A Menagerie of Thoughts and Things

Guess who's back?

Yep! Our bluebird couple is back again! They've been staking out their claim on the birdhouse again, and seem to be seriously building another nest inside!

Yes, we had cleaned it out from their last brood, and so it was open and ready for a "new family". I am assuming this is the same couple. (I didn't get a picture of the female. She was busy either sweeping out the house inside, or gathering twigs for the new nest)

I understand that they normally do have three broods per season, so this would be #3. The first batch was destroyed by a predator. The 2nd batch we watched fledge out of here about two weeks ago. Here's the LINK to that on Lily Grace's adventures, in case you missed it.  Can they really be ready for another new family this quickly?  I guess so...So we will be watching and waiting to see what "develops". I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, this young Red Shouldered Hawk has taken up this territory for his claim as well. He's been quite busily patrolling the trees all around Still Waters Pond, chasing off any intruders. I just hope he will protect our Bluebird family rather than "invite" them to dinner...

Here he is, keeping a hawk's eye on his "claim".  

It is interesting to watch and to hear his keen cry as he swoops through the air, warning off any who dare to usurp his authority. Maybe we should call him the "Sheriff".  LOL.

Oh, hello! He does have a fuzzy youngish face, don't you think?

So, what else is new in the neighborhood you may ask?

Well, Lily Grace  and I have been on a few walks over at our walking trails...

We had a follower trailing along behind us, bringing up "the rear"...LOL

Sorry this is a little blurry. He was caught in the act! LOL. Yes, that is how Lily gets to go on walks, fearlessly helping lead the way through the wilderness!  But lately it's either been too hot or raining and she's had to stay at home. Plus, I've been having a lot of neck issues, (yes, even WITH "My Pillow", although I think it has actually helped), and I am having to leave my heavy camera at home rather than wear it around my neck, and also leave Lily at home rather than carry her.  

(I know there are some who are truly wondering about me right about now...LOL. You're not alone. My son just about fell off his rocker when he read a comment I made on Facebook about Lily Grace and I singing "This Little Light of Mine...".  He literally had to call me up on the phone and ask me if I was all right. Well, what do YOU think??? Of course I'm just fine!!!  And Lily has a wonderful singing voice!)

Today I had the wonderful experience of having an MRI on my neck, trying to determine just what is really going on in there. About half way through the extremely noisy procedure, everything came to a screeching halt, and all was silent and the lights went out. The power had gone off in the building, and they had to come "rescue" me from the machine. The machine was stuck in the high up off the ground position,  so three technicians (all ladies) had to come and help me step down to get off of it. I was surprised to see how high off the ground I was, and there were no steps to get me down...so they just had to kind of "carry" me and let me gently glide down their arms as they held me. That was a great adventure!   Had to go wait in the waiting room until the power came back on...thankfully it wasn't too long...and then we could start the process all over again. Actually, they were able to start where they left off, so I didn't have to endure the pounding all over again for that first session...just for the rest of it. I was sure happy for earplugs! I can't imagine how bad it would have been without them! So anyway, I have an appointment with my doctor next week to find out the results.  He's probably going to say something about "old age"...

Remember a few weeks ago when I was talking about "Fanning Away"?  Well, one of my Facebook friends had commented about remembering the old fans they used to have in churches with pictures of Jesus on them.  She said how she hadn't seen any in a long time. I was thinking in my mind that I had seen one somewhere not too long ago, and sure enough! This past Sunday our choir did not sing, so I got to sit in the pew next to my hubby for a change.  And what did I see right before my very eyes in the pew in front of me???

Yep, there He was! Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, well, the picture of Him there, on the back of one of those wonderful old fans!!

(Interesting that if you look on the bulletin you will see that we sang "Open My Eyes That I Might See, Glimpses of Truth Thou hast for me..."    I love it when God "opens my eyes" to see the special things He has there for me...)

And I thought I was right that these were usually sponsored by either an Insurance Company or a Funeral Home or something like that.   Sure enough! Why this one is from an insurance company in Georgia I'll never know. We are pretty far away from Macon, Georgia here in north central Florida. But maybe someone left it here from there...it looks pretty old. But is sure is beautiful, don't you think?

Shifting gears again...I baked another one of those peach/blueberry cobblers this week.  We've really enjoyed some fresh peaches this summer that we've been able to get at the local flea market. And it's good to throw in a few blueberries to add to the flavor as well.  You can find the recipe on that link above.

Well, I think that's about it. I've been going back through my photos from the week to make sure I didn't miss anything important.  I took this picture this morning when I was having my morning cup of tea. The tag on the teabag says: "Make today's !DEA tomorrow's REALI-Tea"

I like that "idea".  What ideas do you have today that could become tomorrow's "reali-tea"?

Here's some things to think about as we close this for today:

"But you, be strong and do not lose courage,

for there is reward for your work."

2 Chronicles 15:7

I like what this little devotion from "Choose Grace" says:

"God wants to use your hands, your intelligence, and your efforts to build His kingdom,

the place where grace dwells."

I hope you enjoyed this little "menagerie of thoughts and things" today.  

They say "variety is the spice of life."

Have a blessed Thursday evening and also a good "Friday Foto Friends" day.

