Life On Still Waters Pond

Psalm 24:1-2

1.  "The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

2.  For He has founded it upon the seas,

 and established it upon the waters."

Psalm 23

1.  "The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want.

2.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures

 He leads me beside the still waters.

3.  He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness 
For His name's sake.

4.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever!"

Amen.

Good Tuesday morning, friends!  I hope you enjoyed this little tour around "Still Waters Pond" with the thoughts from Psalms 23 and Psalm 24 to accompany us.  I did a little walkabout the pond the other morning, hoping again to find a spot dry enough to cross over to the little island. If you were with me HERE, when I tried this once before, you will know that this has been a desire that I've had ever since we moved here.  But alas! Even though the pond is getting drier and drier due to lack of any consistent good rain, it is still too mucky for me to attempt that trek again.   I guess I'll just have to wait until either it gets drier (but I hope it doesn't!!), or it gets full enough of water to float a little kayak or canoe over. (Now that will be a video worth watching IF it ever happens! LOL).  

Because the pond is getting so dry, we are discovering some things that have been "left behind" or disposed of in the pond during its wetter days.  Here's a few of the pictures that I didn't include in the above montage since they just wouldn't have quite fit the narration:

I know some people do like to use old tires as a planter for flowers...well, "Mother Nature" created her own display in this "lovely" flower pot...

The bottom of the pond is getting so dry in some places that there are little tiny yellow flowers popping up all over in the midst of the mud.  They are actually kind of pretty, but it's interesting they they are blooming in the mucky "desert"....

This (below) is a picture from the past, of the interior of our house before we moved in and before we painted the walls.  If you will note that hole on the far wall over there to the right, it has some wires sticking out of it.  We figured out that it was where the security system used to be, but it had been removed. We have since patched up that hole and painted over it.  Didn't think anything more about it,

Until I discovered this stuck in the mud of the drying pond... Yep, that's it...the security system from inside our house.  Not sure if it was ripped out by an angry would be robber, or by the former owner who was not happy that his house was going back to the bank and probably couldn't pay for the security system anymore...either way...needless to say it was no longer providing security for this house...

 But I am not afraid:

Psalm 27

1.  "The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear"

The Lord is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?"

Whether it be disease, pestilence, drought, or famine, or enemies of our freedom, we do not need to fear when we have The Lord as "the strength of (our) life".   

2.  When the wicked came against me  

to eat up my flesh,

my enemies and foes,

they stumbled and fell.

3.  Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident...

4.  One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in His temple.

5.  For in the time of trouble 

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

in the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

6. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me..."

So whether or not you have a working "security system", when you belong to Christ Jesus, you are secure enough from the enemies of this life.  So have no fear, and let the Lord fight these battles for us.

Have a blessed and beautiful day my friends.

Good Monday Morning!

Monday, May 4th, 2020! 

It is hard to believe we are already breezing through May so quickly. The days, weeks, and months all seem to run together anymore, don't they?  Without having any kind of definite schedule to our lives these days, many are finding it difficult to differentiate one day from another. That is why I wrote out the day and date above...for myself as well as for those who may need a reminder as to what day it is!

I trust you had a pleasant weekend wherever you are, and that you are staying healthy and safe.

We are very thankful to be staying well and God is taking such good care of us and our family during this time...we are very grateful.

We took our usual ride to our walking place the other morning, and I was very excited to see

these two deer alongside the road. You have to look very closely to see the second deer, down in the lower left hand corner, hiding in the grass. That one leaped up and ran into the woods as we got closer...

But this one just turned and stood there and looked at me as if to say, "Okay, here I am. Go ahead and take your pictures. I know you've been wanting to get a picture of me for a long time...so just go ahead. Take your time..."

And so, of course I did...She just stood there and waited patiently for me to take these pictures...

Isn't she lovely? I don't believe I've ever had such a close encounter with a deer alongside the road waiting patiently for me to finish taking pictures. I thanked her profusely and then we turned into the road to go on for our walk, and she turned into the woods to go catch up with her youngster, who was waiting patiently for her in the underbrush of the woods.

What a beautiful way to start the day!

