Happy First Day of June!

 Wow! It's the first day of June, and you know what that means!  Yes, time for the "calendar roll call"! 

This "Beachside Gathering", by Thomas Kincade, helps set the scene for summer...

 So grab a cup of tea or coffee and  let's get right down to it:  (Or maybe some Iced tea or iced coffee?)

This "Miami Majolica" tea pot sets the table for summer with some sea creatures and a beachy theme. I wonder how many of you are planning a trip to the beach this summer?  We already had our one day at the beach a few weeks ago, and I doubt we'll go back anytime soon because it gets so crowded during the summer, not to mention HOT.

If I had my choice, I'd be headed to this mountain cabin where there's a cool bubbling stream running past our door to dip our toes in and look for some pretty smooth river rocks...

But most likely I'll be right here tending to my garden...since we've been getting some much needed rain and things are really starting to grow...

And I do agree with this statement by Christian Rossetti on this Susan Branch calendar:

Or this statement by Sir Walter Scott:

How about a trip to the farm country...John Sloane's "Gentle Giants" on this Country Seasons calendar look pretty sweet to me...and a ride on top of the hay wagon might be fun...

I just happen to have this photo from the past...(no, I am not in this picture. This was way before my time)

This is on my Grandpa Tedlie's farm, back in the early 1940's,  with my cousins on the hay wagon, and my Grandma Tedlie and Aunt Belle walking together to join them.

I love this calendar with quotes from Billy Graham...

And when we think about the summer time and gardening...it's a good time to remember that God wants to bring forth good fruit in our lives as well...as we glean words of hope and transformation from His Word...a reminder to continue to faithfully study the Bible throughout the summer even if  we aren't actively participating in a Bible Study (our Ladies' Bible Study) doesn't meet again until September)

Oops!  "King Blackie" strikes again!  He wanted to see what was so important in here where I am working...

He said, "Mom! Would you please stop sitting here and ignoring me?  I need some attention too!"

And after he sat there for a minute or two, totally disrupting my train of thought....off he went in search of the rest of his breakfast and then a visit to Daddy's lap... Bye King Blackie...I'll be done here in a minute...

So I will take a little break from this and come back later to finish...or maybe I just need to call it a day and write a new post tomorrow?  

Yeah, I think that's what I'll do.  I'll have to come back and do another post later.  So meanwhile, enjoy this lovely first day of June! I wonder what your plans are?  Mine are real exciting...doing laundry and maybe a trip to Walmart...we'll see...so I'd better a get a move on...

Praying for us all to have a safe and happy and healthy summer, whatever we do!!  Be blessed my friends.

TTYL

Goodbye May! Hello June!

We are rapidly approaching the half way mark of the year, and it just doesn't seem possible, does it?  Today is the last day of May...I remember that on this day many many moons ago I walked down the aisle to graduate from high school...I'm sitting here trying to calculate how many years ago that was, and it's hard to believe that it was 57 years ago!

Where has the time flown?  Well, let's see, do you really want to know my whole life story?  LOL. Not today...that would take up way too much space and time and I am not sure anyone really wants to read all of that.  So let's just skip over the past 57 years and that will bring us to today.  57 years later and I'm sitting here in my "Room with a View" watching the sunset in the west over Still Waters Pond,

It's not anything too spectacular tonight, but  someone seems to be enjoying laying down in the grass beside the pond and watching the sunset...or watching for frogs or other little critters...

Yes, that's Sunshine basking in the Sunset.

Here he was a little earlier, when I was out in the yard checking on flowers that are blooming...he stayed on the porch and watched me...

While Blackie came down in the yard and followed me around.   

This was Blackie earlier enjoying some porch sitting time too...

Oh, and I keep forgetting to share pictures of the hummingbirds ...

Here's a few of the flowers that are blooming in the butterfly garden right now...

This hibiscus bush that we planted in memory of our son on his birthday this year has just bloomed and bloomed and bloomed! I've really enjoyed watching it open up with new blossoms every day. And the butterflies and hummingbirds love it too!  

