Tuesday 4 and More...

 

Soup and a Sandwich?

You are very welcome here at Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask you 4 questions each week in hopes of encouraging blogging and learning more about other bloggers through their answers.


Once again if you have ideas for topics leave them in comments here or on my blog.


Campbells has their beautiful factory in Camden, New Jersey.

1. What is your favorite sandwich? What kind of bread, roll.. toasted or not? Butter: salted or sweet?
I am not a huge sandwich fan, but when I do have a sandwich, lately here at home I've been using dark pumpernickel bread.  However, if I had any other kind of good bread, like something homemade, or a croissant, or a nice crusty French roll or anything a little different than the usual plain old store bought Honey Wheat bread that we use for everything else, I would gladly use that. I do like toasted bread/rolls  so the bread doesn't get soggy. I also like to toast the sandwich with the meat and cheese on it in my toaster oven and make it a hot melt sandwich occasionally.  And I do prefer real butter, and I use the salted kind. If it were  homemade butter I guess it wouldn't matter if it were salted or sweet, it would be good. Oh, my favorite sandwich? Hmmm, probably ham and swiss on the pumpernickel, because that is what I have mostly. But, if there's anything else to choose from, like a BLT, tuna salad, chicken salad, ham salad, pork loin, BBQ, hamburger, roast beef...a little variety is the "spice of life".  

Oh, and don't forget Peanut Butter!  I must go back and say that is my favorite go-to sandwich when all else fails. I sometimes eat a peanut butter and bread sandwich (no jelly) just before going to bed to help keep my tummy grumbles away. Only one piece of bread with peanut butter.  But I do love it with either apple butter or sometimes with bananas, however bananas and I aren't getting along these days so I haven't been eating them as much. They have to be just barely ripe or I can't eat them.  I also eat peanut butter with apple butter on toast for breakfast quite often...and I like it on cinnamon raisin toast in particular!


2. Do you have a favorite soup? Do you make homemade soup often? What kind? What's your favorite store bought soup?

I don't make homemade soup often enough. I love it when I do. Of course my all time favorite would be home made vegetable beef soup, with tender pieces of roast beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and a variety of whatever vegetables are available.  I also make what we call "Hobo Stew", which I've talked about many times before.  Here's a link to a post with the recipe.  I also love homemade potato soup, broccoli and cheese soup, and homemade chicken noodle soup. If we still lived in New England, my favorite soup is authentic seafood chowder, made with a variety of fresh seafood, like scallops, lobster, shrimp or haddock or whatever they use that makes it so good. You can't find that down here in the south. 

My favorite store bought soup...well probably Campbell's Tomato and Campbell's original chicken noodle soup, which I keep on hand for those days when I feel a little puny. It's the best thing to help get my tummy feeling better without overdoing it.

3. What kind of cheese should be on a grilled cheese sandwich and should it be served with tomato soup or some other flavor ?

I use American cheese for a grilled cheese sandwich, and yes, it needs to go with Campbell's Tomato soup (the creamy kind made with milk).

4. Is it a Hoagie, a Sub, a Zeppelin, a Grinder, or a Hero or maybe a Dagwood? What's on it? Oil.. vinegar, onions, peppers, mayo?

If I go to Subway or some place like that, which isn't very often, it's a "Sub", and I usually get ham and swiss or provolone cheese, and yes, a little oil/vinegar mixed with onions, green peppers, NO mayo, a little oregano. Oh, and some yellow mustard.  

Thanks for dropping by!

Thank YOU, Annie, for doing this for us each week!  Now, since this is Holy Week, here's a picture that I took in our yard that I've been wanting to share:

These are the crosses that appear at the tops of the Pine Trees every year usually just prior to Easter. This makes me think about several different places in the Bible that talk about how nature praises God:

Isaiah 55:12

“For you shall go out with joy,

And be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills

Shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

There's even a song to go along with that verse:

And in another place, when Jesus was on His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday here is what He said:

Luke 19:37-40

37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 

38 saying:“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

The very rocks would cry out if we do not praise Him! That's pretty profound...and something to think about as we progress on our journey toward the cross this week.  Are we praising Jesus for what He has done for us?

