And Just Like That, It's November!

 

"Evening at Autumn Lake" , by Thomas Kinkade

Happy 1st Day of November morning to you!  I hope you didn't stay up too late chasing hobgoblins and little fairy princesses!  Or, were they chasing you? LOL.  We had a fun evening here, but there weren't nearly as many little Trick or Treaters as there was candy in my bowl to give them! Now I have to find a good place to donate the leftovers because we definitely don't need it here!  So here's the highlights from the past couple of days...

Here I am, busily stuffing little ziploc bags full of candy and also the Scripture Verse cards that I actually found at the Dollar Tree throughout the year and stocked up on them so I'd have enough...

Each bag had a variety of candy...

And one of these cards...each one was a different verse.  My prayer is that the parents will read them to the children, or vice versa, and may God bless each family with His love and peace...

Here's the finished product...I think I did about 70-75 bags...but sadly not even half of them were given out!  I don't know why there were fewer children this year...I know there were a lot of other activities going on in the community, so maybe they just didn't make it around to the neighborhoods...but now I've got to figure out what to do with them all.

I hope I didn't scare them away with my costume!  LOL.  I debated all day long whether or not to dress up. Actually, I was a bit under the weather all day, with dizziness and tummy issues, but after a good afternoon nap I finally felt better and decided that 'the show must go on' !!  So here I am:

In my mind, I was the Biblical Queen Esther...but someone (aka "Sparky", one of our blogging friends who hasn't been blogging for awhile) saw me on Facebook and played the song "Walk Like an Egyptian"...and I thought, yeah, that's probably a better description... LOL...

Here I am on my royal throne ready to hand out the royal candy:

Someone said they thought I was a Fortune Teller! Well, no thank you! I'd rather be "Queen for a Day".  (How many remember that TV show?  The grand prize would be a new washing machine and/or dryer, or a refrigerator, or some lovely thing that the poor woman needed so badly, and there would be tears of joy over receiving such wonderful prizes, and everyone would clap and cry at the same time...it really was a lovely program)

Note that I am holding my Royal Scepter!  It was a fun time, even if not so many children came, and I'm glad I persevered and did what I was determined to do.

Oh, here's my "little princess", a.k.a. Lily Grace...and her best doggy friend Bailey.  She looks more like a Rock Star than a Princess, but that's how it goes in these modern day kingdoms...LOL.

And now for the rest of the November Calendars...OH so pretty!!

Here's John Sloane's Country Seasons picture for November:

And the Tea Pot Calendar for November:

And speaking of tea time...this is the Susan Branch calendar:

Oh yes! Isn't that the truth?

And here's some words of thanksgiving from 1 Thessalonians 1:2...and yes, this is the truth also:

I do give thanks to God always for you all, and yes, I do make mention of you in my prayers often!

You are a beautiful group of people, and I truly do thank God for each and every one of you!

I pray that your November month will be filled with many blessings and true Thanksgiving!

Happy 1st Day of November!

A Beautiful Saturday Afternoon in November

It was such a beautiful November afternoon, with a high of 75 and no real humidity or clouds, and so I wanted to go outside and sit in my "secret garden" on the swing.  However when I stepped outside I saw that I had visitors in the yard:

Earlier I had cleaned out that bird feeder and put fresh bird seed in, and quite a bit was spilled on the ground in the process...and guess who discovered it?  Yep, the Sand Hill Crane family must have a eagle eye or sixth sense when it comes to free birdseed on the ground!

And so, since they were so busily chomping on the seeds, they hardly even noticed me up on the porch above them.

However, when I came down on the ground and started to head that direction. the Daddy Crane stood guard and I wasn't quite brave enough to try and go around him to get to my swing...

I mean, they probably would have moved away, but I didn't want to disturb their feast either...

So I changed my plans and went the opposite direction, over to my little path in the woods down to Still Waters Pond.

This is my little "secret hiding place" when I want to see what birds are in the water on that end of the pond. That is where I would watch the Canada Geese nesting on the island last winter.  I wonder if they will come back again? We haven't seen much of them lately.

It's also where I can see the back side of the new house next door

It's still available and waiting for new owners...so I still ask, "won't you be my neighbor?"

This would be part of your view if you lived there...

That's the goose island where they built their nest...

It's a very lovely, peaceful little cove...

I found some more holly trees blooming...

There are lots of holly berries in these woods and even over on the island...great natural food for the birds when they migrate through...

Back on the porch I noticed that my Christmas Cactus is starting to get buds!  Yay! I can't wait to see it bloom again!

On another note, the other day I was putting away this 2022 John Sloane Country Seasons Calendar. I had it out because I was using another picture from it for Lily Grace's "school days" pictures that I took a couple of months ago. (You can read that post HERE if you missed it!)

