Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends Again!

 It seems like only yesterday that it was Thursday and Friday...but a whole week has gone by, and oh! What a HOT week it has been!! After last week's cooler rainy days and nights we have been thrust into the heat of summer overnight it seems. Our temperatures have been in the high 90's every day. 

This was the outside temp a few minutes ago when we went for a ride.

 Every day this week we have thanked the Lord that our air conditioner chose to die last week instead of this week, and we have had our new AC system working beautifully all week long for this very hot weather. God's timing is always perfect!!

However, one thing that was a little inconvenient this week was that our community water department decided to do a system cleaning, and so our water was shut off all day Tuesday, and then we have been under a "boil water alert" ever since.  When you are hot and thirsty it can be a bit of a pain to not have access to potable water from your faucets and not be able to use the icemaker in the refrigerator!  But thankfully, just a few moments ago, this arrived on our door:

(never mind the typo in bold print..."Boll Water Notice") Lol. We're just glad it's over)

So now things are pretty much back to normal, even though it is still so very very hot!

But we found a way to beat the heat this afternoon:

Oh wait! First...another blessing to add to my thankfulness list:

Our kids Benton and Rose made it home from their vacation safely Tuesday night. We sure are happy to have them back home again! And so that brings me to what we did this afternoon to beat the heat:

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago HERE that progress was coming to our little town, and that soon we would have a place for burgers and milkshakes:

The owners of our favorite BBQ place, Hog Wild Country Cafe', have bought this other location for a burger and shakes place.

They've kind of been having a little difficulty in getting things going due to county inspection slowdowns (not their fault), so they still can't serve the hamburgers, etc., but they are open for 

ice-cream.

We decided to go pay them a visit this afternoon and meet our "kids" there for some ice cream.  Hubby discovered that they also have toys and fun things for sale:

Here's our sweet DIL Rose deciding what she wants to order:

I found something I wanted, and asked for a cup of ice-cream to go with it for a Root Beer Float!

Benton and Rose decided on a chocolate milkshake for him and a ice cream cone for her:

And here I am with my Root Beer Float.  Hubby decided he didn't want to spoil his supper so he just came for moral support while we indulged in our ice cream treats. LOL.

It was really yummy and refreshing.  Even though the treats seemed a little "pricey" (the owner explained the cost of all things dairy went up considerably just since the time they decided to open this business), it was still worth the time and energy to go and cool off and spend some fun time together with our kids. We sure have missed them!  As a matter of fact, we had them over to our house last night for supper, and they brought the grandpuppies Sugar and Spice, who were very happy to finally come back to Grandpa and Grandma's house after so long. But I didn't get any pictures of them, I guess because I was just too busy enjoying having them all here again.

One picture I did take before they arrived was this:

I baked this lemon-blueberry cake for dessert. It's actually Rose's recipe, but she didn't have time to bake anything since they had just gotten home from their trip and I didn't want her to have to make anything.

We had a pork loin roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked maple glazed carrots and green peas for supper. It was all very yummy, especially because we were all together again. Even a peanut butter sandwich tastes better with loved ones to share it with. LOL.

So what else is going on?

Well, in the bird kingdom here on Still Waters Pond there seems to be some changes going on.

This is Mrs. Bluebird last week.  This week Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird seem to have abandoned this nest. At least I haven't seen them around for a couple of days. I never saw any babies ready to fledge, so I am thinking something went wrong and maybe the high heat has caused these eggs to not develop properly and so Mom and Dad have gone away. I haven't looked inside the birdhouse yet to see what's there. I will wait another couple of days to be sure they don't come back first.

  

But in the meantime another couple have started checking out the other birdhouse again. I think it's probably the same couple who were there earlier in the spring, as they tend to come back again for their 2nd brood a couple of months after the first batch leaves the nest.  Here's Mr. Bluebird checking out the house:

What's funny is all the while he is inspecting the house he is chattering away in bluebird talk, apparently talking to Mrs. Bluebird, who is up in the tree and out of my view.

