Tuesday 4 September So Far

September So Far....

Welcome once again to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. I hope you are enjoying taking part and as always, if you have ideas for topics please let me know here or in comments on

Hello Friend!
Cottage by the Sea.


1. How has your September been so far?
So far so good...I am finally over the infection that I had and hopefully I will be able to enjoy the rest of the month (what's left of it!) with a lot of joy!

2. What events are coming up next on your calendar or have there been any special days so far for you?

So glad you asked!  My birthday is coming up on Friday, the 25th.  We unexpectedly celebrated with the immediate family on Sunday, since Rose won't be available next weekend.  And bless her sweet heart, she surprised me with cooking our whole Sunday dinner, complete with a birthday cake! It was very impromptu when we talked to each other on Saturday evening and discussed our plans for Sunday dinner since she was off for the day and would be able to attend church, etc.  I had said that I would pick up some fried chicken on the way home from church and we could put things together for a good meal since Scott was also going to be coming down for the afternoon.  Lo! and Behold! I received a text from Rose when I woke up Sunday morning saying that she was bringing the whole dinner including dessert and salad and that I wouldn't have to do anything!  Wow! Am I blessed or what? 

What she made was this very delicious Boston Butt Pork Roast stew in the crock pot, with potatoes and carrots and celery. It was so very tasty and tender and delicious!!

We also had a wonderful side salad to go along with the stew.  It was all so good! (and I didn't have to cook! What could be better than that???)

And of course we did the traditional happy birthday song and blowing out the candles routine...

Yes, I am 76. I can't believe it either. LOL.

Maybe you'd like to hear a little bit of the song...

And here's my piece of cake and some Blue Bell Ice Cream! Can't get much better than that!!

I forgot to take any pictures of the kids, shame on me, but there's Benton in the background eating his cake. I was taking a picture of the beautiful card they gave me.

And the celebration isn't over yet. We will be traveling to my brother-in-law/sister-in-law's house on Friday, the real birthday, for a gathering of the extended family. My sister and her hubby will be there too. The reason we are going there (which is about a two hour drive) is not only to celebrate my birthday, but also our niece Shannon has decided that she would like to be baptized, and she wants her Uncle John (my hubby the retired preacher) to baptize her, and it will be done in their swimming pool. I know this is not the traditional way to be baptized, but their family is not currently active in any particular church, and Shannon is 22 years old, in college, and a very busy young lady. Some of you who have been blogging friends for a long time may remember way back when she was a teenager she was involved in a bad car accident that caused her some serious hip/pelvic injuries and I had asked prayer for her. Many of you who were "with me" then did pray for her, and I know you'd be happy to know that she is doing very well physically now and I believe God is truly at work in her life spiritually as well.  We are very pleased and excited that she has asked to be baptized, and we will continue to pray that the Lord will direct her steps and give her His wisdom as she faces her future. She is on track to try to get in to law school once she completes her degree as a paralegal.  

Link to post about when Shannon had the accident
Link to post about Shannon's graduation, which was just a few months after the accident.

When my sister in law invited us to come there on Friday she asked if I minded sharing my birthday with Shannon's Baptism, and my response was that I could think of NO better way to celebrate my birthday than to be a part of Shannon's special day. To me, that is the BEST gift ever!!

3. How's the weather been in your neck of the woods?

Well, this week is promising to look a lot like the beginning fall! Our temperatures are moderating a bit each day, and by Friday it will be in the 60's in the morning and low 80's in the afternoon, which is pretty much perfect for us! Hopefully Friday will be a sunny day, and the pool will be warm at my brother-in-law's house, because my hubby has to get in the water to baptize Shannon, and he doesn't like cold water! LOL.    

We did have a nice thunderstorm yesterday afternoon (Sunday) while the kids were here. Little by little the puddle in the pond is getting bigger!  Praise God!

4. How can we be praying for you or sending our good thoughts your way?

Thank you for asking! What a nice thing to do.  Pray for our trip on Friday, and that everything will go smoothly that day. Thankfully Benton will be driving us there since hubby doesn't like to drive in traffic, and we have to skirt around Orlando to get to my brother-in-law's house.  There's no easy way to get around Orlando, so prayers are always appreciated for traveling mercies.  

