Monday Monday

Good Monday Morning!  I have my sweet buddy "Blackie", a.k.a. "King Blackie", sitting on his royal throne right here behind me as I work, keeping a close eye on every move I make!  Every one say "Good Morning, Your Highness!", LOL.    He really has quite taken over the whole house, even though we still restrict him from entering the bedrooms (when we can get the doors shut in time), and he still spends a good portion of the day outside as well and he still sleeps outside at night, but trust me, he's working on that.  "It's only a matter of time", he meows.  LOL.   

Well, let's jump right in and talk about the weekend. Here's a recap of things we did.  Yesterday after church the "kids" came over and Scott came down from Jacksonville, so we had lunch together. Rose had made a big pot of spaghetti the night before and so she brought that, and I made a salad and picked up some Garlic Toast at the grocery store on the way home from church. "The Kids" also laughingly asked if I had any "peach cobbler"...well, of course I didn't, but the suggestion was made and I did have the ingredients on hand to make a "peach  dump cake",  (you can see the recipe on that link from a previous post a couple of years ago, and you might just want to read that whole post because it's kind of funny about a certain Black Kitty who was trying even then to become our Kitty way before we started feeding him (while the neighbor was still taking care of him).   The only difference in the recipe that I did this time was that I added some fresh blueberries along with the peaches...because...

We had been to the Blueberry farm on Saturday and picked up some fresh blueberries. (already picked).

There I am, clutching my precious bag of blueberries:

There's hubby, trying to get away before I saw something else I wanted to buy...lol.

On Thursday (or was it Friday? I forget now), anyway, one of those days, we went out to lunch...

This is at the "NEW" "Hog Wild Country Cafe" here in town.  

I say "NEW", because the "OLD" one that we loved so much had a fire about a year or so ago, and so the owners purchased the "OLD" "True Grits" Restaurant here in our town and made it the "NEW" Hog Wild.

This was the "OLD" Hog Wild.

Now we are waiting for the new owners of the "OLD" Hog Wild BUILDING to finish all the restoration of that building and open up a new restaurant there. I hear it's going to be a "new" Backwoods Country Cafe', or something like that, and that they will also serve NY style pizza and calzones in addition to sandwiches, etc.  They've been busy working on that old building for a while now, and hopefully they will be open this summer. I hope they've left some of the "OLD" country charm that we loved so much, because the "NEW" Hog Wild restaurant, although the food is good, is sadly lacking the atmosphere we loved so much at the OLD building.  I hope I haven't confused you with all of the "NEW" and "OLD" stuff! LOL.

However, as I said, the food was good...we both had shrimp...mine was grilled and hubby's was fried. I also had fried okra and coleslaw and cornbread.  It really was good, but I miss the "OLD" place.

Let's see, what else is "NEW"?  Well, this isn't exactly new, but one afternoon I was sitting out on the garden bench and this Northern Parula came for a drink at the bird bath again. I always love it when birds come visiting!

Also on Saturday we had gone to the Farm Swap at Deep Creek and I bought these marigolds to put near my vegetable garden to help keep the bugs away from my plants:

This is how they are all placed now...I hope the marigolds are close enough. 

Also, in my other little planter the coreopsis is finally blooming that I planted a while ago...

With more to come...

AND...since we had that wonderful rain last week (and MORE On Sunday morning while we were in church praising God for the rain!), that little garden space where I planted all those wildflower seeds last week is just popping up with tiny little sprouts!  Even after Blackie had trampled all over it! Maybe he DID pack them down good after all! LOL.

Something else that is blooming is that rose bush!  Look at all these lovely roses!

It is now afternoon and I still haven't gotten this post published. To be honest, I haven't felt really great today. I woke up with a sore throat , and although I am HOPING it is just from allergies, it has bothered me enough that I decided to forego the ladies' Bible Study today rather than risk passing germs along to others. I just took a good nap and am having a cup of hot tea with lemon in it, and that's helping me to perk up and hopefully chase this thing away.  

However, I hated to miss Bible Study today, as we are beginning a new study entitled "Jesus & Women in the First Century and Now."  Here's the description from the back of the study guide:

This study will also have some videos to go along with the study guide, and thankfully I can access them online so I could go ahead and watch the first one so I won't be behind the rest of the class.  However, we seldom have ever completed any Bible study in the number of sessions that the guide recommends.  We only meet for one hour each week, and we spend a lot of time "discussing" things as we go, so our lessons usually take much longer to get through than what they say in the book. That's okay...we are there to learn and encourage one another in our walk with Jesus, and sometimes things just take longer than what other people think they should.  Bible studies should never be rushed through...there's a lot of good information there to unpack and digest.