I can hear her chattering back, and it is literally like they are having a conversation with each other about the merits of this house.

You can tell he is giving it a very careful inspection, and she's probably telling him to be sure and check for leaks and air flow and safety issues.

He does not overlook a thing.

He inspects the roof:

And then sticks his head inside, and he did actually go inside and come back out after a minute or two.

Again, he keeps chattering away in a sing-song conversation. I wish I could tell what they were saying, but it seems logical to me that it is all about whether or not they should set up housekeeping here once again.

Here he is on the tip top of the pole, staking his claim on this piece of property. I think he likes that it has a nice view of Still Waters Pond, and hopefully they can catch a cool breeze now and then.

I half expect to see the moving van coming tomorrow to bring all their worldly goods. LOL. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Well, I will close with these thoughts from a little devotional calendar from earlier this week:

Psalm 119:105 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Seeing this also  reminded me of the poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Lamplighter":

This came from my very favorite old book from my childhood:

This also reminds me of another verse, from the most favorite book of my whole life, The Bible:

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

And with those thoughts I will leave you for today.  May we always strive to be that light that is shining before men and women, to give glory to God for Who He is and all He has done for us!  Amen.

Friday Foto Friends...I'm a bit late!

 Good Afternoon Friends! Here it is Friday already, and I haven't posted any Friday Fotos for my friends yet! Sorry! I was hoping to have more to share than what I do have, but it just didn't come together, so it is what it is.  I'll keep watching out my room with a view while I write, and if I see anything photo-worthy, I will let you know. Meanwhile, here's what I've got:

A few days ago, while on our morning walk, I was enjoying the remaining wild plum blossoms on the trees scattered about through the wooded lots...

Hard to believe something so beautiful would be growing on something that looks like this:

I call this the Isaiah 61:3 tree...

"To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

 

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Rather fitting, don't you agree?

Later I spied these beautiful redbuds blooming on the redbud tree next to the beauty salon where I go to get my hair cut...(and yes, I did go get my hair cut...believe me, it needed it badly)...but aren't these lovely?

What was once just a bare ugly looking twiggy kind of tree all winter suddenly has burst forth with such beauty!

Yes, it is still February,

And I expect for most of you reading this it may still look a lot more like this:

And really and truly, even here in Florida it doesn't quite look like this yet:

But I do love that picture, don't you? Looks like a garden of hope and serenity and peace...

(I love this Thomas Kinkade calendar, and was surprised when I opened it up that it had these wonderful Bible verses on each page!)

But today it is 81 degrees here in Florida, (and I just heard our AC kick on) and here's what's actually growing in my "secret memorial garden" right now...these little azalea bushes that I planted last year had these buds on them the other day when we were expecting that big freeze. So my son covered them up for me with old sheets so they wouldn't get frozen...

And here is how they look today:

Here's a close up...aren't they sweet little ruffled edged azaleas?  I love them so much and am so happy we were able to save them from getting frozen:

Although azaleas are pretty hearty and usually do weather the bad the weather fairly well...but I'm glad we took care of them.

However, we are expecting a cold front to move in tonight, with a lot of rain and the temperatures will drop down in the low 40's over night and our high tomorrow will be around 63, so "old man winter" isn't quite done for us yet either.  I know that's no consolation for those of you digging out from under a couple of feet of snow today...I'm sorry. But I hope you enjoy the pictures anyway.

Now, the other day I saw this over around the bend in Still Waters Pond, and that's about how it looked to me without my zoom lens.  I actually thought it might be that alligator that someone said he saw in our pond (but that I've never seen or heard and doubt seriously the veracity of his discovery)...I mean it does kind of look like an alligator sunning himself on an old broken down dock...

So I zoomed in and focused my camera a bit better, and this is what it was:

Just a shadow and old dark wood. No alligator! Whew! I am quite relieved!!  But isn't it funny how our eyes can play tricks on us and make us believe things that may not be totally correct?

