This Is My Father's World-Oh Let Me ne're forget"

Thank you all for your prayers this week as we've been a bit under the weather, literally. It's been cold, and we've both been sick with a bad cold or virus or whatever you want to call it...it's been enough to keep us in the house and literally "under cover" all week.  I think we are getting better day by day and we are very very thankful for that.

It's been a bit too cold (yes, here in Florida!) this week for us to go outside anyway, even if we felt up to it.  We are thankful  that we can enjoy God's beautiful "world" and creation right here from our back porch anytime.  I took most of these pictures last week before we got sick, but  they are still representative of what we see here most every day right now.  The geese on Still Waters Pond, enjoying life!

Oh, you might enjoy listening to this song by this wonderful group of young musicians from "Fountainview Academy". I don't really know anything about them particularly, only that they make some wonderful music videos and I always enjoy seeing these very talented young people singing songs to the glory of God.  They definitely restore my faith in the young generation.

"This is My Father's World", sung by Fountainview Academy

This is My Father's World, by Maltbie D. Babcock

 This is my Father's world,

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world:

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas--

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world:

The birds their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white,

Declare their Maker's praise.

This is my Father's world:

He shines in all that's fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,

He speaks to me everywhere.

3 This is my Father's world:

O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the Ruler yet

This is my Father's world:

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let earth be glad!

I hope you enjoyed that song and the geese! 

These are just some of the things that I find delight in seeing.

On one of our recent walks in the woods I was amazed to discover some very unique and interesting fungi growing on the decaying forest floor. It is a always a wonder to me how there can be so much beauty even in decay!

I've never seen any fungi quite like these before. Kind of like star shapes.

And there were these growing on this tree trunk:

Again, everything has a purpose under Gods' heavens...

"To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:"  

Ecclesiastes 3:1

These fungi look like either beautiful sea shells or some kind of exotic fans

I never tire of seeing the beauty in God's creation. 

So this week we've been resting, recuperating, and thanking the Lord we are not as sick as we could have been.  Hubby did finally go to the Dr. and got some meds because his cough was getting worse and not really very productive.  Thankfully he slept much better last night and therefore so did I.  LOL.

Our kids have been very kind to pick up things for us at the store...and our sweet DIL Rose even dropped off a nice rotisserie chicken yesterday as an extra bonus. That was SO thoughtful! We are truly blessed.

Well, I need to bring this to a close. Hubby just asked if I'd like to go for a ride. That sounds like progress!  It's a beautiful day, and a ride might just be what the doctor ordered!

I hope this finds you all enjoying God's beautiful creation all around you, wherever you are...

Peace and Blessings

 

Tuesday 4: October Thoughts

October Thoughts

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's 

Tuesday 4.


This week, let's talk about October. Toni sure enjoyed facts about the months and questions on that topic too.


1. What are your feelings about the month of October? Does it bring anything special to mind for you? Do you have memories to share?  

October has many memories attached...I don't even know where to begin.

  
My happiest memories growing up were the family traditions we shared in our family.  On Halloween I can remember from my earliest childhood going from house to house with my parents.  My mother and father both dressed up in costumes, and we kids were costumed as well.  My mother's favorite costume was that of a country girl with apple red cheeks, blacked out front teeth and wearing a yellow checked gingham dress, and playing a rather squeaky tune on her violin.  My dad was dressed up as a farmer (which he was) or a hobo, and we carried a bag full of dried corn kernels from our farm, from which we would throw hands full at the door, yelling "trick or treat" until the inhabitants would come to the door and act so surprised to see us. They would pretend they were scared or they would ooh and ah at our costumes, and then try to guess who we were.  We would hold up our sacks and they would cheerfully fill them with all kinds of candy (and even apples back then), and sometimes even invite us in for hot chocolate or apple cider.  Then we'd be on our way to the next house. 

I've shared these pictures before, but they bring back such happy memories of the fun we used to have with our kids and others for Halloween or at Fall Festivals at our church.

These were our sweet little boys bobbing for apples for the first time. Benton and Scotty on the left, and Matthew and Scotty (with me assisting) on the right. I think Matthew had a loose tooth, so that could be why he needed some help!

And then of course, what's good for the kids is good for the parents!  Yes, that is yours truly on the left, and my hubby on the right.  I was dressed up as a hobo for our "Hobo Party", but here I look like a drowned hobo!

Of course for many years after we moved back home to Florida from living in New England, we traveled back to Maine each October to visit our son Matthew and his wife Nicole and our grandson Noah, because Noah's birthday is in October.  We always enjoyed being able to see all the fall foliage in the beautiful Maine and New Hampshire area as well as have a wonderful time with our family.  Sadly since our son passed away in 2014 we haven't been back up in October since, but our grandson has been down here a few times to celebrate his birthday with us here in Florida. We've tried to make plans to go back up there the last couple of years, but of course the ugly covid monster kept us from fulfilling those plans. Hopefully things will be better next year!

Here we are with Noah on one of those trips many years ago. (He's 22 years old now, so yes, this was probably at least 10 years ago)

One the best things we always did together when we went to visit was to go to the Fryeburg Fair, which always falls on the same week at Noah's birthday.  

Here we are together arriving at the fair, and our other son Scott also lived up there at the time, so he joined us.

Noah and "Uncle Scott" always had fun riding all the rides at the fair.

And this was the last time we were up there all together for Noah's birthday, October 2013. Same location as the previous picture.  Matthew passed away from cancer the following May, 2014, after a four year battle.

So yes, October has a LOT of memories for our family.

2.Have you ever gone apple picking? Pumpkin picking? Any kind of picking including banjo picking at all? Do you bake pies with those fruits?

I baked this apple crisp last night. It was SO good!!  We had the "kids" over for  a fried chicken supper (fresh and hot from the grocery store deli)...and had this for dessert.  