Matthew 9:22 NIV

"Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment."

Now that sounds like some very good news!

Okay, friends, I have to go for now, but tomorrow is Tuesday, and don't forget to go over and join in the Tuesday 4 if you can! It should be very interesting this week! We're going to be talking about our "jobs" that we have done in our lives...

See you there!

Still Playing Catch up!

 We'll  start out this post with some scenic views on the St. John's River from today...but more about that later...

Thank you all, for your kind and encouraging words on my most recent post about my experience in the hospital, etc.  It's been an interesting journey, but one that I am so thankful to God that it really wasn't as bad as it could have been! I am still playing "catch-up", both here in Blogland in reading your posts and trying to keep up with what's been happening in your lives, as well as here in my own little world and trying to keep up with what's going on in our own family/church/friends, etc., as well as trying to regain my strength and energy so I can keep up with daily routines.  

It reminds me of this song, which I'm sure many of you will remember from back in the day..."One Day At A Time"

Linda Randel, Gaither Homecoming

One day at a time, sweet Jesus

[Chorus]

One day at a time, sweet Jesus

That's all I'm asking from You

Just give me the strength to do everyday

What I have to do

Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine (Ooh)

Lord, help me today, show me the way

One day at a time

[Verse 1]

I'm only human, I'm just a woman

Help me believe in what I could be and all that I am

Show me the stairway I have to climb

Lord, for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time

[Chorus]

One day at a time, sweet Jesus

That's all I'm asking from You

Just give me the strength to do everyday

What I have to do

Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine (Ooh)

Lord, help me today, show me the way

One day at a time

[Verse 2]

Do You remember when You walked among men?

Well, Jesus, You know, if You're looking below, it's worse now than then

There's pushing and shoving, and it's clouding my mind,

So for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time

[Chorus]

One day at a time, sweet Jesus

That's all I'm asking from You

Just give me the strength to do everyday

What I have to do

Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine (Ooh)

Lord, help me today, show me the way

One day at a time (Ooh)

I am very very thankful to have been given the blessing of another day to keep living and praising the Lord, and celebrating the good things in this life...like our 56th Anniversary, which was Saturday.  I'm sure many of you already saw the pictures on facebook, so I will spare you the details from 56 years ago...Here's a link to last year's anniversary, which has a link to previous years, so you can go back and look as much as you want. LOL.  In looking at last years', I just realized that we did the same thing then as we did today, and I even wore the same top! LOL.   Here's what we did today to celebrate belatedly since I really wasn't feeling quite up to par on our actual anniversary on Saturday. (but we did do something then, which I will get to in a minute).

We went to our favorite restaurant on the St. John's River, Corky Bells!

Here's hubby...(which again, I am very thankful that he is feeling better these days as well, and he was willing and able to take us out to lunch)

And here's your's truly today:

 

And here I was last year...yep, same top, necklace, glasses...just had shorter hair, which, if I recall, was a mistake by a new hairdresser that I never went back to! However, in both pictures, it was a windy day, and you really can't tell much about my hair as to how it should look! (I think I was also a few pounds lighter last year...something I need to work on)

This was my food today...broiled shrimp and grouper, baked potato, and coleslaw (which I had already eaten when this picture was taken, and it was sure good!) Oh, and hush puppies, which I probably shouldn't have eaten, but they were so good!

And here's hubby with his food...same fish/shrimp, only he prefers fried.

I didn't spend much time down on the deck/dock today as it was too hot, but I took this one selfie mostly because I wanted to get the blue skies and clouds in there too. That one cloud looks like a big duck! I should've worn a hat...that hair! LOL.

I couldn't stay long because I was unsupervised. Hubby had already gone back into the building, and as you can see, some of us need more supervision than others. LOL

We are very thankful indeed that we were able to go out today and do this, as it is our tradition, and last week things were so crazy I wasn't sure if we'd ever get to do this again! Yes, I am very thankful.

On Saturday, our "real" anniversary day, our sweet kids came over and brought us some supper...

Rotisserie chicken, salad, and some boiled potatoes that we buttered and smashed with our forks and added cheese and sour cream.  