Speaking of travel...this past week our son Scott ended up getting a "new to him" car. Last Sunday when he left here to drive the almost 2 hours back to his house in Jacksonville, his car starting having some major transmission issues. The car had a lot of mileage on it and he had been having some other issues with it, and he said he barely made it back home, but thankfully he did get there safely. However, he knew he would have to do something about getting a different vehicle because that one was going to be too expensive to try to fix and not worth it.  So he took the day off and went car shopping and found another vehicle just like the one he had before, but with a LOT less mileage and in far better condition...and so he was proud to show us his "new to him" new car yesterday.  

It looks practically brand new inside and outside, but it's a 2004 Lexus...(I think?)

Leather interior...all the good stuff, and at an unbelievable price, so he was very happy.

Well, that's about it.  I look forward to hearing how you all are doing. Still trying to get caught up since that Blogger glitch that hopefully is fixed for good now.  

Here's a little benediction and prayer for us to close this post...

Psalm 121:7-8  NKJV

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

And here's a little reel I saw on Facebook that I enjoyed so much...not sure if you can see it or not...maybe not if you don't have Facebook...but if so, just enjoy this little cabin in the woods with me. Looks like a perfect place to spend the fall...and maybe longer...

 https://www.facebook.com/reel/1258465113076019  Little Cabin in the Woods

Tuesday 4~What Are You Going to Do?

 Good Tuesday Morning, Friends! I am running way behind in my reading and writing this week, and totally forgot this was Tuesday already! So I will try to get this done before the day is gone.  We are still having issues with Blogger not updating the posts and that makes it difficult to keep up with everyone, but slowly but surely I am trying to get caught up. Thank you all for continuing to do what you do so well in spite of all the glitches here in Blogland.   So here we go with today's Tuesday 4...

What Are You Going to Do?




Welcome to Tuesday 4 continued in the memory of Toni Taddeo, its original author

Here are a few questions for you to consider.


1. What things do you enjoy doing when you have time on your hands?

Hmmm, well, since we are retired we have a "lot" of time on our hands...or so you'd think...but between doctor appointments and keeping up with life in general, it doesn't seem like there really is a lot of timon our hands. However, that being said, I do enjoy doin things like reading, (when someone isn't taking over my chair!!)

 taking rides and looking for things to take pictures of, taking walks when the weather is a bit cooler, which we are still waiting for...and also I like to read your posts and write my own.   We haven't been anywhere special lately as I was kind of "under the weather" over the weekend and didn't even go to church on Sunday, and then we had our follow up Doctor visits yesterday to find out results of last week's labs.  Some good, some not so good and some medications are being changed or added as a result. So we'll see how that goes...

However, we did take a little ride the other evening, and the skies were so interesting that I decided to take some pictures of the skies as we were driving along the highway. (Hubby driving, of course, not me!)

The sun was in the process of going down, but there were a lot clouds in the way.  It looked like a storm was brewing, but I don't think we got any rain that particular evening.

I love that we passed by this very smooth as glass lake and I finally got a picture of it as we drove by...

 We drive by this lake every day, and I rarely get a picture, so I was happy I managed to do so this time.

It may be a little blurry because we were traveling at the time, but still, it's a lovely view of the natural beauty we have all around us here in our community.

One last view of those clouds! 

A little later, after we got back home, this was the view from our own back yard over Still Waters Pond:

Even without the water in the pond, the sunsets are still stunning!

Also, I was so happy to see this new sign in the entrance to our neighborhood! I don't know who had it created and installed, but it is a vast improvement over what was there before. It makes it look like you are entering a really lovely neighborhood...which it is in some parts, but there's a lot of parts that aren't so pretty, so at least this is a start.  Maybe it will instill some pride in people and make them want to clean up their own yards to help our whole neighborhood look pretty...at least this is a start.

2. Last minute company coming tonight for dinner! What do you cook?

If it's really last minute, we may have to order pizza from Domino's. LOL.  If I have a little warning I can usually make some spaghetti and hopefully a salad, and mix up a batch of brownies and let them bake while we eat. I try to keep a brownie mix on hand just for that purpose because sometimes the kids come over at the last minute and we throw our things together to make a quick meal.  

