August is Here! Happy Days!

 Happy August 1st!  Hooray for a new day, and a new month!  Of course, you know what that means! Yes, it is time for the August Calendar Roll Call!! So without further adieu, here we go:

Even though this appears to be a fall scene, it is one that I love, and this calendar is in my bathroom where I can see it every day (several times a day and night too! LOL).  That's pretty much my little dream cabin spot, with that beautiful lake and mountains in the background, and a row boat right there waiting to take me to places to explore all around the lake. Yes, I could easily climb right into this picture and be quite happy and content!

Wow! There seems to be a theme going on here for August!  Here's another beautiful cabin and lake and rowboat scene, with a mountain backdrop. It is also gorgeous, but I think I still prefer the more peaceful and private scene above.

This calendar has quotes from Billy Graham and also from the Bible..."Christ belongs to ALL people; He belongs to the whole world!".  Yes, He does...and it is up to us to share Him with everyone everywhere!

"Blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice." Luke 11:28.  Yes, a good reminder for each of us to not only read the Bible, but to actually believe and put it into practice in our daily lives.

I love this John Sloane Country Seasons calendar...and this picture for August is a true gem...

I wonder how many of us have ever done a lemonade stand before? I'm trying to remember if I ever did, but I know my kids did years ago...

Here's our three little musketeers now...I snuck up behind them and got this response:
Matthew on the far left, sticking his tongue out at me...Benton in the middle, and Scott wearing his swimming goggles...

Hey! Lemonade only 10 cents! What a deal that was!!

I don't know how much lemonade they sold that day, but I think they sure had fun. I'm so glad I could find these pictures, thanks to having my early photo albums of when our kids were little more organized. I must admit to having a bit of a tear in my eyes as I look at these sweet pictures of when all three of our boys were so little and sweet and innocent and healthy. Sadly, today I don't even develop pictures, and it would take forever to find a picture, unless I've posted it here in my blog or on Facebook. That really is a crime.

Scott, Benton, and Matthew, circa 1981, Willoughby Hills, Ohio.

Precious Memories.

Well, moving right along...Look at this very colorful teapot set from my TEAPOTS calendar:

Here's the description:

And there's always a quote from some famous tea lover, whom I don't know, but it's still interesting...

The Thomas Kinkade calendar always has something beautiful to see...and this picture is from along The Big Sur, which I assume is in California?   And I love the Bible verse: "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1  Amen!

And this verse is at the bottom of the calendar:

"Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretche out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." Jeremiah 32:17

Oh, and here's a good thought to end the calendar roll-call...This Susan Branch calendar always has fun and good thoughts...

Yes!  "Oh for a book and a shady nook, either indoor or out."  Summertime is a great time for reading, but here in Florida, it best be a cozy nook indoors during August. It's still too hot to consider sitting outside for very long! If not for the heat, it's the mosquitoes!

And speaking of bugs:

I discovered this "Dog-Days Cicada" shedding it's exo-skeleton under our shed. 

Here's how the exo-skeleton looked after he disengaged himself from it:

And here's how he looked until he turned himself over and started pumping out his wings...

Here he is in the process of his wings filling out.

I assume he flew up into the trees after this as he wasn't anywhere to be seen this morning.

Not my picture, but this is how he should've looked later:

Internet photo.

I've never seen one of these creatures that close and alive before.  I know they sure can make a lot of noise!!  It is typical that they should appear now, in the hot "dog-days" of summer!!

And speaking of creatures...

Some furry black creature has invaded and taken over my chair!

Almost looks like a bat! But yes, it is none other than King Blackie, sleeping so peacefully in my chair. And yes, I have to cover my chair with this coverlet because I'm trying to preserve it from cat hair and possible fleas (although he is being well-treated for fleas these days and I think we have that pretty well under control).  

