August is Here! Happy Days!

 Happy August 1st!  Hooray for a new day, and a new month!  Of course, you know what that means! Yes, it is time for the August Calendar Roll Call!! So without further adieu, here we go:

Even though this appears to be a fall scene, it is one that I love, and this calendar is in my bathroom where I can see it every day (several times a day and night too! LOL).  That's pretty much my little dream cabin spot, with that beautiful lake and mountains in the background, and a row boat right there waiting to take me to places to explore all around the lake. Yes, I could easily climb right into this picture and be quite happy and content!

Wow! There seems to be a theme going on here for August!  Here's another beautiful cabin and lake and rowboat scene, with a mountain backdrop. It is also gorgeous, but I think I still prefer the more peaceful and private scene above.

This calendar has quotes from Billy Graham and also from the Bible..."Christ belongs to ALL people; He belongs to the whole world!".  Yes, He does...and it is up to us to share Him with everyone everywhere!

"Blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice." Luke 11:28.  Yes, a good reminder for each of us to not only read the Bible, but to actually believe and put it into practice in our daily lives.

I love this John Sloane Country Seasons calendar...and this picture for August is a true gem...

I wonder how many of us have ever done a lemonade stand before? I'm trying to remember if I ever did, but I know my kids did years ago...

Here's our three little musketeers now...I snuck up behind them and got this response:
Matthew on the far left, sticking his tongue out at me...Benton in the middle, and Scott wearing his swimming goggles...

Hey! Lemonade only 10 cents! What a deal that was!!

I don't know how much lemonade they sold that day, but I think they sure had fun. I'm so glad I could find these pictures, thanks to having my early photo albums of when our kids were little more organized. I must admit to having a bit of a tear in my eyes as I look at these sweet pictures of when all three of our boys were so little and sweet and innocent and healthy. Sadly, today I don't even develop pictures, and it would take forever to find a picture, unless I've posted it here in my blog or on Facebook. That really is a crime.

Scott, Benton, and Matthew, circa 1981, Willoughby Hills, Ohio.

Precious Memories.

Well, moving right along...Look at this very colorful teapot set from my TEAPOTS calendar:

Here's the description:

And there's always a quote from some famous tea lover, whom I don't know, but it's still interesting...

The Thomas Kinkade calendar always has something beautiful to see...and this picture is from along The Big Sur, which I assume is in California?   And I love the Bible verse: "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1  Amen!

And this verse is at the bottom of the calendar:

"Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretche out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." Jeremiah 32:17

Oh, and here's a good thought to end the calendar roll-call...This Susan Branch calendar always has fun and good thoughts...

Yes!  "Oh for a book and a shady nook, either indoor or out."  Summertime is a great time for reading, but here in Florida, it best be a cozy nook indoors during August. It's still too hot to consider sitting outside for very long! If not for the heat, it's the mosquitoes!

And speaking of bugs:

I discovered this "Dog-Days Cicada" shedding it's exo-skeleton under our shed. 

Here's how the exo-skeleton looked after he disengaged himself from it:

And here's how he looked until he turned himself over and started pumping out his wings...

Here he is in the process of his wings filling out.

I assume he flew up into the trees after this as he wasn't anywhere to be seen this morning.

Not my picture, but this is how he should've looked later:

Internet photo.

I've never seen one of these creatures that close and alive before.  I know they sure can make a lot of noise!!  It is typical that they should appear now, in the hot "dog-days" of summer!!

And speaking of creatures...

Some furry black creature has invaded and taken over my chair!

Almost looks like a bat! But yes, it is none other than King Blackie, sleeping so peacefully in my chair. And yes, I have to cover my chair with this coverlet because I'm trying to preserve it from cat hair and possible fleas (although he is being well-treated for fleas these days and I think we have that pretty well under control).  

If I want to sit in MY chair, I have to roll him up in that coverlet and encourage him to "roll down" on the floor...otherwise, he will stick his sharp little claws into my behind and let me know who's boss around here! LOL. Now, I must say that quite often he jumps right back up into my lap once I've seated myself, but that lasts for a while until he decides he doesn't like me moving my arms about to use the tv remote or my phone, and then he grabs my arms and lets me know that if I'm going to sit in HIS chair, I have to be still! LOL.  What a little tyrant he can be!!!!

To follow up on my rooster story, no, these eggs didn't come from that location, but they did come from some chickens that are being raised by a woman in our church, and she brings dozens of eggs to church quite frequently to GIVE away...first come first served. Aren't they beautiful??? So colorful!

And below, this is a comparison...guess which egg is the fresh "real chicken egg" (as I call the eggs from the chicken lady) ?  And which egg(s) came from the grocery store?

Just look at that huge egg yolk! It came from the fresh "real chicken eggs", and the other two smaller yolks came from large eggs from Walmart. What a difference!  I wish I could have "real chicken eggs" all the time, but no, I am not willing to raise my own chickens in order to do that.  I will just keep looking for more reasonable alternatives!