Now, if you focus your eyes really closely on this picture, you just might see two Canada Geese flying over Still Waters Pond early this morning, and you would be correct:

They were moving so fast that they are just a blur of wings and bodies, but they were sure making a racket, yelling out their goose call as they flew over the house and away for the day to wherever they go and then come back here again at night. I waved at them as they flew over the top of our house. I think they actually did wave back...but then again, my eyes could have deceived me a little bit. LOL.

Okay, let's shift gears a bit. Some of you may be wondering how my appointment at the Orthopedic Doctor's office was yesterday.  Well, it was interesting and good.  He did confirm that I do have "Adhesive Capsulitis" of the right shoulder, A.K.A. "Frozen Shoulder".  My options were to just keep going to PT and see if it gets better, or to have a shot of cortisone in the shoulder right then and there to see if that will help, but still continue the PT.  I opted to go ahead and have the shot, which was very interesting.  In fact, it was so interesting I thought you might want to see for yourself:

This was the ultrasound picture of my shoulder and muscle area where he injected the shot, while watching the needle go in on the ultrasound. I was able to watch it too, and it really didn't hurt much at all.  As a matter of fact, if you read the Dr.'s notes above that I included, you will see that he said "The patient tolerated the procedure well."  I wish I could say the pain in my shoulder went away right away and that everything is just great, but it will still take some time to do its work. I am trying to be a good patient.

So, since I was such a good girl, hubby rewarded me with a trip to the local Cracker Barrel for lunch since we were already pretty close to it (and also because we had a gift card for it that was a Christmas gift).

Thursday's special was turkey and dressing and sweet potato casserole, with cranberry sauce! That's what I had, and it sure was good.  Hubby had the hamburger steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. He said it was good too.

But what I was more interested in was his plate!  Look at that beautiful blue and white flowered plate! I've never seen that one before at Cracker Barrel, and I don't know how he rated to have such a pretty plate when mine was such a plain old white restaurant ware boring plate!  I looked around at other tables and didn't see anyone else with this beautiful plate! 

Maybe the effect of the steroids were already affecting me, but I just had to have another picture of that plate! LOL. This was after he finished eating, sorry it's kind of messy, but that was the best I could do without a dishcloth! LOL.

I actually considered asking the waitress if I could just take it home with me, but that would have been a little too crazy, even for me. I did look at the bottom of it to see where it came from...it's a Corona Hotelware plate, made in Colombia. I looked online and couldn't find this exact same thing, but what I did find was too expensive to even consider, so that's that. I don't need another plate anyway...but I just really liked this plate! LOL.

Okay, I think I've finally come to the end of my pictures for today. 

I hope you enjoyed this little walk through the garden and around the pond and even into the Doctor's office with me, but most of all this lovely dirty blue and white plate! LOL. I need to come up with something better for a more suitable ending to this post...

Oh, I almost forgot!

I know you've seen pictures of my kitchen cabinets many times before (and you see why I like blue and white dishes, btw).  Well anyway, yesterday afternoon one of these lovely cabinet doors almost killed me...well, not quite, but it was a very close call!

I opened up this door to put some dishes away, and the glass panel fell out almost on top of my head and landed on the counter below and did not even break!

(this picture shows it being held in place by a clamp after being glued back to the door)

It was a very close call! If that glass had hit me in the face and broke, it could have been quite a terrible thing.  As it was, it landed on my sweet little birdie that was sitting there so innocently with her lovely spring bonnet, and it broke off her tail completely! Thankfully it was a clean break, and I was able to super glue it back on and she is just fine now and so thankful to be back in one piece.

And I am very very thankful that the glass did not break over my head or on my face or hands...it could have been quite disastrous. I praise God for His protection over me, and it reminds me that 

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me".  The little "sparrow" did get hurt, but not mortally. He was fixable.  And this "little sparrow", me, did not get hurt, not even a scratch, and I praise God for sparing me what could have been terrible. And after some super silicone glue to reattach the glass to the door, and one of my hubby's super clamps, the door is as good as new today. Praise God for small miracles!!!