Even though I wasn't feeling all that well on Sunday and stayed home from church, I knew our son Scott was coming down to spend the afternoon and do his laundry as per his usual Sunday afternoon routine.  I had some chicken breasts in the freezer that needed to get cooked because they'd been in there too long...so I thawed them out overnight knowing that Scott would be able to cook them on the grill for us.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of that because they turned out so pretty! He's a grill cook from many years of restaurant cooking and always makes things look good! Anyway, son Benton also came over since Rose had to work, and the guys all watched football together. Benton is a huge Cleveland  Browns fan from way back in the day when we used to live near Cleveland when he was a young child. Even though they haven't been the best team, he stays faithful to them, and last year for Christmas his Aunt Peggy and Uncle Billy gave him a Browns t-shirt and Brown's Tervis Tumbler...so he wanted his picture taken while watching the game with him wearing the t-shirt and using the tumbler so I could send it to them to see that he appreciates their gift!  Funny thing, Peggy texted back a picture of her wearing her Detroit Lions t-shirt and using her Lions Tervis Tumbler too, while she watched the Detroit Lions playing football, as that is her favorite time from the years she lived in Michigan as a child. 

3. You've got a day to do anything and the weather is perfect outside, how are you going to spend the day?

Probably take a ride to a nice place to walk somewhere special...maybe even pick up some food and take it to a park to eat.  Once the weather cools down a bit we spend a lot more time outside than we do all summer.  

4. It's morning and you are asked out for breakfast. What are you ordering?

Well, my usual is scrambled eggs or an omelette, hash browns, bacon and either wheat toast or cinnamon raisin toast. If they don't have that, then biscuits, and hot tea to drink. That's what I had last week when we went out to breakfast after our fasting labs.

Okay, that's all folks! Hubby just said he wanted to take a ride!

Thanks for joining in!

Here's some good words of advice from God's Word:

Colossians 2:6-10

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 

7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Tuesday 4~ Labor Day

 Good Tuesday Morning! We are talking about Labor Day today, but I wrote about what we did on Labor Day yesterday. Actually we ceased from our labors and just relaxed and enjoyed a beautiful day! 

Labor Day




Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask 4 questions every week.


Labor Day is Monday, Sept. 7. The original Labor Day was September 5, 1882 when over 10,000 workers took to the streets to protest 12 hour work days for low wages and cruel practices of employers.
The first official Labor Day was on September 7th in Oregon.
President Grover Cleveland signed on for the first offical federal observance of Labor Day following the Pullman Strike in which government forces shot dead many unarmed workers strking over dramatic wages cuts and dramatic cost of living increases in a company town. Workers pay was cut 30% and they could not afford basic food. When a group of men tried to negotiate with Pullman, they were fired and 34 of them were "unalived"* by government forces.   

1. How do you observe Labor Day and were you aware of the background of it?

I really didn't know that particular story as shared above.  * My question: Where did the term "unalived" come from? That's strange terminology to me...I guess it's the pc way of saying they were killed. I believe in just telling it like it is...as sad as it is. No sense in mincing words! It sounds like it was a very sad chapter in our country's history.  Thankfully our observance of Labor Day is much more peaceful.  We didn't do anything extra special, but what we did do I wrote about yesterday HERE.


2, Many holidays become just a day off rather than a real commemoration of an event.
How do you propose we can remedy that?

A lot of communities and cities have special events and parades, etc., to commemorate these kinds of holidays. Certainly there should be more education about these holidays in our schools. I guess because I grew up in a more rural area, Labor Day was never really something that we understood that well, because it didn't seem to connect to the kinds of workers that were in our area...we didn't have labor unions, etc., like they do in the big cities,  


