Happy September/Labor Day!Updated

UPDATE at 3:45 p.m.: Blackie is HOME!!

He didn't give us any explanation as to where he'd been all day, but he came home for supper and he's hungry! He looks fine...so I guess he just needed a day out on the "town" or something...who knows? But we are very happy he's home, and as you can see, Sunshine is happy too.  So thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for our wayward kitty!    

I love a happy ending, don't you?   

Happy September 1st, 2025! Happy Labor Day!  Hooray for the "ber" months to finally arrive! My favorite time of year!  And in keeping with celebrating the beginning of the "ber" months (SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER), let's start out with the calendar roll call!

I kind of love this one...do you see the rainbow across the lake? This is the kind of scene that I love...and even though our Still Waters Pond has never had quite this much water in it, this picture reminds me of our beautiful pond and the lovely sunsets we have enjoyed here.

Some of you have already seen these photos on Facebook last week, but this is how our Still Waters Pond looked a few mornings ago...pretty much encased in fog, and you can see how desperately dry the pond is right now...we definitely need those rainstorms to come our way instead of circumventing our area every day and giving us false hope!

Okay, let's get back on track...back to the September Calendars!  Oh, I DO love this John Sloane Country Seasons calendar...and this picture is picture perfect!  Entitled "Ladies in Waiting"...the young lady is waiting for some customers at her vegetable wagon, and the hens are waiting for ??? A Rooster??? LOL.   And I'm waiting for the apples to ripen...nothing like fresh apples in the fall. I am excited that next month we plan to go to the North Georgia Mountains for a few days with our kids, and the highlight is always to go get some fresh apples at the apple orchards!   So I guess I am a "lady in waiting" too!

I'm still waiting to do our fall decorating when hubby and I can get out to the shed and bring in all the containers of decor. (Or until a strong son comes and does it for us...we'll see which comes first!)  But meanwhile I changed out a few things here and there with items that I already have in the house, and we went to the Dollar General this morning and saw these two new fall mugs and decided they needed to come home with us. 

Guess which one is going to be hubby's, and which one is going to be mine?

Believe it or not, hubby picked the Pumpkin Patch one, but only after I said I would buy two of the same "grateful, thankful, blessed" mugs so we could each have the same thing...he said "No, I want the Pumpkin Patch mug and you can have the other one." I asked if he was sure, and he said yes, he was sure, so there you go! Did you guess that?

And speaking still about waiting...Here is Sunshine, up on top of the grill on the back porch and looking inside my window while I sit here and work. This was actually a little earlier this morning. Normally the grill is Blackie's favorite spot, but for some reason Blackie has not shown up yet this morning, which is VERY strange.   When I went out to feed them at 7:00 Sunshine was the only one here. I called and called for Blackie, but he never showed up to eat.  A little while later is when Sunshine decided to jump up on Blackie's favorite perch and he sat there for a long time, watching me through the window and also watching for Blackie to arrive.  It is now after 10:30 a.m., and still no sign of Blackie.  We drove around the neighborhood a while ago to make sure he wasn't laying on the road somewhere, and praying that he wasn't...and no sign of him.  I go out and call every so often and even rattled the treat container so he could hear it, but still no response.  This is unusual for Blackie, so I am praying that he's not hurt somewhere.  If he doesn't show up soon I will put a notice on our community "word of mouth" on Facebook to see if anyone has seen him. Of course, there are many black cats around and they all pretty much look alike, but Blackie has that clipped ear which should distinguish him.  So, if you don't mind, please say a little prayer for his safe return. Thank you. I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I'm  keeping busy.  Here's the Susan Branch calendar for September. I love the little poem by Louisa May Alcott:

I used to be like that child, always doodling on my pages. I once was very artistic, but not so much anymore. It's one of those talents that if you don't use it, you lose it. Maybe if I really tried it would come back...but I just don't seem to have the drive for it anymore.

Oh, and this is on that calendar too: "Be Your Own Best Friend".  Well, yes, we need to take care of ourselves and be kind to ourselves, but we need good friends too. I appreciate having YOU as dear friends! Thank you.

This is a little sign of fall...that huge sycamore tree that we pass by on our walk is starting to turn golden. They are one of the first trees to lose their leaves here, and the leaves are HUGE!  We had four of these huge trees at our last house, and raking up those leaves was a bit of a pain!  I enjoyed the shade in the summer, but wasn't crazy about them in the fall! 

Back to the calendars:  Here's the Thomas  Kinkade one for September:

I love that scene, don't you?

And this is one of my favorite verses, which was on this particular calendar as well:

I love the little Chinese looking teapot on the Teapot Calendar for September.  Very colorful!

