What a Difference a Day Makes

This is how our morning started out! That is the moon on its final descent over Still Waters Pond early this morning when we first woke up. 

And this is the sun on its final descent this evening over Still Waters Pond

I don't often see the actual ball of sun going down between the trees like this. Normally I see the sunset after it has already slipped down behind the trees, lighting up the skies with its glorious colors.

But tonight was a little different...I watched the sun slip down, down, down, and then I thought the show was over so I went back inside. It was a little bit of gray/blue clouds, nothing else spectacular to see.

And then about five minutes later I looked out the window and this is what I saw:

So I ran back outside to watch until the darkness began to overtake the light. 

And then it was time to go back inside before the mosquitoes found me!

John 1:1-5

1.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2.  He was in the beginning with God.

3.  All things were made through Him, 

and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5.  And the light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness did not comprehend it."

So, what a difference a day makes, huh? Today I am sure we were all surprised to wake up to the startling news that our President and First Lady have been diagnosed with the corona virus. And this evening you may have watched with me as they took the President by helicopter to Walter Reed hospital for observation and treatment. Thankfully, he was able to walk on board and give us a thumbs up as he entered the helicopter.  We are very thankful that as of now his symptoms are minimal, as are the First Lady's. Our thoughts and prayers are with them both as they recover from this illness.  No matter what side of the political aisle we may be on, I would hope and pray that our nation will put politics aside for once and truly pray for the well being and healing of our Commander in Chief and his wife. 

 

I Timothy 2:1-3 says:

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, 

and giving of thanks be made for all men,

2.  for kings and all who are in authority, 

that we may lead a  quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

3.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

4.  who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth..."

May God bless and heal our President and First Lady and help them to be strong and resilient. Amen.

 

Life On Still Waters Pond

Psalm 24:1-2

1.  "The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

2.  For He has founded it upon the seas,

 and established it upon the waters."

Psalm 23

1.  "The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want.

2.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures

 He leads me beside the still waters.

3.  He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness 
For His name's sake.

4.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever!"

Amen.

Good Tuesday morning, friends!  I hope you enjoyed this little tour around "Still Waters Pond" with the thoughts from Psalms 23 and Psalm 24 to accompany us.  I did a little walkabout the pond the other morning, hoping again to find a spot dry enough to cross over to the little island. If you were with me HERE, when I tried this once before, you will know that this has been a desire that I've had ever since we moved here.  But alas! Even though the pond is getting drier and drier due to lack of any consistent good rain, it is still too mucky for me to attempt that trek again.   I guess I'll just have to wait until either it gets drier (but I hope it doesn't!!), or it gets full enough of water to float a little kayak or canoe over. (Now that will be a video worth watching IF it ever happens! LOL).  

Because the pond is getting so dry, we are discovering some things that have been "left behind" or disposed of in the pond during its wetter days.  Here's a few of the pictures that I didn't include in the above montage since they just wouldn't have quite fit the narration:

I know some people do like to use old tires as a planter for flowers...well, "Mother Nature" created her own display in this "lovely" flower pot...

The bottom of the pond is getting so dry in some places that there are little tiny yellow flowers popping up all over in the midst of the mud.  They are actually kind of pretty, but it's interesting they they are blooming in the mucky "desert"....

This (below) is a picture from the past, of the interior of our house before we moved in and before we painted the walls.  If you will note that hole on the far wall over there to the right, it has some wires sticking out of it.  We figured out that it was where the security system used to be, but it had been removed. We have since patched up that hole and painted over it.  Didn't think anything more about it,

Until I discovered this stuck in the mud of the drying pond... Yep, that's it...the security system from inside our house.  Not sure if it was ripped out by an angry would be robber, or by the former owner who was not happy that his house was going back to the bank and probably couldn't pay for the security system anymore...either way...needless to say it was no longer providing security for this house...

 But I am not afraid:

Psalm 27

1.  "The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear"

The Lord is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?"