I planted these zinnias  a short time ago, and they are finally really starting to bloom:

These zinnia plants are loaded with buds, so hopefully they will be blessing us with blossoms very soon:

This is a large-flowered tickseed plant, and it looks like a tiny little moth is enjoying getting some nectar from it!

Here's a marigold plant too...

As I've said before, I don't really have a green thumb, and there are lots of weeds that need pulling, but I'm enjoying these flowers  while they bloom.  57 years ago when I graduated high school on this date, I would never have imagined that I'd be sitting here tonight writing to friends all over the world  in blogland and showing you pictures of a butterfly garden and my two cats that I never dreamed I'd ever have!  After all, my sister Doris is the cat-person and the one with the green thumb in our family.  Maybe a little bit of those genes finally blossomed in me too. It just took a much longer time. LOL!

Moving right along...tomorrow is the first day of June, and we all know what that means! It's Calendar Roll Call day!  Since tomorrow is Sunday and I don't know that I will have time to write a post, I decided to give a sneak preview tonight of the June calendars.  Probably most of you won't see this until tomorrow anyway, so it will be right on time for you.  

This is a good place to start, with the Thomas Kinkade calendar and a beautiful church along the shore. And since June is the month we celebrate Father's Day, this verse from Jeremiah 17:7 is very appropriate:

And here is another verse that is one of my favorites...Deuteronomy 31:6

Can you read it okay?  It's kind of hard to read...

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

It's a verse that we need to always remember, no matter what or where our life has taken us.

This is the Teapot Calendar for June...looks like a lovely tea setting for an outdoor picnic...

What a delightful thought!   

Maybe this is the setting for our little garden tea party...look at those lilacs!! Oh wow!! For those of you who live where the lilacs are blooming, will you please go pick some and smell them for me? I'd love to see some pictures of your lilacs! We can't grow them here in Florida, and it's such a shame!! 

Hey, it looks like these people don't pull their weeds much either! LOL.  This might be a little too much grass around our ankles for a tea party, don't you think? Still, it looks pretty lovely to me...

Oh, I love what the Susan Branch calendar has for June...perfect for our outdoor tea party/picnic, don't you agree?

"Bring along a jar of water for just-picked wildflowers"....what a fun idea!

Jane Austen says to "Run mad as often as you 'chuse', but do not faint..."    Okay...I guess...LOL.

I saved the best for last...the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar for June:

Perfect!  She's carrying the picnic basket loaded with the tea things and the fresh home made bread and real butter and honey...and maybe a jar of water for the fresh picked wildflowers...and some other delightful goodies for our tea party picnic! What a beautiful setting...and so nice to have a sweet old doggy for our companion!

This certainly makes me want to go outside and have a tea party picnic sometime soon...if the weather will just not get too hot too fast...it actually was a tad bit cooler today...stayed in the 80's and didn't reach 90, and it wasn't quite a humid...would've been a perfect day for a picnic!  I don't have a doggy companion, but I know a couple of kitties who just might want to come along and join us.  What do you think? Let's go!

Well, friends, it's already almost bedtime, so I'd best close the calendar for May and get ready for June. Praying that June will be a month of hope fulfilled and promises kept and days of beauty and joy. 

Saturday Wanderings

Happy Saturday!  I hope this day finds you enjoying some beautiful skies, fresh air, and God's lovely world around you!  Or, maybe you are enjoying staying indoors in your "cool" house, away from the heat and humidity and/or other weather issues.  Wherever you are, I hope you are doing well.  

It was such a lovely morning, we decided to take a little ride to the Kenwood boat ramp...not to go boating as we do not have a boat, but just to enjoy the natural beauty of a morning that started out a few degrees cooler than it has been the rest of the week, and humidity was lower as well...so it was a good time to get out while the getting's good!  This lovely dragonfly above was enjoying sunning himself on a picnic table. I appreciated him staying still long enough for me to take his picture!

