Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends and a little whimsey

Remember when I first told you about this Purslane/Portulaca plant HERE and HERE and HERE?

Well, I also found this Pink Purslane growing in various places throughout our yard, and so I pulled a few little plants up by the roots and stuck them in the same pot with the other plant, and they are growing very happily together!

The original yellow Purslane is doing fine still even after the disaster of the Sand Hill Cranes rooting it out of the pot.   And so I enjoy seeing these happy little flowers blooming in the pot on our front porch, away from the prying and prodding beaks of the Cranes.  I just have to get out there while the early morning sunshine is making them bloom because they will hide their faces once the sun gets too hot and bright until the next morning.  Again I want to thank Sandra at Madsnapper for encouraging me to pursue the Purslane!  

Speaking of the Sand Hill Crane family...they still love moving about the sand "dunes" on the property next door. I caught this picture of our young Abe wandering over the dunes this morning. His family was nearby.  

And speaking of the property next door...that is as much progress that has been made since the last time I talked about the new house next door.  Unfortunately, Hurricane Debby interrupted the progress being made until things are safe and dry again to get back to work, which ought to be very soon.

Speaking of Hurricane Debby, yes, someone asked if we were okay and safe from the effects of the storm, and yes, we are very fine and very thankful that all Debby left in her wake for us was a lot of fresh new water in Still Waters Pond and a few branches blown down from some trees, but nothing serious. We are VERY thankful indeed.  

Oh, and all that rain from Debby did cause a few more "toadstools" to pop up in various places both here in our yard and next door in that yard.  If you remember my post last week  where I mentioned about the toadstools all lined up so the toads could play "leapfrog" on them...and I also mentioned that one of my Facebook friends, Connie,  who also used to blog HERE at Nonnie's Random Thoughts, had said that she used to think that fairies lived under the toadstools when she was a child, and I had replied to her, "You mean they don't???  Well, guess what?  When I took a little walkabout in the woodsy areas around our house and the next door lot, you'll never guess what I found there:

Oh my goodness! There were little fairies everywhere!

They were sitting under every toadstool (mushroom) in the woods!

Little ones...

And even some very big ones large enough for a picnic on top!

Or maybe taking a little nap underneath...

They certainly were having a lovely time out there in "Fairyland"...

I sent our friend Connie some of those photos so she would know that she was right about the fairies living under the toadstools when she was a child, and this is what she sent back to me:

Isn't she lovely?  I absolutely love everything about this photo.

And lest you think that I am the only one that's a little bit bonkers about the fairies....wait until you see what my other friend Debbi over at Debbi's Front Porch posted today HERE, totally unbeknownst to me, nor did she know what I was doing either!  Debbi just came through Hurricane Debbie as well at her home in the Carolina's, and she discovered all those toadstools and fairies in her yard as well! 

LOL.  

I know you you think I've totally lost it by now!  Not really...just having some fun in my second childhood! LOL. After being cooped up for a few days with all the rain and storming going on, something had to break loose! LOL.  

Sing along with me: All Creatures of Our God and King

1 All creatures of our God and King,

lift up your voice and with us sing,

"Alleluia! Alleluia!"

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

thou silver moon with softer gleam,

O praise Him, O praise Him!

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

2 Thou rushing wind that art so strong,

ye clouds that sail in heav'n along,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,

ye lights of ev'ning, find a voice,

O praise Him, O praise Him!

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

3 And all ye men of tender heart,

forgiving others, take your part,

O sing ye! Alleluia!

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

praise God and on Him cast your care;

O praise Him, O praise Him!

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

4 Let all things their Creator bless,

and worship Him in humbleness;

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

and praise the Spirit, Three in One;

O praise Him, O praise Him!

