Friday Foto Friends

 Oh my goodness! Friday is almost over and here I am just sitting down to try to write something to you. I might have mentioned a few days ago that this week was going to be busy, and so I didn't know how much I'd be able to communicate here throughout the week...and I was right about that! It has been busy, but all in such wonderful ways!  If you're a Facebook friend, you may have already seen some of these pictures I'm going to share with you, but there are also some new ones from today that are brand new.  So you might want to get a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and pull up a comfortable rocking chair and let's visit a while, shall we?

We'll start out with yesterday (Thursday), which was just so very special.  Since our "kids" are unable to spend Mother's Day with me due to work schedules, etc., Benton and Rose said they would like to take us over to the beach and then out to lunch yesterday.  So we left fairly early in the day, which, BTW, was a very HOT 93+ day, but thankfully there was a nice breeze.  We arrived at Crescent Beach around 10:00 a.m., which is just south of St. Augustine a little ways, and about an hour's drive from where we live. I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Our first view of the ocean:

Flowers and grasses along the way on the sand dunes, all a necessary part of the protection from beach erosion...

My first step into the "cool" ocean waters....it really did feel wonderful!

Turn on your sound for a little "beach therapy"....

No, I wasn't wearing long pants...they were capris, but I ended up having to roll them up when the tide started coming in while we were walking in the water.

The "Three Musketeers" LOL.   All in serious need of some suntan! LOL.  (That's why you can't see my legs above!)

Oh, here's some cuties:

And this doggy was enjoying playing frisbee in the surf...

More birds:

And finally I managed to get some birds diving into the surf:

And no trip to the beach would be complete without seeing "Jaws"!  Thankfully not the real deal!

After we finished our walk on the beach it was getting time for lunch, so we headed down A1A highway, which skirts along the coastline through sleepy little communities along the way...well...I take that back...there's NOTHING sleepy along the beach anymore...except for these houses out on the shoreline, who are actually abandoned since the last hurricane that came through here. The beach erosion was so bad that it washed away their property, and the houses now stand empty and will be torn down because there's no way to fix the problem:

And there's actually no road left to get to them, so that's the bigger issue. It was all washed away.

Finally we arrived in what used to be a sleepy little beach town, "Flagler Beach", but no more. There are houses, condos, RV parks, hotels, cottages, etc., EVERYWHERE.  

These pictures are actually at the Flager Beach pier, which was washed away in the hurricane. They are still trying to repair it...but guess what...hurricane season starts again next month! I'm not so sure it's worth all the money they are spending to try and replace it...

But it is historical...actually I remember this pier and little beach front communityfrom over 60 years ago, when one of my school friends invited me and another friend to spend the weekend with her and her mother at their family's beach cottage! We were about 14, and we had the time of our lives! Oh, not to mention the cute boys who showed up with surf boards and tried to teach us to surf! Can't say that we learned all that much in the short time we were there, but it was fun trying...and did I say the boys were cute? When you're 14, even 14 year old boys look cute to you! LOL. 

I tried to figure out where the family cottage was, but the place has grown up so much since then there's no way I could figure it out. I just know it was within walking distance of this pier.

Finally we reached our destination of a place to eat. They were very few and far between, but this one sounded promising:

And it was in this hotel building where that porch is:

And this was the view across the street:

And THIS was my best view:

And next to me was my sweet daughter in love Rose:

And across from us her sweet hubby and my son Benton:

And here I was...as you can tell, I was quite windblown! Did I mention it was breezy? But that breeze felt wonderful since it was in the 90's.

Our food was really good...I had the grilled salmon and cole slaw...

And some seafood/clam chowder, which was really tasty:

It was a perfect way to spend an early Mother's Day!

Oh, we saw this BBQ place on the way over to the beach, and thought the sign was pretty funny:

And the party wasn't over yet. Last evening after we got home and (we took a nap, hence the bed head look), the kids came over and brought me this lovely planter that Benton made. It has some marigolds and a vinca plant in it, and I'm going to put it outside near my vegetable garden to help ward off the bugs.

Speaking of which, I didn't tell you that it has been raining this evening! Here's the current look at Still Waters Pond, which is damp on the top, but still has a LONG way to go before it will actually have water in it. However, there's rain predicted all weekend, so we are hoping and praying that it really gets down to business!

My vegetable garden is happy:

So now for Part 2 of the current activities going on.  Today was our church Ladies' May Fellowship Luncheon, where we invite ladies from other churches in our community and have a guest speaker and a nice luncheon.  It was really a lovely day, with about 65 women in attendance, which is a LOT for our little church. We had a soup and salad buffet, and it was really good.

Here's a smattering of pictures from the day:

Here's the table where I was sitting...(can you find me? LOL)

LOTS Of FOOD!!