After our walk, we decided to take a ride to a pretty little town about 15 miles north of us...

"Florahome"

This sign is in the park where the old train station used to be many years ago. They have now turned the railroad tracks into a biking and walking trail through the area, which is very nice.

I enjoyed reading about the history of the town. It was actually named after "one of the original residents...Flora Sipprell.  According to local lore, folks were headed for "Flora's home", which in time was shortened to Florahome."  I guess I feel a kind of kinship with this little community, because my maternal grandmother's name is "Flora", as was her grandmother's name. I have always thought that was such a lovely name.

This is what is left of the train station now... a nice picnic pavilion, overlooking ball parks on one side, and a tennis court across the road.  A very lovely place indeed.

Some of the "Flora and Fauna" that we saw while there at this park:

 This is a male "Spicebush Swallowtail" butterfly. Sadly, he has lost one of his "tails", and even though he was still alive, I am not sure that he would be much longer. But he was very beautiful anyway.

There was some pretty wild phlox growing alongside the road:

And these beautiful old live oaks surrounded the park.  The Florahome Methodist church is right through those trees in a very picturesque setting:

But what I was most thrilled to see was this Red Shouldered Hawk, sitting on the fence , obviously with his eye on some kind of prey on the ground. He was so focused on his prey that he did not mind me getting so close to take his picture:

 Isn't he magnificent?  So this was the second "close encounter" with one of God's beautiful creatures in the same morning!!  What an amazing blessing!

This morning as I was sitting here writing this I was thinking in my mind, "Now what scriptures should I add to go along with these pictures?"  But before I could get to that part, my hubby reminded me that it was getting "late" (he stays on a schedule no matter what) and we needed to go ahead and read our morning devotions. We do that together every morning. It is a wonderful way to start our day off right and gives us good "food for thought" before we actually get our "food" for the morning's breakfast.  

So anyway, I sat down in my chair and opened our devotional booklet to the page for today, and the first thing I do is look up the  suggested scripture references that go along with the devotional readings.  There is usually a Psalm, a Gospel reading, and then either one of the Epistles or something from the Old Testament.   The Psalm for today was Psalm 42, and here is what the first few verses say:

1.  "As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

2.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3.  My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

"Where is your God?"

4.  When I remember these things,

I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

I went with them to the house of God,

with the voice of joy and praise,

with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

5.  Why are you cast down, O my soul

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

for the help of His countenance."

Wow!  I love how God puts these things together,  don't you?  Seeing that lovely deer, and then putting that with the fact that yes, my soul is panting for God during these days of "social isolation" and not being able to attend church and worship together with our dear friends.  Yes, I am fully able to worship God anywhere, and that I do.  But even though we have been provided with wonderful messages of hope and inspiration on the computer, radio, TV, or whatever ways available (some attend drive-in church services), my soul is "thirsting for God".  I long to "go with the multitude, to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, and with the multitude that kept a pilgrim feast."

I miss our church fellowship and corporate worship, singing hymns of praise together in one voice, worshiping together through praise, prayer, and our offerings. 

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, 

so pants my soul for You, O God."

But my hope is in the Lord. Just like the Psalmist says in verse 5, "Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." 

I know it won't be long until we will all be together again...things may be a little different...it will be difficult to restrain ourselves from giving holy hugs to one another, but I pray that soon God will remove this plague from our land and we will "yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." Amen?

After our little ride out in the country, as we headed back home we stopped by a little roadside vegetable stand, which I was SO happy to see as I've been craving some fresh fruits and vegetables.  We were able to purchase our first real fresh from fields cantaloupe and watermelon and fresh tomatoes .  

Here I am enjoying a bowl of watermelon beside the pond....

And, I asked my son to move one of our picnic tables down from the deck,  so I can enjoy it in the shade in the yard when I sit out there to watch the birds. Now we can "entertain" friends  as we social distance...

I just need to get a few more chairs for down here. 

So now, y'all come!

We'll eat our watermelon and enjoy visiting outside!

Have a blessed and beautiful day my friends!

Friday Fotos Are Always A Surprise To Me!

