Tuesday 4~Rainy Days and Mondays

 Rainy Days and Mondays

Welcome to Tuesday 4
Many seem to have trouble with Mister Linky but, I don't so sign up below!
We've had a lot of rain recently and it got me wondering about some things.


Could we discuss it please?


1.Do rainy days and/or Mondays really get you down? If so why?

No, not really. I actually enjoy rainy days, when we have them. We just haven't had enough of them this year to even begin to get tired of.  And Monday's don't get me down either, especially now that I am retired. I actually enjoy them as a day to begin a new week with a fresh clean slate.


2. Does thunder and lightning frighten you at all?
How about your dog or cat and what do you do to help them out?

I have a healthy respect for thunder and lightning. Here in Florida we are the lightning capital of the country, I believe, and lightning is quite dangerous and should be treated as such. This was on Facebook a few days ago:

 I do love to watch it from a distance, however, and I even took some pictures this past week that I already shared on my last post, but just in case you missed this one, here it is again...   I took this picture from our front porch, but be assured the lightning was quite far away from us. However, they say it can strike up to 10 miles away, so we still have to be careful.

Regarding my cat Blackie, he does not like thunder and lightning, and I've noticed that he will find a place to hide his face and head when there's a lot of thunder going on.  I may have shared this photo before, but it's been a while. This was Blackie hiding his head under the couch when we had a lot of thunder and lightning...

3. If you are at home on a dark, rainy day what do you do with your time? Some find it a good day to cuddle up with a cuppa and read or watch TV.. what is your preference?

Oh yes, I love to spend a dark rainy day reading if I have a good book to read. If not, sometimes I like to bake cookies on a rainy day (or something else that smells really good).

If you click on this link, I think it will take you to a lot of old posts for things to do on a Rainy Afternoon.  Apparently I've thought a lot about this over the years, because there are quite a few different posts there! LOL.I'd forgotten about a few of them, so I was glad I went back and checked them out!! Some sweet memories there.


4.Ever been caught in a downpour or has rain ever ruined your plans?

Oh, yes, I've been caught in plenty of downpours over the years. Living in Florida, that can be quite often throughout the summer months, but sadly, not this summer.  I'm sure rain may have ruined some plans sometime or other, but right now I can't think of anything in particular that's worth writing about!

Update...I just remembered a time when I was caught in a downpour. I was only about 7 or 8 years old. I had been at our Summer Recreation program at our school and I was waiting for a neighbor lady to pick me up to take me home. I waited and waited and she didn't show up, so I thought I could just walk home. We lived about 3 miles from the school, out a very long country road, but I had to pass through a less desirable part of town to get to the highway that led to our long country road. All of a sudden it started to pour down rain in a bad thunderstorm. The only shelter I could see was a little overhang over the door of a saloon.  I knew I shouldn't go there, but it was the only shelter I could see, so I stood under that covering for a minute, and a man stepped outside and asked me if I wanted to come inside. I knew I couldn't do that or I would be in big trouble, so I yelled, "NO!" and I started running away in the rain. I kept running and probably had gotten about a mile when the lady who was supposed to pick me up pulled up on the highway beside me and told me to get in the car. I was soaken wet and scared and crying by that time.  She took me home, and I don't remember much after that because I'm sure my mother was at work so I don't know if the neighbor left me alone at my house or took me to her house to dry off. That's all a blur. I just know my parents were very unhappy with me for leaving the school before the neighbor picked me up, but they were all very thankful that I was safe, even though very wet and scared. I didn't know it then, but I know now that God was certainly watching over me even when I was being disobedient and foolhardy. I am very thankful for His guardian angels who certainly had a difficult job in guarding me! LOL. 

Bonus question: Why do Mondays seem to be so unpopular with so many?

I suppose Mondays are unpopular for people who hate to see the weekend come to an end and to have to go back to work or school and get back to the "grind". There have been times in my life when I hated to see Monday come because I didn't particularly like my work or else I just was enjoying the weekend so much I hated to see it end.  But for the most part, I've been thankful to have a job to go to and/or I also enjoyed being at school back in the day so I could be with my friends. I guess it's all about attitude and perspective.  I am mostly a happy person, so I make the most of whereever I am.  

