Thursday Thankfulness

Happy first Thursday of Lent, 2025.

Actually, these sunrise photos were from yesterday morning, and these clouds ushered in a very stormy, windy  Ash Wednesday.  The winds are definitely in keeping with the month of March's reputation!

Seems like I can see and angel flying into the midst of this sunrise, which gives us encouragement that even in the midst of storms, God sends His angels to watch over us and keep us in all our ways...

Psalm 91:9-12

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

What a beautiful promise from God's Word for us in these chaotic times! So very thankful for God's protection and provision always!

As you saw in the preceding pictures, the Goldfinches have arrived on their spring trek back up north!  It is such fun to watch them feeding at the finch feeder, and even the Bluebirds don't seem to mind them being here. I think they know they are just here temporarily, and that they are not a threat to their home territory, so they seem to get along just fine for the short while the finches are here filling up on food for their journey. 

Other signs of Spring are these blooming trees on the corner of our property:

This is a Carolina Cherry Laurel tree blossom, which I never realized before now was it's name! We always called it a wild cherry.

And the yellow flowers are some that I've shown you many times before, the Carolina Jessamine, or Yellow Jessamine are growing like wildfire this spring! They are so beautiful, and I've been noticing them almost everywhere we go along fencerows and up in the trees. Funny that both of these plants today have the name "Carolina" in their name!  And yet we are in Florida, but really not all that far from the Carolinas!  I am really enjoying their beauty this year for certain!

And I am really happy that the red Hibiscus plant we planted in the garden on Sunday is still blooming beautifully, and still has a lot more buds on it!  This makes my heart happy indeed, since this is the bush we chose to plant in memory of our son Matthew for his birthday.  

Here is something else that makes my heart happy.  A very dear young woman in our church gifted me with this painting on Sunday.  She actually painted it based on one of my sunset photos on Still Waters Pond:

She is learning to paint with watercolors and said she struggled a bit in getting it just right to her liking, but I love it. This young woman is currently going through a lot of issues in her family...her father has terminal cancer, her mother is not well at all and has some deep emotional issues, and her own daughter is getting married next month and so she is planning a wedding while in the process of being a care-giver for her parents, (and praying that her father is well enough to be able to attend the wedding and watch his granddaughter get married) and balancing that with her own life with her husband.  The painting is good therapy for her, but I honestly don't know how she finds the time to do anything extra.  This young woman's name is Nicole, and if you have a moment to lift her and her family up in your thoughts and prayers, I know she would appreciate it.

Yes, the Sand Hill Crane couple are still nesting, and they still take turns sitting on the nest and then coming to our shore looking for a handful of seeds to eat for a snack to help sustain them.  It has become a regular daily event to have each one of them show up at our back door waiting for us to appear and throw out some seeds. So we do, but it is just a little supplement to what they are able to get from around the pond, which is actually much better for them. But we enjoy the little interaction we have with them, and they seem to appreciate it too.

I just hiked around to the other side of the pond to see if I could catch them changing the guard on the nest, but I just can't seem to hit the right time.  There's mother Crane resting peacefully on her nest as per usual:

I do hope that since we've developed such a "close relationship" with them, they will be sure to bring their young baby colts around to visit us as soon as they are able. I'm sure they will. That has always been their tradition!    Judging by the calendar I've kept, we will be watching for that happy event sometime around St. Patrick's Day or thereabouts.  That seems to be their favorite birthday time period!

Regarding Lent...this 40 day time period prior to Easter, I wonder if or how you are observing it? I haven't made any specific promises or set any goals, but I am using this time to prepare my heart for the remembrance of what Christ has done for us on the cross, and most especially in His resurrection from the dead.

Our choir is working on our Easter Cantata, "It Is Finished", and one of the songs we are singing is this one:

Sung here by the Florida Boys

"When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind"

I'm not on an ego trip I'm nothing on my own

I make mistakes I often slip

Just common flesh and bones

But I'll prove someday just why I say

I'm of a special kind

When He was on the cross

I was on his mind

The look of love was on his face

Thorns were on his head

The blood was on his scarlet robe

Stained a crimson red

Though his eyes were on the crowd that day

He looked ahead in time

For when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

He knew me, yet He loved me

He whose glory makes the heavens shine

So unworthy of such mercy

Yet when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

Yet when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ronald Payne / Ronny Hinson

When He Was On The Cross lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

And this is what I am truly thankful for today.  I hope you are too.

Have a blessed and beautiful rest of your week.

