Good Thursday Morning Delights

 Good Morning! It's been a bit of a busy week, with something going on every day, so I feel like I am running a bit behind in my visits with you! 

So why don't we just sit down in my "Room with a View" 

and have a cup of tea and visit for a while?  Of course, it is still early early morning, and the sun has not yet come up, so my "room with a view" doesn't have a view outside just yet, but we can be cozy here and enjoy chatting.

Actually, I am having a very weak cup of hot tea this morning, with no sugar added.  I am going to be going for a CT Scan in a little while, testing for that pesky diverticulitis that was bugging me to find out what's going on in there.  I'm not supposed to have anything to eat or drink except water since midnight last night, but I needed just a wee little bit of hot tea to get my morning started just right. My test isn't until 11:30, and at 9:30 I have to drink my first "barium smoothie", and then again another one at 10:30. You know I am looking forward to that like a hole in my head, so I'd rather be sitting here visiting with you.

Here's the "view" to my right...you've probably seen these pictures before. Just a little bookshelf with interesting little books on it and few doodads and special things that have some kind of significance to me.  Of course you've seen that picture of "My Three Sons" before too.

And hanging on the wall up in front of me next to the window is a "collage" of some of my favorite nature photos that I took at our last home in the forest, with the exception of the Barred Owl. That came from another time and another place that was significant...and actually, I believe my sister took that picture, but I've kept that copy to remind me of my special "relationship" with the Barred Owls.

Here's another picture of one of our bears from our home in Salt Springs. That little guy was trying to figure out just how to get at that bird seed. In one of the pictures above, you can see that he was successful. After than incident, I had to move my bird feeder into an enclosed fenced area, but alas, there were a few times that even a tall wooden fence could not keep out a hungry bear!

I do miss seeing our little "critters" that frequently roamed about our house there, but the benefits to living here where we are now outweigh the joys of living with nature that we had there...so here we are.

And God has delighted us with some new kinds of wildlife here on Still Waters Pond!

Yes, the geese have been coming back more frequently lately. That is always something to celebrate!

Yes, these are the sights I can often enjoy from my "Room with a View" when the sun comes up!

But back to the current view...

Around behind my chair are these wonderful portraits of my maternal grandparents:

Yes, they are sitting on the floor right now, because I am not sure where will be the best place to hang them.  But aren't they wonderful? Recently the wife of one of my cousins passed away. My cousin had already passed several years ago, and so their children were cleaning out their home. The children were born after the time of my grandparents, and so they never knew them, and really didn't have any interest in keeping these portraits. So my cousin's son called me and asked me if I would be interested in having them!  Would I!!!???

My lovely grandmother Flora Sheets Tedlie

And my handsome Grandpa Benton F. Tedlie

I knew that my sister already had my mother's copies of these portraits that I remembered hanging on the wall of our home for many many years. I had always wanted a copy for myself, and so was very thrilled to receive these.  

And that's not all!  He asked if I would be interested in having these very old books, which originally had belonged to my Aunt Margie and Uncle Ed (my mother's oldest sister and husband).  Actually, I remember having these books in our house when I was growing up. I think my Aunt and Uncle had given them to our family to enjoy after their sons were done with them.  Somehow, apparently my parents had given them back to my cousin's family after we were done with them so their children could enjoy them.  And now they came back to my family...full circle.  They are very old and not in perfect condition, but they are treasures for sure:

Sometime perhaps I will do a little more of a close up of each book so you can see the wonderful pictures and stories from the past. A couple of these books may be totally lost to our civilization today, due to things like "political correctness" or "censorship", and so I will hang on to these all the more as the stories were very wonderful and important stories.

Well, my friends, the sun is starting to rise and I must get a move on if I am going to accomplish much today besides drinking chalky milkshakes and having pictures taken of my innards.  I am not too worried about the results of this...just routine tests, but still...you know what I mean. So a little prayer is always welcome.

Meanwhile, what fun things can you find to "delight in" today?

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears."

Psalm 34:4

I'll try to get back with you all later!! Have a blessed and beautiful day!!!

CHRISTmas is Coming!!

 Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!!   We were excited to see the geese arrive back on Still Waters Pond this morning...the first time we've seen them since last spring!

If you aren't familiar with this little tune, here it is for you:

Christmas is coming, goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do

If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!