I cheated a bit and asked the computer to give me some Bible verses about rain, and here's the results:

Top Bible Verses About Refreshing Rain

Psalm 68:9
"You sent abundant rain, O God, to refresh the weary land."
Psalm 72:6
"May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth."
Hosea 6:3
"He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Acts 3:19
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Deuteronomy 32:2

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech distill like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants."
 

That gives us some more "food for thought" on the subject of rain.  I hope you are having a blessed and refreshing day wherever you are, rainy or not! It's hot and dry here right now (Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.), but upon looking at my phone weather app, it says we are expecting rainy conditions around 6:00 p.m., so I will wait and see if I can get any new pictures at that time before publishing this post.

A little later:

Well, Glad I waited! We did indeed get quite a powerful thunderstorm around 5:30 p.m.  It was quite windy in addition to the heavy rain and thunder and lightning.  We had just put Blackie back out on the porch after he finished his supper, and then there was the rumble of thunder, and he was right back at the glass doors looking in the window to the living room with a big eyes and his ears back, which said to me "Please let me in quick! I heard a big noise out here!! A storm is coming! Hurry up! Let me in!"

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of that, but I was too busy opening the door and letting him inside.  Just in time, too. The storm really broke loose with a lot of rain and wind.  

And look where he was...if you can't tell, he's in my lap! And just as I was talking to our son on the phone (he called us to ask if it was raining at our house...he lives about a mile away), the power went out!  Yep! The lights went out, the TV went off, and of course the computer shut off as did the air conditioner. Thankfully it wasn't dark yet, but we had no idea how long it would be off.  And so we just sat there and watched the rain and prayed the power wouldn't be off for too long or we'd be getting hot.

Thankfully after about 45 minutes the power came back on and so did everything else. The rain died down and the wind stopped blowing and there was no more thunder or lightning. We survived the big storm, and after a little while Blackie went back to the door and said he was ready to go back outside, and so that's where he is now.  All's well that ends well, and so I will bring this little story about "Rainy Days and Mondays" to an end. It was quite appropriate that it did in fact rain for us on this Monday evening!  Good Night, and see you in the morning when this Tuesday 4 post will go live!!

Thanks Annie, for another great meme for this week!

Tuesday 4~Rainy Days and Mondays on a Tuesday!

 

Rainy Days and Mondays

From Annie, our hostess:
"Welcome back. Toni Taddeo began this Tuesday 4 question and answer postings and I am continuing it in her honor..

It's been a bit rainy and stormy across the USA this spring and I have seen so many negative sentiments about Mondays. Karen Carpenter sang about rainy days and Mondays always getting her down. Can we discuss it?"

1. How do you feel about rainy days? Do they make you happy or sad? Do they always get you down?

Actually, I would love to have a rainy day, no matter which day of the week it is! We did get a brief surprise shower Sunday afternoon, but it didn't last long enough to do much good except that it cooled things down a little bit for a while.  I enjoy rainy days as long as they aren't bad storms.

A rainy day on Still Waters Pond

2. How about Monday. Do they get you down or do you think that just might be a habit of negative thinking?
I guess when I was still working I didn't always like to see Monday come around. Now that I am retired one day is pretty much the same as another, so Mondays really aren't such a big deal.

3. Did you play in puddles as a kid? Or were you not the kind that liked getting wet and muddy?
I wish I could find a picture of me as a very little child when we still lived on the farm in Pennsylvania. We had a farm pond that was suitable for swimming. I was still much too young to swim in the pond with my older siblings, so I usually sat along the edge and played in a mud puddle.  I am not sure how my mother got me cleaned up before going back in the house, but I'm sure she found a way. Also my sister and I used to make mud pies.  I've never been afraid of splashing in the puddles when it rains. It's all a part of growing up...and maybe for some of us...it's a way of never growing up...

