What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
Showing posts with label Buckeye Butterfly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buckeye Butterfly. Show all posts

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Light of the World~Thursday Morning Worship and Praise!

We have another beautiful "moonrise" this morning here on Still Waters Pond.  As I stepped out into the darkness to see this sight before it fades away into daylight, my heart was filled with joy and wonder.  I know, it's just the moon you might say...but when I think about how God placed the moon and stars in the heavens for us to enjoy, well, I have to say I was overcome with thankfulness and a sense of God's presence right here with us.   

I couldn't help but start singing the song our choir sang for the anthem this past Sunday, "Here I Am to Worship".  I don't have a recording of us singing it, but here it is with the "Maranatha Singers" for you to listen to while you enjoy these pictures taken this morning at 6:30 a.m. on Still Waters Pond.


"Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
King of all days
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
Well, I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
Well, I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
Well, I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
Well, I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Tim Hughes
Here I Am to Worship/Call lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing

Psalm 8:1-9
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.

Common Buckeye Butterfly, from our walk yesterday afternoon

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.
(The Sand Hill Crane Family Came by for a visit recently)

9 O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Sunset, Wednesday afternoon 


Sunrise, Thursday morning

Thank you for singing along with me on this glorious Thursday morning.  I know this is two days in a row of moon pictures, but these beauties are only here for a short time and then they go away for another month...so I hope you don't mind enjoying God's glorious creation in the heavenlies with me for another day.  I'll get back to the mundane things of life soon enough, but for now, let's just be thankful for the gifts God gives us to enjoy while they last.  

Have a glorious day, my friends!

Friday, October 16, 2020

Friday Foto Friends~ Some of Nature's Private Moments


Happy Friday! This week I was blessed to witness some interesting private moments in nature;  some scenes that we rarely are privileged to see...

While looking toward Still Waters Pond I noticed something fluttering on the side of this pine tree.
From a distance I couldn't tell what it was, but I knew it was something unusual. So I got my camera and zoomed in and this is what I saw:

I believe we are witnessing a mating ritual between two dragonflies!


Either that, or they are practicing an amazing trapeze act in the air, way above the ground and barely hanging on to anything on the tree...


It was beautiful to see, but after watching for several minutes I decided to give them some privacy.
Wasn't this amazing?


Moving along to our daily walk...I noticed this very interesting caterpillar inching his way upon the stem of this fragile wildflower.  

The caterpillars are munching away on their host foods, preparing for the next stage of their development, which I assume will be the pupa or chrysalis stage

I noticed there were many of these all around on the bushes along the road.

I believe this is the caterpillar for the Buckeye Butterfly.  This picture below was taken earlier this year in the same area where there were many of these caterpillars this week. So I expect we will see a lot of Buckeye Butterflies sometime in the near future.



I decided to take a little side road today to see if I could see something different than the usual things we see each day.  I noticed some movement going up the side of this tree, and at first I thought it was probably a squirrel.  But upon closer inspection, I noticed the ringed tail of a raccoon...so then I got really excited.


Can you see who's looking at you?


There wasn't just one, but two very young raccoons. If you look closely toward the bottom of this raccoon, you can see the outline of the ears of the other one just coming up the tree beneath him.

The other one is looking up toward the top raccoon in this picture...look closely. Aren't they sweet?


Obviously these are very young raccoons, and I was keeping a close watch around for a mother to come charging after me.


But thankfully no angry mother showed up. I hope these babies haven't been left on their own already. They seem pretty young.



What an exciting morning!  Of course, my camera was again having battery issues, and I finally had to shut it down so this was the end of this group of pictures...but Oh!! What a delightful time!


 Seeing these wonders in God's beautiful creation made me stop and give praise to the Lord, the Creator of all.   "Praise the Lord!"

"All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing!
Alleluia, Alleluia!...
O Praise Him, O Praise Him
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!"


Psalm 148:7-10,13
7.  "Praise the Lord from the earth, 
You great sea creatures and all the depths;
8.  Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
9.  Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
10.  Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl...
13.  Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven."



Hope you have a wonderful weekend...and be sure to keep your eyes open to the beauties and wonders of all that God has placed around you, wherever you are. You may be surprised what you will discover!

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Friday Fotos : Things Are Looking Up!


