Friday Foto Friends-Porch Sitting Time!

 Here it is Friday Foto Friends day, and I don't have any pictures worth sharing! What's up with that?  Probably because I've spent most of the week just trying to get by with doing the least possible I could do. LOL.  But, thank you everyone for the kind words regarding my headaches, new glasses, etc., etc.  I have started on the medicine that was prescribed for tension headaches. It is actually an antidepressant in a lower dose.  I guess it's supposed to make me feel really good about my headaches! LOL.  Last night was my 2nd night taking it, and actually I am sleeping better, but it's still too early in the morning to tell if I still have a headache or not.  I am working on not being "two tents" (if you read my last post you will understand that. If you didn't get to read it, click on the link so you'll be in the loop! LOL)

When I was at the doctor's office the other day they gave me this little pedometer and told me the goal is to work up to taking 10,000 steps per day! LOL.  So here's where I left off yesterday...which actually isn't correct because I took it off to take a nap and if you leave it sit too long it wipes out your numbers, and then I didn't wear it at all after supper, and we did take another walk...so...it should probably be up around 4500 or more instead of 1500.  I will try to do better today...but it may be a while before I reach 10,000 steps in a day! 

Speaking of walks...when we did take our walk yesterday I kept hearing this sweet little bird song, and so of course I was looking to see what kind of bird was singing above me in the treetops. I actually managed to get a picture of it, and then another when he flew to the ground right in front of me!

These pictures on the ground aren't too clear because he was moving along pretty fast:

And then I realized there were actually two of them!  I believe these are Pine Warblers., and I noticed that one of them had a long piece of pine needle in her mouth when she flew up from the ground, so maybe they are building a nest!  That would be fun to see, but this is out in the woodsy area where we go walking, so I doubt I would ever be able to find their nest. It could be anywhere!

After our evening walk I did a little "porch sitting"...well, more like yard sitting in the porch swing. LOL.  It was so pleasant out last evening, with a cool breeze coming across Still Waters Pond.

The only thing missing was you!  I sat there thinking how nice it would be if our blogging friends could be our porch sitting friends as well...

You know, someone to actually sit beside and swing on the swing, or sit up on the real porch and enjoy a little tea party or just sitting and chatting in person. I miss that. My hubby stuck his head out the door and wondered when I was coming back inside.  I asked him to come outside and sit with me! But he was busy watching a hockey game on tv...I've learned after over almost 53 years of marriage that porch sitting  or swinging just isn't something a man seems to enjoy as much as woman! Once in a while he will come out and sit with me, but only until the first mosquito shows up and then he's "outta there"! 

LOL. But I can't complain...he has many other wonderful qualities and we actually do our best chatting while taking a ride or a walk. I am very thankful to have him and at our age, I don't take that for granted.

But I sat there contemplating how times have changed in our society.  People used to visit one another on their porches and that's where the best conversations could be had. Just relaxing and sitting and chit-chatting about this or that...drinking a cool iced tea or lemonade and simply enjoying being friends and neighbors.

There are "rules" for porch sitting, you know! Of course these mostly apply to when you are porch sitting alone, except for the "conversing" part on the list. One might think you are a bit touched in the head if you are "conversing" with no one...LOL.

However, I will say that I often have the best "conversations" with God while sitting out in my porch swing.  It's kind of like the chorus to the familiar beloved old hymn< "In The Garden"...

1 I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

2 He speaks, and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing.

 [Refrain]

3 I'd stay in the garden with Him

Tho' the night around me be falling;

But He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe,

His voice to me is calling. 

[Refrain]

Well, friends, I guess I came up with a few things to share.  I am thankful for you and that we do have this way of conversing with one another. It's almost as good as sitting in a swing together and visiting face to face.  It would be wonderful to actually be able to do that someday, but until we can, I thank the Lord for this time of "porch sitting" that we do have.

Have a blessed and beautiful day! And thank you again for your prayers and kind thoughts! Oh, btw, my new glasses seem to be doing fine. I am adjusting to them better each day.  And I am praying that my headaches will soon be a thing of the past. One day at a time!  God is Good, All the Time God is good!

Back "Porch" Living!

Remember I told you HERE last week that our handyman "Billy" was working on a major project on our back deck...Well, work he has done all week/weekend long, and today I think the "project" is finally finished!