Here's some of God's Creation giving thanks and praise to their Creator this week around Still Waters Pond:

And with that I will finally bring this post to a close. It's taken me most of the day because of numerous interruptions, like removing a live lizard from inside the house, and going to the store and looking for a new dress for Easter, and finding one that I got all kinds of discounts on at Beall's Outlet, so that made me smile, and doing two loads of laundry, fixing breakfast and of course lunch, and taking a nap. Now we are heading to the library to pick up some books I ordered and return some I just finished. I am currently reading anything I can find written by Lisa Wingate. She has some good ones.

Okay, tonight is dress rehearsal for our Easter Cantata, so I need to get a move on and not be late to choir practice!  TTYL...

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Happy Saturday!!  I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend wherever you are! Especially since this is the first official day of Autumn!  I was thrilled that the temperature when we woke up this morning was 62 degrees!!! Now that was lovely!!!  For us here in Florida, we get really happy when the temperatures start dipping down in the 60's!!

I've been looking for signs of fall, and I took this picture the other day as I looked across Still Waters Pond to see the darker clouds forming above the white clouds, and I thought it looked like a snowcapped mountain. The leaves on the tree in front of it are kinds of turning orange...it is a maple tree, and for us here in Florida this is what fall looks like! 

Here's another picture of that same spot as the clouds got bigger and looked more formidable. We did actually have a thunderstorm a few minutes later, and thankfully we got lots and lots of rain! We needed it!  So very thankful to have it, because it's gone back to being dry and sunny again today and will be for a while...

After the rain I noticed this lone Sand Hill Crane standing over there on the other side of the pond. When I zoomed in to take this picture I discovered there was also a male Wood Duck swimming nearby!

In the next photo the duck was gone, but the crane was curling his neck around and making an interesting pose. I am wondering why he's alone...not sure if this is one of our little family we've been watching all year or another one...time will tell.  Interesting he's standing on one leg. 

We've been seeing the bluebird couple fly in every so often. They don't go in the birdhouse because it isn't nesting time yet, but they seem to like to hang around the neighborhood for old time's sake I guess. Of course we always enjoy seeing them no matter what the season!

Yesterday was a lovely morning as well, and so we took a little ride down the road to another boat ramp park on a different part of the Ocklawaha River/lake, similar to where we were last week , but this place is called Orange Springs.  The first thing I noticed were these amazing oak  trees blowing in the breeze with the sun shining through the moss covered branches...Aren't they gorgeous?

This is a great example to me of the verses from Isaiah 55:12

12 “For you shall go out with joy,

And be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills

Shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

And here's some photos of the actual Orange Springs Boat Ramp...

Oh, there's a Great Blue Heron hiding over there in the bushes along the shore...

Hopefully we didn't disturb her hunting for dinner...

Even though these photos are not very "fallish" for the first day of Autumn, it is typical of fall in Florida, at least this early. We will see some changes as the months go by, but the main thing is the weather is getting cooler and we are thankful!

"The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isaiah 40:8

 

Thankful Tuesday!

I kind of took a few days off from blogging...just needed to rest and refocus for a while.  But today I am up bright and early and feel like chatting with my friends.  I know we are all getting weary of this enforced isolation, even though we understand the need for it and pray for those who are suffering and working on the front lines for our behalf.   Today I am very thankful for many things, and thought I wouldn't wait until "Thankful Thursday" to express my thanks. So this will be a "Thankful Tuesday".

 I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds us every day. The birds that sit and sing sweetly in the trees...

 The joy of watching our Canadian Geese come and go, and in this picture, flying back out to his perch on the pond where he keeps guard over his mate as she sits on her nest (out there somewhere but we can't see exactly where)

The signs of new life on our trees...Pine Cones!

And their new spires reaching up to the heavens to praise the God above Who made them. You may notice a few of the pine cones on the new growth make little crosses on the trees...this is a phenomenon you will see every spring just prior to Easter...

Isaiah 55:12

"For you shall go out with joy,

and be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills 

shall break forth into singing before you.