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Well, that concludes this post for today.  I hope you enjoyed the little bit of whimsey and our journey into fairyland, but also the journey into singing praises to our God and King for ALL the wonderful things HE has done for us.  We survived a storm this week, and we survived many other assaults on our world and in the realms around us that we cannot see with our human eyes.  God is with us every day, guarding us and keeping us safe.  We have so much to praise Him for!  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

The kids are coming over tonight for spaghetti and more of that card game "Deer in the Headlights". We share the preparation of the food and enjoy having a good time together, so I need to get cracking because they will be here in a few minutes and I've not done a thing to get ready!  Thank goodness it's family! LOL.

 

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

It's raining! It's pouring! The Old Man is snoring! LOL.  Yes, we are currently having a humdinger of a thunderstorm and LOTS of good old pond soaking rain! Hooray!  So that is my #1 thing to say I am thankful for today!

2. We are SO thankful the "kids" made it home safely and we had them come over for supper last night. It was SO wonderful to have them and the puppies back home again after almost a month of being away visiting Rose's family in Minnesota.  I didn't take any pictures of them last night, but they still look the same.  LOL.  They did bring us a few little gifties from their journey:

Zucchini fresh from her father's garden...still has the Minnesota dirt on it! LOL.  I am thinking I'll be making some Zucchini bread very soon with that big one!!

These are either hot pads or dish cloths, or washcloths...whatever you wish, made by Rose's sister Sherrie, using the fabric from a terrycloth bathrobe!  

(They are all reversible to the hot pink side).  Really soft and neat! I love things like this, don't you? Especially when someone has taken the time to make them and recycle something that otherwise might have been discarded or given away.  Thank you, Sherrie!! I love them!

And then Benton and Rose brought us this magnificent bear/deer figure...it is so intricately created using a laser cutter. They know we love bears and deer, and this is perfect for us!

I'm still figuring out a perfect place to put it.

Oh, and last, but not least, Rose brought me this bottle of :

It smells so good! She said it is especially good for making a garlic bread...maybe even put some in a homemade loaf of bread?  I may have to try that!

Don't you just love it when people are so thoughtful to bring you something from their trip? I never expected anything, and that's what makes it even sweeter!! But most of all, we are thankful they are back home safely. It's amazing how much better WE feel just knowing they are back home safe and sound and only a mile away from us instead of a three day drive!

3.  In a recent post HERE, I told you that we had received a text from our Grandson Noah, with a wonderful picture of him and his new car.  (Here it is again in case you missed it. It's always nice to see his smiling face again).  He said in his text that he would be calling us soon, and yes, he was true to his word!

He did in fact call us the next day as promised, and we had such a wonderful long conversation with him! That was such a blessing to us!  And yes, this is a "new" car (not brand new, but new enough!). He purchased it after having a run in with a deer on the highway which pretty well totaled his old car, but thankfully he himself was not hurt. (The deer was not so fortunate...but if you've ever driven country roads at night in deer country, you know how easily this can happen!) Where Noah lives in Maine, he is fortunate it was a deer and not a moose! Now that can really do some severe damage!  Anyway, we are very thankful that Noah was fine and that he was able to purchase this pretty new red car.  He has had a good job for the past year since he went back up there last summer, and he is very thankful that he's been able to save some money and also makes enough to afford the payments and the insurance...which, since he will not be 25 until October is considerable.   Also he has received a kind of promotion in his job that has been very beneficial for him as well.  So he is really doing well and sounds SO good.  And he LOOKS so good too! Yes, he has put on a little weight since we saw him last, which he needed to do actually. For those of you who do not know him, he is 6'4" tall and has plenty of room to fill up.  Also, hubby and I had a little 'bet" going on before he called.  From the picture we weren't too sure if he had cut his formerly long and curly hair or if he just had it pulled back really tight.  I voted for the haircut, hubby wasn't so sure.  Of course, being a grandma who asks all kinds of questions, I asked him if he'd cut it, and he said yes he did as it had gotten too hot and too much to take care of.

Here is a picture of Noah with our two sons Scott and Benton, a little over a year ago when he was last here with us.  You can see what he means about his hair being too hot and too much to take care of. It is very naturally curly and when it is that long, well, you can imagine...  