 

Wednesday Treasures From Still Waters Pond and Beyond...

 Just a little bit of this and that and some floral beauty while it lasts...

The other day I went to the Ladies' Bible Study, which is held at our church parsonage.  The parsonage is currently not being used by our Pastor as he and his wife already have their own home. So our women's groups from the church use it for Bible Studies and other small group gatherings.  

When I arrived I couldn't help but notice these beautiful camellias blooming in the garden. They needed to be noticed and appreciated before they totally drop to the ground.  Some of these are already getting pretty wilted, but they still have a rich beauty even as they begin to fade.

There were still some buds waiting to open as well...still holding their fresh loveliness tightly until it is their time to blossom...

I'm so glad I took a few minutes to capture their beauty.  It would be a shame for them to die before ever being noticed...

However, they are doing exactly what they were designed to do...they are "blooming where they are planted"...

This made me think of an old southern gospel song "Where the Roses Never Fade"    You may want to sing along...

Where the Roses Never Fade

I am going to a city,
Where the streets with gold are laid;
Where the tree of life is blooming
And the roses never fade.

Here they bloom but for a season
Soon their beauty is decayed.
I am going to a city,
Where the roses never fade.

In this world we have our troubles,
Satan snares we must evade.
We'll be free from all temptations;
Where the roses never fade.

Loved ones gone to be with Jesus,
In their robes of white arrayed;
Now are waiting for my coming,
Where the roses never fade.

Here they bloom but for a season
Soon their beauty is decayed.
I am going to a city,
Where the roses never fade.

I hope you enjoyed that old song and the beautiful flowers blooming here for a season.  I know that I am truly looking forward to the day that I will be going to that city, "where the roses never fade".  

Which reminds me, I wanted to thank you all for your kind words on my last post here...  Yesterday (February 25th) was a difficult day for me in some ways, but writing about our son and sharing him with you and you responding with love and kindness really helped.  Thank you for being such special friends.  

One thing I did yesterday was take a little walk down my little path through the woods to Still Waters Pond so I could go check on the Sand Hill Crane nest.  As I walked down that little path, I couldn't help but notice the carpet of little yellow flowers strewn all along the pathway...

 It was almost like they were spreading out their golden beauty just for me to enjoy...

This sweet and simple little gift did not go unnoticed by me. I whispered a "thank you" to Jesus...

It's the simple little things that sometimes mean the most when we are paying attention to the ways God wants to bless us...

The trees above me were loaded with these lovely little Carolina Jessamine flowers, spreading a canopy of joy and beauty to shelter me as I walked through the woods...so wonderful...

Finally I made my way around the pond and just had to take a moment to breathe in the beauty of this spot as well...

That's what I call Goose Island, but there was no sign of the geese today...

But when I made it around to where I could see...there she was...Mrs. Crane, sitting there so pretty on her nest...enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sunshine...

Hello!  I think she noticed that I was there...but she still wouldn't stand up to show me how many eggs she was sitting upon...

Ahhh! But who's that?  Standing not too far away from her was her faithful mate of many years

He was preening himself while keeping a watchful eye on his lovely mate sitting on the nest...

I was actually a ways away, standing behind some bushes and trees along the shore of the pond where they couldn't really see me (but I think they knew I was there).

Mr. Crane stays very attentive to any possible intruders who may come calling, and he's always ready to send them away with a big swoosh of his powerful wings and a loud cry...

But all was peaceful today...and I guess I was just too early for the "changing of the guard" on the nest, so reluctantly I decided to head back home.

Apparently they were waiting for me to leave to make the big switch on the nest because it wasn't long before I saw Mrs. Crane back around by our house looking for birdseed, and so I gave her some to help her find something to eat quickly so she could get back to the nest again.  

Here's some words of wisdom for today:

Psalm 32:7-8

"7 You are my hiding place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye."

I hope you enjoyed these "treasures" for this Wednesday. 

Monday Monday on Still Waters Pond

 How shall I begin this Monday morning post?  Hmmm, let me go back over the  past few days in photos and see what we shall see, okay?

This was sunrise, Saturday morning, February 22, 2025.   (George Washington's Birthday!)

What a glorious way to start the day!

And this was the amazing sunset on that same evening on Still Waters Pond:

The verse for the day from devotional readings was this:

Psalm 31:14 NKJV

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

Our choir sang this song in church Sunday morning...which seems appropriate for these photos:

Above all powers, above all kings

Above all nature and all created things

Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones

Above all wonders the world has ever known

Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure what you're worth

Crucified, laid behind a stone

You lived to die, rejected and alone

Like a rose trampled on the ground

You took the fall and thought of me

Above all

Amen.