Christmas is coming, goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do

If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!

Christmas is coming, candles on the tree

Please hang a stocking for Saint Nick to see

If you haven’t got a stocking, a little sock will do

If you haven’t got a little sock then God bless you!

Christmas is coming, season of good cheer

Let’s sing a carol for the brand-new year!

If you haven’t got a carol, a joyous song will do

If you haven’t got a joyous song then God bless you!

Christmas is coming, goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do

If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!

I was happy to see not just ONE goose, but four geese swimming on the pond!!

We are very excited to see them return, and hope they will decide to stay awhile, and perhaps at least one couple will decide to build their nest here again! Time will tell. But for now, I am considering this a Christmas blessing!!

And not only the geese, but there were bluebirds in the yard the other day when we were having so much rain! This one was checking out the birdhouse!  I certainly hope they will be back to nest here again also!! Another Christmas blessing!

Joy to the World, The Lord is Come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing!

The carolers are all singing and rejoicing in the Good News!

Looks like Mrs. Santa and Santa Claus are getting ready for the big day!  Hey, Santa, where's your sleigh?  Are you taking the train this year?

Oh, Someone hijacked Santa's sleigh and put some beautiful flowers in it, and sent it here special delivery!! What a wonderful surprise from some sweet family members!

Looks like everyone is ready for Christmas at the cabin:

The Martin Sisters are gathered round the piano and ready to sing...

Oh, there's another Santa, and he's got gifts ready to bring...

The snowmen are warming up by the fire...better watch out! You might melt!

Baby Elva and Lily Grace are enjoying the tree and the train and village...

The sleepy little village of "Bethlehem" is ready for the weary travelers...

(this is the modern day version of Bethlehem, not to be confused with the real Bethlehem...)

Lily Grace and her friends are getting ready for the Birthday Party for Jesus:

See? The cake is baked and the friends are all dressed in their best Christmas outfits, ready to celebrate:

All the family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage are ready to celebrate Jesus' Birthday:

Uh, someone might need some help in gift-wrapping...Actually they are mostly done, but just waiting for Santa to pick them up and deliver them...

Yes, Christmas IS coming, and yes, there will be gifts under the tree on Christmas morning...well, maybe not exactly under the tree due to the train and village, but somewhere in the neighborhood...

And yes, there are some cookies being baked a little at a time...This is a new recipe that turned out really good...Cranberry/white chocolate chip and pecans...yummy.  (found a recipe online).

Yes, all this is being done because of one very special reason,

CHRISTmas is coming!

Jesus, Our Savior and Lord...

He is coming!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

and we beheld His glory, 

the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 

full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

And that, my friends, is why we do all of this celebrating!

CHRIST-mas is coming!!

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night!

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.

Holy infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight.

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,

Christ the Savior is born!

Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night!

Son of God love's pure light.

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

From all creatures great and small here at our house to yours:

Merry Christmas everyone!!

This will probably be my last post until after Christmas, unless something else exciting happens!

So until then, have a very blessed and beautiful CHRISTmas with your loved ones and friends.

And remember,

"Jesus is the REASON for the season!!"

Pillow Talk and Pipe Dreams

 I haven't been writing as much lately...trying to spend less time at the computer these days as I seem to have strained muscles in my neck and shoulders and sitting at the computer makes it worse...or is it the cause? Whichever, I need to limit my time here, so please forgive me if I don't make it around to everyone's posts every day. I am trying...I love to hear from each of you and hate to miss your news and views!!  I keep trying out different pillows thinking that is my problem. I have been tempted to order one of those "My Pillows" from TV...has anyone else tried them? They are a bit too pricey for my budget, but if I keep buying new pillows at Walmart I might as well buy a "My Pillow" and be done with it...but do they actually work better than a cheap pillow? I would like to hear from some real people who have purchased them. What kind of pillow do you like best?

I really haven't had much to share anyway...we haven't had any big adventures or activities worth writing about...haven't taken many pictures either. I guess I am just kind of in a slump, so bear with me while I pull myself back up and out and get back on track.  So here's what I have managed to accomplish:

This past Saturday I bought some awesome delicious juicy ripe peaches. I never buy peaches at the grocery store because they are never good...they usually are hard and then by the time they ripen they are rotten. So when I can find a good fresh peach at a farmstand, I am thrilled. These were actually good enough to eat!!

