Time "Marches" On!

 Welcome to the month of March! Not sure where February went...I guess it blew out with the wind! It has been rather windy here lately, but also very dry. We need rain really badly. I know some of you have had plenty of rain and snow to spare.  I pray you are all safe and warm and dry by now, wherever you are. 

As per my usual habit at the first of the month, here's a few pictures of my calendars. They always bring a smile to my face when I turn the page to the new month!  I hope the new month will also put a smile on my face (and yours) as we live day by day.

What a lovely place to be!! This Thomas Kinkade painting is entitled "A New Day Dawning".

How many of you still hang out your clothes on the line?  I wish I could. I don't have a clothesline currently, but I do love the fresh clean scent of clean laundry dried outdoors.

Here's a few links to previous posts I've written regarding clotheslines:

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2016/04/some-things-are-simply-irresistible.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2012/01/whats-my-line.html

Painting by John Sloane on the March 2023 Country Seasons Calendar, "Catching the Breeze"

I love the creative ideas on this "Heart of the Home" Calendar by Susan Branch. Do you see any of these that you already do or would like to do? 

And then this is from my Tea Pot Calendar:

This teapot would make me clasp my hands, but I'm not so sure about the "delight" part...LOL. It's unique, that's for certain!

Ah, now, this is more my style:

Such a beautiful setting under a rose covered arbor.  

This is what I had in mind when we built the arbor in our Memorial Garden back at our previous house....this picture you may have already seen in my last post, which was just taken the other day.

This is how it looks now, with no one living there and maintaining it:

I do like that the new owners after us painted it white. I wish we had done that!

Click HERE for a post from that garden BEFORE we moved away from it.

This (below) is how it used to look when every thing was in bloom:

You can tell that the azaleas have really grown since we left there. I planted them a couple of years before we moved away almost 4 years ago.

This is our "new Memorial Garden", here at our current home:

These azaleas were planted within the last couple of years, so they are still developing, but doing well.

This is the view from the Garden Bench as the sun was beginning to set in the west across Still Waters Pond:

We chose this spot for our new "Memorial Garden" because we knew our son would have loved the pond so much. It's a perfect spot to sit and meditate on God's Word and be at peace.

The late afternoon sun is glowing in the trees...

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird seem to be spending a lot of time going in and out of the nest now. I believe we may have some new babies that they are feeding already!

Mr. Bluebird stands guard while Mama is inside feeding the babies.

Isn't he beautiful?

I love the faithfulness of the bird couples we see around us. God has certainly created them to be good parents!

Meanwhile Mrs. Sand Hill Crane continues to sit on her nest faithfully day after day. Mr. Crane comes and goes. When he shows up she takes a little break and walks around and stretches her legs and gets a bite to eat. They are also very faithful to their duties as parents. I expect we may see some action around the middle of the month. I hope there will be two babies this year. I am pretty sure there are two eggs in the nest. Time will tell.

Back to the bird feeder in the garden; "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me!"...

It was quite breezy this afternoon, and this wind spinner was very busy spinning around and round. This was a gift to us from my sister as a memorial gift when our son passed away.  You may have already read about this in a previous post HERE.   Her idea for giving us this particular gift was based on THIS STORY.  It was a very meaningful gift to us. I love to watch it spin. It's very calming.

Oh, the little Ring Necked Ducks were out there still, bobbing up and down and swimming around and round. I don't know when they will head back up north, but we are enjoying watching them as long as we can!

Soon the sun began to slip down behind the trees and it was time to leave the garden.

And thus ends another gorgeous day, filled with God's love and promise.

Here is a passage of Scripture that is comforting and full of hope, so appropriate for today, the first day of a new month:

2 Corinthians 4:14-18 says:

"14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, 

and will present us with you. 

15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Even though our outward man is perishing, 

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, 

but the things which are not seen are eternal."

I hope you have enjoyed this peaceful time in the garden with me today.  

May March be a month of joy and beauty for you, wherever you may be.

God bless you all!

Oh, I wanted to thank you all for your very kind comments on my last post HERE.  I found your words to be very comforting and I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you for taking the time to visit and share your kindness and love. You are a blessing to me!

Spontaneous Joy

"I am the Lord, and there is NO OTHER;

There is NO GOD besides ME.

I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

That they may know from the 

RISING OF THE SUN

 TO ITS SETTING

That there is NONE besides Me.

I AM the Lord, and there is NO OTHER;

I form the LIGHT

AND CREATE DARKNESS

I make peace and create calamity;

I, the Lord, do all these things.

Rain down, you heavens, from above,

and let the skies pour down

righteousness;

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,

and let righteousness spring up together.

I, the Lord, have created it."

Isaiah 45:5-8

What is so amazing about these verses is that this was the scripture passage pre-selected for our morning devotions today, which we did not read until after my hubby and I came home from a spontaneous trip to our nearby lake/public boat ramp to watch the sunrise.  These sunrise pictures were taken on two separate mornings this weekend, hopefully the first of many with my sweet husband of 45+ years. I cannot begin to express to you first of all, the joy of viewing God's glorious splendor so early in the morning with my hubby...but also the fact that we did it not once, but twice in the same weekend! 

If you find your relationship with your spouse is lacking 

spontaneity, or you are finding it difficult to make time to communicate with one another, 

why not make an effort to wake up a little earlier next weekend (or weekday if you don't have to go to work), grab your travel mugs of coffee or tea, a camera, and a sweatshirt

and take a ride or walk to wherever you can best view

the sunrise together

and just enjoy!

Take a moment to recognize the

majesty and splendor of God's handiwork...

worship and praise Him together...

and then spend a little extra time

sharing the spontaneous joy of the moment with your mate.

This is the best date we've had in a LONG time.

I highly recommend it.