I will close this out with this photo of this morning's sunrise, righ after a nice little early morning rain shower!

And here's a view of Still Waters Pond, still very dry, but we are supposed to get rain all this next week. I hope they are right this time. Still Waters Pond is very very thirsty!!!!

Isaiah 55:1-5

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

Here is a video of a church singing this beloved old hymn, "Ho Everyone That is Thirsty". This is not our church, but I like their presentation...

1 Ho! ev'ryone that is thirsty in spirit,

Ho! ev'ryone who is weary and sad,

come to the fountain, there’s fullness in Jesus,

all that you’re longing for; come and be glad.

Refrain:

"I will pour water on him who is thirsty,

I will pour floods upon the dry ground;

open your heart for the gift I am bringing,

while ye are seeking me, I will be found."

2 Child of the world, are you tired of your bondage?

Weary of earth-joys, so false, so untrue?

Thirsting for God, and His fullness of blessing?

List to the promise— a message for you.

 [Refrain]

3 Child of the kingdom, be filled with the Spirit;

nothing but fullness thy longing can meet.

’Tis the enduement for life and for service;

thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet.

 

[Refrain]

Amen.

Go and be filled...and be blessed.  Happy August!!!

Wednesday Treasures and Special Memories

 Dear Friends...I can't believe it's Wednesday already! This has been a very busy week so far, and I really haven't had time to do much reading or writing, so I know I am way behind in saying hello to everyone.  I missed the Tuesday 4 meme yesterday altogether...so very sorry...but like I said, it's been a busy week.

Sometimes I think I would like to be like this Cicada...leaving my shell behind and flying about taking care of things and singing as I go...Maybe that's what it will be like when we die...we leave this old body behind...and our soul/spirit breaks free and flies away!!! I expect there will be a lot of singing on that day...

Cicada Exoskeleton (click the link for more info).

Speaking of flying, our Sand Hill Crane family occasionally flies in for a visit...yes, all four of them fly in for a landing on the pond out there on that green island...and they often spend the night there. In the morning, just after sunrise, they take off into the air again , calling loudly as they fly over the house to go exploring in other places for the day.  On this particular day they flew over to our shore and came up and visited a while before they took off again.  It's such fun to see them still all together...Mom and Dad and "colts" Pat and Val...

Sunday morning was really sweet at our church. We took in a lovely group of new members! So exciting to see our little church growing. 

And then to see the littlest "members" of our children's church standing up and singing "This is my Father's World" (every verse!) was really sweet.  They did a super job!

On Monday hubby, son Benton and I drove a couple of hours away for the funeral of our "Cousin Jane".

Obituary for Cousin Jane Driver

I didn't take any pictures at the funeral except for this one, after the service was over.  This lady and my hubby are distant cousins, and she was the flower girl in Jane's wedding and my hubby was the ring bearer. They were both about 5 or 6 years old at the time.  I don't believe they had seen each other since that wedding so many years ago!  Somewhere there is a picture of them at the wedding. I don't have it, but I've asked for a copy to be sent to us if anyone finds it.

After the funeral we went to a little restaurant in The Villages, "Culvers", for those of you who know it, and had some supper with hubby's brother and wife, Billy and Peggy.

Billy's birthday was last week and we had not had a chance to celebrate together, so we took this opportunity to spend a little extra time together before heading back to our respective homes in different directions. 

This is Benton and "The Birthday Boy".  

Three Steiner men.

You just never know what you're going to get when you start taking pictures. LOL.

Yesterday hubby and I had to go out of town for a medical appointment, so that kind of took up all of that day.  Today was our monthly "United Women in Faith" meeting,

We honored our outgoing Treasurer after five years of service...but then she said she would continue until the end of this year to help train another lady to do the job, but she still gets to keep the plant. LOL.

Here We are finishing up our business meeting before we had lunch. I didn't take any pictures of that, but it was good!!

Oh, and then I left a little early as I had a mammogram appointment this afternoon.  Of course you all know how much fun that was! LOL.  Just a routine annual check up. Praying that's all it will be!

Today would be my father's 105th birthday! He's been spending his birthdays in heaven for the past 12 years. Just couldn't let the day go by without remembering him.

This was my sister, Daddy, and I taking a walk together after a Thanksgiving dinner many moons ago. Such a sweet picture, right?

Then, when the person who was taking the picture told us to turn around, this is what we did:

The true personalities come out. LOL.

I love this picture of my Dad in his workshop. I borrowed this one from my sister. I hope she doesn't mind:   He was always building something special. A true craftsman.

Of course, this is one of my favorite photos of Daddy and me, taking a little snooze on a Sunday afternoon:

 

And here he is, walking me down the aisle to give me away many years later:

This was our family when I was about 3 years old....

And here we are again, many years later. This would be the last family picture taken together the year before my mother passed away...