Below is a little teapot that I have that I like to set out in the fall because of it's colors. Although it says it was made in Austria, to me it has the look of a Chinese design. What do you think?

This is the back side of the design:

Here's a fun little quote from Rudyard Kipling:

Yes, if I didn't have any tea for a week it would feel like the "bottom is out of the Universe" to me as well! LOL.

Yesterday our church had a 5th Sunday Potluck dinner after church. Hubby took this picture of me with my mouth full!  Hello!

I took his picture and at least I had the decency to make sure his mouth wasn't full! LOL.  I was just so happy that he actually wanted to stay for the dinner. It's been a while since he felt like doing things at church, especially after church, when he'd like to be home taking a nap! So this is a good sign that he is truly getting better.  We still don't know for sure what was wrong, but we are very thankful that whatever it was seems to be going away. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers over the past few months!  I believe they have been answered.  And I am feeling much better too, so that is also a big answer to prayer.

As a matter of fact, I felt well enough last night to make myself a chocolate soda! I probably shouldn't have, but I just wanted one. Besides, the ice-cream we used had no sugar added and only 1/2 the fat, and it still tasted good!  The club soda used to make the soda has no sugar or calories at all, so the only real sugar was in the tablespoon of Hershey's chocolate syrup, which couldn't have been too much, right?  Oh, and one squirt of whipped cream! It was good, and sometimes we just need to treat ourselves.

Well, it is now 2:16 p.m.  I've been working on this post throughout the day as I have had time. I just went back outside a little while ago and walked around calling Blackie. I did also put a post on our community "Word of Mouth" Facebook page to see if anyone has seen him. I called my neighbor who used to feed the kitties before she got sick to see if she has heard or seen him over there. By the way, she is feeling much better now and is at home, but is not able to take care of the cats due to very decreased mobility. Anyway, no, she hasn't heard any strange noises under her house (where the cats used to go).  I went over and walked around there and called him and looked under there, but no sight or sound of him.  So we will wait and see if he shows up for supper around 4:00, and if not, maybe we'll take a ride a little further out in our neighborhood.   Sunshine has stayed close to the house all day and seems rather clingy.  I've asked him if he knows where Blackie could be, but he's not like the dog Lassie and hasn't tried to get me to follow him anywhere.  So we will just have to wait and pray.  Y'all knew I'd get attached to these cats, didn't you?  Yeah...I am. I am praying for the best outcome, but preparing myself for the possibility that Blackie may not come home.  Time will tell. Cats can be strange and they like to wander sometimes. We'll see...

Blackie and Sunshine last week. They sure love each other.

On that note, I will close this, but I will update it later if there is any good news. Meanwhile, this was on the Susan Branch calendar, and I love it:

Amen!

Happy Labor Day. (picture taken on that foggy morning.)

 

Friday Foto Friends-A Little This and That

Good Friday Morning...We're off to a foggy start here on Still Waters Pond...

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NKJV

4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, 

but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 

5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Thankfully we can start this day off by trusting in the power of God, and not in the "wisdom" of men, especially since in just a little while we have to once again get on the road to go to see hubby's eye doctor about an hour away. Seems like every morning that we've gone there it's been foggy, which makes for a bit of a nerve-wracking trip for this driver...but I know that God is with us, and we will put our faith and trust in Him to help us reach our destination safely.

This was yesterday morning...too bad we couldn't have made our little trip when it looked like this instead of in the fog!

But still, God is with us no matter what the weather or the condition of the sunshine or moon or clouds...He will keep us safe.

Also yesterday morning we saw this Great Blue Heron back up in the tall pine tree on Goose Island:

Revelation 5:13 NKJV

13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power

Be to Him who sits on the throne,

And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

It's amazing to me to think that one day "every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea..."  will be giving praise and honor and glory to God, their Creator! I think they already do. Have you ever listened to the birds singing in the trees in the early morning?  Yes, I believe they are giving praise to their Maker and thanking Him for taking care of them and bringing them safely to another new day.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and hubby was finally feeling so much better that we decided to go for a little picnic.  We stopped by the Hog Wild Burgers and Shakes place and picked up some fresh, hot and juicy hamburgers and french fries and headed for the Kenwood Boat Ramp to eat our lunch.

It's such a beautiful place to sit and watch the boaters come and go and just enjoy being in nature and fresh air once again!