This is a "before picture" of our deck, before anything was done. We had this deck built last summer before we moved into our house so we would have a back entrance into the house and also have a place to sit and watch the activities on "Still Waters Pond".

 

And we certainly have enjoyed it. You've seen many pictures throughout the year of the geese, herons, sunsets, etc. But what you haven't probably noticed is that the afternoon sun gets extremely bright on our back deck, as it faces west.  And the backside of our house gets extremely hot from the hot sun beating down on it all afternoon, with no shade to break the sun's rays. We end up having to close our blinds for most of the afternoon, which spoils the whole purpose for living on the pond in the first place.

Our electric bill this summer was much higher than we anticipated, and we think it is because of the constant radiant heat bearing down on the house, causing the air conditioning to run constantly. Yes, we do live in Florida, so that is par for the course. But enough is enough!

And so, when we met "Billy" the handyman and he said that he could build us a roof over our deck, we decided to take him up on it, and this would be an "Anniversary Gift" to each other and to our house, since we just had our 51st wedding anniversary and we also celebrated our one year anniversary of living here in this house!

Here is Billy and one of his sons, who came to help "Pops" do the job.

They worked diligently in the blistering sun all weekend long to get this job done.

It was exciting to see the difference it made already as each panel of the metal roof was added. I was sitting inside in my little den looking out the window and could feel the difference right away...

We did leave one section open at this end so that we can use our BBQ grill on the deck and not have to worry about burning the roof down!

And here is the finished roof! Complete with two ceiling fans w/lights!  

And now I can stand under the shade and look out at the pond! 

And this is looking out from our living room through the glass doors, which now we don't have to cover in the middle of the day!  There may be times when the glare is too bright off the pond and we may still have to close the blinds for a little while, but we can tell a difference in the heat against the windows and the wall already!! Hooray!! Mission Accomplished!

I will post more pictures when we finish  setting up our deck , I mean porch furniture and adding some homey, comfy touches. (I think by adding the roof we can now call it a "porch" instead of a deck,  right? I like the sound of a "porch" so much better.)  We are debating also about painting or staining, but that will come later on. In the meantime, we are just rejoicing in having this wonderful shady spot...and can't wait for fall so we can really enjoy it!  (the heat and humidity are still a bit too high to spend too much time out there right now, but fall is coming!)

Thinking about the sun and the shade reminds me of these verses from Psalm 121

5.  "The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6.  The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7.  The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8.  The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

from this time forth, and even forevermore."

Good Night my friends!

Sweet Dreams!

Friday Foto Friends: Just a Country Porch Will Do...UPDATED 8-24-2017

Hello Friday Foto Friends!  I didn't have any new pictures to share this week, 

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: 

Since I wrote this last night we had some "Breaking News" early this morning...PUN intended:

Around 6:30 a.m. our son was getting ready for work and heard a crashing, tearing sound at the end of our back courtyard.  You know, the area where we recently put up a brand new fence? 

Well, it was still kind of dark, so it was difficult to see what was going on...but after waking up my hubby, the two fearless warriors stepped out into the yard to see what was the matter. Apparently they scared the intruder away...but upon further inspection it was quite obvious that we had a bear trying to tear his way into our courtyard:

 It is not quite yet understood if this was an attempted "kidnapping" of the little girl in the garden...

 Or merely an attempt of a hungry bear to snatch a few paws full of bird seed and run:

Upon further investigation of our security wildlife camera we found pictures of this character hanging around the watering hole earlier this week:

So we are on high alert for the would-be kidnapper/birdseed thief...and have taken extra precautions to prevent such a terrible crime from happening again. 

(Note to birds: Bird Feeder will be removed from garden until further notice)

We now return you to your previously scheduled programming:

(Written last night 8/24/17)

So thought I'd go back in time and share one of my favorite old posts, originally written in 2013, updated again in 2015, and now brought up to date again for 2017.  As I write this it is really too hot to sit out on the porch, but hopefully fall will come early and we'll be able to enjoy this lovely place again!