 

Pillow Talk and Pipe Dreams

 I haven't been writing as much lately...trying to spend less time at the computer these days as I seem to have strained muscles in my neck and shoulders and sitting at the computer makes it worse...or is it the cause? Whichever, I need to limit my time here, so please forgive me if I don't make it around to everyone's posts every day. I am trying...I love to hear from each of you and hate to miss your news and views!!  I keep trying out different pillows thinking that is my problem. I have been tempted to order one of those "My Pillows" from TV...has anyone else tried them? They are a bit too pricey for my budget, but if I keep buying new pillows at Walmart I might as well buy a "My Pillow" and be done with it...but do they actually work better than a cheap pillow? I would like to hear from some real people who have purchased them. What kind of pillow do you like best?

I really haven't had much to share anyway...we haven't had any big adventures or activities worth writing about...haven't taken many pictures either. I guess I am just kind of in a slump, so bear with me while I pull myself back up and out and get back on track.  So here's what I have managed to accomplish:

This past Saturday I bought some awesome delicious juicy ripe peaches. I never buy peaches at the grocery store because they are never good...they usually are hard and then by the time they ripen they are rotten. So when I can find a good fresh peach at a farmstand, I am thrilled. These were actually good enough to eat!!

And before we ate up all of them, I wanted to make a peach cobbler. As many of you know, yesterday was a kind of bittersweet day in our lives. It was the 7th anniversary of the passing of our dear son Matthew from this life to his heavenly home. 

This is a great picture of the way he often looked...

taken on July 4, 2009, before he was diagnosed in 2010 with the cancer that would take his life in 2014.

I always prefer to remember him this way, with this exuberance for life shining out from his face.

Anyway, it helps on these special "anniversary dates" to keep busy and do something positive. So we invited "the kids" over for a spaghetti supper last night and had this peach-blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it when it came out of the oven. This is all that is left this morning:

It was yummy. I added the blueberries because I really didn't have enough peaches left to make a good cobbler. But blueberries and peaches go well together, and this turned out really good.

I got the recipe from this church cookbook, which came from the church where I worked as the Church Administrator for quite a few years before retiring:

Here's the recipe, and as I said, I combined peaches and blueberries, about two cups of each:

I'm sure some of you may wonder if we ever see our Geese family anymore. Well, we drove over to the neighborhood where they are now living with their extended family, and this is what we saw:

One of the neighbors saw me out there taking pictures and asked me what I was doing there, so I explained about our little goose family and how they left our pond to go live in their bigger lake with the rest of the flock, and I asked her if she knew for sure if there was a family with three young goslings in this bunch.  She said "Oh yes! There is a family with three young ones, and a family with two young ones, and then some other adults."  I can't tell if our babies are in this group or not. They all seem too big to me to be our youngsters.  I think there were more that I couldn't see from my vantage point, but the lady confirmed to me that they are there and they are well aware of them, so that made me feel good to know.  The other evening as I was sitting outside in my Secret Memorial Garden a group of five geese flew over the pond and honked at me all the way across the pond. I wondered if it could be our little family saying hello...but I just don't know if the goslings would be that big yet...maybe they are?

Speaking of baby birds...Our bluebird couple has been quite actively feeding their youngsters every day, all day long. I am sure the babies will be making their appearance soon. I keep watching and hoping we will get a glimpse of them before they fly the nest.

They sure are getting some juicy grasshoppers to eat!

Now, switching gears, literally...

This is a picture of our son Scott's project car, his '91 Camaro Z28. 

He has a long time interest in classic Camaros, and this is probably the 4th or 5th one he has had. He had Mustangs for a little while, but his first love is the Camaro, so this is what he works on and enjoys driving when things are working just right.

In these pictures he had just installed a new radiator and was very proud of the work he had done as a self-taught mechanic.

I have to tell you a little story...the other day on his day off he was going to drive the Camaro back to the golf course where he works (50 miles away) because they have a garage there where he can work on his car. He had mentioned that he would have to put the car on jack stands to work on the exhaust system. (see pictures below of the exhaust pipes he was going to install)

Well, I had expressed some concern about him working under the car with just jack stands because he said no one else would be around and he would be there alone. I've heard too many stories of people being crushed under cars I guess, and so I was a bit concerned about this scenario, which he assured me he would be just fine and that I was not to worry.  But I am a mother. Need I say more?

Well, anyway, we had gone to church and out to lunch, and when we got home, Scott was still at the house, and I was surprised to see him there because he thought he'd be gone all day. 

Well, here's what happened.  On his way to the place, only about 2 miles from  home, his brand new radiator boiled over and went dry...and he had to make an emergency stop at the nearest place he could pull over, which happened to be the Dollar General. He waited for the car to cool down, and then added a gallon or two of water, and drove back home.  He said apparently the cap on the radiator had a crack in it and the pressure had leaked out or something like that, which caused it to dry up.  So he couldn't go work on his car at the shop with the jack-stands after all! And now he has to replace the radiator all over again. But he is safe and God protected him...and I consider that perhaps that was God's way of  protecting him from something that could have been far worse than a dry radiator!  

Praise God!

I am so thankful for this young man with his sense of humor, blowing the trumpet!

So that's that for today. I hope you are having a wonderful day/week. Remember to hug your loved ones tight every opportunity you can. Like is just too short...we never know what the new day may bring.

Saw this on Facebook this morning:

And that's the truth.

Have a blessed day.