However, when we arrived, I was a bit startled to be "greeted" by two very hungry looking dogs who were camping out under one of the picnic tables.  When I first saw them and they saw me, I was holding the bag full of very savory scented hot hamburgers, and my first thought was that they were going to run at me and knock me down and hopefully eat the hamburgers and not me!  Hubby was still coming up behind me from the parking lot and didn't see them coming. I just froze in place and tried to talk very calmly and turned around to look for hubby to hopefully see that he was nearby.  Soon enough he came and saw what was happening...I was surrounded by two very hungry dogs, although, thankfully and praise God, they were not growling or baring their teeth or jumping on me like I feared they would do! As a matter of fact, they were wagging their tails and looking at me expectantly, but not begging or aggressively.  Hubby was very calm and talked to them in baby-dog talk and they went right to him like he was an old friend, and I was able to keep walking toward the other shelter and picnic tables where we planned to sit and enjoy our picnic lunch.  

Of course they followed us there and actually stood there waiting, not begging, but just waiting patiently for us to sit down and open our bag of food.

Who could resist that face?

So yes, we shared our lunch with them. They mostly got french fries, but with a few bites of hamburger thrown in as well.  They never got unpleasant or difficult, and were actually well mannered and sweet.

But they still appeared to be abandoned in my eyes.  When one of the boaters came in to put his boat away we asked him if he knew anything about them, and he said they'd been hanging around there for about three weeks. They were good dogs and obeyed commands, so they obviously had belonged to someone at some time. It made me so sad to think they had just been left there.  However, I knew we couldn't take them home with us, so I just prayed that God would take care of them and find them a good home.  And I also thanked God for our own protection, because if these dogs had been of a different kind of temperament, that whole scene could have turned out much worse.  I do believe God had His angels surrounding us and protecting us...and perhaps even protecting the doggies as well.

When I got home I sent these pictures to our local Facebook "Word of Mouth" for our community. Right away someone said that the dogs belonged to someone who lived near the boat ramp and that they were already back home.  My response was that they did not have any collars or ID on them, and they looked abandoned to me...they had some skin problems developing...and if they belonged to someone they definitely needed to take better care of them and not let them run loose. There is a leash law in our county, but we've seen all too often that it is not heeded nor is it enforced very well.  I am thankful these dogs were sweet doggies, but they very well might not have been and things could have been very different.  So I pray for whomever it is that owns them to do a better  job, or I hope these dogs will find a new and better master!

Well, I have to go now...we must be on the road by 7:15 a.m. and it is 6:24 a.m. now. These pictures were from a little lake we discovered while on a ride the other day...just thought the clouds and reflections on the water were pretty...but the lake looked very muddy to me. Still it was a beautiful and peaceful place.

Okay, that's all for now. I will tell you more about our washing machine saga tomorrow...so stay tuned.

Foggy Saturday Morning

Good Foggy Saturday Morning to you!  This foggy view of Still Waters Pond is a lot like my brain this morning...LOL.  Didn't sleep well because of various reasons...too much going on here in the house with this flooring job...body aches and pains...typical stuff that keeps a mind awake when it should be sleeping...

So as I started typing this I looked back outside at the fog on the pond and thought to myself that it looks like it is even getting foggier. So I decided to go take another picture...and again, God's timing is always perfect:

You can just barely see them in this picture above...Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane were taking off from the marsh island to head out for the day's explorations elsewhere!  I am so glad I kept snapping pictures:

Because if I hadn't have gone out there at that precise moment, I would have missed this!!! I didn't even know they were still out there! There were being perfectly quiet, which is something for Sand Hill Cranes!

So, this lovely event has helped to awaken my foggy brain and get me up and at 'em, because today is going to be another busy, but happy day!

Like Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane, we must be up up and away!  The floor installers will be arriving around 8 a.m. to hopefully finish up the floors today. However, last night we realized we are running short of the flooring material, and one box was damaged, so with a last minute before the store closes phone call to see if they still have more of this particular product (thank the Lord, they do!), it was determined that we would drive into town (15 miles) to pick up extra and exchange the damaged one so the men can keep working.  

These are the scenes from yesterday's work in our great room

And here is how it was left last night when they left at 9:00 p.m.:

Today they will tackle my "Room With A View", where I am presently sitting typing this post to you. As soon as I hit "publish", I must disconnect the computer and get a move on!  Oh, and don't forget, our friend Linda and her hubby Dave are coming today and we will have lunch with them!  I had hoped to be able to show her a finished floor project, but I'm afraid that won't be quite the story yet...

So, without further delay, I must say good day!

Oh, here is where we've been spending our waiting hours...in the guest room, watching TV. That's my little "bear bear" watching with us. He was a gift from hubby when I had surgery last year, and he has become a sweet sleeping companion ever since. LOL.

And this was the sunset last night:

Psalm 113 says it best:

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord

From this time forth and forevermore!

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high,

6 Who humbles Himself to behold

The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

7 He raises the poor out of the dust,

And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,

8 That He may seat him with princes—

With the princes of His people.

9 He grants the barren woman a home,

Like a joyful mother of children.

Praise the Lord!