Monday Monday...Sweet Memories and More...

Oh my goodness! What a weekend it was! There was a lot going on in so many different "realms", but I will begin with these wonderful photos that were sent from one of my paternal cousins in Pennsylvania.  I had never seen these photos before. She found them in a box of old photos belonging to my Aunt Audrey and Uncle Paul. (R.I.P.)

These photos were taken of our family, probably back in 1957, I'm guessing.   In the above picture is:

L to R": My mother, brother Russell, sister Doris, Daddy, me, brother Clifford. 

In the above pic L to R:

me, Mom, Doris, Russell, Daddy, Clifford.

In below pic, I think  that is Doris in the front seat, my Dad, me in the back seat, and my brother Russell.

I'm not positive which is which between my sister and me...not that we look that much alike, but it is difficult to tell in this photo which is which. 

Anyway, the occasion was when we had gone back up to PA. from Florida to load up more of our furniture, etc., from my Uncle Paul's barn, where it was being stored since our move to Florida the year before. You will note in the above photos that we had a little cargo trailer attached to our 1955  4 door Chevy Belair sedan.  We also had a cargo box attached to the top of the car, with a canvas tarp over it, to help hold all our luggage, camping gear, etc., because, yes, we camped in tents all the way up and back on this trip (and many others each summer).  How all six of us ever fit in that car for such a long trip, without AC, I might add, I'll never know. But we did it, and we survived.  We made lots of fun memories playing different road games along the way, like the Alphabet game, The Horse Game ("Cemetery! Bury your horses!) among others to keep us entertained along the way.  There were no interstate highways back then, and we took the long,  winding, mountain roads through the Smoky Mountains, where we could find good campgrounds at State Parks, and roadside parks to fix our lunches on the way.  (and sadly, for me, places to pull over quick because I would get carsick frequently!)

These were special times for our family, times I will never forget.  My parents were amazing to organize and plan all of this so well, so that we always had food enough to eat and places to camp (without the aid of GPS to guide us...all my Dad had was the road atlas and a keen sense of direction, well, most of the time.  If he ever got lost he never admitted it and just made it more a part of the adventure!) Oh, and no credit cards back then either! If you ran out of cash, you were out of luck...which we almost did on the way home on one of those trips, because it rained so much we ended up having to eat in a restaurant (no McDonalds' back then) and that pretty much took the last dollar...but we still managed to arrive home safely even if on fumes! LOL. 

Now, this photo (below) was taken a few years before, while we were still living on our farm in Pennsylvania. This was in 1952.

L to R: Russell, Clifford, Daddy, me in my mother's arms, and Doris in front. That is our old farmhouse in the background:

That corresponds with this photo I already shared a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was taken at the same time, but after looking my sister's dress and mine, I decided this must have been a different Sunday afternoon, even though my mother is still wearing the same pretty sundress.

Also, in the photo above you see our dog Laddie.  Here is another photo of Laddie below:

Now back to the present...

Yesterday, July 23, 2023, was my sweet Mother-in-law's "heavenly" 100th birthday.  HERE is a link to a tribute I wrote about her several years ago.  

She was a one of a kind Mother in law, and I miss her a LOT!  

Well, yesterday, on what would have been her 100th birthday, one of her dear "cousins" (by marriage), joined her in heaven to celebrate:

Yes, our "cousin Jane" entered heaven's gates yesterday morning, and I am sure there was a real celebration going on once she arrived.

These pictures are of Jane and "Nanny" (Vivian) together in happier times.

Jane had just turned 93 a few weeks ago, and passed away rather unexpectedly yesterday...but it wasn't unexpected to Jesus...I'm sure He was there to welcome her "home", where she joined her husband, one of her sons, and many others that she was looking forward to seeing again in heaven.

We will miss Jane. She was one of those unforgettable characters that you love to know.

Here's a picture (below) of the last time we saw Jane, (with my hubby) when she came with other family members to visit us at "Dixie Cottage" earlier this year. At that point, she was still able to live in her own home alone, even though she was legally blind and practically deaf, but one determined lady! Not long after this picture was taken she became ill and it was decided that she could no longer live alone, so she went to an Assisted Living home. She was doing well there until this past weekend, when God said it was time to call her home to heaven.

Rest in Peace, Jane. You will be missed by all who knew and loved you here.