I had actually decided that we needed some dessert, since it was our anniversary,  so I made a peach dump cake, which is so easy. You just take a white (or yellow) cake mix, and I melted a stick of butter and poured it in a 9"x13" pan, dumped the cake mix on top, added the 3 eggs and instead of the cup of water I used the juice/syrup from the large can of peaches. (I drained the peaches first, reserved the syrup, measured out 1 cup to use). I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla.  I stirred it all up until the mixture was completely moistened,  and then added the peaches and stirred them around. Then I baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.  We put whipped cream on top, and it was so good.

That was the extent of my activity for the day! I was still kind of weak and wobbly from my hospital stay, and just had to pace myself and do things a little at a time.

We don't usually buy gifts for each other on our anniversary, but the Lord provided these flowers for us from our own garden of zinnias. 

On Sunday we did go to church, and it was so good to see people and get hugs and thank them for their prayers, and also to give thanks to the Lord for His protection and healing.

On Monday I had an already scheduled appointment with my PCP for a follow up, and so it turned out to be perfect timing so she could hear the whole story of what happened to me last week. She checked the records that were sent over from the hospital, and gave me a good check up and said she really thinks I'm going to be just fine, but she is referring me to a cardiologist for further monitoring of this condition, which appears to be very mild and in the early stages, praise God!  Here's a passage from Psalms that gives me hope and encouragement.

103 

Psalm 103:1-5

"1 Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."

I like that part about "your youth is renewed like the eagle's".  Wouldn't that be nice? 

So anyway, this is the latest update.  Thank you all for your friendship here. May God bless each and every one, and may He "satisfy your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles!" Amen.

Here's another link to a previous anniversary (51), and it shows me wearing the same top on our 50th anniversary!! LOL. I guess when you like something, you wear it until it wears out!  There's also a lot of OLD memories from our wedding, etc., if you want to go back down memory lane, for those of you who are new here.  I like to add these links so I can go back and find them again myself. The older we get, the more help we need. LOL  Good night!

Thursday Thankfulness

Thought I'd start this post off with something to get your attention!

While I've been writing this post this afternoon, I was smelling this "peach dump cake" baking in the oven. Hubby has a little bit of a sweet tooth and likes cakes and cookies. When we run out of something good, he reminds me it's time to bake something.  Since we've been sick the past couple of weeks, we haven't been eating much of anything too yummy.  But thankfully we seem to have our appetites back and I also have my sense of taste back, which I had not totally lost, but what sense of taste I had wasn't good...things all tasted extremely salty and/or metallic, which was not very pleasant.  

So I am very thankful that I was able to smell this baking...

And because it smelled so delicious, I decided it needed to be sampled while it was still warm, with a little bit of whipped cream on top:

And a cup of tea...a little tea party with the fairies... And YES! It was just as delightful and delicious as it smelled!  

In case your mouth is watering and you want some of this, here's how easy it was to make:

I used a Duncan Hines White Cake mix, and a large can (29oz.) of sliced peaches in syrup.

Here's what I did:

I melted 1 stick of butter and poured it into a 9"x13" baking pan.

I dumped the dry cake mix on top of the butter, and then added three whole eggs and stirred them all together. 

Oh, I forgot, I drained the peaches and saved the syrup, which came to about one cup of syrup. If not, you could add water to make it 1 cup.  I poured in the syrup and stirred that in with the batter mixture.  

Next I added the sliced peaches and stirred them around so they were evenly distributed in the mixture.

I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top and then baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.  

No frosting necessary. Just use a spritz of whipped cream or ice cream if you prefer.  It really is good, and actually is not overly sweet.  

I am very thankful that we seem to have finally turned the corner and may even be on the other side of this illness. Actually, I had a little setback yesterday. I woke up with my throat starting to feel sore again, and my glands were swelling in my throat.  And I just felt so fatigued, which is how I've felt for the past two weeks, but thought I was getting better.  So I decided not to mess around anymore and called the doctor and asked if I could come in to see him. They said yes, but please wear a mask, even though I am past the quarantine period for covid.  No problem.  After examining my throat, etc., he ordered some steroids (prednisone) for me to take for three days to help get me over the hump of this thing. That plus taking allergy medicine each day (claritin), and continue to drink lots of water, etc.  I do feel better today than I did yesterday, but still the fatigue is real.  We went to Walmart today to get caught up with stuff we needed, and that was challenging, but we made it and are so thankful we could do it.  Hubby is doing about the same as I am, but at least we are improving together, and we are extremely thankful to God for His healing!  Our goal is to be able to go to church Sunday and make it through both Sunday School and Church! I still can't sing, so will just have to listen while others do the singing. That will be "music to my ears"!  