If I want to sit in MY chair, I have to roll him up in that coverlet and encourage him to "roll down" on the floor...otherwise, he will stick his sharp little claws into my behind and let me know who's boss around here! LOL. Now, I must say that quite often he jumps right back up into my lap once I've seated myself, but that lasts for a while until he decides he doesn't like me moving my arms about to use the tv remote or my phone, and then he grabs my arms and lets me know that if I'm going to sit in HIS chair, I have to be still! LOL.  What a little tyrant he can be!!!!

To follow up on my rooster story, no, these eggs didn't come from that location, but they did come from some chickens that are being raised by a woman in our church, and she brings dozens of eggs to church quite frequently to GIVE away...first come first served. Aren't they beautiful??? So colorful!

And below, this is a comparison...guess which egg is the fresh "real chicken egg" (as I call the eggs from the chicken lady) ?  And which egg(s) came from the grocery store?

Just look at that huge egg yolk! It came from the fresh "real chicken eggs", and the other two smaller yolks came from large eggs from Walmart. What a difference!  I wish I could have "real chicken eggs" all the time, but no, I am not willing to raise my own chickens in order to do that.  I will just keep looking for more reasonable alternatives!

I will close this out with this photo of this morning's sunrise, righ after a nice little early morning rain shower!

And here's a view of Still Waters Pond, still very dry, but we are supposed to get rain all this next week. I hope they are right this time. Still Waters Pond is very very thirsty!!!!

Isaiah 55:1-5

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

Here is a video of a church singing this beloved old hymn, "Ho Everyone That is Thirsty". This is not our church, but I like their presentation...

1 Ho! ev'ryone that is thirsty in spirit,

Ho! ev'ryone who is weary and sad,

come to the fountain, there’s fullness in Jesus,

all that you’re longing for; come and be glad.

Refrain:

"I will pour water on him who is thirsty,

I will pour floods upon the dry ground;

open your heart for the gift I am bringing,

while ye are seeking me, I will be found."

2 Child of the world, are you tired of your bondage?

Weary of earth-joys, so false, so untrue?

Thirsting for God, and His fullness of blessing?

List to the promise— a message for you.

 [Refrain]

3 Child of the kingdom, be filled with the Spirit;

nothing but fullness thy longing can meet.

’Tis the enduement for life and for service;

thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet.

 

[Refrain]

Amen.

Go and be filled...and be blessed.  Happy August!!!

Monday Monday Celebrations in Review

 Happy Monday Morning!  I hope you've had a blessed and peaceful, restful weekend, and are ready to enjoy this last week of August and "summer" as we know it.  Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, so that pretty much signals the end of summer and even though true autumn doesn't begin for a few more weeks, I think we are all pretty much ready for it to begin the day after Labor Day!  I know I would love to think that the summer heat will be over and we will be starting to enjoy cooler days...but here in Florida that really doesn't happen for at least another month. Still we can dream...

Meanwhile, still thinking about August...our extended family here in Florida has a lot of August birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate, and so we did just that on Saturday.  Not everyone could make it due to work schedules,  etc., but for those of us who could gather, we had a great time, as you can see below.

I love to post all the pictures the waitress took of our family, as you can see our expressions change and also because you can't really see everyone in each picture very well...

One particular nephew refuses to let us see his handsome face, but that is par for the course...and we celebrated his 23rd birthday anyway, and also the fact that he graduated from college with his Bachelor's Degree in some form of Psychology and Counseling...I don't know the exact title, but he did it, and is already working on his Master's Degree...so that is impressive. 

Just so  you know who these people are, you can probably tell the first two guys up in front are the "Steiner brothers", my hubby John and his brother "Billy". Then next to my hubby is my sister's hubby Art, next is my sister Doris, then me, then my sister in law Peggy (Billy's wife), next to her is our great nephew Jack, and his mother is next to him, my niece Debbie, then our son Benton. (Rose had to work so couldn't come), and then the smart kid who just graduated college, Nicholaus, next to his father Billy.