And before we ate up all of them, I wanted to make a peach cobbler. As many of you know, yesterday was a kind of bittersweet day in our lives. It was the 7th anniversary of the passing of our dear son Matthew from this life to his heavenly home. 

This is a great picture of the way he often looked...

taken on July 4, 2009, before he was diagnosed in 2010 with the cancer that would take his life in 2014.

I always prefer to remember him this way, with this exuberance for life shining out from his face.

Anyway, it helps on these special "anniversary dates" to keep busy and do something positive. So we invited "the kids" over for a spaghetti supper last night and had this peach-blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it when it came out of the oven. This is all that is left this morning:

It was yummy. I added the blueberries because I really didn't have enough peaches left to make a good cobbler. But blueberries and peaches go well together, and this turned out really good.

I got the recipe from this church cookbook, which came from the church where I worked as the Church Administrator for quite a few years before retiring:

Here's the recipe, and as I said, I combined peaches and blueberries, about two cups of each:

I'm sure some of you may wonder if we ever see our Geese family anymore. Well, we drove over to the neighborhood where they are now living with their extended family, and this is what we saw:

One of the neighbors saw me out there taking pictures and asked me what I was doing there, so I explained about our little goose family and how they left our pond to go live in their bigger lake with the rest of the flock, and I asked her if she knew for sure if there was a family with three young goslings in this bunch.  She said "Oh yes! There is a family with three young ones, and a family with two young ones, and then some other adults."  I can't tell if our babies are in this group or not. They all seem too big to me to be our youngsters.  I think there were more that I couldn't see from my vantage point, but the lady confirmed to me that they are there and they are well aware of them, so that made me feel good to know.  The other evening as I was sitting outside in my Secret Memorial Garden a group of five geese flew over the pond and honked at me all the way across the pond. I wondered if it could be our little family saying hello...but I just don't know if the goslings would be that big yet...maybe they are?

Speaking of baby birds...Our bluebird couple has been quite actively feeding their youngsters every day, all day long. I am sure the babies will be making their appearance soon. I keep watching and hoping we will get a glimpse of them before they fly the nest.

They sure are getting some juicy grasshoppers to eat!

Now, switching gears, literally...

This is a picture of our son Scott's project car, his '91 Camaro Z28. 

He has a long time interest in classic Camaros, and this is probably the 4th or 5th one he has had. He had Mustangs for a little while, but his first love is the Camaro, so this is what he works on and enjoys driving when things are working just right.

In these pictures he had just installed a new radiator and was very proud of the work he had done as a self-taught mechanic.

I have to tell you a little story...the other day on his day off he was going to drive the Camaro back to the golf course where he works (50 miles away) because they have a garage there where he can work on his car. He had mentioned that he would have to put the car on jack stands to work on the exhaust system. (see pictures below of the exhaust pipes he was going to install)

Well, I had expressed some concern about him working under the car with just jack stands because he said no one else would be around and he would be there alone. I've heard too many stories of people being crushed under cars I guess, and so I was a bit concerned about this scenario, which he assured me he would be just fine and that I was not to worry.  But I am a mother. Need I say more?

Well, anyway, we had gone to church and out to lunch, and when we got home, Scott was still at the house, and I was surprised to see him there because he thought he'd be gone all day. 

Well, here's what happened.  On his way to the place, only about 2 miles from  home, his brand new radiator boiled over and went dry...and he had to make an emergency stop at the nearest place he could pull over, which happened to be the Dollar General. He waited for the car to cool down, and then added a gallon or two of water, and drove back home.  He said apparently the cap on the radiator had a crack in it and the pressure had leaked out or something like that, which caused it to dry up.  So he couldn't go work on his car at the shop with the jack-stands after all! And now he has to replace the radiator all over again. But he is safe and God protected him...and I consider that perhaps that was God's way of  protecting him from something that could have been far worse than a dry radiator!  

Praise God!

I am so thankful for this young man with his sense of humor, blowing the trumpet!

So that's that for today. I hope you are having a wonderful day/week. Remember to hug your loved ones tight every opportunity you can. Like is just too short...we never know what the new day may bring.

Saw this on Facebook this morning:

And that's the truth.

Have a blessed day.