Saturday Hurrahs!

 It's the first Saturday in October, and I want to give it a big HURRAH!!! It's raining, it's pouring, and most likely the old man and woman are snoring, or will be soon enough! It's a great day for a nap. I love to sleep when it's raining, don't you?  Our porch kitties sure do! 

 

You really can't see the raindrops very well in these pictures, but trust me, it's coming on down!

You can see the rain a little better here:

The wind has been gusting and blowing the rain, and still the kitties sleep on in perfect peace.

I think the kitties can sleep through the storm because they know their Creator,  the Master of the wind and sea...

Mark 4:35-41 NKJV

35 On the same day, when evening had come, He (Jesus) said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 

37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 

38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 

40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 

41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Oh that we could have such perfect peace and trust as these creatures do. Sometimes I believe the creatures are more in tune with their Maker than we humans are...just a thought...what do you think?

A little earlier this morning we took a country ride before the rains started.  We were surprised to see this gorgeous creature strutting down the road:

I kept snapping pictures in hopes that he would show off his beautiful tail feathers, but he was in too big of a hurry to get out of the road:

I do believe peacock blue is one of my most favorite colors:

He eventually went on into the woods and back to wherever he lives, but OH! What a lovely sight to see today on this rather dark and cloudy, rainy day!  This was definitely a bright spot and a big "HURRAH".

This was the sunrise this morning...another "Hurrah!"

Another "Hurrah" was yesterday when I went to the mailbox and found a package in it addressed to me.  It was this beautiful fall top, which is a "belated" birthday gift from my sweet and thoughtful sister in law Peggy.  When we were together for my actual birthday, she was wearing a top just like this one, and she told me then that she wanted to get one for me but couldn't find another one in my size.  Actually, that was a good thing, because she was thinking  I needed a smaller size, and when I told her that I really needed a large, she said she would still try to find one for me, but I really wasn't expecting that she would.  Well, here it is!! And I LOVE it! It will be a great addition to my fall wardrobe and I will probably wear it everywhere for the next two months (Oct.-Nov)!  

Here's a picture of Peggy wearing her top when we met for lunch on my birthday:

So now if we go anywhere together during the fall months, we will be twins. LOL. What a nice surprise, and another big "Hurrah!"

These Rose of Sharon flowers are really blooming nicely and enjoying the cooler days and nights lately! Hurrah!

Just some pretty goldenrod blooming down by the "pond":  Hurrah!

And my sweet kitties last evening came down to enjoy the beautiful evening with me. They stayed right beside me while I walked around looking at flowers and things...and then they raced me back to the steps to see who could get up the steps to the porch the fastest! They won that race for sure, but it was such fun having them being so playful and sweet.

HURRAH!!

Psalm 150:6 NKJV

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

"Let Heaven and Nature Sing" Again!

 People have asked where I was going to put this sign in our new house. It used to be the banner picture for my blog until we moved here. (For more history about this sign, go back and visit HERE) It has taken some time to be sure exactly where I wanted to put it. To me, it needed to be over a window that speaks to the subject. Although this particular window in my little den is rather small, it is where I sit to write to you and I can view "heaven and nature" singing all day long, and so this is the place that answered the call. Here on this wall I have put some of my favorite nature photos from our previous home, as well as the little cross-stitched plaque that reads, "When God closes a door, He opens a Window"...the inspiration for this blog (you can read more about that HERE). 

And so now that that is settled, I can relax and begin to enjoy all the beauty and joy of "heaven and nature singing" all around me.

One thing that is different here at our new house is we don't really have a good place to walk right in our own neighborhood like we used to. Hubby and I used to faithfully take a walk every morning and evening on our old road, because it was a quiet, peaceful walk through the woods, and nature abounded on all sides.  Here we have more neighbors, more traffic, and not much to look at of real beauty outside of our own back yard and pond.  So we decided we needed to find a place to take regular walks before we get too much out of shape! If you will recall, this past summer while we were waiting to move into our current home, we were staying at our church's parsonage temporarily.  That house is located on a quiet street with more woods surrounding it, and it was a good place to walk. It is about two or three miles from our new house, but not too far to take a little ride over in the mornings and take a walk...so that is what we decided to start doing.  Here are a few pictures from what we saw while on our walks:

 I absolutely love seeing the fall wildflowers blooming all through the woods and along the roads.

And then we came to a spot where someone had abandoned this boat...in the middle of the woods, away from water...no houses around...someone apparently just decided this was a good place to dispose of it. Why? I don't know...but if you know someone who would like a "project" boat...

 I know where you could find a couple of them to fix up...

Back to the lovely wildflowers...

Purples and yellows seem to be the color theme for fall wildflowers...

Oh, big foot showed up...actually, that is MY big foot, size nine, next to this giant pine cone!

Back to the flowers again...

There were so many and so lovely that I decided I just had to bring home a bouquet...

 However, I soon discovered that wildflowers do NOT have a delightful fragrance to go along with their natural beauty...and the scents perfuming the air were actually causing me some sinus distress...so out to the deck they went...and eventually I had to put them even further away outside because the odor was so strong we couldn't sit on the deck near them....so I guess that is why they are meant to grow out in the wild, and not in people's gardens!

However, speaking of people's gardens, the "memorial garden" Don Juan Rose bush is at it again...blooming and giving me such joy...and this fragrance is truly heavenly!!!

You may note in the bottom corner of that picture a little bit of my flannel shirt showing...yes!!! It was actually cool enough these past few mornings to put on a flannel shirt while going out for our morning devotions on the deck and then our walk to the woods....Hooray! Fall has finally arrived in Florida!  Today we are getting some much needed rain from that tropical storm that passed through. I hope it isn't doing any serious damage anywhere else. We are very happy for the rain. Our pond was starting to evaporate!! Now it looks much happier.

 This giant blue heron was walking quite close to shore the other day...and I could tell that the water was getting rather shallow by where he was able to walk...

Our resident hawk continues to keep a watchful "hawk eye" on everything that happens around here.

The hawk may have even noticed that we had some lovely visitors pop in for a delightful visit this week:

You may recognize Barb and her "beloved" husband Tom from her blog, "Sweet Tea and Sandals", located HERE.  If you know Barb, you know that she and her hubby love to take little day trips, and they often link up with some of our other blogging friends in the process. We were so blessed to have them visit...this is actually our third visit within the past year! Now that they are located just  a little over an hour away, we hope to get together more often.  We would also welcome other blogging friends to join us! We may have to plan a meeting at a location that would be more central for some of our Florida friends, and have a real "blogging-gab-fest". 

It's always nice when friends go out of their way to make something special for you...this banana nut bread, baked by Barb, was delicious!!! Thank you so much!!!


This was our view the other evening as the sun was going down across the pond. In the early mornings and the evenings we can truly hear "heaven and nature sing" around the pond...in the mornings the birds are eagerly awakening and calling to one another as they seek out their food for the day, and in the evenings the frogs and the cicadas and night birds call out that the evening has come and it is time to settle in safely for the night.

I will close with these words from Psalm 105, which we read in our morning devotions today:

1.  "Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

2.  Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

3.  Glory in His holy name;

Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

4.  Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face forevermore!"

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!"

Psalm 150:6

Have a blessed day, my friends.

Perhaps you can looks for places where you can hear

"heaven and nature sing"...