Our ladies in worship and praise...

Our two youngest ladies!

A beautiful cake!

Our theme song was "Shine Jesus, Shine".

Here are the lyrics:

"Lord, the light of your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness, shining

Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us

Set us free by the truth you now bring us

Shine on me, shine on me

Chorus:

Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light

Lord, I come to your awesome presence

From the shadows into your radiance

By the blood I may enter your brightness

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

As we gaze on your kingly brightness

So our faces display your likeness

Ever changing from glory to glory

Mirrored here may our lives tell your story

Shine on me, shine on me

(Chorus)

Graham Kendrick

Copyright © 1987 Make Way Music,

www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

All in all it was a beautiful day, filled with the JOY of the Lord. The theme of the program was "Wildflowers of Joy, Growing in the Spirit".   We are the "wildflowers", planted by God  and filled with His Joy, as He leads us day by day in our walk with the Lord and as we "grow in the Spirit".  What a blessing to spend that time with our sisters in Christ!

Okay friends, I guess that should cover the past couple of days! Now I hope I can get caught up with the rest of you and see what you've been up to. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to spend some time visiting with you.  Until then, 

"Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord, and let there be light"

Amen!

Saturday Bits and Pieces

Here it is the first Saturday afternoon of May! The current temperature at 1:44 p.m. is 86 degrees F., and it is partly cloudy and breezy.  Still no rain, but I see there is a 65% chance of rain tomorrow! I hope they are right! Everything is getting much too dry, including Still Waters Pond. I will soon have to rename it "No Waters Pond" if we don't get some serious rain to refill it soon. But even though  it is getting dry and very shallow in most places, it doesn't seem to stop the activity on the pond...here's a few pictures from yesterday afternoon and today...

This is after we had a friend help us by mowing the area down along the shore of the pond. It's best to do that now while the pond has receded so much so we can help keep the weeds from growing up too tall right along the edge. Once the rains start back up we won't be able to clear that area again.

This isn't real clear because I zoomed way across the pond to see this Great White Egret. I didn't know until I looked at the photo on the computer that he had something in his mouth...

It kind of looks like a snake? If so, he is welcome to eat all the snakes he can find! LOL.

At about the same time, Mr. Great Blue Heron flew in and chased the egret away.  He is standing on the other side of the pond, where there appears to be a deeper little cove of water without lily pads.  I believe this is the area where water drains into the pond from the drainage pipes under the highway on the other side of the trees. That helps keep more water flowing into the pond...but again, only when it rains!

Where the Heron is standing normally is under water also.

Here's the Sand Hill Crane family coming up on our yard in the afternoon looking for a snack of bird seed or whatever they can find out there...I actually threw a few overripe blueberries out in the yard and they were enjoying that juicy little snack...  You can see how big "Trumpet" is getting next to his parents:

What a cute pose:

While I was outside taking these photos he was getting a little nervous and I could barely hear him making a kind of wheezy faint trumpet sound, probably asking his parents if it was okay for that big funny looking bird to be watching them from the porch...

They probably said, "it's okay as long as she keeps giving us these yummy snacks!".  

And yes...the Muscovy Duck keeps coming back to see if there's any cat food left for him.  I've been feeding the cats on the back porch again because it is much cooler there, but I'm trying to outsmart the duck and feed them at different times than what he is expecting.  He came early this morning and I hadn't fed them yet...

And you can see in these photos that Sunshine and Blackie were just totally ignoring him and giving him the cold shoulder:

You will also see that someone knocked over our birdbath during the night.  Apparently there was a thirsty raccoon out there trying to get water out of the birdbath...or maybe a cat or who knows what?  This has happened before, and usually when the pond is receding too much for the land animals to go get a drink.   Hubby suggested that we might want to put a little kiddy pool of water out there for the critters and turn the wildlife camera on it to see who is coming through at night. Might be a good idea...we'll think about that...

On other notes...let's see, this morning we took a ride up to see where Benton was selling his flower pots at a garden/farm market:

Here's something new that he made and Rose painted this past week to sell in time for the Memorial Day and July Fourth holidays coming up:

They are strictly for decoration and not really candles to be burned!

And he still has these cute different flower containers:

I really like this one!