How many of you would love a porch like this?????   ( Original Post 5/17/2013:)

No, this isn't a picture of my front porch..yet...but it is a picture of what I'd love to have for a front porch someday!   (copied from Pinterest)


This was our porch in the fall of 2012

This was the  porch at Christmas  2012:

Looking out from the porch in winter (we live in Florida...)  2013

And this was our porch in the spring of 2013:

And THIS is ONE of the inhabitants of our porch in spring!  Isn't he charming?

He started to show us his "colors", note the red throaty look peeping out from under his chin...He thinks we want to get cozy with him...or he may think we want to fight...

On  5/17/2013 I wrote the following with the picture below:  Someday I hope to add on to our porch to stretch it out to cover the front door and level up the floor, so it will be very similar to the porch shown at the top of the page:       

(Our porch in 2013)

When we first moved to this house in 2012, there was no porch at all: 

No Porch, no flowers or shrubs...and lots of bright, hot sun in the afternoon (western exposure)  Thank the Lord for those sycamore trees in the summertime...but they are bare all winter...
and it still gets pretty hot out there!

I wrote in May of 2013:  "So, as you can see, we HAVE made some progress in the 1 &1/2 years since we moved to our "Camp in the Woods" house in 2012.  I figure if we can add a section of porch per year, by the time we live here 5 years, we should have a porch all the way across the front!  That would be my dream porch...but I'll settle for a porch across the front door and maybe the two living room windows. It doesn't have to be fancy...just a country porch will do..."

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I guess I wanted to share my little "dream porch" with you.  You already heard about my little "dream cabin" that I want to build someday...

Why?  My real dream is to have the kind of place where people love to sit a spell and visit...you know what I mean...a rocking chair and a swing on the porch...just sit back, relax, watch the birds, bears, and lizards...and ENJOY being together...like the good old days. 

I suppose this isn't the first time I've told you about this front porch idea.  Click on this link for more thoughts on this topic and some pictures of some of the wildlife viewed from the front porch:  "Life Is So Much Better from a Front Porch"   

It's that time of year when life IS so much better viewed from a front porch...I find it difficult to come back inside each evening...but the porch is where I often get the inspiration I need to come back inside and write to you...so here I am!  (UPDATE: I originally wrote this in May of 2013...yes, spring, fall, and winter are the best times to sit on our front porch. Summer is just too hot...so I am looking forward to fall now as I write this in late August 2017)

I hope you will come sit on my front porch with me again sometime.  The best time of day is early in the morning when the birds are just waking up, and then in the early evening, as the sun goes down behind the trees and the birds sing their last songs of the day as they gather in their food for the night and settle back into their little nests hidden among the trees surrounding us.

Afterthoughts:  Where do YOU like to go to relax in the early mornings, evenings, or during the day if you are home?  Or, if you work, do you have a special place where you can take a mini-vacation break to rest for a few minutes away from the computer, phone and busy-ness of the day?  If you don't have such a place in your life now, look for one...create a space just for you and your mate, friends, neighbors, or you alone...a place to reflect, rest, and re-create...and listen to the sounds of God's world around you. Ahhhhh....just breathe!  (that was a "Calgon take me away" moment, created just for you and me.)
Blessings to you today....

NOW FOR THE UPDATE, 8/24/2017:

This picture of the front of our house was taken in 2015..quite a difference!

In the early months of 2015 we finally added this section of the front porch...and today I can say that my dreams of a large country porch are finally coming true!

(Pictures taken in February of 2015, hence the trees are bare)

I wrote this in February, 2015: "And just a couple of hours ago, all these chairs were filled with happy people, sitting and talking and laughing and enjoying a warm, sunny February afternoon in Florida!  I neglected to take any pictures while our friends were here...but that's okay...the echos of laughter still remain in my heart and memory...and I wanted to write about it before it slipped away.  I don't think it will soon dissipate in my mind...it was such a glorious time of sweet fellowship with dear friends who have been with us throughout the years during good times and hard times....the kind of friends who love unconditionally...and bring hugs and smiles and food and willing hands to help in time of need...the very best kind of friends to have.  It was very fitting that they should be the first to celebrate our new porch with us."

Now I hope someday YOU will come and sit a spell with us too!

Click on picture to go to "Ben's Country Woodshop", Creator of these signs

Y'all Come!

This picture was taken this evening, 8/24/17...looks a little messy right now, but just as soon as it cools down I hope to be spending a lot more time out here again.
Sure wish you'd come and sit a spell!