Whether it be disease, pestilence, drought, or famine, or enemies of our freedom, we do not need to fear when we have The Lord as "the strength of (our) life".   

2.  When the wicked came against me  

to eat up my flesh,

my enemies and foes,

they stumbled and fell.

3.  Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident...

4.  One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in His temple.

5.  For in the time of trouble 

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

in the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

6. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me..."

So whether or not you have a working "security system", when you belong to Christ Jesus, you are secure enough from the enemies of this life.  So have no fear, and let the Lord fight these battles for us.

Have a blessed and beautiful day my friends.

Wednesday (Actually Tuesday) Wanderings and Unusual Sightings

 My "Wednesday Wanderings" were for the most part seen on Tuesday, so  this seems like a good day to share these interesting and somewhat unusual sightings...most of you won't see them until Wednesday most likely...

This White Egret flew in and landed right in front of this Canadian Goose. At first the goose honked and acted like he was upset for such a close landing,

But then the Egret  got right in his face and he just turned his head and didn't seem to care... 

 The female goose looked up and made sure the egret was not bothering her mate...

And then the two geese just tucked their heads into their feathers and continued their naps...Never saw that happen before...

Talking about something I've never seen before:

From a distance it took me a minute to figure out that it was one cat, walking along the shore, with a very distinct reflection in the pond...If I'd been that cat and looked in the pond and saw that cat looking back at me, it would have scared at least one of my nine lives away...

 Now here's an unusual sight...we've been cooped up so long I've started wearing aprons and grinding our own meat on an old fashioned meat grinder on an old fashioned Hoosier Cupboard...

If I'd known my picture was going to be taken, I would have at least picked out an apron that didn't clash with my top...or vice versa...  What was I doing, you ask? Making ham salad with the remainder of our Easter Ham before it went bad. It was good. What did our old grandmothers say? "Waste not, want not."  Good advice from this old grandma.

Not so unusual, but this is the Memorial Garden Don Juan Rose blooming. It was in the bright sun and looks a little strange, but it was and is beautiful. This is the rose bush I brought with us when we moved, that came from the Memorial Garden at our last house.

Oh, do you know what this is?  These are paw-paws growing on the paw-paw bush over where we take our walks. I've never seen them turn brown before. At our other house they were always green, but these still seem to be okay. Must be a different variety...but still wild and growing in the woods. Click HERE for a picture of them from our previous home and woods.

Need a hand? Or a foot? Does your foot ever feel all prickly like you are walking on something sharp? Maybe you really have a prickly pear cactus foot, or hand, or whatever. It seems to be missing a finger or a toe, whichever...

And speaking of roses...This shadow lady is holding a bouquet of "knock  out roses", and she appears to be either wearing one in her hair or in her teeth...Isn't she lovely? I kind of like her camouflaged pants too.

Talk about unusual sightings: My eyes look a bit droopy here, but I guess because I was looking down at the camera...this is me wearing a mask...which our lovely quilting ladies from our church made! I love the little swans and roses design on this one.   Now I don't have an excuse to stay home.  Thank you, Quilting Ladies!

Okay, enough "unusual sightings" for today. I hope you enjoyed this little wandering around with me.

Now for something more sensible...this is the Psalm we read this morning in our devotions:

Psalm 93

1.  "The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;

The Lord is clothed,

He has girded Himself with strength.

Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.

2.  Your throne is established from of old;

You are from everlasting.

3.  The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

4.  The Lord on high is mightier

than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea.

5.  Your testimonies are very sure;

Holiness adorns Your house,

O Lord, forever."

Amen.

Nothing so unusual about that! I love verse 1 in particular!  I hope you will be encouraged by these words.

Okay, that's all for now folks. I hope you have a  wonderfully blessed day/night/week. 

