is no need to try,

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by"

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies.

Refrain

When the long night has ended and the storms come no more,

Let me stand in Thy presence on the bright peaceful shore;

In that land where the tempest, never comes, Lord, may I

Dwell with Thee when the storm passes by.

Refrain

Music and Lyrics by Mosie Lister (1958)

I will try to keep in touch as I am able, but if the power goes off it may be a while before it is restored since as of right now there are already almost a million people in the state without power, and they can't do anything to repair it until the storm is over.  So we will just stay as safe as we can and pray.  God is with us and we are very very thankful.  Thank you for all of the prayers for our people in this state...there are quite a few of us bloggers here and all of us will be affected in one way or another by this storm.  Praying for each and everyone to be safe.  

Saturday Wanderings

 Just a quick note to say hello this morning!  It was a foggy start to the day.

It's not too bad out there right now, (actually I just looked again and it is starting to rain) but we are supposed to start getting some colder weather again tomorrow morning.  We'll start having some high 30's for lows and mid 60's for highs for the next few days.  But then it will warm up again mid week to 50's and 70's. Typical November weather!

Oh, you might want to read what Lily Grace has to share today: https://adventuresoflilygrace.blogspot.com/2021/11/lily-grace-discovers-pilgrims.html

This will be her first Thanksgiving, and she had a lot to learn about it so she wanted to share it with you!

We are going to a potluck luncheon today at church, our monthly "Agape Lunch", which is primarily a time for fellowship and good food, and sharing God's love with one another.  

"Agape (from Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē)) is a Greco-Christian term referring to unconditional love, "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God".

I am taking a new dish I found on the back of the macaroni box.  It's a "Skillet Taco Mac", but mine will be in the crockpot!  (Sorry the recipe looks a little wrinkled...I had to rescue the box from the trash! LOL)

Here's how it looks right now. I'm thinking it needs some Paprika on top for color. I'll let you know later how it tastes...

I guess that's about it for today. I mainly wanted you to know that it's a beautiful day and

I am very thankful to be here! 

God is good...all the time, God is good.

I hope and pray you are having a good day today as well.

Thank you for being here too!

Bye bye for now. 

Gotta get a move on or we'll miss the potluck lunch!

 

The Monday Morning After...

 Here it is, the Monday morning after a weekend of celebrations and blessings and such joy!  Even though we don't like to "get older"...we rejoice in the fact that God has given us another year to live and love and be thankful for all His many blessings.  And that brings me to a little picture tour of the rest of the weekend that you haven't seen as yet:

Be aware...these photos are VERY candid!  I gave our son Scott my cell phone and said "take some pictures".  That's a very dangerous thing to do.  He just starts snapping away and you never know exactly what you will get.  We had to delete quite a few that were just too silly or unflattering...but this is how we live...silly and sometimes unflattering, but happy and fun.  We had a rather late (for us) pizza supper after our "kids" got home from their store on Saturday evening. Hence the pizza boxes in the background and a very very casual setting.  And somewhat fuzzy pictures because of the lighting, but it is what it is.  Happy memories.  And yes, Lily Grace was there to help me blow out the candles.  She was quite excited to be a part of all the festivities, as you will see in further photos.  

Doesn't everyone have at least one unflattering photo of yourself blowing out your birthday candles? If not, you should. It's a very important part of life, and we should all be remembered for the way we blow out our candles and celebrate life! There are probably 71 unflattering photos of me blowing out birthday candles somewhere if I search hard enough.  Oh...and notice the apple pie? Remember I told you about that already HERE , and how it bubbled over in my oven while baking, making a not so pleasant burnt apple pie juice fragrance.  That is why the pie dish is still on that metal cookie sheet. The bottom is very very sticky...LOL.

Yay! I did it! I managed to blow out all 71 candles...LOL!!! (with a little help from my little friend).

Speaking of unflattering photos...I only am including this one because it is the only one Scott managed to get that also included my hubby in the photo. LOL.  We were savoring our apple pie ala mode.

Obviously the photos were not staged or planned...but there's our "kids", Rose and Benton, enjoying their pie with gusto...

and last but not least in this series of photos is the photographer himself, doing a selfie!

Let's give a round of applause to Scott the infamous photographer! LOL.  And no, Benton doesn't usually look like that.  It's just that this is the only picture of Scott, so there you have it. 

Again, this is life in our house. Nothing staged or perfectly choreographed. This is the stuff that memories are made of.

Now, that is not "The End" of the story. This was just Saturday night.  I believe I told you before that we would be gathering with extended family and friends on Sunday afternoon for a bigger celebration. This was to include the belated celebration for our son Benton's 50th birthday, as well as my birthday, and also celebrating some other members of our extended family who had birthdays in August and September.    And so, after church we gathered at our local Hog Wild Country Cafe' BBQ place to celebrate some more:

Yes, Lily Grace was there, much to the chagrin of some "grumpy old men" (just kidding), and to the delight of two new friends for Lily Grace. These ladies are two of my dearest friends from our previous home in Salt Springs. They had not had the joy of meeting Lily Grace yet, and as you can see, they were very pleased to meet her and she them.  I would let Lily tell you about this herself, but we decided together that this should be my story today. She may have another adventure to share later.

Here's some of the rest of the party...

And more of the family and friends who traveled from near and far to celebrate together...

Yes, I was there too. Acting my usual silly self... And Lily was waving at everyone...

We had cupcakes for dessert, thanks to my sweet sister in law Peggy, and don't you love that cute teacup napkin she brought?  She's always so thoughtful.

Speaking of tea...my sister Doris on the left below, and her hubby Art, gave me this lovely big tin of English Breakfast tea bags.  People know I love tea, and they make things extra special...even though I specifically said this party was to just be together...no gifts!! Some people just don't listen! Gotta love them.

Here's another special "tea" gift...

It's actually a salt and pepper shaker set...isn't it adorable?

Most of all I am thankful....thankful for my family and friends and all the wonderful joys and blessings we share together...

Thankful for God, and for the life He has given me all these years.  

For it is in God alone that "we live and move and have our being..." (see Acts 17:22-31)

So, as I bring this birthday celebration to a close, I look forward to a new year of blessings and joy and God's provision for all our needs.  We do not know what the future may hold, but when we observe all that God has done for us in the past, we know that He does not change, and we may expect Him to take care of all our needs for the future as well.

On another note, please keep me in prayer this Thursday as I will finally meet with the neurosurgeon again to discuss the findings of the neurological tests I had a couple of weeks ago.  I can already tell you that from what he has discovered, we will be discussing the possibility of a cervical spine fusion...so your prayers are much appreciated as we determine all possible alternatives and prognosis, etc, etc., etc.  I know I am in God's hands no matter what, so I am not afraid...but I just want to make the best and most beneficial decision for my well-being.  Thank you dear friends.

Have a blessed and wonderful week!!!