We could have tea time together!!

Don't worry, we'll make sure the bears aren't invited to our tea-party!!

Okay, now hop on over to Deb's front porch at Breathing In Grace and check out what our other Friday Foto Friends are sharing!  Have a blessed a glorious day! 

I Saw the Light!

I know some of you are probably wondering what this picture is all about.  It is rather unusual, isn't it?  Well, that is the new view from my front porch.  One evening as I was relaxing and rocking in my new rocking chair,

my eyes were suddenly blinded by this bright light shining through the trees.

 I thought to myself, "Hmmm, that's never happened before in this spot. Something is different!"  After a few minutes of exploration in the wooded area directly in front of the porch, I discovered that an old tree had blown down, which knocked over another smaller tree, causing its leafy abundance to be pinned to the ground and creating an empty spot in the foliage where it once stood. Even though we removed the dead tree from the top of the young tree, it was too late to save it.

Quite frankly, I am not too happy about this new vista from my porch, as it truly does leave an opening for the evening sun to shine rather too brightly and directly into my line of sight.  This is somewhat annoying to me...it has disturbed my peaceful, secluded and shady haven where I try to unwind and relax at the end of a stressful day.  I mean, I've worked so hard to create this space so I can sit here and watch the birds, listen to the sounds of nature surrounding me...and now this extremely bright shaft of evening sunlight is piercing through the cool shadows of dusk and infiltrating my serenity with an unsettling aura of blazing glaring light.  

What to do, what to do?  I cannot replace the tree that quickly....and I certainly don't want to hang some kind of shade to obscure the light, as that would block out other lovely trees as well, and I might miss a bird flitting to and fro as it gathers its last seeds of the evening before retiring for the night. 

I know some of you are probably saying, "She thinks she has problems? Hasn't she noticed that the world is in chaos and people are being flooded out of their homes and would love to see the light of day...others are dying, starving, hurting...and she's worried about the sunlight bothering her as she rocks on her porch?"  Yes, I have noticed...part of the reason I love to sit on the porch in the evening is to avoid watching the evening news. But that's another whole subject. (Added note: I not only NOTICE the news of the world and country, but I often use this time on the porch to pray for those affected. I am not ignoring their plight...but prayer is the only real weapon I have that can do anything about it right now.)

There must be some kind of lesson here for me...and as I've been writing this, I've been asking the Lord just what this is all about.  The message I'm hearing in my heart is this:

"I don't want you to get too comfortable or shut away from the rest of the world entirely.  I still have work for you to do.  There are people who need the light that you possess."

II Corinthians 4:6-7 says,

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."

See, I've been wanting more and more to get ready to "retire" and to sit back and enjoy life for awhile.  There is nothing wrong with that...I've certainly earned it.  (even if there is no money to back it up).  But I think what I am hearing is that my so-called retirement, when it ever comes, will not be one of just fun and games and doing what I want to do. I'm not supposed to get too comfortable in my rocking chair on the front porch and watch the world go by.  God has opened a new window of light to get my focused attention on Him and His plan.  I don't know exactly what that plan is today, but I have a feeling that it will be revealed in due time.  Meanwhile, I'll just get some sunglasses to wear while I rock on the porch and follow the rest of the "Porch Rules"...

Please pray or sing the words to this old familiar hymn with me:

"Open my eyes, that I may see

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear

Voices of truth Thou sendest clear;

And while the wave-notes fall on my ear,

Everything false will disappear.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready my God, Thy will to see;

Open my ears, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear

Gladly the warm truth everywhere;

Open my heart, and let me prepare

Love with Thy children thus to share.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready my God, Thy will to see;

Open my heart, illumine me, 

Spirit divine!

Written by Charles H. Scott, 1923

Yes, Lord, "Silently now I wait for Thee...Ready my God, Thy will to see; Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine!"  AMEN.

Life is so much better viewed from a front porch...

Hey! Something new has been added!!

Since moving to the forest we have been enjoying so many new and exciting things.  We've had delightful views from our "open window"....I've shared many with you in past posts...and some you may not have seen yet, like this adorable "teddy bear" that came calling one afternoon recently in search of water and food.   