In other news this past weekend, we had an interesting day at church yesterday.  Interesting how things happen in twos...there was two different kinds of "bad news", and then two different kinds of "good news".  I'll go with the "bad news" first and finish up with the good to end up on a pleasant note.   The two items of sad or bad news was one dear lady recently found out that she has Stage 4 Cancer. That was very sad news to me, as I truly appreciate this dear soul and hate to see her have to go through all that she is going to have to endure in the near future. I am joining her in prayer for God's mercy and perhaps even a miracle on her behalf. I know God is still in the miracle business, and I am going to pray that way.  The other disturbing news was another dear friend announced that she and her husband were going to get a divorce. That truly was upsetting, because I know and love both of these people, and I pray that God will again work a miracle and save their marriage if at all possible. I know there are times that it seems that divorce is the only answer, but again, I pray God will intervene on their behalf and help them to work things out. 

Jeremiah 32:27

27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. 

Is there anything too hard for Me?"

And now for the good news:

We have a lady in our church who is a single older woman on a very fixed income. Her car basically died and had to be sent to the junk yard. She had no means of purchasing a new car.  One of the men in our church had an extra vehicle that he was not using since his wife passed away, and so he literally gave this vehicle to this lady free and clear...just because she needed it, and he didn't need it, so why should he keep it when she needed it? That was his attitude of true Christian love.  What a testimony of God's amazing grace!

And then, we were surprised when two teens who were here visiting their grandparents for a few weeks both decided that they wanted to be baptized!  And so there was a baptism of these precious young people as a testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ!  Here they are below with our Pastor and his wife and also one of their relatives who stood up with them...

And here with their very proud and happy grandparents:

What a joyous way to end a day that had its share of trials and difficulties.

Okay, that about wraps it up.  Oh, we had our house pressure washed over the weekend:

This was done by our DIL's sister and her son. They did a great job and our house is pretty and clean again!

And then our DIL and son brought over supper on Saturday night! What a blessing!! I forgot to take pictures of that, but we ended up the night playing Dominoes...and that was a lot of fun.

Okay, that's it for now.  I hope you had a blessed weekend and that you will have a wonderful week ahead.

And remember,

Luke 1:37

37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

 

Friday Foto Friends At Last!

 Last night I struggled for several hours trying to write a post for today, but Blogger would not upload my pictures.  I restarted my computer, cleaned out the temporary files, did all kinds of things that others said online might help, but to no avail as of bedtime last night.  So I came in here this morning with my cup of tea and sat down and said, Okay, Lord, it's now or never!  And guess what! It's finally working again! Thank YOU, Lord, and thank you, Blogger, for fixing whatever needed fixing!  And so I will start out with this picture, which is currently for sale in our Dixie Cottage store, but it originated from our dear blogging friend Barbara, over at Sweet Tea and Sandals.  Yes, this is one of her beautiful cross-stitched creations.  If you read Barbara's blog, you will know that she has been merging her home with her new hubby's home, and so she has been purging many of her things, including many signs and other decorative items.  A few weeks ago she and Gary brought many items to Dixie Cottage to be sold on consignment, and I must say that her items have been very popular!  This is one of them, and I am thinking I may just have to purchase this one for myself:

It was sitting on this beautiful hutch in the store, but now that hutch has been sold, so it is looking for a new place to sit.  Actually several of the items on this hutch came from Barbara, and now they are scattered about in other locations as well waiting to go to their new forever homes:

Dixie Cottage is becoming more and more interesting as we find new and "old" treasures to sell. Someone actually donated this very old Singer Sewing machine for us to sell.  We aren't really an antique store, but we do a lot of re-purposing and perhaps someone just might see the potential in this lovely antique and take it home with them. It is missing its treadle and wheel, but there is actually a little motor tucked in a drawer that apparently can still be attached and used if someone knows how to do it.

Oh, that sign on the top that says "Sewing~ Plain or Fancy"...well that was one of Barbara's signs, and a dear lady who says she has her own "She-Shed" where she does her sewing, wanted that sign for in there.  And the "Happiness is Homemade" also came from Barbara, and is still waiting for its new home. 

Barbara used to do a lot of quilting and this is another of her creations:

This is just a simple little sign in a frame, which happens to be a favorite benediction of mine as I remember it being said in our youth group at the close of every service when I was a teen...we would join hands criss-crossed in a circle and say this before we departed...

anyway...I love this little sign and have placed it on a table just inside the store where it will actually greet people as they enter:

Another of my favorite signs that came from Barbara is the one below that says 

"I've Reached the Age Where Happy Hour Is Taking a Nap".  I've been debating on taking that one home and hanging it above our bed...lol.

Oh, one more, well actually there are two in this picture...the "Grateful, Thankful, Blessed" sign has already been sold to a grateful, thankful, and blessed customer.  The other one, 

"Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times" is still waiting for just the right person to come along and snatch it up.