One thing I have discovered since going to this market is this product:

It is a balm made of beef tallow and essential oils, etc., totally natural.  It is great for putting on cracked heels, calouses, abrasions, and itchy bumps or bites. Also good as a moisturizer on dry skin patches. I prefer the lavender scented one or the lavender + Frankincense combination, but today all she had was the big one with the Frankincense.  It is okay, and actually Rose is finding this is helpful on her psoriasis places to stop the itching, so I am going to share some of this bigger jar with her until we can get some more.  It is a wonderful home-made balm...but it is definitely not vegan, if someone is concerned about that.  The lady who makes this raises beef cattle (well, her husband and son do that), and she makes this from the beef tallow. She calls her business "Fat Mama's Tallow", but she is definitely not fat herself. LOL.  HERE is a link to more information about the benefits of using beef tallow on the skin.  One note, it is not recommended for oily skin, and you should test it on a small area first to be sure you don't have any kind of reaction to it. But I have found it to be very healing and soothing.

So that's my public service announcement for today.

Yesterday our church Women in Faith group sponsored our annual May Fellowship, where we invite ladies from all the other churches in our community to come and have lunch with us, along with a special program/speaker.  We were blessed to have over 60 ladies come from at least 5 different churches of all different denominations.  We do this every May, and the ladies all love being together as "sisters in Christ".  Here's a few pictures:

There was wonderful food...we keep it simple with delicious meat sandwiches on croissants and vegie, fruit platters from our Publix supermarket ("Where Shopping is a Pleasure"), 

And then our ladies bring desserts, which were all wonderful. I took a lemon/blueberry cake. It was good!

The theme was "Prayer Time in the Garden with God".

Oh, there's me!  I'm the official photographer for these events, so I had to ask someone else to take a picture of me. LOL.

These tables of so many lovely women represent women from not only our church, Interlachen (Global) Methodist Church, but other churches from around our community.  There were ladies from the Catholic church, The Baptist Church,  The Episcopal church, The Assembly of God, and a couple of other Global Methodist Churches from surrounding communities.

Theresa is our women's ministry president, in addition to many other jobs in the church. She's in charge of our kitchen and runs a tight ship! LOL.

Can you see our youngest member above?  She's a sweetheart.  I remember seeing her Mama here last May still awaiting this little one's arrival, who is her 4th little girl, by the way.  

Our guest speaker, the Director of a group called "Sisterhood of Servants", a ministry to young women and girls in the United States and Zambia, Africa.

This sweet friend just recently retired and this is her first time to attend a women's event at church since retirement! 

And this dear lady was our pianist until she had a stroke this past winter. She has been recovering ever since, and just finally was able to come back to church on Easter Sunday (and sang a beautiful solo!), and now is back singing in the choir, but she will not be able to play the piano anymore. She is a miracle of God's amazing grace and healing!

Our Church Secretary...without whom not much would get done for sure!

This dear lady has been battling cancer for a couple of years, but we believe she's finally on the "home stretch" to remission, by the grace of God.

Our sweet Pastor's Wife and worship/choir leader

Our "Blessed" friend Norma, who is also a nurse and takes care of so many!

Another retired nurse, who also helps with so many people, and recently herself had hip replacement surgery.

Another dear friend fellow choir member.

Can you feel the love?

There was definitely a lot of "love" going round, the Love of the Lord for one another...truly a "sisterhood of servants". 

Galatians 3:26-29 tell us this: 

"26 For you are all sons (and daughters!!) of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

How many remember this old song by the Gaithers?   "The Family of God".  Sing along with us...

"You will notice we say brother

And sister 'round here

It′s because we're a family

And these folks are so near

When one has a heartache

We all share the tears

And rejoice in each victory

In this family so dear

I'm so glad I′m a part

Of the family of God

I′ve been washed in the fountain

Cleansed by His blood

Joint heirs with Jesus

As we travel this sod

For I'm part of the family

The family of God

From the door of an orphanage

To the house of the King

No longer an outcast

A new song I sing

From rags unto riches

From the weak to the strong

I′m not worthy to be here

But, praise God, I belong

Sing the song I'm so glad I′m a part

Of the family of God

I've been washed in the fountain

Cleansed by His blood

Joint heirs with Jesus

As we travel this sod

For I′m part of the family

The family of God

Yes I'm part of the family

The family of God"

Writer(s): Gloria Gaither, William J. Gaither

So these are my "bits and pieces" on this Saturday afternoon (now evening...I've had a few interruptions to feed the kitties on the front porch again because the duck kept coming back, and Sunshine is kind of stubborn and doesn't want to keep moving his dinner table back and forth, so I have to go through lots of antics to get him to follow me back around the house to the front porch from the back. It's quite comical to see)  and then I had to cook our own supper and wash the dishes. There's been other interruptions, but finally at 5:49 p.m. I am going to hit "publish" and call it done!!

I hope you've enjoyed coming along for the journey today. I feel like we are all sisters and family round here...Thank you for being here day after day.  You are a blessing to me!

Have a blessed Sunday tomorrow!

Sunshine and Blackie Sue say goodnight too!

Good Night!