This hungry little bear cub was contemplating whether

or not he should attempt helping himself to the

birdseed in our feeder...

(Remember you can click on each picture to enlarge for viewing)

He was playing "peek-a-boo" with us as we watched

him from our kitchen window as he helped himself to all of the 

remaining birdseed.

But one thing has been lacking that I have been longing for...a front porch.  Granted, we already have a nice front patio, but it sits right in the glaring hot sun on the western front of our home.  The afternoon heat and bright sunlight is almost unbearable some days, and we have to keep our blinds tightly closed in the one room that I want to enjoy the view in the evening from the most...our dining room. 

Ever since we moved to this house we have been discussing the how-to's and why-for's and saving toward adding the new porch.  Finally after suffering through many extremely hot afternoons and feeling the heat coming through the closed blinds causing our thermostat to constantly kick on the air conditioning, we decided enough was enough.  In the name of being energy conscious and saving precious money on our electric bills, we contacted our handy-man builder friend and put him to work building the porch roof.  That is all that it is for now...but we do hope to eventually screen in the porch and make it more "user friendly" during the buggy season here in tropical Florida...which is most of the year.

The addition of this porch has already provided some very interesting new vistas, safe from behind our glass doors:

 The first night after the installation of the porch we were given quite a treat:


I will post a series of pictures here of not one, not two, not three, but a total of five different bears who made their appearance in one evening in our front yard.  Please be assured that all of these pictures were taken from within the safety of our house. We were not out on the open porch, but I first noticed the bears coming into the front yard as I sat inside the dining room behind the glass doors, with the blinds now open instead of closed to keep out the heat and sun...and two nights in a row we were treated to this parade of bears.  The first night we only saw two bears, the large mother and one cub.  But the next night it was one bear right after the other.  They have been apparently using our yard as a crossing zone for many years, according to what I have since learned, but we have never seen them before because they always came after dark...or so we thought.  However, now that we have been able to keep the blinds open in the late afternoon and evening, we are discovering new things that we might have been missing all along!

I hope you will enjoy the new view from my "open window-porch" along with me...

This young bear came alone first, and made his

way from the front yard all the way through to our

back yard and back into the woods.

Next, this HUGE Mother bear and one of her cubs came into view

They sniffed their way through the yard, no doubt smelling
the first young bear who had passed through not more
than 10 minutes earlier.  They also sauntered through
our yard from front to back, but made a detour mid way and
entered the woods in a different opening than the first bear.

This was the 2nd young bear, with the mother following. Note

the white V on his chest. I will be watching for that again.

This was the mother, following the previous young cub. She

was very large...I am certain she would top 6-7 feet tall and over 300 lbs.

I will definitely stay out of her way!

A few minutes later this other young cub showed up...not sure

if he belongs to the same mother, but he did follow their trail

and took the same detour into the woods.

About 15 minutes later another cub came into the yard,

but this one came from a totally different direction, and he sniffed

around the front yard for a minute or two, and then decided

to head back off in the same direction from whence he had arrived.

There he goes...hot footing it back home! I guess he

doesn't belong with the rest of the clan!

I feel like our new covered front porch has already more than paid for itself, in that it has provided us with some wonderful new "friends"...not exactly the kind of friends we were anticipating meeting from our front porch, but some of God's wonderful creation, none the less! Yes, we know all the concerns and precautions to take regarding our safety when it comes to living in close proximity to these magnificent creatures.  We no longer leave our bird feeder out where any bear can reach it, cute or not.  Little bears grow up into big bears, and we don't want to encourage them to seek food at our house.  We still feed our birds from our fence-enclosed courtyard in the back yard, and make sure that it is always removed before dark.  The birds were a bit confused at first, but they found it just fine and are enjoying their new feeding location.

I feel quite privileged and humbled to be a witness to this part of God's creation.  Thank you, Lord, for all Your creatures great and small!

And yes, life is much better viewed from a front porch...wherever your "porch", or "open window" may be, open up the blinds (or perhaps the "blinders"?) and look outside and ask the Lord to bring something (or someone) special into your view.  It may not be a Mama Bear and her cubs...but it may be something (or someone) of even greater lasting value.  Just open your eyes ( and heart and mind?)  and look. You may be surprised what you will discover.