Happy New Year Everyone!

 Welcoming in the New Year  2021 with "A Fresh Start"...

Sunrise from our front porch on New Year's Day 2021

Sunrise reflections on Still Waters Pond, January 1, 2021

And new calendars...this one is Country Seasons by John Sloane...

And this one is the Teapot & Tea Calendar for 2021 that my sister gives me every year!

I'm a little late getting back into the swing of things here in blogland.  It's been a busy few days of ushering out the old year and welcoming in the new year! But it's all been wonderful.  I will share some highlights of this past week, so then you will understand why I've been a bit absent from visiting with our dear friends here.  Hopefully I will get caught up in the next few days.  I trust that all of you are off to a great start for the New Year. We are ALL praying it will be a much better year than last year in every sense of the word BETTER. 

 So this past week was filled with fun times and visits with loved ones to celebrate Christmas and New Years.  Midweek we met up with my hubby's brother and his family at a lovely park about an hour + away to have a picnic lunch and celebrate Christmas and our daughter in love's birthday together.  (Bear with me on some of the pictures if you are also a Facebook friend. You may have already seen many of these, but I will throw in a few new ones here and there to keep it interesting!)

My sister in law/brother in law were so thoughtful and generous in their gift giving. These are a couple of the more notable gifts that I am enjoying:

This is a "snow-globe" lantern with a cute snowman and cardinals. It lights up and makes a wonderful addition to the pretty cabin scene below, which was a Christmas gift from this same sister in law a couple of years ago:

They also gave me this beautiful Olive Wood Nativity scene, which was hand made by artisans in Bethlehem.  I love it so much.

It was so nice to meet with them and their beautiful family and enjoy this special time together. They live about 2  hours away, so meeting half way at a nice park was a great way to visit on a amazingly warm and beautiful December day!

The next day was New Year's Eve, and that found me busily preparing for another wonderful visit with my sister and her hubby. They decided to drive up on New Year's Eve afternoon to spend the night with us and be with us for both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day! That was a treat that we haven't had in a long time, to actually have my sister in my house overnight and get to have a nice long visit!  I love this Christmas card she gave me:

No, we didn't jump on the bed, but we did have a lot of fun.

Our kids came over and built a fire in the firepit so we could roast some marshmallows and make some s'mores!

My sister enjoyed making s'mores...

and my daughter in love and her sister also enjoyed roasting marshmallows

So much fun!

We actually were able to watch fireworks from our front porch! That was fun, and they actually went on all night long, which wasn't so fun as far as the noise was concerned, but what we got to see was entertaining:

The next morning it was so wonderful to be able to sit on our back porch and have our morning tea together:

And then we actually talked the men into joining us for breakfast on the porch!

We were having such a great time...and the weather was quite comfortable for January 1, 2021!

The Canadian Geese flew in and landed on Still Waters Pond to entertain us while we ate our breakfast:

Here they come, like the Spanish Armada all lined up and quietly swimming in for a closer look:

(If you look real closely, you will see a female Wood Duck in the background swimming around)

They were all having a great time swimming in the pond and pulling up lily pads for breakfast:

This couple kind of stayed at a distance from the rest of the group. Once in a while the males would have a little standoff. I guess they got too close for comfort...

It all made for a very entertaining breakfast!

After breakfast we took our guests for a ride around the historical area of our small town and saw some pretty old houses:

And also saw the lovely red front doors of our little church that we love so much:

We also took them over to visit our son and daughter in love at their "Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop" so they could see first hand how they create all the wonderful woodworking items they sell in their business. I forgot to take pictures, but I have shown some HERE before.

After our tour of the town the family gathered once again for a traditional New Year's Day lunch of black eyed peas and rice ("Hopping John"), cornbread, pulled pork, ham, and various other goodies.

Later in the afternoon my sister and I once again retired to the back porch for a "Hot Tea Party", HOT in that not only was the tea hot, but it was HOT on the porch for January 1st! 80 degrees! But we were determined to enjoy our tea along with a piece of homemade apple pie...

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and sister's hubby wanted to get back home before dark, so off they went around 4:00, and they did make it back home safely before dark. Praise God!

What a wonderful way to spend the last week and days of 2020 and the beginning of the brand new year of 2021!  I BELIEVE (my new One Word for 2021) that God has some wonderful things in store for us in the new year.  Here is what we read in our morning devotions today:

Psalm 98

1.  "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

For He has done marvelous things;

His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.

2.  The Lord has made known His salvation;

His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.

3.  He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4.  Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.

5.  Sing to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of a psalm,

6.  With trumpets and the sound of a horn;

Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.