We had a very interesting and positive conversation about current world events and his thoughts on all of that, which we were very pleasantly surprised to hear that he shares much the same views that we have about all of what's going on, both politically and from a spiritual sense. That was refreshing and comforting to us to hear.  You never know what the younger generation is going to think or profess in these turbulent times.  God has been hearing and answering our prayers in this regard as well, and we are very very thankful.  

Psalm 40:1-3 NKJV

1 "I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord."

Oh, now here's some fun photos from last evening while the "kids" were still here. Rose and I took a little walk over to the lot next door because we had noticed something running across the pond and around the back of the island (the pond has some very dry marsh areas making it possible for something to "run" across the pond in places).  We wanted to see if it was coming out over there where we could see it... And sure enough, if you have really sharp eyes and look pretty much in the middle of this photo below, you will see a raccoon running along the edge of the pond. From there he went into the woods and we couldn't see him anymore.

But what we DID see was something really funny...there are still some big piles of dirt on that lot waiting to be spread out for the pad/foundation for the new home that will be arriving soon.  The Sand Hill Crane family seem to be having some fun playing on top of the mounds of dirt. Maybe they are thinking about making this their new home???

After a little while they decided to head back toward the pond...

And from there they actually went around and ended up in our yard.

I told them that I was still a bit upset with them for destroying my pot of Purslane/Portulaca the other day.  (If you missed it, you can read all about it HERE)

But I had to forgive them because even after them pulling all of the plant out of the pot, I stuck it all back in the pot, and the next day it was blooming again. I did put it on the front porch where it will get plenty of sun (per Sandra of MadSnapper, who is a kind of expert on Purslane. )  And so far it seems to be doing just fine.  

See?  So, yes, this is another thing for which I am thankful!  I don't have a green thumb, so it is very comforting to me to know that I can do this much. I know, it really is all glory to God! He is the Master Gardener!

To close this out I must show you the beautiful sunrise we had this morning:

If you look really close in this one, which is a close up of the one above, you will see the Sand Hill Crane family flying over above the tree tops. They flew right over top of me while I was standing out there on the porch taking pictures, and I almost missed them! 

It was truly a glorious morning!

And I especially wanted to include the American Flag, which we wave proudly from our home every day.  

America, the Beautiful

"O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!"

Amen.

I guess this sums it all up.  We are very thankful for our family, our country, and for all that God has done for us and is doing today. We must all continue to pray for our country in these turbulent times, however. There is so much at stake.  I am not going to get into political issues, but prayer is the most important thing we can do. Amen.

 

Monday Monday...All kinds of stuff

Yes, It's Monday...and if I wait much longer to post this, it will be Tuesday!  But it's been a busy day and a busy weekend, so I am just now sitting down to play catch up in blogworld.  

This was the view a couple of nights ago on Still Waters Pond...sunset with some stormy clouds in the background.  We've had some late thunderstorms...and last night we actually just had the thunder and lightning all around giving us quite a light show, but no real rain to speak of.

But more than that, yesterday evening we had the Saharan Dust roll in and turn the sky to gold...

This was the view last evening around 8:00 p.m. out over Still Waters Pond

And this is how it looked out in front of our house...the sky gave everything a golden glow, mixed with those storm clouds that later produced a lot of lightning in the distance.

This is what brought that golden glow to our atmosphere:

Before all that golden "glow" moved in, the Sand Hill Crane family was here in the yard looking for some bird seeds and other treats in the grass.  However, it was quite windy and they seemed to be easily spooked.  

They kind of wandered back and forth rather nervously, like something was "in the air" that they weren't familiar with.

That's the young colt "Abe Lincoln", flapping his wings and jumping around.  I think the wind spinner was spinning quite rapidly and it makes a noise when it does, which seemed to make them all a bit jumpy.

After walking around basically in circles for a while they finally decided to head back out into Still Waters Pond for the evening.