So we have family from both sides of the aisle, my hubby's family, and my family, and we all love each other and get along great.  We are blessed to be close enough to enjoy these special events together.

So that was Saturday.  Now for Sunday.  After church we came home and our son Scott had arrived from his home and work an hour or more north of us. Thankfully Rose was off from work also, so our "local family" could gather together to celebrate Benton's birthday, which is actually later this week.

Per his request we had grilled bratwurst and hamburgers, beans, potato salad and deviled eggs. This is my plate.  I actually did not eat the buns, and a very little bit of potato salad.  I'm trying hard to cut back on carbs as much as possible, but it isn't that easy, as most of you probably already know.

The bratwurst was cooked on the grill and then smothered with saute'd peppers and onions. That was yummy! The hamburger was smothered with swiss cheese, fresh onion and tomatoes, and topped with mustard. The beans I "baked" in the crock pot with onions and a little bacon along with mustard and ketchup. They were yummy too. Rose made the potato salad and deviled eggs, which were delicious!

Rose also baked the birthday cake, a yellow cake with chocolate icing, per Benton's request. That is what I always baked for him growing up. So here we are singing Happy Birthday. I think Benton was singing as well. I wish I had recorded us singing.  But you know the song:

Happy Birthday to you!, Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Dear Benton!

Happy Birthday to you!!

And Many More!! LOL.

And then the big blow out!  54!!! How can THAT be?   

Oh, it was so hard to blow out all those 54 candles! LOL.

Yay! He did it!! I hope he made a good wish! LOL.

We teased him that next year he will be eligible for the senior discounts every where! LOL.  But again...I still don't know how he got to be that old already!! It seems like just yesterday he was a new born 9lb. 13 oz. bouncing baby boy!

I just want to pause and thank the Lord for the blessings of family and friends.  We've all been through difficulties in life. No one escapes troubles and trials. But even so, we have so much for which to be thankful. Even when things have looked bleak and impossible, God has made a way. He has never failed us nor forsaken us. So, at this moment in time, I want to say how thankful I am for all that God has done for me and for our loved ones, and for His unfailing grace. And I look at the final verse here below..."For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations."  

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful rest of your week! May you know that the Lord IS good, and that His mercy endures forever, and that His faithfulness also endures for all generations..."

Amen.

Post UPDATE:  Public Service Announcement:  To the "UNKNOWN" commenter who left a less than complimentary comment on this post earlier, I have removed your comment because it was not considered kind or uplifting or appropriate.  There are certain "unwritten" rules that we bloggers abide by, and they are good rules that are based on kindness and consideration of one another.  The number one rule is one that most of us learned in childhood and should also be abiding by as adults: 

1. If you can't say something nice, it's better to not say anything at all.
2. If you wish to leave a comment, it is common courtesy to also identify yourself. Anonymous or unknown comments will be deleted unless the commenter identifies himself at some point. I do understand that sometimes we become "anonymous" if we are using our iPhone or other method of communication that Blogger can't identify. We should always try to find a way to identify ourselves when that happens. 
3. This blog is my personal "property" when it comes to what is considered appropriate or not suitable for print.  If I do not feel that a comment is in good taste or that it could cause harm or embarrassment to someone else, I reserve the right to remove such comments without  notice or apology to the commenter.
4. I also will delete comments from those I perceive to be spammers or promoting their own personal products in my space, or if I discover upon checking your website or blogspace that I am not comfortable with such content that you are promoting, I reserve the right to delete any links posted to my posts or comments.
5. Also, all photographs contained in my blogs, unless they are identified or credited to others, are my personal property and are not open to be copied by others without my permission.

I am sorry to have to make this announcement, as most of this should be common sense, but occasionally there are some who don't seem to understand the code of kindness and consideration for others. Thank you all for understanding.  

Happy August!