Okay, that's all folks. I hope you have a blessed and wonderful weekend. Stay warm and safe.

Friday Foto Friends~Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Good Morning Friends! I hope this first week of the new year has brought you joy and many blessings. 

I've tried to spend a little more time out on the porch or in the yard, getting some fresh air and contemplating life from the porch swing.

I've had a few "minor" health issues lately, minor in that I do not consider them to be life threatening, praise God, but just something to deal with and pray for God's intervention and healing. I find that when I seek God's will and direction for my life most of all, He helps me to cope with whatever kinds of issues come my way with trust and faith.   There's that word again..."delight"...

"I delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is within my heart.”

Psalm 40:8

I told my hubby it was time for a little road trip through the forest to see what we could see and go meet some family/friends for lunch on the other side of the woods.  I was hoping to see a bear as we traveled and had my camera ready just in case, but alas! The only bear I saw was this big old fella at the restaurant where we met our friends for a little late "Christmas" visit.

This bear was quite tame and friendly, and I had no problem giving him a "bear hug".

I neglected to take any pictures of our friends, (actually it was my hubby's brother and wife, and a mutual friend of ours that we always try to see during the holidays and exchange some gifts)

But while we were waiting in the lobby of "The Mason Jar" restaurant for them to arrive, I took a few pictures of the pictures on the wall that you may find interesting. I know I did. 

This one was interesting to me because this was the Lake County (FL) Sheriff's Department back in 1956.  A few years after this my mother became a secretary in this office and she worked with all these deputies and sheriff, and I remember many of them. This picture was taken in front of the courthouse where she worked.

This was one of the deputies. Take a look at that car! 1957 Plymouth, I think.

Now, this was a bit before our time, but it shows how life was here in this part of Florida back in the late 1800's or early 1900's.  Yes, that man is sitting on top of an alligator!

And this old fella had quite an interesting set up for going hunting in the Ocala National Forest, with his trusty hunting dog beside him. That deer looks like he is posing for that picture, but I don't really think so. No self-respecting deer would ever sit like that.  Although I may feel sorry for the deer, I know that hunting has always been a way of life and feeding your family here in these parts of the woods. People depending on having venison to survive back in the day, and the woods were full of deer. They still are today...just drive down through the forest at night and you will have to be careful not to hit one when they leap across the road in front of you.

Okay, now on to some fun.  You may remember I told you about Mark the Moose HERE last week.  Well, this friend that we went to visit with yesterday loves to give "interesting and fun gifts". You may also recall when I shared pictures of a previous gift, The Alpaca wool "nesting globe", that I received in the mail from my friend.  I may have told you that she also is the friend who loves to exchange pink flamingoes with me. Well...looks like "Mark the Moose" has a new dancing partner:

(I guess I should have staged this photo a little better...now you see the REAL dining room table, littered with mail and a salt shaker turned over on its side when I tried to move things out of the way for this wonderful "show"! LOL)

You must click on this video to get the full "delight" of this gift.  The flamingo is singing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". And of course, Mark the Moose is just singing his song too...

Oh yes, I was "delighted" with this gift! LOL. And so was my hubby. LOL.

Well, sometimes girls do just want to have fun. And I did have fun yesterday. It did me good to get out of the house and on the road and to see some "fun" people. 

And so I must bring this to a close so I can get a move on for today.  But first here is a sunset from the other night that I thought was pretty.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Psalm 119:105

 

When we seek God first and foremost in our lives, He gives us light and joy (and delight) for each day.

Oh, and I don't know if you can see them or not, but the Sand Hill cranes were over on that little marsh island in Still Waters Pond, dancing around like Pinky Flamingo and Mark the Moose.

"Girls just want to have fun!"

Okay, that's all folks!

Have a blessed Friday and weekend.