Monday Morning Thoughts

It is Monday morning, and for those of us in the midst of this "social isolation" of the COVID 19 Pandemic, it seems a lot like "Groundhog Day", (the movie), if you remember that story. We wake up and every day seems the same...many of us have mentioned that we are having difficulty keeping track of the days. They all seem the same.  Although I must admit, since retirement that has been a fairly typical feeling...the only day that seemed different and special was Sunday, because we could go to church. And now we can't even do that, but thankfully we are able to still worship and praise God from our living rooms thanks to modern technology. Not quite the same thing as being there in person, enjoying the presence of other fellow believers and singing songs together, worshiping and praising and lifting our hearts in unison to sing the Doxology as we "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow...", and even though we know we can worship God anywhere at any time...it still isn't the same, and we miss it. 

However the enforced isolation continues, and probably will for a little while longer. I realize the importance of "social distancing", but I also realize the importance of getting to a place of realizing that in this life there are always going to be dangers and illnesses lurking in the shadows.  We are people of faith...and there comes a point in time when we need to allow our faith to conquer our fears and get back to living. Otherwise, our fears will overcome us and we will never be able to walk out of our homes without wondering what germ is going to get us this time.

Sorry, I can't live like that. I don't believe that people of faith were meant to live like that.

Yes, we are sensible, thoughtful, and caring about others even more than ourselves. 

However:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

7.  "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, 

but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

I think the longer we continue in this enforced isolation and not allowing people to get back to work and resume their normal lives we will find that more and more people will not be able to sustain a "sound mind".  Fear is taking over rational thought, and some are becoming handicapped by it so that they may never be able to hug another person, shake a hand, or stand closer than six feet to a person ever again. 

I believe in being reasonably cautious about spreading germs, especially where those with underlying medical conditions and the very elderly are concerned,  but we also need to be cautious about becoming so overly conscious of germs that we can't function in a normal way.

This is my opinion, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I may even lose a few "followers".

I certainly do understand that this is a serious disease and many have suffered and even died from it, even people that I know have lost loved ones or have suffered from this illness, and my heart goes out to them and my prayers are with them for healing and comfort and strength to keep going.  

However, I also understand that there are many serious diseases and germs out there, and they have been out there since time began, and after this particular pandemic is over, there will be others to follow in the days, months and years to come.

We can't stop living because we are afraid to die.

That's it in a nutshell.

We are already dying every day...and have been since the moment we were born.

Many of us have seen loved ones die way too soon from diseases that we wish the medical world would spend as much time and energy and money on trying to find a cure as they have this virus, because cancer and other major diseases have been killing our loved ones for centuries and they can't find a cure. There is no vaccine to prevent it, and no real treatment that completely cures it.

Oh well, I didn't wake up intending to write all of this, but apparently it is on my mind and it needs to be said. 

So there it is.

Something to think about and pray about and seek God's face about. 

I have a copy of this list of verses about fear and anxiety that I keep in my Bible.

It is there as a ready index to help me find words from God's Word to help me when I am feeling fearful or am anxious about life. It has been said that there are actually 365 verses or admonitions to "Fear Not" in the Bible, one for every day of the year....I don't know that for certain, but I do know that God does not want us to live in fear,  but to live in faith and to trust Him with every detail of our lives. And that is how I want to live my life. How about you?

Meanwhile, here's a few "this and that" things that have caught my attention while walking here and there and trying to stay alert and healthy:

This lovely golden dragonfly came to visit us yesterday, and stayed attached to our front window screen for a very long time.

 Here is a link to something I wrote about the dragonfly last year.  They are certainly fascinating creatures. Yesterday was the 9th anniversary of when my father passed away.  Not saying that I think anything about this is related to that, but it is an interesting connection none the less.

This is a picture of my daddy, just after winning a game of horseshoes with my brothers and hubby. This is the way I love to remember my dad, always full of fun and energy and joy at being with the family.  I miss him every day.

