Goodbye May! Hello June!

We are rapidly approaching the half way mark of the year, and it just doesn't seem possible, does it?  Today is the last day of May...I remember that on this day many many moons ago I walked down the aisle to graduate from high school...I'm sitting here trying to calculate how many years ago that was, and it's hard to believe that it was 57 years ago!

Where has the time flown?  Well, let's see, do you really want to know my whole life story?  LOL. Not today...that would take up way too much space and time and I am not sure anyone really wants to read all of that.  So let's just skip over the past 57 years and that will bring us to today.  57 years later and I'm sitting here in my "Room with a View" watching the sunset in the west over Still Waters Pond,

It's not anything too spectacular tonight, but  someone seems to be enjoying laying down in the grass beside the pond and watching the sunset...or watching for frogs or other little critters...

Yes, that's Sunshine basking in the Sunset.

Here he was a little earlier, when I was out in the yard checking on flowers that are blooming...he stayed on the porch and watched me...

While Blackie came down in the yard and followed me around.   

This was Blackie earlier enjoying some porch sitting time too...

Oh, and I keep forgetting to share pictures of the hummingbirds ...

Here's a few of the flowers that are blooming in the butterfly garden right now...

This hibiscus bush that we planted in memory of our son on his birthday this year has just bloomed and bloomed and bloomed! I've really enjoyed watching it open up with new blossoms every day. And the butterflies and hummingbirds love it too!  

I planted these zinnias  a short time ago, and they are finally really starting to bloom:

These zinnia plants are loaded with buds, so hopefully they will be blessing us with blossoms very soon:

This is a large-flowered tickseed plant, and it looks like a tiny little moth is enjoying getting some nectar from it!

Here's a marigold plant too...

As I've said before, I don't really have a green thumb, and there are lots of weeds that need pulling, but I'm enjoying these flowers  while they bloom.  57 years ago when I graduated high school on this date, I would never have imagined that I'd be sitting here tonight writing to friends all over the world  in blogland and showing you pictures of a butterfly garden and my two cats that I never dreamed I'd ever have!  After all, my sister Doris is the cat-person and the one with the green thumb in our family.  Maybe a little bit of those genes finally blossomed in me too. It just took a much longer time. LOL!

Moving right along...tomorrow is the first day of June, and we all know what that means! It's Calendar Roll Call day!  Since tomorrow is Sunday and I don't know that I will have time to write a post, I decided to give a sneak preview tonight of the June calendars.  Probably most of you won't see this until tomorrow anyway, so it will be right on time for you.  

This is a good place to start, with the Thomas Kinkade calendar and a beautiful church along the shore. And since June is the month we celebrate Father's Day, this verse from Jeremiah 17:7 is very appropriate:

And here is another verse that is one of my favorites...Deuteronomy 31:6

Can you read it okay?  It's kind of hard to read...

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

It's a verse that we need to always remember, no matter what or where our life has taken us.

This is the Teapot Calendar for June...looks like a lovely tea setting for an outdoor picnic...

What a delightful thought!   

Maybe this is the setting for our little garden tea party...look at those lilacs!! Oh wow!! For those of you who live where the lilacs are blooming, will you please go pick some and smell them for me? I'd love to see some pictures of your lilacs! We can't grow them here in Florida, and it's such a shame!! 

Hey, it looks like these people don't pull their weeds much either! LOL.  This might be a little too much grass around our ankles for a tea party, don't you think? Still, it looks pretty lovely to me...

Oh, I love what the Susan Branch calendar has for June...perfect for our outdoor tea party/picnic, don't you agree?

"Bring along a jar of water for just-picked wildflowers"....what a fun idea!

Jane Austen says to "Run mad as often as you 'chuse', but do not faint..."    Okay...I guess...LOL.

I saved the best for last...the John Sloane Country Seasons calendar for June:

Perfect!  She's carrying the picnic basket loaded with the tea things and the fresh home made bread and real butter and honey...and maybe a jar of water for the fresh picked wildflowers...and some other delightful goodies for our tea party picnic! What a beautiful setting...and so nice to have a sweet old doggy for our companion!