Happy First Day of August! To me, August is a month of transition...summer begins to wane, and we begin to shift our thinking from vacations and summer gardens, to getting the kids ready for school (if you still have any at home) and getting back into a regular routine again.  Of course, for those of us who are retired and all our children are grown, it may not be as big of a change, but still there are subtle differences in the air, an expectation of things to come.   Some may feel a bit of anxiety about whatever the future may hold, but the verse shared below in this Thomas Kinkade calendar picture for August is a good one to remember:  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." Isaiah 26:3

 

I love that painting, entitled "Weekend Retreat", and would LOVE to have such a place to retreat to, especially if it was somewhere cooler than where we are right now!

Perhaps this calendar picture below may be more what you are experiencing...picking the last of the summer flowers from your garden and trying to keep things watered and growing for as long as possible. 

And this would be someplace that I would love to be as well...Isn't that a beautiful farmhouse, and look at those lovely flowers and trees and the wheat field in the background...but most of all, I love the picture of the sweet old grandpa taking a walk with his, what I would assume, would be a great grandson.

John Sloane captures so much beauty and joy and love in these paintings in his Country Seasons calendar.  I enlarged this part of the picture to see what the little boy was looking at, and it is a chipmunk!  We don't have those here in Florida, but I have had some experiences with them  up north..especially in Ohio, where we had a chestnut tree, and in the fall I had a daily race with the chipmunks to see who could gather the most chestnuts off the ground! I think the chipmunks won! They took them and stored them somewhere for their winter meals.  I roasted the few I could gather and I think I also managed to chop up some into our stuffing for our Thanksgiving dinner! Sweet memories!

After enjoying a nice walk with a grandchild or anyone else, for that matter, it would be nice to come inside and make a pot of tea with this lovely Royal Doulton teapot from the Netherlands...and sit down together and have a nice long visit over tea and cookies...

There is something special about having tea with a friend or loved one...

Or maybe that young grandchild would prefer a glass of cold lemonade! That sounds pretty good too!

This Susan Branch calendar always captures my imagination...Yes, "Home, Such a lovely Place"...

And now that brings me to something special from my home!    This photograph is not current...I'm not sure of the date, but by the looks of it most likely it was taken in the late fall here on our own Still Waters Pond, when the Canada Geese were gathered to enjoy a peaceful place to swim and fish and honk at their neighbors as they swam around each other...always a lot of fun to watch in the fall and winter.

So why am I showing it now? Well, I did something I've never done before!  

First, I got a new bedspread, and I wanted to have something different to hang above the bed that would tie in the colors in our bedroom...

And I really didn't want to spend money on a picture from someone else's pond or woods or whatever, when I have such a beautiful place right here on our own Still Waters Pond.  So I searched through my photographs of the pond to find one that would show a peaceful scene, and I asked hubby what he would enjoy looking at more...the geese, the Sand Hill Cranes, or something else, and he said the geese...

So I sent in this photograph online to Walmart and had them make it into a canvas picture to hang on the wall!   I was concerned that the photo might look too blurry when enlarged that much, but it really doesn't! It looks just like the original, only bigger!

I am really excited and pleased with the way it turned out! 

This is my anniversary present to us, as August 16th will be our 56th anniversary! And it is nice to be able to sleep "beside the Still Waters (pond)".  

August is always a busy month for our family, with lots of other people in the family having birthdays and anniversaries.  We had hoped to get everyone together sometime this month to celebrate, but we're having difficulty finding a date that works for everyone. So we may have to break it up into smaller gatherings at different times.  Time will tell.  Either way, at least hubby and I already have started the celebration!  Today we had some errands to run in the "city", so we went to lunch at Captain D's. I like their grilled seafood dinners, and it's not too expensive, so we had that. I am thankful that he was feeling well enough to go. "One day at a time, Sweet Jesus! That's all I'm asking from you..."

This was the sunrise this morning!

And here's one last passage from the Thomas Kinkade calendar for August...some good words of wisdom for us all to remember...

So be at peace, my friends...and have a blessed and beautiful  and safe August. Bye for now!