3. What is the most labor intensive job or activity you have done? 

When we moved back to Florida from Maine I wanted to get my foot in the door with the county school board, so I accepted a position in the Testing Department. This meant that I had to deliver testing booklets to all of the county schools for their standardized testing. Then I had to pick them back up. It was a lot of lifting and very hard on my back. I was almost 50 years old at the time, and in much better condition than I am now, but still it was hard work for me. Then the county decided to relocate the Testing Department to another location, which meant that I had to physically pack and move all of those boxes of testing materials, mostly by myself. They did provide a truck and workers to transport them to the new place, but I had to do all the labor of arranging them in the new location on shelves. There was also the daily routine of managing paperwork and scanning the tests for scoring, which involved a lot of repetitive motion. Consequently I developed a very severe case of carpal tunnel. It was extremely painful, and I had to make a work comp claim and take some time off. The best part of this story was that the school board realized that I should not have been doing all of that hard labor by myself, and they actually "promoted" me to a much better position as a school Bookkeeper, which was much more in keeping with my skills and better pay too! So all my hard labor paid off, but I truly suffered in the meantime. I am thankful to the Lord for rescuing me out of that situation and moving me on to much better things.

4. If your income was cut by 30% could you still survive? What would you do?

If our current "income" was cut by 30%, it would be quite difficult for us to survive, since we are retired and dependent upon a very fixed income. We do not have a huge savings account, and we are very careful about maintaining those funds. We would most likely have to consider selling our home and hopefully finding something that we could pay for outright and not have a mortgage. Or we would have to consider living with our kids.  In the past, when we were still young and able to work, we would just look for another job...but we are both at an age where working is not really feasible, although if I really had to, I could probably find a part time job doing something not too physical.  

I am very thankful to God for providing for us in all of our years. There were many lean times when we were raising our three children, but we never had to do without the essentials of food, clothing, and shelter. God always took care of us even when things were difficult, and our children never really knew any kind of deprivation. They may have thought they were being deprived sometimes when we couldn't buy them the new expensive shoes or jeans or "toys" that their peers may have had, but they always had what they needed and they were well taken care of.  

Here's a favorite passage that has always meant a lot to me...

Psalm 37:3-5 New King James Version

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass."

I can attest to this being true!! Amen.

Now we must go "give blood" for our quarterly lab work and then off to breakfast somewhere! Hip Hip Hooray! LOL.  Have a lovely day!!!

Tuesday 4~ Traditions (& More!)

 (Posted on August 31!)  Oh yes! It's September 1st, and even though fall is not officially here for a few more weeks, September always makes us think fall from day one, even though we still haven't had Labor Day, which is usually the last summer event and then I begin my fall decorations after that. However, since Labor Day seems a little bit "late" this year, some rules may be broken. So here's the Tuesday 4 post for this week, but I've added a few extras that I usually do on the first of the month...i.e....the Calendar Roll Call.

So grab a cup of hot pumpkin spice tea or coffee and sit back and enjoy the "show". 

Tradition

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.
Tradition is an important part of any family or community and so important that people will fight to be sure they are not neglected or done away with.
From the first day of Autumn, to Halloween, All Saints Day, and Thanksgiving autumn brings many different traditions from all around the world.
School kids cut out paper leaves, pumpkins,etc. Homemakers change decor to reflect the new season.
Sweaters come out of storage... the weather is changing.


1. Why is tradition important to you?

I think traditions help us to mark special occasions and holidays and make them more memorable for our families. Many traditions have been handed down from generation to generation, and some traditions may be new and exclusive to our own current generation. Either way, I love traditions and doing things with my family that we all look forward to.  As I said above, I may be adding some other current events into this post, and here's one of our family traditions...the Birthday Cake/candle blowout. 

Yesterday we celebrated our son's birthday (which was actually Friday) here at home with our immediate family. No matter how old we are, we all enjoy having a birthday cake and candles and hearing people sing Happy Birthday to us. Here's the video of us singing to our son yesterday and him blowing out his "55" candles. LOL.

Now, here is the first try "blooper" video...we started to sing, and my hubby was doing something silly and we got to laughing so hard we had to stop singing and start over. It was worth sharing, I think.

2. Have family traditions helped to shape who you are?

Yes, I definitely think so. My parents were really big into traditions for Christmas and Easter and birthdays. We have carried on many of those traditions with our own children throughout the years, and we still do things like setting up a train set under the Christmas tree and hunting for Easter Baskets even now when our kids are all grown. It's the fun side of the holidays that our family always looks forward to, and it helps connect our family together.

3. Do you believe that tradition helps a community or shapes the unity of family and community?
Most definitely.  I love it when towns have annual traditions of things like a Christmas Parade or a Fall Festival or  4th of July fireworks or other special events that are special to that community. It helps identify their community and builds communal strength when people  come together and enjoy the fun times as well as the other times, when people need to be there for each other.