 Now this is certainly shifting gears a bit...The place where we like to take our walks is very secluded and woodsy.  This old dead tree has been "speaking to me" every time I pass by it. So I decided yesterday was a good time to take its picture.  Do you see the face? Not very pretty, but interesting none the less.  Hello tree creature!   People are saying since we can't hug each other we should hug a tree. Not sure I want to hug this one...

 I did, however, hug this huge pine tree one day, because it is enormous!

It's branches reach out in every direction much farther than our normal pine trees here in Florida:

 And I just thought it deserved a hug...it must be very old and wise to be still standing after so many storms of life...I'll bet if trees could talk, it could tell us many interesting stories.

Now back to Still Waters Pond in our own back yard...I know this isn't the best picture of the Great Blue Heron. It was taken at noon, and the sun was too bright for good lighting, but I wanted to include this picture so that you would understand the next picture after that better.

Here is that same bird taking off in flight. I wish it were more clear, but it is so rare that I get to actually capture a picture of one of them in flight, I had to include it for you:

Last but not least, this past week we heard some sad news.

The lovely Indian Maiden "Mia" who has graced the packaging of Land O' Lakes butter since 1928 has been removed from their packaging.  See the quoted information from Wikipedia below.

Wikipedia says: "Butter packaging[edit]

The recursive image long shown on the Land O'Lakes butter packaging is an example of the Droste effect.

The Land O'Lakes indigenous woman, named Mia, holding the butter box was painted in 1928 by Brown & Bigelow illustrator Arthur C. Hanson.^[23] According to Land O'Lakes, the original image of Mia was "simplified and modernized" in 1939 by Jess Betlach and has undergone many minor modifications since as the enduring logo of the co-op. Red Lake Ojibwe artist Patrick DesJarlait updated Mia's image in the 1950s.^[23][24] The original image is an example of the infinite-loop motif or Droste effect, in which the image is repeated, in theory infinitely, within itself.

In 2018, the image was changed to depict only the head of the Indian woman (doing away with the Droste effect).^[25] In April 2020, the company announced it was removing the image of the Indian woman altogether.^[26] The use of an indigenous woman as a mascot had been criticized as a racist stereotype,^[27] and the decision to change the label was praised by Native advocates such as Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe." ^[28]"

When I heard this news I was sad because I think "Mia" is lovely, and she certainly represents the beauty of Native American women since time began. I am sorry if people now think she is a "racist stereotype".  However, I am sure people will disagree with me there as well. However, I am happy that I have this wonderful mug with Mia's picture on it. I have had this for a long time, not even sure where or how I got it, but I love it.

It contains my little corn on the cob holders so that when we have corn on the cob you don't burn your fingers or get buttery hands while trying to eat the corn off the cob. 

They go along nicely with these corn on the cob dishes, that hold the butter so you can turn your corn cob around in it and get it nicely buttered:

Now I want some fresh corn on the cob, but it probably isn't really good for my dietary condition...LOL.  Anyway, my little Land O' Lakes Indian Maiden mug probably just went up in value so I will be taking very good care of it. Besides, I love it, and I will enjoy looking at Mia's pretty face and traditional Indian dress no matter what other people may think. There is a legend that my mother's mother's family descended from a lovely Native American woman many moons ago. It has never been fully authenticated, but it was a wonderful story. I will have to share it sometime. One of my uncles wrote it beautifully for us to preserve for future generations. Yes, I think I need to share it...perhaps in another post very soon.

For now, I hope that I have not stepped on too many toes or caused people to think less of me. I think most of us are quite anxious to have this social isolation over and done with. I also know that we have to do it carefully, gradually, and sensibly.  I am not advocating rushing back into life as we knew it before...but  I do hope that we will not allow fear to keep us from living our lives and showing our love for our families and friends.  I believe that a hug is a way to pass the love of Christ along to our fellow man. Many people need to feel the warmth of that embrace and know that God loves them.

I pray that we will soon be able to share that warmth and love once again.