4. Are there foods/meals that you find especially comforting on stormy days? Nosy people want to know!!

If it is also still kind of chilly, a bowl of soup or some kind of stew/chili is always comforting on a stormy day.  It's also a good time for a cup of tea and a cookie or something yummy.  Actually, it's also a good day to bake cookies.   I have listed several old posts down below that tell about my rainy day activities.

Actually, they say a rainy day is a good day for ducks...and these two Black Bellied Whistling Ducks came flying onto Still Waters Pond Sunday evening after it had rained for a short while! I've never seen them here before, and they came back again today! I hope they will decide to stick around for a while. I'd love to hear them "whistle"!

Here's a few links to previous older posts about things I like to do on a rainy day. It would appear that I actually do have quite a lot to say about rainy days...there's actually more posts than these if you click on a link for rainy days you will find lots of thoughts about this subject! But these should be enough to keep you occupied for a while! LOL!

Come and Share a Pot of Tea

It's a Good Day for Soup!

Rainy Days are Meant for Family Time

Rainy Saturday Family Fun

Rainy Days and Mysteries

Singing in the Rain

Okay friends...let's go over to this link up for today's Tuesday 4  and see what everyone else is writing about!  Hope you are having a sunshiny happy day wherever you are...or, if it is raining, I hope you have a good book to read and a cup of your favorite tea or coffee to drink! Have a lovely day my friends!

Jeremiah 14:22 NKJV

"22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?

Or can the heavens give showers?

Are You not He, O Lord our God?

Therefore we will wait for You,

Since You have made all these."

Monday Monday and Tuesday 4 Combined

 Hello, and welcome to my usual "Monday Monday" post...I noticed that the Tuesday 4 post for this week was going to be about "Rainy Days and Mondays", and so I thought perhaps I would combine the two. I hope that's okay with you!    But first things first...I wanted to share a little about our weekend before I get into the rest of this.

I guess they do kind of go together...

Yesterday was Sunday, and we had a rainy evening. We were going to go for a ride, and when we got outside we noticed the sky looked like this:

So we drove down the road a little ways and decided to turn around and go back home.  However it didn't really start to rain here until much later, and in the meantime our son called us from his house (he lives about a mile away) and told us to look outside, and this is what we saw:

God's beautiful rainbow of promise in the skies!! It was just gorgeous!

I thought it was really remarkable because it still had not rained here. But about an hour later we got quite a thunderstorm and lightning show.  I wasn't able to capture any of the lightning on camera, but it was pretty amazing.

We were thankful to be safely inside our home when the storm finally broke loose. Also very thankful that even though there was a lot of thunder and lightning and heavy rain and wind, we didn't sustain any damage nor did we lose power. That is always a plus!! And we got some much needed rain to refresh the earth and cool things down a little bit! What a blessing! It was a wonderful way to end a perfect Sunday.

Earlier in the day we had a wonderful Sunday service, followed by our 5th Sunday potluck dinner.

One of the special things that happened was "the Blessing of the Backpacks".  Our church is very generous in giving to help make sure that the children of our church and our community have enough school supplies to start the new school year...which will be happening in about a week.  I wish I had gotten a picture of all of the children in our church coming forward to select their new backpack, (following the Pastor's prayer of blessing upon the backpacks and for each child) which was filled with all kinds of school supplies...but these pictures will give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

These pictures were taken a few minutes after they had received their backpacks, when they are on their way to Children's Church and the Youth Group gathering.  Yes, they do this during the worship service because we have found that is the best way to get more children involved in the classes than if it was at an earlier separate Sunday School class. Times have changed, and sometimes churches have to adapt to what works best for families so that we can reach out to them in the best way. 

They are with us in the Sanctuary for the opening songs, etc., and then they come back in toward the end of the service in time for The Lord's Supper.  

Matthew 19:14 NKJV

"But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

And yes, that is our son Benton and his wife Rose serving Communion yesterday. I would not be honest if I didn't say that yes, I was a very proud Mama to see them up there participating and serving in this important Sacrament. I cannot begin to tell you how special that was for me.