Friday Fotos always end up being a surprise to me.  As of Thursday morning, I had no new pictures to share. It seemed like there was nothing worth looking at to even take a picture, plus it was raining.

We tried to go take a morning walk, and it started pouring on us, so we had to hurry back into the car before we got soaked.

 After the rain stopped I walked around outside to see what I could see, and I did see something really special! This lovely rosebud was drenched in raindrops (one of "My Favorite Things"....remember? "Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens..."? (Julie Andrews, Sound of Music, for those of you who may need a little extra jog to your memory)

Again, this is a rose from the "Memorial Garden Rosebush" that we brought with us from our previous home. It had been a gift in memory of our son, so I didn't want to leave it behind.

After the sun came out the rose bud began to open up even wider, 

and so I decided to cut it and bring it inside where I can enjoy it every day while it lasts:

There it sits in my mother's beautiful green glass vase, next to a picture of our son Matthew.

I always say "Thank you" to Matthew when this rose blooms, because I feel like it is a gift from him from heaven. 

Thursday, April 30, 2020 was also the first anniversary of my oldest brother Russell's passing after a hard fought battle with leukemia.  So he was very much on my heart and mind all day as well.
This picture of him below was before he got sick, standing beside the boat that he was building. He didn't get to finish the boat before he had to sail away into heaven's harbor.  I'm thinking that he and my son Matthew might just be fishing in heaven today...they both loved fishing, and if there is fishing in heaven, they've found all the good spots!

Now changing scenes a bit.  Can you see the baby bird in this picture below?

No? Well, how about this closer up view?  Trust me, he's there, right behind those big green leaves and next to the tree trunk.  How do I know? Well I saw him fluttering around in there after he had actually come and tried to get into my little den window while I was sitting here typing on the computer. I heard this tapping on the window pane, and looked up and saw this very young Cardinal flapping his wings and trying so hard to come into that window. By the time I could grab my camera he was gone, but I went outside and saw some activity in this tree:

And then I also saw this very stern looking male cardinal, most likely the father, staring at me and then flying around trying to distract me and get his fledgling child to get a move on before the human got too close.  After a flurry of excitement between the father and the mother, I eventually saw them all three fly off to another tree and then on to the woods on the other side of our property. Most likely they will be keeping him away from my window from now on...but I'll bet they'll be back to the bird feeder in the yard! I will be watching as often as possible without disturbing them too much.

I first showed you this picture below last year right when we were in the process of moving to this house.  This was the view from our front porch, to a beautiful big magnolia tree in the lot across the street.

Well, this was the view of that same tree in the bright sunshine, but I wanted to show you that it is now blooming...you can't see too many of the blossoms in this picture, but there are blossoms all around this tree...

Here's one just getting ready to open...

And here's one that is already wide open...

 And here are several looking up through the branches, some open,  and some about to open...

I am really enjoying seeing all the beautiful magnolias blooming all around our area right now. Seems like there is a magnolia tree in just about every yard!  They are so pretty. 

Now these pictures are for my sister Doris...she gave me this coleus plant last year for my birthday not long after we moved here...and it is really going to town now with new growth. 

I never knew how interesting a coleus bush could be, but their leaves are just beautiful.

 Such interesting color and patterns!! I need to transplant it and perhaps break off some of the long branches and root them and make more plants. But remember, I'm not the sister with the green thumb...she is...so I may wait until she can come visit and show me what to do...That's how she taught me how to sew...I'd try to do something difficult, and when I couldn't figure it out, I'd ask her to help me and she would show me how to do it by doing it for me...Isn't that what big sisters are for???

I am blessed to have such a patient big sister. Speaking of family, and in memory of my brother Russell, I thought I'd share a few family pictures with you:

L to R:  "The Stair-Steps" Russell, Clifford, Doris, Pam (me! "The Little Redhead") with our Dad and Mom behind us. 

Probably around the same year: Me on the front, my brother Clifford on the back behind me, Russell and Doris (in our farm home in Pennsylvania)

Our first Christmas in our new home in Florida, Me, Doris, Russell, Clifford, hanging our stockings with care.  I don't think those stockings are going to hold much!