It was a picture-perfect morning...blue skies and green trees reflecting in the cool green waters of the canal leading to the Kenwood Recreation Area and Rodman Reservoir

I enjoyed walking around and taking pictures of everything I saw...I hope you don't mind a lot of pictures...I missed the weekly Friday Foto Friends post for yesterday, so this will make up for that.

Beautiful Live oak tree shading the picnic area...

 I am not going to attempt to identify all the water plants and flowers...just enjoy them...

Ah, but those eggs are actually Florida Apple Snails, and I believe these are the native variety. There are many invasive species starting to takeover our fresh waters, but these look like the native snail eggs.

It's a great day for boating and fishing, and there were many trucks with boat trailers in the parking lot already, so I assume the lakes/rivers are full of fishermen out enjoying a beautiful day on the water. 

We were quite content to stay onshore and admire God's wonderful creation.  

Another Post about this location from last Fall

And also a post from the winter time

Back on the home front, last night I noticed this little Brown Anole (lizard) on our back porch. He looks kind of funny because he is shedding his skin.  Apparently they do that several times a year. It is interesting to get to see this actually happening:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"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."

Here is the latest photo of the Century Plant/Agave, that is blooming as it is actually dying:

It is still quite beautiful, even in its last days of life...

We stopped by to see the Hawthorn bush that I've been watching on our walk, and this strange thing was growing on the tree.  Here is the link to what it is...a kind of fungi.

https://wiki.bugwood.org/Gymnosporangium_clavipes_(cedar-quince_rust_on_hawthorn)

Here is what the actual hawthorn berries look like:

I just think that's interesting!

Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are at it again, building another nest in the birdhouse!  They've been quite busy at their task, even though we've had 95 degree temps most every day this past week. Seems like it would be too hot to stay in the birdhouse and sit on a nest...but hubby said maybe the heat will help incubate the eggs for them so they can take more breaks! LOL. Probably not, but I hope the baby birds will develop and maybe we'll get to see them this time!

And Mr. Red Shouldered Hawk has still been fussy about the loss of so much of his habitat on the lot next door...

He was scolding me for being so close (although I was really quite far away...trust me!)

I hope the Hawk family will be okay once the dust settles.

Oh, btw! Today is the first day of June!! Hard to believe we are already to the half way point in this year! My, how time flies!  

As per my usual post for the first of the month, here are the calendar photos for June:

This is the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar, which I love so much. This picture is so beautiful...I can just visualize myself standing there with that sweet doggy, looking at "Out Town". I think I would love to live in a town that looks like this...no cars, just horse and buggies...sometimes it's nice to dream about living in such a world...but then reality hits...no air conditioning, no electricity, no indoor plumbing...so, if we could live in a town like this and have all the amenities mentioned above, that would be lovely...what do you think?

And then we could have a tea party...although this particular picture/tea display looks more modern than the above picture.

Here's the quote for the month from the Teapot Calendar.  Funny...

Now, here's the cute little Susan Branch calendar for June...cute ideas for summertime picnics...speaking of watermelon...I have one waiting to be cut, but I don't have room for it in the fridge, so we are waiting until we can make more room, or until there are more people here to help us eat it. "The Kids" said they'd come over tomorrow afternoon and help us eat it! LOL.

Here's the Thomas Kincade calendar for June...isn't that a lovely garden?  Oh, wouldn't I love to have a garden that looked like this!!  I'm afraid my brown thumb just can't quite accomplish this kind of beauty, try as I might! LOL.  

Amen to this verse:

It goes very well with the following picture from the calendar in my bathroom...isn't that beautiful?

So, how does your June look? Is it going to be busy? Are you going on any vacations this summer? Our June calendar already has several medical appointments listed...still working through all the follow ups and test results, etc.  Hopefully maybe by the end of the month we can think about doing something fun, like getting away from the heat for a while. Not sure where or how, but we can dream, can't we?

Well, friends, here it is the end of the day and time to say good night.  Tomorrow is Sunday, and we get up early to get to Sunday School on time. Hubby is the teacher, so we'd better not be late! LOL.

One last verse from my daily devotional book...the header page for June...Good place to end the day...

Amen.

Good Night!