 Hello Everyone!  I hope you have had a wonderful week! Here we are again...another Friday already!  (writing on Thursday night, however).  Some weeks just seem to drag by and we get to Friday and I have nothing to share with you...and have to go searching through the archives.
But this week seems to have been a good week for photos.   Or perhaps I've just been more observant than usual. That may be a good sign that things are looking up and I'm feeling more like participating!  Possibly because we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and there is a sense of optimism in the air that everything is going to be okay.

I wonder what Mrs. Cardinal is trying to say to Mr. Cardinal..."Hey Red, Do you think we ought to tell the children where we are getting these seeds from?"

 "It might be easier than us having to keep taking the seeds over to them and feeding them one by one...seeing's how there are three of them over there waiting in the tree for their food!"


And then "Red" secretly showed up on my new window feeder, right in front of me as I was sitting here working. I don't think he told Mrs. Cardinal about his secret stash of the good stuff!
There she was. left on her own to keep gathering food for her youngins.  But they all looked healthy and happy and that's what matters! Things are definitely looking up!

After watching the birds here at home, we headed to our woodsy place to take our morning walk.
I was happy to see this beautiful "Buckeye" butterfly flitting about. He landed long enough for me to take his picture, and then off he went.


Here's another sweet little yellow wildflower, which I will have to look up and find out the name.
 Okay, it is a Piriqueta Cistoides, subsp.caroliniana.  Click HERE for more information.  I know you want to know!

Someone had cut up a tree and left the logs sitting in an area where people like to dump stuff in the woods. At least this is biodegradable.
 I wanted to gather them up and take them home and make stools to sit on in the yard for whenever we get a firepit.  But it would be easier to cut down one of our own big dead trees and do it right there than to try to lift these heavy stumps and haul them home.  Anyway, I appreciated having a little place to sit down and rest for a spell.

And then I got up and started walking again, and this beautiful Gulf Fritillary landed right in front of me and waited for me to take it's picture! I guess everyone was being quite the little "ham" today!!

Then we took a little ride out to the other side of town and down a road that we used to travel a lot before we moved over here as it was one of the routes we would take to come over back and forth. I have taken pictures of this old Florida "Cracker Style" house before, but I was inspired to take a few more pictures today. Now they have it all roped off with "Posted, No Trespassing" signs across the property, so I couldn't get any closer. Probably too many curious lookers have been stopping by.
  Can't you just envision the old folks that used to live and loved here? I hate to see it being let go to ruin, but I suppose it would be too costly to restore it.
 It's the style of house that I would dearly love to have (as long as it had indoor plumbing and electricity).  Here is a link to more information about Florida Cracker Style homes.

Yesterday evening I took this picture of a new rosebud on my Memorial "Don Juan" rosebush. See the cute little green grasshopper on it?

Here is that same rose this morning, and that grasshopper is still munching away.

So I thumped him off and cut the rose and brought it inside where I can enjoy it. This is yet another rose from our son's Memorial Rosebush, and again, it is blooming at another special time. Monday will be  the 6th anniversary of our son Matthew's passing, and I know I've told you this before, but this rosebush always seems to bloom around special dates in our lives. I always consider each blossom a gift from our son in heaven.

Tonight we took another walk, and I thought these clouds were encouraging...they look like rain could possibly be coming...but so far nothing. Please pray for rain! Our area of the state is very dry and that can be very dangerous when it starts getting so hot. Plus our poor little Still Waters Pond is really getting dry, and literally the waters are very still!
Seeing these clouds also reminds me that today is traditionally remembered as Ascension Day,  the day that our Lord ascended back into heaven, 40 days after His resurrection from the dead.  In the book of Acts 1:1-11, we see Jesus giving His last instructions to His disciples, and then in verse 9-11 it says:
9.  "Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched,
He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10.  And while they looked steadfastly 
toward heaven as He went up, 
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
11.  who also said,
"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?  
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,
will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

I don't know about you, but I am so looking forward to seeing Jesus come back "in like manner" as the Disciples saw Him go into heaven. I pray it will be soon.  Yes, then we will definitely be "looking up"!  I hope we are all ready for that grand and glorious day.


Have a blessed and wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I will look forward to hearing all about it next week!