I know not every church does things the same way, and that's okay. We do what we believe honors the Lord and is best for our local congregation. I can only say that we have a very sweet, humble, joyful, and blessed gathering of the Family of God here in our little church. We are very thankful to be a part of this family.

On another "note", a couple of weeks ago I mentioned HERE about how special the song of 

"The Lord's Prayer" was to me, and why.

Well, I couldn't get that song out of my head, and it seemed as though the Lord was encouraging me to sing it.  It's been a long time since I've done any solo singing, and especially a song of this difficulty. But the Lord kept urging me on, and because during the summer months our choir does not sing each week we have different ones sign up for special music instead, so after much prayer I decided to sign up to sing this song in church.  The following is the accompaniment that I used. There is no recording of me singing. Some things are just better left to the imagination. (LOL).  One special feature was that a young woman in our church does sign language to music, and so she did the signing for this song while I was singing. That was a very beautiful added blessing. The only thing was I couldn't watch her while I was singing and I would have loved to have seen her doing this.  But it was a joy to see the looks on the congregation's faces as they watched her.  It was a very special time, and I pray the message of the song was a blessing to all.

Now if you really want to hear our choir singing, in the first part of this video below you can watch/hear us singing "Power in the Blood". The song was pre-recorded last spring while the choir was still together before the summer break. Then the Pastor's sermon is after that, which he records each week.

1 Would you be free from the burden of sin?

There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood;

Would you o'er evil a victory win?

There's wonderful pow'r in the blood.

Refrain:

There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder-working pow'r

In the blood of the Lamb;

There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder-working pow'r

In the precious blood of the Lamb.

2 Would you be free from your passion and pride?

There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood;

Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide–

There's wonderful pow'r in the blood. 

[Refrain]

3 Would you be whiter, yes brighter than snow?

There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood;

Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow–

There's wonderful pow'r in the blood. 

[Refrain]

4 Would you do service for Jesus, your King?

There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood;

Would you live daily His praises to sing?

There's wonderful pow'r in the blood. 

[Refrain]

Last week I mentioned that we had a baptism of two teens, and this week they gave the Pastor a special "gift", which he wore to the potluck dinner after church:

"Pastor, because hardcore devil stomping ninja isn't an official job title."

He got a big kick out of that, and it is just another example of the fun and joy and we have together in our little church.

We are blessed and very thankful.

One other item of thankfulness...I mentioned in my last post HERE that our son Scott had come home last week one day and worked diligently on his car all day long and finally had to leave it to get back to work.  Well he came back home Saturday and worked again most of the day, and he finally got it fixed and was able to drive it again!

So there he goes!

You can't see him, but he is waving at us as he takes off! Yes, this car has a bit of a "rumble" sound as he goes, but it's not too loud...actually sounds pretty good.  It's amazing to us how much he has learned over the years of self-teaching himself how to restore and repair these "classic cars".  Sometimes necessity is the best teacher!

And so with all of that from yesterday's news and events, I will move on to the Tuesday 4 post...

Rainy Days and Mondays

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask just 4 questions each week to get you blogging and thinking and meeting other bloggers!


Rainy Days and Mondays was a song about being down but, not everyone is down on a Monday or a rainy day.


1. Do Mondays get you down or did they ever? How about a rainy day? What makes it better?

Actually, now that I am retired, Mondays don't get me down at all! They are just another day. This morning we got up early and headed to Walmart before the rush and the heat of the day. Monday seems to be a good day to go there, if you have to go at all. LOL.  A Rainy day? Well that's another story altogether.  As I sit here typing this on Monday afternoon, I am hearing thunder in the distance and it is starting to cloud up and the wind is blowing, and I think we are about to have a rainy Monday afternoon. What makes it better?  Being safe here in my house with my hubby, enjoying not having to be anywhere...