I turned to the November calendar for that year, and this was the picture:

I was affected by this picture in 2022 just like I was today. You can read more about that HERE

You see, it reminded me of when I was a little girl on the farm, and my mother and I used to take a walk on our "lane" down to the mailbox every day to get the mail. Our dog Laddie would walk with us. Here is a picture of our family on the farm, and Laddie is there in the middle. The "lane" we walked is behind us.  I am the "baby" in the family.  I was never that big (as in the picture above) when we lived on the farm, as we left when I was 5 going on 6. But my memories are very special about that daily walk with my mother and our dog.

And I wished I could go back there and walk with her again like we did when I was a child, but my mother has been in heaven for 18 years, my daddy for 13 years, my oldest brother Russell since 2019. Only my sister Doris and my brother Clifford and I are still living.

So I did the next best thing I could do here today...I "re-created" our walk with my little friend Lily Grace and her dog Bailey, and another doll that could stand in for my mother. Actually, I just realized that this doll's name is "Dorothy", and my mother's name is Dorothea. This particular doll is a part of my "Martin Sisters" family, which includes my husband's mother Vivian, and her three sisters, Nellie, Dorothy, and Daisy.

How'd we do? I didn't have hats, and I forgot about an apron, but you get the picture!

They are enjoying their walk on this beautiful Autumn/November day!

Oh hello!

That was fun. I hope you enjoyed it too.

Last night our real "kids" came over and brought us a real treat!  Homemade Pizza!  Rose made the pizza dough in my bread maker machine that I let her "borrow" for a while...I may just give it to her since she keeps making such good stuff in it and then shares it with us! LOL.

She brought all of the toppings and we each made our own pizzas with what we like on it.

They like an alfredo/garlic sauce on their pizza...

And we like a marinara sauce on ours...

They both turned out delicious!! And it was so much fun to do this together!

And then we celebrated their 7th anniversary, which was on November 11th.  We are so thankful to have this precious couple living near us.  They are such a joy and blessing to us!

After supper we went out to see the beautiful full moon!  And then we played a game of dominoes (instead of having "Dominos" Pizza! LOL) and later had some delicious peach dump cake that I made. (You can click on that link for the recipe from when I made it once before). I noticed that I didn't mention the cinnamon on top in that recipe.  I did sprinkle cinnamon on the top before baking,  and it added a nice flavor.

The view of the moon from our front porch.

Today we received a huge "care package" from our Medicare Advantage Plan OTC allowance.  I didn't realize that we each had a rather large amount of money that we could have been spending on OTC products throughout the year, and it needed to be used up before December. So I got busy and ordered for both of us all kinds of goodies, like bandaids, rubber gloves, all kinds of OTC medicines, a new bathroom scale for hubby, and a lumbar pillow for me to use at my desk (comfy, using it now). And I also ordered these arthritis compression gloves for me. I have been suffering with a trigger finger,  and I heard these might help. So I am trying them, but I can't type very well with them, so I took them back off. I will sleep in them tonight, because that is when the trigger finger gets "stuck in place". We shall see if it helps. 

While I was sitting here typing this, I looked out the window and noticed that the skies were turning purple. So I hurried out to see if I could get any good pictures of the sunset before it dropped down below the trees too far.

This is what I got, and it's pretty beautiful! I've heard of "Red skies at night, sailor's delight, and red skies at morning, sailors take warning", but what about purple skies?  What does that mean?

Purple skies at night, sailors take flight? LOL.   I don't know, but I think they were beautiful, and I'm so glad I saw them in time to share with you.

To close out our day with some positive thoughts from God's Word, I came upon these familiar and beloved verses:

Isaiah 54:10

Though the mountains be shaken

and the hills be removed,

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

nor my covenant of peace be removed,”

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Psalm 84:5-7 NIV

"5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,

they make it a place of springs;

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength,

till each appears before God in Zion."

Our choir sang a song last Sunday entitled "God's Covenant of Peace", based on those verses.

You can listen to it in the video above. This was recorded at our rehearsal, which may sound a little bit "shaky", but I know the Lord was with us as we sang it on Sunday morning, and it was truly a blessing. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Have a blessed and peaceful evening and Happy SONday tomorrow!

It's November!

Time for the Calendar Roll Call!  John Sloane's Country Seasons is up first above and below:

Don't you just love those wild turkeys in the corn field? I think that's a corn field, with the corn shucks all stacked up like that. It doesn't look like hay, so I'm thinking corn. Anyone who is more agrarian than I am may know better...But I love the picture either way!  Those turkeys just don't know how popular they will be this month! Gobble Gobble Gobble!  Fly away quick!!

Next in line is the Thomas Kincade calendar for November...I love this painting...do you see the deer in the field next to the stream?  Reminds me of where we just came from last week in the mountains, although our mountains weren't quite that rocky or steep, but it sure was beautiful!