In the afternoon, between sunrise and sunset, I enjoyed some "porch time" for a little while...

And then I decided to move down to the Secret Memorial Garden and sit on the garden bench while I listened to the birds singing in the trees...

After a little while here came Mrs. Sand Hill Crane while out on her little respite from nest sitting.

Daddy Crane goes and gives her a break several times a day so she can get some exercise and food.

This would be a good time to go check on the nest, but I try to wait until "the changing of the guard", when one replaces the other on the nest, so I can see them stand up and reveal how many eggs there are...

But they weren't being cooperative in making the switch at a time when I was able to get back around to where I could watch.  So I stayed in the garden for a while and enjoyed the beautiful day...

Azaleas are blooming!!!

Eventually I walked around to the other side of the pond where I could see what was going on, and I noticed Mr. (or Mrs.) Goose standing up on Goose Island!  I wonder if they are building a nest yet?  I couldn't see any evidence of it, but they may yet surprise me. (I hope).

There was Mr. or Mrs. Crane, sitting peacefully on the nest...

And Mr. (or Mrs.) Goose decided to take a swim since they had been discovered up on the island...

Oh, there's also the Ring Necked Duck (black and white diving duck) in front of the goose, and that blue tarp thing over there on the other little island is a mystery item that has been here since way before we came here.  There used to be a dock there that spanned from one little island to the Goose Island, and something is under there and under that tarp, I'm sure, but I'm not brave enough to paddle over there and pull it off. I'm afraid it might be a good place for snakes to hide, so I will just leave it alone.  Maybe someday someone braver than I am will go pull it off and see what's hidden there.

There only seems to be one of the two ducks left here. I'm not sure where the other one went, but I haven't seen it lately.  Seems like last year they left the pond in stages, so maybe they fly back home with different flocks. It's about time for them to leave to back north for the summer.

Anyway, Mr. Goose and Mr. Ring Necked Duck swam away...

And since the Crane wasn't cooperating with standing up and showing off her eggs, I headed back around the pond to home.  The Carolina Jessamine is really blooming beautifully right now along the fence row between our house and the new house next door. Just think, if you lived over there in that house, we could meet at the fence and chat and enjoy the beautiful flowers at the same time!

They are a vine that grows up into the trees, which can be a bit of a problem, but it's a beautiful problem and I prefer to let them grow and enjoy them for this time period each spring.

Oh, when I came back, there was Mr. or Mrs. Crane again, waiting for me to throw him some bird seed!

I did, and after he (she?) ate it he headed back around the island to the nesting area on the other side.

During nesting time they never venture very far away from each other while foraging for food.

He (She) decided to venture out into the water a little ways to either take a bath or look for bigger fish. LOL. Although Sand Hill Cranes are more into smaller creatures and grubs and such than they are  fish.

By the way...it got quite warm here yesterday afternoon.  (Some of these pictures were from Saturday, and some from Sunday, but you don't mind, do you?)

Meanwhile, these Mourning Doves were enjoying an afternoon nap in the Pine Tree along the shore.

Uh, while Mr. Crane was out foraging for food, suddenly he discovered that Mr. Great Blue Heron was a little too close to where Mrs. Crane was sitting on the nest, and although I didn't get to catch the scene on film, there was quite a loud squawk as Mr. Crane chased Mr. Heron out of the water and up into this pine tree on the island!

And there Mr. Heron had to stay for a while, out of the way of the Crane Family.

He watched them from a distance for a while, but he knew better than to venture back too close to the nest, or he would have you know what to pay from Mr. Crane!

So he just decided to stand there and preen himself for awhile, and eventually he flew off to calmer waters to fish for his supper.

Things are a bit quieter this Monday morning as I am sitting here writing.  It's been raining since early dawn, and looks like it will be raining all day!  I still have to go across the street to feed the neighbor's cats in a little while, so I am hoping for a break in the rain when I go. Otherwise, it will be a good day for my rain parka and an umbrella!

Even in the rain, there is so much beauty here to enjoy. I'm not complaining. We need the rain to make the flowers and trees and grass grow, and also to maintain the waters of Still Waters Pond so we can enjoy all that God provides for us here.

Like these "diamonds" in the trees...

Let's close this morning's visit with these words of wisdom:

Good words to ponder..."Wait for me", declares the Lord...

Amen.