Wednesday Hodgepodge on Thursday...I'm Late! I'm Late!

 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 644
I'm late! I'm late! To a very important date! But as they say, "better late than never!"  I kept reading everyone else's answers to these questions and was thinking, I should do this, but I got too busy and ran out of time yesterday...and so I noticed that others were still posting today, so I decided, "why not?"  So here we go...

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here Wednesday (March 11th) to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

I think I am a naturally trusting person...but I've learned over the years through trial and error that not everyone can be trusted, even those who come with sweet words and tell you they "want to be your best friend".  After many years in the ministry as a Pastor's Wife, I am sad to say that there were those who pretended to be my best friend who ended up being much like the one in our theme..."Et tu, Brute?" ...Brutus, who betrayed and assassinated Julius Caesar.  I'm afraid it has made me a bit more cautious about the friends I pick.  However, yes, people do deserve a 2nd chance, if they are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness...

 We probably all know "The Lord's Prayer", but I wonder how many know the verses immediately following it... Matthew 6 :14-15

"9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 

your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,

 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses"

 So, yes, I do believe people deserve a 2nd chance, unless the offense is something truly grievous. We can forgive, but that doesn't necessarily mean we let them come back to hurt us again.


2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to Rome?

No, I've never been to Rome. And yes, we read MacBeth in our 12th grade English class. I remember it well, because I got to read the part of Lady MacBeth, and I read out loud her famous quote, "Out, damned spot!"  And because curse words were forbidden to say in our school, I got a lot of  "Ooooh, Pam, you said a bad word!" kind of comments from the rest of the class, until the teacher had to tell them to hush, since I was just reading the assigned passage after all!! LOL.

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favorite salad dressing?

Caesar salads are okay, if that's the only choice. But I prefer a garden/house salad, no anchovies, and at a restaurant I usually get honey mustard, unless they have an interesting house dressing. At home I use Marie's Cole Slaw dressing on my salads. It is a creamy kind of sweet and sour dressing with celery seeds in it, and it's great on regular salads as well as coleslaw.  

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

If you've known me long, you know that my designated office space is my "Room With A View", which I talk about frequently. Rather than talk about it, let me show you some pictures from this room where I work at my desk with a desktop computer.

These are some photographs I took at our last home in the Ocala National Forest:

And this is the "sign" that started the theme of my blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows".

This is the little tea towel that gave me the name for my room, "Room With a View", and it was actually a gift from one of my blogging friends when she and her husband visited our home for the first time!

Moving clockwise around the room, this is my little bookshelf with all kinds of gift books, devotionals, miscellaneous cookbooks, Audubon bird books, etc., and a picture on top of "My Three Sons", when they were much younger and before they all went their separate ways in life...

The china cabinet belonged to my husband's grandmother, and the rocking chair was a gift from a friend, who said she found it alongside the road put out for trash!

This china hutch was built by our son Benton, and the bottom section holds a lot of office supplies and other miscellaneous stuff, like games.

The Hoosier cupboard also belonged to my husband's grandmother,  and I restored it to the original wood after stripping a multitude of layers of paint off of it... A true labor or love!

One my favorite little tea towels...A gift from my sister...

And this is my 2nd childhood corner...Pamela's Victorian Cottage, which you've most likely heard about already...and the shelf unit above was built by my son Benton. The Buster Brown Tea Set belonged to my Aunt Margie, and then to my mother, and then to me! The little white tea set belonged to my paternal grandmother.

So there you have the whole room...my "designated office space", which is so much more, as you can see. It's my favorite room of the house.

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favorite early Spring flower?

I'm sure I would love them all, but they don't grow here in Florida. I wish daffodils did, because my sister's 80th birthday is coming up on April 5th, and the family tradition started by my mother when we lived in Pennsylvania was to put a little vase of daffodils in the center hole of an angel food cake for my sister's birthday cake. We've always tried to find live daffodils for her cake every year, but it's not always easy to do, so I often have to resort to using artificial ones. I am on the look out for a pot of real ones now, but they have to last until her birthday! (no easy feat, trust me!). OH, it's also her husband's birthday on the same day! This picture was 10 years ago, when I actually found some real daffodils:

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is Blackie, our indoor/outdoor porch kitty. This is what he was doing while I was working on this post this morning...he found a little box to sit in, and he was quite happy for a few minutes.

Psalm 89:1-2

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

Wednesday Treasures

Something new has been added to "My Room  with a View"...

I am trying to improve on this mess:

(before)

There! That's a little bit better!!

(After)

This little nightstand was something that my son had for sale at Dixie Cottage. He decided to break up a set because this nightstand had different handles than the rest of the set and it didn't seem to be selling, so he decided to give it to me when I told him of my need for something to help me organize my "stuff" a little better in this room.  Little by little things are getting in better shape.  And it gives me a good spot to set this little devotional book and my current journal, so that I will remember to use them both more regularly.

Yes, Lord! I am listening!

Oh, how true this is...

Frankly, I am quite thankful that "no one knows me like God does". 

 

"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You."

Psalm 86:5

Wow! What a promise!