4. Are there any traditions you would like to bring back and why?

Not sure of any at the moment that we don't already do.  And every community/church/school is different in the kinds of things they like to do traditionally. That's why I love living in a smaller town and attending a small church where people do like to get together and do special events.

Now here is one of MY traditions for the first of every month...the Calendar Roll Call! Are you ready? Let's go!

I love this Thomas Kinkade painting for September...It's entitled "Morning Pledge", and if you notice the kids are gathered around the flagpole in front of the school house.  I love the old classic cars in this picture too.  I know some schools do still have the "See You At The Pole" day, where they say the pledge and also pray for their school. It's voluntary, but such a great way to start the school year. This year's SYATP event is scheduled for September 23, 2026. You can learn more about that in the link above.

And this verse is a great way to put things in order in our lives:

I love the little cabin on my Cabin Calendar for September...What a peaceful setting. The only thing this cabin needs is a big front porch!

This recipe for a Cranberry Apple Crisp is on the Susan Branch calendar for September. It sounds really good. I may have to try it!!!

Apples always seem to go well with September!!

Interesting thought to ponder:

This is the Billy Graham quotes calendar for September...

and a very good thought also to ponder...

And this verse goes along with that thought...

Here's the Teapot Calendar for September...a very unusual looking tea set, I must say...

Here's some information about it... I don't think it's exactly my idea of what a teapot should look like,  but it is interesting for sure.

I don't know if I am THIS fond of tea, but I do love it... LOL:

And last but not least, the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar for September shows this farmwife peeling apples for an apple pie...which goes along with my idea of September just fine. 

My birthday is later this month, and talk about tradtions, my mother used to bake an apple for me for my birthday instead of a cake (at my request). I do miss her wonderful pies so much, but now my sister usually does that for me, or she picks up one from Costco, which is pretty good. Here'a picture of a couple of my sister's pies on my birthday several years ago... (I think she baked two because we had a large group there, and I notice there was also a cake, brought by my sister in law! What a blessing!)

I think I was listening to them sing Happy Birthday to me! LOL.

Another September tradition is decorating the house for the autumn days and weeks...I normally wait until after Labor Day to begin my fall decorating, but the "kids" helped me get a head start yesterday with this little gift that they created:

Aren't they cute?  Especially the black cat!!  Now that I have my own black cat, I find myself drawn to all kinds of fun decor with black cats!

Oh, here's Blackie now,slieeping with one of his "toys".  Actually that toy belongs to our grandpups, but Blackie decided it was now his.  

Well, friends, that's all for this post. I am posting it early tonight because we have to go back up the road an hour + tomorrow morning to see the Eye Surgeon again. Hubby's eye is still not really doing as well as it should be since his cataract surgery, and so we are going to get it checked out.  This will be a busy rest of the week...I have a dental appointment on Wednesday, then on Thursday there's the Memorial Service for the man in our church who passed away last week..  On Friday hubby has a Dr. appointment over in Gainesville, which is another hour's drive in a different direction.  Somewhere during this week we need to fit in some hair cuts because we are looking like shaggy dogs.  So I may not be around much here in Blogland, but I will try to pop in as I am able.

Have a blessed and wonderful week everyone.

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~ The "Ber" Months

 

The "Ber" Months

There are just 3 weeks left until the "ber" months begin. September, October, November and
December. Fall/Autumn begins in September and ends in December.


Autumn begins in September and it is called that until leaves begin to fall and then it's called "fall".
Sept means 7, Octo means 8, Novo is 9 and Deca is 10 but the numbers are off since the calendar was changed long ago from 10 months to 12.
Ber is an adjectival suffix from latin meaning month.
Let's discuss it.

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask just 4 questions each week to encourage blogging and enjoying the ideas and work of fellow bloggers.


1. What foods make you think of the autumn months ahead?

Mostly things like chili and soups and stews, and apple pie and pumpkin pie, and s'mores cooked on a campfire outside.

Hot dogs are always better cooked on an outdoor campfire too, especially with family or friend gathered around.