2. How do you like to spend rainy days?
I often spend rainy days either reading, writing, or baking.  Today I am writing to you. Last night during a thunderstorm my hubby said he wished we had some kind of cake to eat, so I baked a devil's food cake and made a buttercream frosting for it. However, I only ate a small piece with whipped cream instead of the frosting, as the frosting is just too sweet and rich for me...plus I can't eat much chocolate. So this cake will be all his to enjoy. LOL. (unless we get unexpected guests, and then they can have some too! Now might be a good time to drop in! We could have cake and tea or coffee!)

3.Do you like to take a walk in the rain?

As long as there's no lightning and if it's only a light shower, I don't mind walking in the rain.  But with our summer afternoon thunderstorms, it's best to stay indoors and out of harm's way.

4.What is your weather like this summer so far? What would make it better or worse? What is your ideal summer weather?

Here in north central Florida where I live our summer weather has been quite hot to say the least.  Although this is actually the norm for us in summertime...hot days and a late afternoon thunderstorm to cool things down a bit, it still seems really extra hot to me.  Ideal summer weather would be to live somewhere where it is no hotter than maybe the low 80's in the day time, no humidity, and cooler evenings around the low 60's or high 50's. I could live with that just fine.

Here is how it looks outside my window right now:

We can hear the thunder in the distance, and by the looks of things we should be getting some rain any minute now.

Another not too unusual of a sight here in summertime...this Black Racer snake was slithering across our yard and ducked under the car when he saw us coming. I managed to get a picture of him before he slithered further away and actually went under the shed.

They are harmless and take care of rodents and other more dangerous snakes, so I don't mind having them around as long as they stay away from my birds!!

Okay, I think I've sufficiently covered the subject(s) at hand for today and tomorrow.  I hope you don't mind reading tomorrow's post today or today's post tomorrow.  LOL.

Thank you, Annie, for coming up with these questions each week.

You all can join in the fun HERE.

I pray that your rainy days and Mondays never get you down!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

I can't believe that the month of June is almost over...here it is the first day of summer already! Although here in Florida it has felt like summer for a couple of months...

I have been admiring this beautiful picture on my John Sloane's Country Seasons June calendar...

"The Rose Arbor".  Oh, wouldn't it be lovely to have a rose arbor covered with so many beautiful roses? 

I don't seem to have the green thumb to manage such beauty, so I rely on God's handiwork for summer flowers:

These lovely pink flowers adorn the shore of Still Waters Pond right now. They are so lovely to look at from my "Room With a View"

I was outside picking these flowers and listening to the rumble of thunder coming from the distance...

So I had to hurry and pick a few and bring them inside so I can enjoy them here as well:

The rain is just about to start, and Lily Grace has been sitting there watching for the bluebirds all day as they come and go, building their nest in the birdhouse getting ready for the next clutch of eggs to be laid.

We haven't been out on many "adventures" lately, so Lily just has to be patient until the rains go away and we can get outside and do something fun again.

However, our family did do something fun yesterday for Father's Day. After church we headed down to the local "Hog Wild Country Cafe" bbq place for lunch.  It's always a fun place to gather with friends and family for a good meal.

Here's hubby with two of our wonderful sons.

And here's our sweet daughter in love Rose with our oldest son Benton.

It's always fun to have some of our church friends go out to dinner with us.

Today being a rainy day and Monday, I won't let it get me down...been thinking about some sweet memories from childhood.  My sister Doris posted this picture on Facebook this morning. It is a vintage greeting card, but it really got her attention and she had to send it to me.  She said, "Here we are!"

And yes, I had to agree!  When we were little girls on the farm in Pennsylvania, we had a beautiful wicker baby doll buggy much like this one below,  except ours was a pretty shade of light green. We loved playing with our dollies out in the yard of our old farmhouse...which looked a lot like this picture.

