Happy September 1st from Still Waters Pond

September 1st seems to be almost a kind of holiday!  I've noticed so many people posting happy fall pictures and sharing their beautiful Autumn Decor, and generally celebrating the "unofficial beginning of fall."  We know that the "Autumnal Equinox" does not officially take place until September 22nd, but don't try to tell that to all of us who are ready and anxious for fall to be here.  Now, actually, this is Labor Day Weekend, the last weekend of summer according to most people, including school districts across the country.  Here where we live school actually started a few weeks ago, which I think is a bit too soon, but then again, I don't have kids in school so I guess it shouldn't matter to me.   

But anyway...here on Still Waters Pond we have received our first official Autumn Visitors! This Black Bellied Whistling Duck couple showed up and stayed around awhile so I could take their pictures. 

I was thrilled to see them here on our side of the pond, up close and personal, so of course I took tons of pictures.

Psalm 28:7 NKJV

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

And with my song I will praise Him.

They were here for a while in the spring, but then I never saw them again until now. I hope they will stay around for a while. I still have not heard them "whistle", so I am anxious to hear that at some point before they decide to leave the area again.

I hope you don't mind all of these pictures. I just didn't want to miss anything that they might do.

They really didn't do much but just stand there, but that was okay too.  I think they knew I was enjoying watching them, and so they obliged me.

Oh, wouldn't it be fun if they just decided to stay all winter?  That would make my heart happy.  I'll be sure to keep watching, and I will let you know if they stay longer...

Meanwhile, while I was watching the ducks, this beautiful Gulf Fritillary flew in and enjoyed the butterfly garden for a few minutes.

That is one of the new plants I bought last week to plant actually out in front of the house to give it some color.  But these plants are all "butterfly" plants, and so I have decided to move them around to the back to the butterfly garden, where I can see them better from inside the house and hopefully they will attract some more butterflies. September is usually a big month for butterflies.

They haven't been actually planted yet as someone needs to dig some holes in the ground before I can plant them.  I don't think that will be me.  Maybe hubby will do it, but we'd both prefer someone younger.  We'll see if "anyone" shows up to help us. Otherwise we will have to bite the bullet and start digging before these plants die in their pots!

Galatians 6:9 NKJV

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

As I sit here at my computer, looking out the window of my "Room With A View", I can see a couple of maple trees across the pond that already look kind of red on the tops.  The sun is very bright right now at almost 3:30 p.m., but here's few pictures to show you what I am seeing, and it looks like fall is trying to appear already if you ask me!

Can you see them? Way over there on the other side of the pond... (aren't those clouds amazing against that brilliant blue sky?  I love the autumn skies, don't you?)

Here, let me zoom in a little closer so you can see what I am looking at:

Now can you see those little bits of fall over there?  At least it makes me think it's cooler out there, even if my thermometer  says it's still 91 degrees!  A thunderstorm is likely in the next hour, so we shall see what develops. Sometimes they say that, but it skirts around us and never appears. We could certainly use the rain.

Some thoughts to ponder as we begin a new month and a new season of changes...

Isaiah 30:20-21 NKJV

"20 And though the Lord gives you

The bread of adversity and the water of affliction,

Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,

But your eyes shall see your teachers.

21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

“This is the way, walk in it,”

Whenever you turn to the right hand

Or whenever you turn to the left."

Praying that God will guide each of us as we begin this new month and season. May we hear that gentle voice instructing us in the way we should go; whenever we come to a crossroads or a detour or even a brick wall, may we pause and listen for that still small voice of God before we venture any further. Our lives will run so much smoother when we take the time to listen for God's voice before forging ahead. May that be our goal for this new season coming upon us.

Amen.

 

Friday Foto Friends! Where Do I Begin?

Happy October!!  Here it is the 6th of October already, and I am running way behind in most everything!  As you know, we were out of town all this past week, so that alone is enough to make my head swim!

I am thankful for these truths above...it's comforting to know that God's Word will stand forever...He never changes, and He is always always there for us! No matter WHAT!!

So with that in mind, I give Him praise for being with us yesterday during hubby's medical "procedure". It was a VERY long day, but the good news is that the Doctor gave a very good report at the end and we feel confident everything will be fine. Hubby just needs to rest and heal now...and I need to try to rest sometime too, in between everything else...I know now why I never became a nurse...LOL. That's all I'll say about that!   Thank you to all of you who offered words of encouragement and prayer on our behalf. They are MUCH appreciated.  

I promised to share more about our trip with you in bits and pieces.  One thing we did while in the North Georgia mountains was go to an Apple Orchard.