I tend to do more baking in the fall as well, because it makes the house smell so good and feel so cozy. (And in the summertime baking heats up the house too much).

2. Are there any songs you associate with the fall month?

"Shine on, shine on Harvest Moon, up in the sky!" I remember my Dad and Mom singing that song to each other.  I wrote about this in THIS POST HERE several years ago. Many of you may have already seen that before, but it's a fun trip down memory lane.  Also "See You In September".   Remember?

3. Are you looking forward to the ber months at all? Why?

Oh yes! When you live in Florida, all summer long the only thing that keeps you going is looking forward to the cooler days of fall! Our fall is not as dramatic as it is up north, but it is such a blessed reprieve from the high humidity and ultra hot days that we celebrate every day that the temperatures don't rise above 80 degrees! LOL. Fall is my favorite season, not only because I was born in September, but because I just seem to come alive again after the long hot summer. 

 

Normally we take a trip to the mountains in the fall and stay in a Airbnb cabin with our kids. But this year I don't think we are going to be able to go. I am disappointed in a way, but then again, sometimes traveling and being away for a week can be exhausting, not to mention expensive. So for now, we have decided not to take our annual trip. But you never know. Sometimes we change our minds at the last minute. Time will tell.  I will miss having views like this...

I guess I'll just have to be content with these views here from my own backyard:

That's really not so bad! Even if the pond is still dry! LOL.

Philippians 4:11 NKJV

11 "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content..."

4. School in New Jersey always begins after Labor Day and before that I would have dreams of going to school in my pajamas! Did anything simiar happen to you? Did you dread going back to school or were you happy and excited?

I don't remember being overly anxious about going back to school. Mostly I couldn't wait to get back to seeing my friends every day, and the beginning of football season and all of the fun fall activities.  The only anxiety I remember having was trying to find some new clothes and shoes that fit to start out the new school year.  I was the youngest of four children, and we didn't have a lot of money and so we really didn't get a lot of new stuff, but usually we tried to have at least one new outfit to wear the first day of school. After that I either had to sew my own new clothes or wear my sister's hand me downs, but she ended up being much shorter than me and so once I began growing taller I could no longer wear any of her clothes,  so I had to have some new things.  And of course, back then, girls wore dresses to school...no slacks or t-shirts. We had to dress nicely. To answer the question, I was usually happy and excited to get back to school. 

HERE's a link to a former post I wrote about 'the ber months".

And HERE's a fun post about autumn from Pamela's Victorian Cottage.

5 

I am also thinking about how nice it will be when we get back to our normal routines at church for the fall and winter.  Choir practice will start back up the week after Labor Day, and so will our Ladies' Bible Study. I have missed those activities and gatherings with others over the summer. Although it's nice to have a little break from it for a while, it's just like when I looked forward to getting back to school to see all my friends, I kind of feel the same way about these activities.  Yes, I do see all the same people at our regular church services on Sunday, but it's just not quite the same as being together in a smaller group. There are some different groups that meet over the summer, but I have not been able to participate in them due to circumstances beyond my control.   I truly miss the more personal connection with other ladies in particular that we have at Bible Study...and I also miss singing in the choir and helping to lead the congregation in worship with our music. It will be nice to get back together again.

Psalm 37:3-5 NKJV

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass."

Meanwhile, since we are still in August...we have some things to look forward to this month.  This coming Sunday (16th) will be our 57th wedding anniversary!  We don't have any specific plans yet to celebrate, but we usually try to go out to lunch at a favorite restaurant sometime the week of our anniversary.  And then our son Benton will celebrate his 55th birthday later this month! That's pretty hard for me to believe...I will soon have a son who qualifies as a "senior citizen". LOL. Where did the time go?   We do have plans to meet up with our extended Florida family on August 22nd at a restaurant that is mutually convenient in distance for all of us for lunch. We have a LOT of family birthdays and anniversaries in August, so we usually try to get together sometime during the month to celebrate everyone together. That's always a fun time to look forward to.

I didn't specify anything in particular today that I am "happy" about for my August happiness challenge, but suffice it to say, I am happy about all of the above that I've written. I thank the Lord for so many wonderful blessings...and especially the gift of family and friends. God has been very gracious and kind and I am truly grateful.  Amen.