In my last post HERE, I had shown you pictures of the Purslane plant that was growing wild along the road where we walk.  I had debated upon going back and digging it up and bringing it home with me, and so I did.  I put it in a pot of dirt and watered it really good and watched it for a couple of days before taking any pictures, to give it a chance to "catch its breath" and revive after being moved.  And so this morning I took a look at it, and as the sun was coming around that way it started to open up its flowers and it looked so healthy and happy!  I thought, well, I guess I did okay in transplanting it here after all, and had good thoughts about digging up some other wild Purslane plants around the yard and moving them to this location and making a little special garden just for them. My! I must be feeling better to have such crazy ideas again!!   Yes, Praise God, I am feeling better, and as a matter of fact, we did go to both Sunday School and Church yesterday and made it all the way through...(and then came home and took a nice long nap).  

Anyway, such was my thinking this morning about this plant, and I even went to the Dollar General this afternoon and picked up a bag of some potting soil to help create this little garden.

Well, my great plans came to a screeching halt when we returned home from the store and discovered this:

While we were gone the Sand Hill Cranes had come along and decided that digging in this pot would make a good supper for them! They literally pulled out every piece of this plant and broke it off and laid them on the ground beside the pot just like this above, leaving the pot totally empty except for the dirt, and you could see they had dug around in there looking for grubs or something!!!  I know it was the cranes because I saw them walking around to our back yard just as we were leaving to go to the store.  And now they are innocently out on the pond settling in for the night like nothing had happened!  Huh! After I've been so nice to them! One of the hazards of living so close to nature!

Well, I gathered up all the pieces and stuck them back in the pot and added some of the new potting soil and put the pot up on the porch and out of their reach! I don't know if the plant will revive and survive or not. Time will tell. I guess this is going to be a new saga to report back to you as time goes by. LOL.

That's not all of the activity on the back porch...earlier today this young juvenile male Cardinal stopped by to have a snack. He is chewing on a seed taken from the bird feeder nearby.  He seemed to enjoy just standing there chomping on his seed for a good long while.  Unfortunately, my good camera batteries were being recharged, so I had to take these photos with the cell phone through the glass doors, and so the quality isn't that good, but you get the idea.

Isn't he sweet?  

Thankfully "Blackie" the kitty was sound asleep and never saw this bird so nearby.

Me thinks the bird is tempting fate a bit by staying there so long.

Just now as I was writing this, Blackie went diving off the edge of the porch down onto the ground in hopes of catching a bird at the birdfeeder!  Thankfully he was too slow and the bird escaped!  Yes, Blackie is still hanging around and living the good life on our comfy porch chairs.  He's got it made. The neighbor lady feeds him twice a day (if he's not still sleeping from being up all night prowling around), and she even put a flea collar on him. Then he lazes around here all day without a care in the world.  Some cats just don't know how good they've got it! LOL.😻

Well, speaking of a cool cat...I just received this picture via text from our grandson Noah tonight!  Many of you know that sadly we don't hear from our only grandson very often. He lives way up in Maine, so we can't see him very often either. It's a long story, but anyway, anytime we hear from him is a cause to celebrate.  I did send him a text about a week ago, with pictures of our 4th of July fireworks and family photos from Father's Day, etc.  I've just been biding my time and praying that he would soon respond, and today this came. In his message he said he's been very busy, but lots of good things have been happening, and he will call us tomorrow and tell us all about it! I have a feeling that pretty new red car is one of the "good things" that has happened.  He looks great, might have put on a little weight since he was here a year ago, and maybe even might have cut his hair?  Not sure, but either way, who cares about that? I am SO happy to hear from him and can't wait to hear what he's got to tell us tomorrow.  We pray for him every single day, that God will lead him and protect him and help him to find the path that is right for him.  That's what is most important. 

Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” 

declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 

plans to give you hope and a future.

Well, with that I will close for tonight. I hope you are having a good Monday and start to your week. We give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1)