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

I am thankful also to be able to take short walks with my hubby again.  I am not quite up to speed yet, and mostly just walk around a little bit and look at things while he takes his longer walk, but I like to see what is growing new each day.

 These are "Paw Paw" flowers blooming on the wild Paw Paw bushes in the woods. 

 Not sure what kind of insects those are enjoying the nectar of the Paw-Paw flower, but they both seem quite content to "stick together" and enjoy. No, they are not practicing "social distancing", are they? LOL.


I was so happy to see the wild plum trees are loaded with little wild plums, and they are growing every week...

I was also thankful to NOT bump into this lovely little white flowered plant...We call it a "Stinging Nettle", or a "bull nettle".  They grow about ankle high and if you bump into it, you will be very sorry. It will sting like crazy. Good reason NOT to go barefoot in Florida... (among many other reasons that I won't go into)

But back to the list of thankfuls...

I am thankful that I am starting to feel much better and day by day I can see good progress. Thank You, Jesus!

I am thankful for the wonderful bag of books that I was given to read...and am continuing to read every day!! I am up to #10 already!!! (they are quick reads)! I still can't get over how God nudged my friend to bless me that way!

I am thankful that we are retired and on a fixed income (albeit small, but adequate) and not dependent on the stock market or hourly wage jobs to survive during these difficult days.  I pray for those who are not so fortunate that God will provide their every need.

I am thankful that our children are also able to continue working and except for our son's carpentry business, which has slacked off in sales a little, they are still doing well and God is providing their every need.  I am also thankful for the dishwasher they gave us...it is working very well! What a blessing.

I am thankful that so far, as far as I know, all members of our extended family are staying healthy and have not been adversely affected by this virus.  We do know people who have contracted it, but thankfully even they are recovering and God has taken such good care of them. Praise God!!

I am thankful for our church and for dear ones who have taken the time to call or send messages of encouragement around to everyone to stay in touch and keep our faith strong.  Our pastor has sent us good messages of hope, and we are blessed to be part of the Family of God.

Of course we are disappointed that we won't be able to have our usual Easter services, but one of our church family members made an interesting comment the other day that blessed me:

"We are Easter Christians, not Easter Sunday Christians.  We should be celebrating His resurrection everyday. Celebrating the resurrection is celebrating God's love for us. "For God so loved the world". It is also a time to celebrate our love for God. We can show our love through salty service, which is reaching out and helping others. What a great opportunity we have during this "stay at home time"to phone or email a neighbor to see how they are or to just chat. Be creative. How can you use this time to honor God? I look forward to the day we can all gather again at the church and CELEBRATE His love. Remember that we, God's people are the real church, not the building."  Barbara Thorick

I also love that this same friend did exactly what she was encouraging others to so, and called me on the phone just to visit and check up on me to see how I was doing. I love it when people don't just give "lip service" to doing good deeds, but actually follow through and live what they say.  That is a good lesson and example for us to follow as well.

And so, with those thoughts in mind I will close this little post for today.  It gives us some good food for thought...and also a challenge to live out our faith by encouraging others who may be lonely, discouraged or perhaps not doing so well during these days.  We may not be able to visit in person, but we can encourage one another with calls, cards, or other creative ways.

May God fill your life today with His peace, joy, and blessings overflowing. 

Finding JOY Along the Way-Photos of the Week

We stopped in for lunch at a little cafe' near here this week, and they had recently updated their decorations on the walls with these great signs.  I really liked this one in particular, and thought you might appreciate these as well, along with my photos of the week:

 Okay...what's this???

This "toadstool" (mushroom), has great confidence, popping up in the middle of the road...

 The geese continue to entertain us each day...

As do the Tufted Titmouse ...

And the Chickadee...

And before I forget....Here's another sweet little Christmas present I received from my sister, who keeps my "tea cup tree" filled with miniature teacups and teapots!

 Thank you, Doris! You always come up with the neatest gifts!

 Sailing away into a perfect weekend...

I hope you find JOY in the small things along the way as you travel through each day...

Isaiah 55:12

For you shall go out with joy, 

and be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands..."

(when you go out with joy)