I was expecting a small family run orchard with bushel baskets of apples and maybe some apple cider and fall decorations.  But Mercier Orchards (click link for website) was HUGE!  It definitely had all what I expected, but on steroids! LOL. 

It was a beautiful place and we enjoyed being there...but it was definitely an eye-opening experience!

Here's just one of the pictures I took inside the huge building, which was full of not only apples of every imaginable variety, but all manner of gifts, jellies, jams, apple butters, cider, fall decor, you name it!

Here they are sorting the apples. We were able to watch through glass windows into this very large area. It was amazing to see this whole place in action!

After sampling several slices of different varieties of apples currently available, I decided on buying a bag of "Johnagold" apples, which is a combination of a Johnathan and Golden delicious apple. You can see one of the apples below. They were huge!  I made a bowl of "Waldorf Salad" today, with apples, grapes, celery and walnuts and mayonnaise. It was yummy!  We also bought a gallon of fresh apple cider, which we drank before we came home, and we bought some fresh apple cider donuts, which we also ate before we came home! LOL. They were GOOD!

In my last post HERE, I shared some pictures of the many inspirational signs that were in the cabin where we stayed in Georgia, but I didn't share any pictures of the cabin itself! So here are a few that will give you an idea of how nice it was:

This is the back side...

And the view below looking from up on the back porch down onto the firepit.  The only thing missing here at this cabin was a really good mountain view.  However, there were many views all around the area, so we definitely got a lot of good views of the mountains.  The leaves had not really changed much yet, but I hear this week is supposed to be beautiful. We just got there too soon!

Oh,  and also it was too warm last week to use the fireplace or the firepit, so we didn't get to make s'mores!  I was disappointed in that, but it's okay.  My son and DIL have a nice firepit at their house and they've promised me we will do s'mores here just as soon as it gets cold enough for a fire!

Someone asked me for more information about renting this cabin, so HERE is a link to the website, and there are many more pictures of the interior of the cabin.

Here's another sign I didn't share yet:

And this one was in our bedroom:

I loved this bear paddling his canoe:

We did enjoy the downstairs gameroom:

Rose loved playing Pacman and other arcade games:

She was good at it:

The guys enjoyed watching her:

Rose and I enjoyed a cup of tea on the back porch...

And Benton and the doggies joined us...

I loved this huge king size log bed in Benton and Rose's upstairs bedroom:

Oh, and some very dear "old friends" of ours came to visit one evening and we all went out to supper. We've known Ken and Cindy for over 43 years...we served in the ministry in churches near each other back then, and we became very good friends and even now that we are all retired, we continue to stay in touch. They live in a town in Georgia about an hour away from where we stayed. We feel so blessed to have such dear "old friends" after so many years. 

One of the other little "daytrips" we took while in GA was actually to a little mountain town just north of there in NC, "Hayesville, NC".  It was such a sweet little town nestled in the mountains where it seemed like time has stood still.  We walked around the town square and visited some of the little shops. Here's a few pictures...

This was a monument celebrating the town's quilting heritage:

And there were these "Barn Quilts" scattered all over town on different buildings. These are just a couple of examples:

This mural of a Cherokee Native American greets you as you come into town. This part of NC is rich in Cherokee history.  

This sign was outside of a little gift shop named "The Lazy Llama"...LOL.

Mountain view down the street...

One of the stores we visited was really special and unique. It was an old original  clothing store and a drug store building attached, complete with original wood floors that squeak...

A sweet kitty cat...

And an old soda fountain much like I remember in my hometown growing up. I loved this!!!

This was hanging in the clothing store..."Just a reminder of the good old days"...a lady's corset:

There were some old hats from the 50's, along with photographs all around the store of the way things used to be:

Who remembers "Ship n Shore" blouses?  I sure do...

This was the outside of those stores.  I could have stayed in there all day. It reminded me so much of stores where I grew up.

After leaving this little town (reluctantly for me...I wanted to move there! LOL), we went back to Blairsville, where we were staying, and found a place to have lunch:

"The Hole in the Wall" cafe'

It was such a nice sunny day we decided to eat outside and enjoyed the unusual and fun outside decor...

The pig wasn't very friendly...LOL. (but at least he didn't bite or squeal! LOL)

There were sunflowers everywhere:

Both real and fake: LOL

And some bright sunny faces...

all around the table...

Lunch was good...and the nap afterwards was even better when we got back to the cabin after a busy morning.

I think it's time to close this post and save the best for the next one...the day of our family reunion. There was a lot going on there  and so many pictures that it may take more than one post...so I will give you a rest for now as it is time for me to stop for the night and give myself a rest too!

Here's a Psalm to think about as we reflect on this past week of so many blessings and answered prayers:

Psalm 121

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore."

Amen.