It's been many years since I've literally been apple picking. We don't have Apple Orchards in Florida, sadly.  So my apple picking is at the grocery store.  And our pumpkin picking is also at the grocery store, however sometimes we find a pumpkin patch at a local church or community and it's always fun to go pick a pumpkin there.

My current pumpkin "patch". LOL. 

3. What is autumn like where you live? How about when you were a child?

Autumn where we live now is not quite as exciting as Autumn up north.  But we still enjoy the beautiful fall like weather all winter long while up north people are freezing and shoveling snow and scraping ice. So Florida does have its advantages!

I have this one picture of me with my maternal grandmother, taking a walk on an Autumn day, many moons ago.  I don't remember this walk, but I am so glad I have this picture to remind me that we did have some special times together.  Click Here for more about my Grandma Tedlie.

Of course, I do remember raking leaves and jumping in them as a child.  And when we moved to Ohio with our own little family, I made sure that was one experience our three sons had that first autumn:

4.Autumn is not the same as Fall. Fall is the time when the leaves are actively falling. What activities of Autumn/Fall do you enjoy? Do you decorate your door or home for the season?

Our current front door decoration

Yes, I love to decorate for autumn.  Lily Grace already shared our current decorations with you HERE

I will change it out as we get closer to Thanksgiving with some Pilgrims and turkeys and other more thanksgiving-ish decorations.

It's time to bring out the owl hand towels for the bathroom...

And take a "Hot Apple Pie" bubble bath, if you dare! LOL

Most of all, I believe that autumn is a season when we should celebrate the change of the seasons with fun family and friend activities...bonfires, weenie roasts and toasted marshmallows, (s'mores!!) apple pie and pumpkin pie, soups, stews, and just good old country cooking and outings.  Even if you live in the city, there's a change in the air and attitude in the fall.  People seem to come out of their homes and take more walks in the fresh air, take rides into the country for the country fairs and festivals.  It's just a happy harvest season and I have to say I love autumn most of all the seasons!

Other posts you might enjoy about traditions and memories in the month of October (or autumn):

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/10/in-defense-of-land-of-make-believe.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2020/10/tuesday-four-autumn-days.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2020/09/tuesday-4-september.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-harvest-time.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-can-sense-change-in-air.html

Friday Foto Friends #46 and My Pics of the Week

Happy Friday...and Happy Fall y'all!!!  Fall is my most favorite time of the year! Even though here in Florida we don't have the pretty leaves like most northern states have...we do have fall-like weather from October through at least March...so how could anyone complain about that?  It sure beats the heat of summer and frozen months of winter!

So, this past week we have been on a little "stay-cation" with a friend visiting us from up north (Ohio).  The days were actually a bit too warm and muggy for very much outdoor activity, but we managed to fit in a little bit of fun here and there, which also led to some great opportunities for my "pics of the week".

 One evening we went out to eat at a seafood restaurant along the banks of the St. John's River. From our vantage point on the deck of the restaurant, my hubby kept saying he could see what appeared to be an eagle across the river in the trees.  This was with his naked eye...no glasses.  So I started zooming in on the trees with my camera, and sure enough! There was an eagle perched up in the tree, watching the water below for his fish supper!  Good eye, hubby!

 After supper I walked down on the dock and watched some shrimp fishermen casting their nets.  I wanted to call out to them like Jesus did to His fishermen disciples so many years ago:

"Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No."  And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some."  So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.  John 21:5-6

But they were busily casting their nets and I didn't want to disturb them. They were kind enough to allow me to take their pictures.

As the sun was setting

behind us in the west it was thrilling to see the reflections of these boats on the water. Such a peaceful, glorious evening.

The next day we determined to take a little "cruise" on the river at the Fort Gates Ferry

And so we followed the directions above, and waited, and waited, and waited. I did a few jumping jacks on the "wooden ramp", hoping to attract some attention... (no picture of that, thank goodness!)

And finally after we about ran out our car battery on the headlights and I about ran out my energy jumping around like a Mexican Jumping bean, we saw the ferry barge slowly making its way across the river.

 When the ferry hooked up to the ramp, my hubby very carefully drove the car onto the ferry, and off we went...right onto the river...

 This is the little tugboat that actually did all the work pulling us across the river!

 It was a lovely ride across the river...

Here we are playing "tourist" with our sunhats and sunglasses...

Hubby was even enjoying himself once he got the car on the ferry safely...

And after about 20 minutes of riding on the water we finally made it across to the other side.

 Next we drove to a local restaurant for lunch, and saw this classic 1956 Cadillac parked in the parking lot! Now that was sweet!!

 After lunch we headed back to the ferry, and were greeted by this white heron...

 And this Anhinga drying her wings in the sunshine,

 And also this alligator waiting in the water for someone to throw him some fish... (not me!!!)

 Soon we made it back across the river to our home side...

And off we go again safely back home! Whew!

I hope you enjoyed this little "stay-cation" with me! It's always fun to do something a little different and spontaneous now that we are retired! It helps when company comes on vacation and that gives us an excuse to "play tourist" and see and do some things we probably wouldn't do on our own! So thankful for the good weather, good health, and God's amazing creation here for us to enjoy!

Here are some thoughts from Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 that seem appropriate for us retired folks:

Verse 1:

"To every thing there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven..."

Verses 9-13

"What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.

He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time.

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,

And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor--

It is the GIFT of God!!

I take it from this that our retirement time is a "gift of God", and we are meant to enjoy it! Therefore, I hope and pray that we will be able to do just that all the remaining days of our lives, and give thanks to the One Who made it possible! Praise God!

I am linking up with Deb and friends over at "Friday Foto Friends"  Click on the link to see what fun

 and interesting photos others are sharing today!