Meanwhile, back on the home front, or rather the back porch, "Blackie" the neighborhood kitty seems to be right at home on our porch chairs.  He has been spending the better part of each day on the porch, sometimes switching from one chair to the others, trying them all out, much like "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears".  ("This one is just right!") LOL.

And then he gets bored with the chairs and moves to the table...

Oops, he saw me!

Seeing me looking at him becomes an invitation to come closer and watch us through the doors:

It's a stare down...He watches our every move...

Trying to send us a message I believe...

Well, it's not going to work, "Black Kitty"...or "Blackie", I'm not giving in...we don't need a house cat.  And the neighbor lady already feeds you every day, and you get to lounge around on our soft cushions all day in the lap of luxury...what more do you want???

"I sure would like to move inside with you..."      Well, it's just not going to happen.  We are not really "cat people", and we don't want to be tied down to having to take care of an animal and then when we want to go places who will take care of it?  Cats aren't like dogs...they don't travel well...so Blackie, please stop trying to make me feel sorry for you!  You are perfectly happy out there watching the birds and catching lizards and moles and frogs, and getting good food every day at the neighbor's house, and lazing around all day on the porch...It's not going to work, so please stop it!  You wouldn't like being cooped up all day in the house, I promise!  To be continued...LOL.

I know if my sister Doris were here she'd be telling me to let the poor kitty in...but she's the cat person in the family, not me!  And besides, what would our Grand-puppies think if they came home from their vacation in Minnesota and discovered that Grandma and Grandpa had a CAT living the house?  They'd be really put out with us! LOL.

Moving right along...I think Blackie is bored now because the Bluebirds seem to have left the nest...

I took this picture today...no one is home! all the babies must have flown the coop, and I never even got to see them! But hopefully they have flown up high to safety with their parents and are enjoying the wild blue yonder!

We do still see the Sand Hill Crane family passing through, and I've noticed them out on the marsh island of the pond at night again, so that's good news.  Still sad that they lost one of the colts, but this one is growing bigger every day and flying high with the parents, so that is good.

And I am so thankful for the rain we've been having pretty consistently lately.  It is helping Still Waters Pond to be refreshed and revived little by little.

Isaiah 43:18-20  NKJV

18 “Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

This is a very dry area in the little canal between our land and the Goose Island.  That used to be filled with water and I could kayak through there.  Won't be able to get around there for a while yet, but it will come back...

See? here is where the waters are starting fill it back up:

It's looking better every day:

19 Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.

And now even the water birds are starting to come back... This Great Blue Heron spent a long time in the pond today, which is the first I've seen of him in quite a while, and there's a little white Egret tagging along beside him, hoping to get the fish the heron doesn't find...

20 The beast of the field will honor Me,

The jackals and the ostriches,

Because I give waters in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert,

To give drink to My people, My chosen.

Not sure if you can see this or not, but there is a dragon fly doing a hand stand for us on that stick in the pond:

See him better now?  There were dragonflies everywhere, eating mosquitoes and bugs as they hovered over the water. They are happy for the pond being restored as well!

There, that's a better view! Isn't he amazing?  One of God's special creatures, showing his thankfulness for a place to live and eat and enjoy the life God has created him for! He even likes to show off for the bystanders!  

John 7:37-38

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Yes, I am very thankful to God for all He has done for us...our healing and restoration of strength day by day...and the rains that are coming to restore the pond and the earth and springing up with new life everywhere, and even a little friend, "Blackie", who helps us to see that he feels safe here on our porch and being close to us.  Maybe we can work out a mutual arrangement that will make everyone happy...time will tell.

Well, it's time to go try to take a little walk this evening. We try to get out every day and increase our distance of walking...we haven't quite made it as far as we normally would go yet, but we do get a little farther each time, so that is progress, and we are very thankful indeed.

I hope you are doing well where you are...and oh, one more thing. Those of you who are blogging friends with Debbi over at Debbi's Front Porch, I am sure she would appreciate your thoughts and prayers right now for her and her hubby. He is experiencing some serious health issues right now, and needs our prayers.  Thank you on their behalf.

Okay, good night everyone! "

1 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;

I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

Psalm 9:1-2