And yes, I love this verse...no matter what we do or say,  do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, and give Him thanks and praise...and leave the outcome to Him.  

That's how I felt last night as I handed out our Halloween treats with the little Scripture "prayer cards" inside the bag.  I committed them to the Lord and prayed that whoever received them would be blessed and drawn closer to the Lord by seeing His Word.

Each baggie had a prayer card and at least 5 pieces of a variety of candies. I know I passed out about 60 of them!  The children may not have understood them, but I hope the parents will read the verse to the child and think about what it says. We can certainly pray that way. The rest is left up to God.

Aren't they adorable?

These two children were the first two of our trick or treaters! Aren't they sweet?  We had many more, and a lot of older kids this year, like middle school age. Lots of parents too. 

One sweet little girl of about 3-4 years old just came up close to me and looked into my face and then she reached out and hugged me! I was so overcome by that. I pray she saw Jesus in my face. That is what I was hoping for.

We didn't go all out with decorations...just this funny scarecrow and the wooden pumpkin and ghost...

And Mr. Jack O Lantern was smiling at everyone:

Oh, and Lily Grace, with her dog Bailey the Wonder Dog, was dressed up as a Hippie Rock Star...

And they had a really good time entertaining the kiddos...

As it got darker, the outdoor lights came on and the house and yard were aglow with a welcoming light.

One teenage boy, as he was actually thanking me for the candy, said, "Oh, your house looks awesome!"

I was flabbergasted!  I know many people do much more elaborate displays and spooky themes, and ours was just simple stuff.  But he turned back around as he was walking away to thank me and tell me that!  Reminds me of the story of the Ten Lepers whom Jesus healed, and as they went away only one returned to thank Jesus...(Luke 17:11-19).   Now, I'm not saying that no one else thanked me during the evening, because actually many did. Especially the little children...they turned back and waved and said "thank you", and one little one said "Be safe!"  Apparently she had heard that spoken to her several times and thought it was something important to tell me! I loved it.   Reminds me again of another Bible Story, found in Matthew 19:13-15, where Jesus blesses little children:

"13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there."

Please don't misunderstand me, because I am not trying to equate Halloween Trick or Treating with Jesus  blessing the little children, except that again, we are Christ's ambassadors to the world. We are the Light of Christ here on earth.  If our intention is to bless the children and show them love, and we are committing our works to the glory of God, then yes,  we are to be as "Christ" to them...and let God take care of the rest of it.  We are planting seeds of Christ's love by faith.  I am still praying for them today.

I guess I kind of got side-tracked there.  Moving right along and back to the calendars for November:

This one certainly reminds me of where we just were on our vacation in the mountains of North Georgia! So beautiful!!

Happy Teapot Calendar! I love this photo with the fire in the fireplace, delicious cookies ready to be eaten, an open book, fresh flowers, and a very lovely teapot and cup of tea...what a cozy and comforting setting...I could certainly appreciate that, couldn't you?

Apparently the teapot is made by Royal Doulton, and this tells more about it:

Here's a quote from Jane Austin, for all you Jane Austin Fans:

Now, this Susan Branch calendar comes up with some "interesting" pictures, to say the least. LOL.  This is so funny...but I'm not sure if I am going to like looking at that poor naked turkey body for the whole month of November! LOL.  It makes me think of what my mother said once, that she hated to handle a whole plucked turkey or chicken because they reminded her too much of a baby! So...now I can't unsee that and may have to cover up this picture. LOL.  

I do like this quote below, however, and I think it actually comes from a Christmas song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...", but I can see where it also applies to Thanksgiving...where we have "faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us, once more..."

November is a big month: We turn our clocks back this weekend, We must VOTE on Tuesday if you haven't already (we have!), There's Veteran's Day on the 11th, which also happens to be Benton and Rose's anniversary!  Then there's Thanksgiving on the 28th! Really late this year! I may have to start my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving this year! LOL. 

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, do you already know where you will spend it? Are you hosting or traveling elsewhere?  We really haven't made any definite plans yet. I'm waiting to hear what all the rest of the family is doing...whether they want to come here or have us go there, but we really aren't crazy about traveling on Thanksgiving (or Christmas either), so we shall see what develops. The main thing is, wherever we go, we need to make sure that it is a day of Thanks-giving. Not just a lot of turkey and dressing and good food and pies, but a day to celebrate the blessings that God has given us, and to share that joy and blessing with others, whether it be family or friends, or maybe even strangers that you don't know that well yet...Share the love, share the hope, share the joy, and give thanks to God with a grateful heart!

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"Oh Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever..." Psalm 136:1

(My photo)

So from our house to yours,

Have a blessed and beautiful November and Thanksgiving season! 

Good Night!