This certainly makes me want to go outside and have a tea party picnic sometime soon...if the weather will just not get too hot too fast...it actually was a tad bit cooler today...stayed in the 80's and didn't reach 90, and it wasn't quite a humid...would've been a perfect day for a picnic!  I don't have a doggy companion, but I know a couple of kitties who just might want to come along and join us.  What do you think? Let's go!

Well, friends, it's already almost bedtime, so I'd best close the calendar for May and get ready for June. Praying that June will be a month of hope fulfilled and promises kept and days of beauty and joy. 

Family Celebrations

 Today I was MIA here...we traveled two + hours away to my husband's brother's home to celebrate the High School graduation of our niece.  If you've been with me a while, you may have remembered that I asked prayer for Shannon last year when she had a very bad automobile accident, in which she broke her pelvis/hip.  She had to have surgery to place a rod in there and she has been through a pretty difficult year in more ways than one.  But she has survived. And we had much to celebrate.  And so we did:

If you are a Facebook friend of mine you may have already seen most of these pictures. I may add a few extras here that some of my Facebook friends wouldn't appreciate as much as you...you'll see later...

When we first arrived we were greeted by the newest member of the family, "Winnie"...Shannon's very cute and sweet puppy.

As you can see by the following pictures, these two love each other a lot...

Nothing quite as sweet as "puppy love"...

Sometimes you just need something cuddly to love...

Oh, here's someone else who was getting some extra "love"...

Yes, that's Lily Grace and her puppy Bailey.   Lily came dressed in her swimsuit and life preserver because:

They have a very nice swimming pool, and she was hoping to take a dip in the pool...

But this was as close as we got.   It was still a lot of fun!!

Back to the party...

This is one of Shannon's cousins with a bubble pipe...

And this is Shannon's Mom, Peggy, making bubbles for all the little kids who were having so much fun chasing the bubbles...

Aren't the bubbles beautiful?  I wanted to play with them too...

But I was too busy visiting with my sister (and her hubby, who was there, but no picture of him)

And we were laughing because somehow we managed to dress in a similar color scheme...when we live hours apart and only see each other every few months and have NO idea what each other has in our wardrobes...and we do this frequently...we show up wearing almost the same outfit time and time again. Some people still think we are twins, but we are NOT.  My sister is a petite used to be brunette, and I am a tall gangly (well, maybe more chubby than gangly now) used to be redhead, and we were born several years apart. But we tend to think a lot alike, which is scary.

Talk about scary.  I brought this "gift" to give to a dear friend who I thought was going to be at the party but she ended up not being able to come, so I opened it up so I could take a picture of it to send to her and to show the others because of course it needed to be seen:

And Of course I needed to try them on just to make sure they really worked. LOL.

Yeah, scary indeed! LOL.  This is a horrible picture of me. Now you know I have no good sense at all. LOL.

Back to the party...Now here's what I'd call a "loaded cake"...

We each had a chance to guess how much $$ was on the cake, but of course the "prize" went to the honoree.  How much would YOU guess?  Let's just say the total number has something to do with the total number of years she was in school...

And last but not least, trying to get family portraits taken is always a challenge at any gathering.  Especially in our family.

But sometimes the more candid the better...

One out of three ain't bad...

And I think this one took a few different takes before it was good enough:

This is the "Steiner family" that was present.  Sadly none of our kids could come due to work schedules.

Lots of happy memories here, and praying Shannon's life will be blessed with many more happy days ahead.

One last photo from today...at the party there was a big basket full of "puppies" to be adopted by each guest.  Maybe symbolic of adopting a pet for real, as Shannon has done with her cute little "Winnie". So Lily and Bailey adopted some new friends: "Houghie" and "Barker" are their names. Aren't they sweet?

Well, when all was said and done, we had a great day, and I pray that Shannon was blessed knowing that so many of her family and friends truly care about her and love her.

You've heard this verse before recently, but it bears repeating again as we think about our graduates and their future:

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

It is my greatest prayer that Shannon will seek and discover the wonderful plans that God has in store for her, and that she will have a very bright and blessed future.

Amen.

Good night everyone!!