7.  Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,

the world and those who dwell in it;

8.  Let the rivers clap their hands;

Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,

9.  For He is coming to judge the earth.

With righteousness He shall judge the world,

and the peoples with equity."

This gives us great hope for the new year...I look forward to the ways God is going to make known "His salvation" to all the ends of the earth...and His righteousness that will be revealed in the sight of the nations.   I love knowing that "His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory!"  I BELIEVE we are going to see God doing some very marvelous things in this new year throughout the whole earth...So let us "Sing to the Lord a new song..."  and "Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King!" God is still in control, no matter what the media and the governors and the dictators of this world want us to think.  Our hope is in the Lord, and we can rely on Him to do what is righteous and just when He comes to judge the earth and the world.  Let us approach this new year with great hope and faith. God is in control!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Life All Around Us

As I sat in my "Secret Memorial Garden" the other day, I noticed this male Cardinal in the tree nearby. Picture is a little blurry because he was trying his best to hide from me, but he stayed close by.

Maybe he was protecting his youngsters from this Red Shouldered Hawk, who was doing some hunting on the ground next to the swollen pond...

 I almost missed seeing him. It is amazing what you can see when you just sit quietly for a while and observe nature...and observe life in general...

 Isn't he handsome?

 He flew up into the tree, and then he was watching me!

 Contemplating his next move, I am sure...

 He kept me in his view and then he flew...

 Then I noticed the male Cardinal was back at the birdbath in plain view, imitating Bobby the Squirrel...making like a statue. Perhaps he was also quietly observing life around him.

We took a walk in our woodsy walking place, and I've been noticing some very large mushrooms growing overnight it seems, with all of the rain we've been having.

 This very big, fat, and wet mushroom was wider and bigger than my size 9 shoe.

It was so heavy with moisture that it could barely stand up among the deer moss.

We also discovered this what appeared to be a "Yellow Bellied Slider" turtle crossing the dirt road where we walked.

I believe he is a water turtle, but he was a pretty good distance away from a small lake that was further down the road, and he wasn't headed in that direction. So I don't know where he was going, but I let him go on his way. I figured he knew what he was doing and I certainly didn't.

 I just hope he made it back to safety or wherever he belongs.

I posted this picture of this cut dead tree HERE before, but I wanted to share it again. To me it looks like a baby in utero, waiting to be born, it was cut off before it had a chance to be born.  Sadly, that happens way too often in our society...just another observation about life.

This is a section of that same tree that fell out of the side of the tree when it was cut down...the tree was obviously dead, but these lines tell the story of it's life,

 much like the circles on the tree when it is cut across the trunk.  I wonder what stories the lines/circles of our lives will tell someday?

Again, there was life going on even around that which was considered dead...

And speaking of life: There is MUCH life going on in this bird house!  The parent Tufted Titmouses are very busily going back and forth in and out of this birdhouse, feeding their young...

This is the best action shot I could get of one of the parents either leaving or entering the birdhouse.

There must be a very hungry brood inside, as both parents are extremely busy keeping them well fed these days. I hope I get to see the babies when they come out.

And speaking of hungry...there has been a LOT of water bird activity around our pond now that the rains have come and filled it back up.  This Great Blue Heron is a frequent visitor, and he seems quite pleased with the fresh new places that are available for him to hunt these days.

  Just cruising along, singing a song.  I actually did hear him make quite a loud squawking sound as he lifted up from this position

and flew up to the nearest tree

And then he/she appeared to be bowing for his/her audience, spreading out her "skirt" wings as if in a very formal curtsey to the Queen,

 And then proceeded to stand there on that skinny tree limb just like this for a very long time. I assume he/she was drying out her wings and taking a sunbath, but it was kind of comical to watch.

Last night we had quite a wild thunderstorm, which dumped a lot more rain on Still Waters Pond, but then afterwards the sun came out and the reflections on the water were so magnificent, I just had to clap and praise the Lord for more of His beauty.

 It almost looks like autumn, but actually it was just the way the sunlight was shining on the trees. I called this "On Golden Pond". 

In closing I will share parts of the Psalm we read this morning in our devotions:

Psalm 98

1.  "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

For He has done marvelous things;

His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.

2.  The Lord has made known His salvation;

His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.

3.  He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4.  Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, 

and sing praises.

5.  Sing to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of a psalm,

6.  With trumpets and the sound of a horn;

shout joyfully before the Lord,

the King."

Let us join in singing to the Lord, for He HAS done marvelous things, and He HAS gained the victory!

We just need to trust in Him and stay focused on what God is doing in the midst of this current world's situation. 

7.  "Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell in it;

8.  Let the rivers clap their hands;

Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord;

9.  For He is coming to the judge the earth,

With righteousness He shall judge the world,

and the peoples with equity."