Sadly, when I was five years old, my daddy sold the farm and we moved to Florida. Farming was very difficult back in the 1950's.  You either had to have lots of money or borrow lots of money from the government to keep going, and he didn't want to do that.  It was a sad day when our house and most all of the furniture and the farm equipment and animals, etc., were all auctioned off...even our beloved dog Laddie was sold.  What furniture we wanted to keep was put in my uncle's barn until we could come back and pick it up to move it to Florida. Then we loaded what we could into a small trailer that Daddy pulled behind our '55 Chevy, and off we went to Florida, to live in a small apartment until a better house could be found. Eventually Daddy built us a wonderful house, and we went back to Pennsylvania to bring down the rest of our things, which included our beloved doll buggy.  However, when we got to my uncle's house, it wasn't there anymore. I'm not sure what happened to it, there never was a good explanation as to what had happened to that and some other things.  I was very young and really don't remember the details, except for the fact that our beautiful doll buggy was gone. I've never forgotten it.

Well, fast forward 50 + years, and we were cleaning out my parents' home after their passing.  Up in the attic of the "carriage house" workshop that Daddy built was this beautiful little wicker doll carriage. My mother collected dolls and had found this buggy somewhere and it was stashed away among their "treasures". 

Of course I wanted it as soon as I saw it, but wanted to make sure that it would be okay for me to take it.  My oldest brother was the executor of the estate and saw no problem in me having it. 

My other brother and my sister both agreed that I should have it as well...

because you see not long before that I had been given this special sweet baby doll,

"Baby Elva", whom, if you've known me for very long, you should already know her story.  If not, HERE it is again.

And so, even though it isn't the exact same baby doll buggy from my childhood, it is close enough and it is as though my mother had saved it for this special baby who arrived a few years after my mother's passing.

So that's my story for this rainy Monday afternoon. I hope you enjoyed coming along with me down memory lane for a little while.

Just some thoughts from the "Choose Grace" devotional:

"Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." 

Psalm 27:14

 

Tuesday Four: Weather or Not

 

Weather or Not

Welcome Friends! We offer four questions each week for you to answer. It gives you something to blog about, a chance to learn about others and make new blogging friends. We keep it going in memory and honor of our dear friend Toni Taddeo, it's original author.

Weather or Not...

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. 

It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. 

It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit”  

Jeremiah 17:7-8

1. What kind of weather pleases you the most? 

I love it when it begins to get a little cooler, definitely more fall like weather. No humidity, but sunny and breezy.  Here in Florida we have to wait until late September , early October to begin to feel a definite change in the weather for the good.

 

2. Do rainy days bother you or do you find them a time to relax and take it easy? I love a rainy day, and often just enjoy spending time either baking or reading or writing...relaxing and watching and listening to the rain on the roof.

 

Watching the birds wading in the pond, with the raindrops falling all around, making little ripples and circles in the water, can be very entertaining.

This is a "Little Blue Heron" enjoying a rainy day in the pond.

 Any puddle jumping in your life?  Yes, if there are puddles to jump without me making a fool of myself by falling in, then I like to jump...

3. Do you have meals you enjoy in certain kinds of weather or certain seasons? Please share with us?

When the weather gets cooler I like to make home made soups and stews, (hubby calls them one-pot meals.  

I also like to bake cookies or bread and make the house smell inviting and cozy.

Click HERE for "Things to Do On A Rainy Day"

And click HERE for another post on rainy days and cookie baking time

4.As the prophet Jeremiah tells us,  It is a good idea to bloom where you are planted.

Do you think Jeremiah meant like this?  

How do you handle stormy weather and does a day need to be sunny for you to enjoy it? Why not give us hints on enjoying any kind of weather. 

Whether there are stormy skies or beautiful sunsets...

Or wonderful full moons in addition to our lovely sunny days, there is always something to enjoy no matter what the weather. Obviously, for me, my camera is something that has been a blessing to me to be able to capture the beauty of the world around me no matter what the weather. We just have to open our eyes and look at what God has provided for us.

 
Thanks for joining in. I know Toni would be thrilled to see you all here.

Now please go visit our other friends over at Tuesday Four,  And Thank you to Annie at Cottage By The Sea for being our hostess!