My Dad built this house in 1957, and my parents lived there until they both had passed away. It was sold, after belonging to our family for 54 years, to a neighbor who knew and loved my parents and loved their house. It was a very special home built with much love. I miss it...but I miss the people that lived and loved there even more.

A Mursch Family Portrait Easter, 2005

Back row: Russell, me, Clifford, Doris

Mom and Dad on front.

The last Easter we were all together before my Mother passed away the next year on May 7, 2006.

The Mursch Siblings after our Father's funeral,  May, 2011

Me, Clifford, Russell, Doris

The Mursch Siblings June, 2014 at my son Matthew's Memorial Service

Russell, Clifford, Doris, Pam...and believe it or not, we didn't plan our outfits to match!!! 

We've done that a lot in our lives. 

Sadly, our last sibling picture together, April 27, 2019

Doris, Pam, Russell, Clifford

Thankfully we all got to be together that one last time.

Not trying to be melancholy here, but just thinking about how many people are not able to be with their loved ones right now due to this Covid 19, and many have not been able to say goodbye to those who have passed on because of it. It really makes us stop and count our blessings, but also reminds us to make every moment count together because we never know when it will be our last time together.

Okay, back to something more pleasant to think about:

Hubby wanted some Hot Dogs and Baked Beans for supper. That made me think about having "brown bread" with the baked beans, which is a New England thing.  The problem is I didn't think about it early enough to get the bread done in time for supper, as hubby likes to eat kind of early.  So the bread finished baking about an hour later, and now (written on Thursday night) it is cooling and waiting for me to have some for dessert!!  I am going to go slice a piece and put some butter on it and eat it for my snack while it is still warm.  It smells SO good!!

Here's the recipe I followed in case you are interested.  Those of you who make your bread without the benefit of a bread machine probably know what to do and when to do it. I mix up the ingredients, put it in the pan, push the start button and let it do the work for me. 

Brown Bread Recipe

(for Bread Machine)

1&1/2 Cups warm water

3/4 Cup Oatmeal

1/3 Cup Molasses

2 Tablespoons Butter, cut into small chunks

Place all of above ingredients in the bread pan while you mix up the dry ingredients:

3 Cups Bread Flour (I use King Arthur)

1 &1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Add above dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients already in the bread pan.

Make a little "well" in the top of the flour and add 2 Teaspoons of Bread Machine Yeast.

Set the Bread Machine for the Whole Wheat Setting and press "Start"! 

The whole process should take about 3 3/4 hours from start to finish.

Yeah, It's good!! It's Really Good!

I apologize if my post made you a little sad. That was not my intention. As I said in the beginning, "Friday Fotos always end up being a surprise to me."  When I started writing this tonight (Thursday), I had no idea what I would write or what photos I would share.  I guess I kind of meandered around in this post a bit, but some days are just like that, aren't they?

We don't always know what each day has in store for us.  But rest assured, God knows.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 139. I won't quote the whole Psalm here as it is quite long. Perhaps I will just share a few of the more pertinent verses to what I am trying to say:

Psalm 139

"1.  O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2.  You know my sitting down and my rising up.

You understand my thought afar off.

3.  You comprehend my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4.  For there is not a word on my tongue,

but behold, O Lord,

You know it altogether."

13.  "For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb.

14.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

and that my soul knows very well.

15.  My frame was not hidden from You,

when I was made in secret,

and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16.  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

the days fashioned for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

17.  How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

18.  If I should count them, they would be more in number 

than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You."

23.  "Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

24.  And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting."

Amen.

This is a good place to say good night...or good morning if you are just reading this Friday morning.  (Which will be MAY DAY!!!)   It is kind of late now (Thursday evening, the last day of April!) so I think I will wait and post it in the morning.  Who knows? I may think of something else to say by then! (I hope not. I think I've said enough for one post!)  YES, I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING...IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF MAY!!!!  Good bye April, Hello May. I sure hope May will be a better month than April was! Can I get an amen?

Have a blessed and beautiful weekend my friends. Count your blessings, and remember, God is always with us. He knows our every thought and what is on our hearts.  We can trust Him to take care of any anxieties we may have. So just relax and let Him take charge of your day!!