Sweet memories.  Yes, precious treasures.

Exodus 20:12

12 “Honor your father and your mother, 

that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."

Another favorite photo...My Dad, "The Champ", after winning a game of horseshoes!

I think I will leave it there.

Have a wonderful evening my friends. I hope to get back around to "visit" with you soon. Hopefully tomorrow will be a calmer day.

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

Hello dear friends! It's Thursday evening already...time sure flies when you're having fun! LOL. Not that I'm having that much fun, but the time is still flying! 

Today I am thankful that while time may be flying, I'm not a bug flying out there over Still Waters Pond today.  I don't know if you can see it or not in this picture, but there is a spider web stretched from the trees on the right to a pine tree on the left that is out of the picture, and it looks like someone is riding a zip line down the spider web "rope".   Look carefully and see if you can see it.

Can't see it? Well maybe these close ups will help you get a better idea of what is going on out there:

Yes, that is the same spider web, and on the left is a captured leaf. On the right is a captured Cicada.

I am afraid he is not able to zip line out of that web. He's caught pretty tightly, and spin and twirl though he might, he cannot release himself from the web.

I felt sorry for him, but there was nothing I could do for him. The spider knows his business well, and this web was too high for me to reach anyway.

I'm afraid that cicada won't be doing much singing tonight.

Sometimes we need to be careful where and how high we fly, lest we be caught in a "spider's web".

Well, let's see on a brighter note, today we had the day free as one of Ben and Rose's friends was "minding the store" for the day. She comes every other week for one day to give them a break, and now it gives us a break too.  We did pop in for a few minutes to see how she was doing because we were in the neighborhood, and things were going quite well! God has been blessing our little store, and we are very thankful indeed.

I also got a much needed haircut today, but it is a bit shorter than I expected, so no photo for you! LOL. Even my hubby said when I came out to the car, "I thought you weren't going to get it cut that short again!", and I said, "We were so busy chatting away that I didn't pay attention to what she was doing, and apparently neither did she..."  But the good thing about a bad haircut is that in a couple of weeks you won't know the difference. LOL. And besides, what was I going to do? Ask her to put it back? LOL.

So today there was a little excitement in our neighborhood...I've mentioned before that the empty lot across from us has been being prepared for some time for a new house to be put on it. Apparently there used to be a home there many years ago, as there is still the foundation for a porch and a driveway and the well and septic already installed. (actually we are on city water).  I've been hoping and praying for a nice new house with a nice new family/couple... And today we were excited to see that something was finally happening!

Well, can you imagine my disappointment when I looked out there and saw this being moved onto that lot?   That is not a new house!  That is a very old house!  And it needs a good cleaning! (That's dirt and leaves on the roof, not rust, thank goodness). My heart sank.  Our neighborhood is mostly an older manufactured home community, and there are plenty of old manufactured homes in here already...why would they bring in another??? 

I know there is a real affordable housing shortage in our land right now, and the price of homes has gone up astronomically in the past few months. Perhaps this is all someone can afford.  I'm not sure if there is already an owner for this particular house. I think it's someone putting it on the lot to sell. All I can say is I pray they clean it up and perhaps do a total rehab on it before they sell it.  

And I have to check my attitude. I've been praying for some new good neighbors.

Perhaps the people who end up living here will be the best neighbors I ever had.

And besides, once they got the house in place, it is mostly hidden behind that magnolia tree!

(btw, isn't the sky beautiful?)

Once they get the skirting in place and pressure wash it and pretty it up with some shrubs, etc., it will make a lovely home for someone.

This is the back side of it:

So will you please pray with me for our new neighbors? And also please pray for me to have a good attitude and make the most of this situation. 

Our neighborhood is a mixture of retired folks like us and a lot of younger families too.  We bought our home here because of the affordable price, the proximity to shopping and doctors and our kids and church...and this view out our back door:

Still Waters Pond...on a very cloudy evening tonight...waiting for the rain to start

And here are the clouds overhead...

Kind of interesting and beautiful in their own way, don't you agree?   

Yes, if we look for it, there is beauty all around us. It's all in the eyes of the beholder...and the attitude of the heart. 

Here's some verses from Psalm 145 that we've been reading this week during our morning devotions. I need to concentrate more on the greatness of our God and His love shown to us who are so unworthy.  I am so thankful for His compassion...and that He is slow to anger and great in mercy. May I have that same kind of compassion as I reach out to those around me and extend His love to them...

1 "I will extol You, my God, O King;

And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is unsearchable."

8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The Lord is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.

"14 The Lord upholds all who fall,

And raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,

And You give them their food in due season.

16 You open Your hand

And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,

Gracious in all His works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them."

Amen.

The rains finally came, and this is how it looks out there on Still Waters Pond right now. The frogs and peepers are singing their songs. All is well and we are thankful and blessed.

Good Night and God bless you all!