So now, what else have I been up to? Well, let's see...today I actually got our taxes done!  Hooray!! I always used to dread doing our taxes back when we were still employed and in the ministry, because there were so many things to keep track of as a minister...parsonage allowance expenses, car expenses, business expenses, entertainment expenses, on and on...keep those receipts! Keep mileage records! Otherwise we would end up paying big self employment taxes...so it was always a record keeping nightmare for me!  The only time we had a professional tax group do our taxes for us we got audited, and the tax professionals did NOT come to the audit with us as promised! But we managed to prove everything we had claimed and thankfully we were not charged any extra taxes or penalties.  But that clinched it for me...I would do our taxes from then on and make sure they were done right!

  

Now I am SO thankful that we are retired and our income is so small and simple and "fixed" that I can do our taxes in less than 30 minutes on TurboTax Free edition!  Woohoo! And we still get a refund every year! Of course, it would always be nice to have more income, but hey! We are doing fine and God provides everything we need...and we are very thankful and blessed! So I am not going to rock the boat!

Speaking of rocking the boat...well, not exactly, but let's see what's going on in Still Waters Pond this week:

This Great Blue Heron stopped by for a little visit the other day...isn't he a handsome fellow?

And then we had quite a lively morning with the Canada Geese one day...

They appeared to be two rival groups, but they flew in at the same time with a lot of honking and splashing about and chasing each other around the pond. I posted a video on Facebook, but I can't seem to do it here, so you will just have to imagine it. It was quite exciting for a while until they decided to just settle down and eat and swim around the island and leave each other alone.

I snuck around to my little hiding place along the shore of the pond near the big island and watched the goose parade as they swam past me.

Aren't they beautiful?

I think some of them were aware of my presence and they kept a "stiff upper lip" and just kept swimming past me without looking to the right or the left...

The pond has a couple of islands in the middle, and the geese like to swim all the way around them in a long line...

But some lingered awhile in this little quiet cove and gave me ample opportunity to enjoy them...

"Be Still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

As they rounded the island to the larger open waters they lined up and headed for the little marsh island all together:

Aren't they amazing?

There they go...

And soon they were all relaxing out on the marsh island, some swimming, some "sun bathing", some taking a nap...

They all seem quite peaceful now and there didn't appear to be any more wild frenzied activities...

And all was calm, all was bright...

Kind of like a "Silent Night", except it was still day, but at least they were at peace.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:27:

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

And with that, I think I will bid you a good night and head for bed.  Be at peace my friends.

Good Night.

 

Random Sightings

Do you ever wonder how a Canadian Goose sleeps?

Well, wonder no more...standing on one leg with his bill tucked into his wings, he is resting peacefully, but keeping one eye open for any impending danger and ready for action...

Meanwhile, his lady-love is still obediently sitting on the nest over on the island, safe from any danger we trust...

"Father Goose" Statue...He loves to stand one-legged on that tree stump, and can stand there for long periods of time just like a statue...

Uh Oh! It is no longer a SECRET!  Now we know who keeps drinking all the water out of the birdbath in the Secret Garden, and sometimes tipping it over on the ground!

That is one loooonnnnnng kitty cat! Poor kitty...that birdbath is almost empty...and there is a whole pond not even 15 feet away...

Who you lookin' at? Never see a cat drinking from a birdbath before?

Well, I'll just mosey along, but I'm sticking my tongue out at you...

Now, see? Aren't I the picture of innocence?

Meanwhile, Mother Goose is still safely sitting on her nest over on the island. Good thing cats don't like to swim that far...

Oh, while I was writing this I looked out my window of my "room with a view", and I could see a lot of activity way over on the other side of Still Waters Pond.

"Father Goose" is having himself a grand old time splish-splashing about, taking a bath...

He found a nice shady cool spot where the water is a bit clearer and deeper,

And for the last half hour or so he has been diving and swimming and splashing about, have a grand old time.

I'm sure this serves a good purpose besides just having fun in the water, but then again, who knows?

Maybe Father Goose is getting bored with just sitting around waiting for Mother Goose to hatch her babies, and he said "I'm going to go for a swim and take a good bath!"

Looks like he is really having a great time! Makes me wish I could join him!

But trust me, Still Waters Pond is only a good swimming pond for the ducks and geese...No way am I putting my body down in that dark  water where I can't see what's under there...no way!

Switching gears...yesterday was chilly and rainy...stormy actually. Just the opposite of today.  Definitely not a good day for swimming the pond! When we came out of church and headed to our local "Hog Wild Cafe'" for lunch, we got kind of wet and chilled.

It sure was a welcome sight when we stepped inside the restaurant and saw they had this cozy warm fire blazing!

Of course, I wasted no time getting right up to the fire...

And then Hubby joined me. 

And then our Pastor and wife joined us too...if you look closely you can see his shirt is very wet from the rain...it rained so much yesterday we were about to wonder if we should have called Noah to come pick us up on the Ark...

But we warmed up and dried out and had a great lunch with family and friends. Such a blessing after a wonderful morning in God's House.

After a long day of stormy, wet weather, we were blessed to see this gorgeous sunset to end out the day.

It never ceases to amaze me the many ways God has to surprise us and bless us with His lovely creation.

"They who dwell in the ends of the earth

stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."

Psalm 65:8

What kinds of random sightings have you had lately?

Why not keep your camera handy and take pictures whenever you see things worthy of note.

It is always a blessing to see the many ways God chooses to show us His glory and beauty and even fun all around us.

Have a blessed and wonderful week.