There are more lovely items from Barbara in our store, and many have already been sold, but there are still some waiting for their new homes.  Thank you, Barbara, for sharing your creations and lovely items with us...and the world!

Now, moving right along to other things...

We have several other very creative vendors at Dixie Cottage, and this particular lady has very interesting and eclectic items for sale that she creates, repurposes, restores...

This adorable child's rocking chair was sold the first day it arrived, to a couple of grandparents who wanted it for their granddaughter!  How very sweet!!

This little accessory table has been painted with much love and is waiting for just the right person to come and fall in love with it and take it home!

And now we have a new vendor who does pottery, and she brought in a few pieces to see how they will sell...

These are just some samples of what she does! Very unique and beautiful!

I really didn't intend for this post to be all about Dixie Cottage, but since that is where I spend most of my time these days, that is what I have to take pictures of!  However, yesterday hubby and I had a day all to ourselves and we decided to do something different.  We went out to breakfast at a little cafe' in the neighboring city of Palatka, called "Magnolia Cafe'".  

Of course I took some pictures:

We had visited there a few years ago (before Covid), but then they closed down during the pandemic and actually during that time totally remodeled the whole place and only reopened a short time ago. If you click on that link, you will see what it looked like then, and also the menu from 2019.  I didn't take a picture of the menu yesterday, but I should have...the prices were half again more and we were in shock, and if we hadn't have been so hungry we might have just gotten up and left, but we decided to go ahead and splurge just this once...

Our water came in that beautiful green bottle! And I loved the clear glass tea cup...

I don't get out much...I've never seen a water bottle like this before:

Oh, we were surprised to see that they also have a squirrel mascot in their cafe'! I wonder if he's related to our Skippy at Dixie Cottage?

The food might have been expensive, but they certainly gave us more than enough to eat!

Hubby had the French Toast, and those blueberries in whipped cream were supposed to go on top, but he gave them to me and I ate most of them. The whipped cream was definitely home-made, and was VERY good. I couldn't eat it all, however.

This is my plate, and that strawberry jelly on top of my toast is homemade also.  After looking back at my previous post from this place, it looks like I had the same thing, except there was no bacon with this one. I hate to think how much it would have cost to add it! LOL. And actually there was so much food here that I took home half of it, which would be enough for another full meal. So I guess I can't complain too much about the price. Next time maybe we'll order one meal and split it!  (If there IS a next time! LOL).

It really was good and we enjoyed it very much, even if it did cost us about double what we normally would spend for breakfast! 

You may not appreciate these pictures of the bathroom, but it really was so pretty in there I had to take a picture. That floor is gorgeous...and I guess the higher prices are paying for the "gold" grab bar and gilded mirror...LOL.

Okay, moving right along...

Next door to the restaurant is this store, "Urban Farmhouse", which is very much like our own Dixie Cottage.  As a matter of fact, if you read that previous link I shared with you from 2019, you will see that we visited there at that time as well, and back then our son actually was a vendor in this store, selling some of his custom made console tables and other items he had painted.  As time went by our son and his wife were able to buy their own store over in St. Augustine, (Dixie Cottage), and the rest is history.  And so  this is kind of where he got his start and got the idea for this type of store...

Urban Farmhouse was still closed after we finished our breakfast, so all I could do was peek inside the windows, so please excuse the reflections in some of these pictures:

They have a lot of similar items that we have, but they have been in business a lot longer and have a lot more stuff crowded in a small space.  It is a very interesting and unique store as well, and I would have loved to have gotten inside to see a few more things up close.  Maybe I will go back another day when they are open.  Yes, we are kind of in competition with them now, but they are 15 miles away and in a whole different kind of community, and so we both serve our communities well.

I love that sign below:  "I Love You Like Biscuits and Gravy"....you'd have to be southern to understand it. LOL.

Okay, that's enough of that!  I hope you've enjoyed "window shopping" with me today! LOL.

Thinking of "windows", I thought about this Bible Verse that I've heard many times before, and somehow I just felt like I needed to share it with you:

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it."

Malachi 3:10

Actually, I commend to your reading the whole third chapter of Malachi to get the full meaning of this verse, but this one has always stuck out at me because God has used it in our lives over the years in special ways. When we give of our own substance, hearts, and lives to the service of the Lord, He always blesses us exactly as this verse says He will...He "opens the windows of heaven and pours out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it..."  I can attest to this that it is true...blessings beyond measure...not so much of monetary value, but everlasting value that does not perish.  Something to ponder today as we go about our business.

Happy Friday, Friends!!