Tuesday 4: September

 Tuesday 4

September 2022

Since I just did a  post on the first of September the other day, I don't want to be redundant on anything, but I want to play along on this week's Tuesday 4 Meme, so come along with me and maybe you'll learn something new that you didn't already know!  And also, I am posting this early because the next couple of days are going to be busy around here, so I wanted to be sure this got posted on time!

Hello and welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. We are so glad you have you join in.

The "Ber" months have begun: September, October, November and December. Let's talk about September okay?

1. When you were in school or university, did you look forward to returning? Why or why not?

Yes, I loved school and after a long hot summer I was always happy to get back so I could see all my friends.  Being at home all summer was kind of boring in some ways, unless we were on a vacation trip up north to visit relatives.    Here I am on my very first day of school in the first grade. I don't think I have any other school year "first day" photos.  That wasn't such a "thing" back then as it is now.

I love that you can see my mother's shadow taking this picture. That's definitely the shape of her head that I will always remember. She always wore her hair that way!

2. September has Labor Day, which, for many is the signal of summer's end and fall's grand entrance. Do you celebrate Labor Day in any way or is it just a day off for you?

Well, tomorrow is Labor Day, and yes, we are going to celebrate. But it's not exactly "labor day" we are celebrating. We will be celebrating several family members' birthdays that were in August. This is the first time we've all been together in a long time, so it will be a fun and happy day.  We are going to have pulled pork, fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, deviled eggs, veggie tray/fruit, and cake for dessert.  Everyone is bringing something so I don't have to cook all of that, thank the Lord! Yes, they are coming to our house.  I decided to go ahead and start doing a little bit of fall decorations rather than something patriotic for Labor Day. I'm just so ready for fall to get here.

And yes, Lily Grace and her puppy Bailey are ready for fall too. Lily says she hopes we can do some of those fun things listed above this autumn: hay rides, apple picking, bonfires, raking leaves, corn maze and pumpkin patch...well, maybe we can have a bonfire and make s'mores, and we can rake leaves, and go pick out a pumpkin at a store, but we don't have apple orchards where we can go pick apples, and I know there are corn mazes around, but I doubt we'll do that or a hayride...but you just never know!

3. September's birthstone is the Sapphire which is 2nd only to a diamond in hardness. (Ruby is a red sapphire by the way) It comes in many colors. Do you know your birthstone and do you like it? 

Yes, as a matter of fact, my birthstone is sapphire, because I was born in September! And yes, I love it! I love the color of sapphire blue, and that is probably what prompted me to buy this at Dixie Cottage the other day:

Yes, that is a bird feeder, and we had quite a time figuring out how to hang it so it wouldn't be out in the rain and hopefully where the squirrel wouldn't get it, so we put it on our porch.  I've been waiting and watching for the birds to discover it, but wouldn't you know who'd find it first?

So now we've moved it further inside the porch on a more difficult rafter for the squirrel to get to...we shall see what develops next.  I'm thinking the birds are a bit afraid to come that far onto the porch to eat, but we shall see.

This is my anniversary present to myself, which was in August.  Or it might be an early birthday present...I have to justify it somehow! LOL. 

4. September's birth flower is the Aster. What is yours ?  Well, I guess it must be an Aster. Although I've rarely seen an Aster flower...they are not as well known here in Florida. But I do think they are very sweet.  Actually here is the last time I saw some wild Asters...in Maine at my son's house when we visited there in the fall many years ago before he passed away.  They grow wild all around their woods.

I think the cultivated Aster is more blue than the wild ones, but I prefer these since I know where these were and they bring back sweet memories.

So there you have the Tuesday 4 Meme for this week!    You may need to wait a couple of days to check out the other posts on this page as it really doesn't open up until Tuesday.  Thank you, Annie, for putting this together for us each week. I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day holiday...try not to work too hard on "labor day".  

If you want to hear a good sermon and our little choir singing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness", here you go!

The pastor's message today was entitled "What is the Condition of Our Soil?"  from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.  Some very good food for thought .  

Why don't you sing along on this favorite old hymn?

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not

As thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"

Thursday Thankfulness: It's September!

Hooray! It's September!!  Summer is coming to a close and Autumn is on its way! Of course, here in Florida, there is no appreciable difference in temperature or "color" as of yet, but we know that cooler temperatures will begin to develop hopefully toward the end of the month.  Right now we are having one of our usual summer afternoon thunderstorms, but hopefully that will cool us down a degree or two.

So by now most schools are back in session, or they will be after Labor Day.  Our school started back here a couple of weeks ago.

  I love this picture of the old fashioned school room from my Country Seasons calendar, painted by John Sloane. I especially love that the chalkboard says "Every day is a gift".  How true that is, and we should cherish every day as a gift from God. None of us knows how many days we are allotted on this earth, and we should treasure every one and every person who comes into our lives each day.  I also love that this picture is entitled "Recess".  How many of you remember recess time at school? I am sure for many of us it was the best part of the day! I loved getting outside and being free to run around and play  and talk with my friends for a little while without the teacher telling us to be still and to be quiet. It was our time to socialize and make friends and get the " giggles and the wiggles" out of our system so we could go back inside and settle down and learn better.  (well, maybe, lol.)  

This picture reminds me of our 6th grade classroom, many moons ago:

I wonder if you can find me?  I am in the next to last row farthest over, in the very back seat. This was actually 5th and 6th grade combination class.  We more "mature" 6th graders were on the far side, and the 5th graders are closer to you.  LOL.

Now here's our Thomas Kinkade calendar...and I love the verses on it:

"Blessed are the peacemakers", and "The peace of God...shall keep your hearts and minds  through Christ Jesus."  I also see that Sept. 21st is the UN International Day of Peace. Truly, our world needs the peace of God that only He can give us. And even if the world itself is in turmoil, we can be at peace in our hearts and minds through our relationship with Christ. That is the only true peace.

Oh, another reason I love September...that circled date is my birthday!

So moving right along...did any of you have an amazing sunrise this morning? We certainly did. It was the proverbial "red sky at morning, sailors take warning" kind of sky:

It was so amazing!

I was singing this old hymn:

"When morning gilds the skies,

My heart awaking cries:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Alike at work and prayer

To Jesus I repair:

May Jesus Christ be praised!"

It truly was a wonderful experience just watching the skies change every minute, and giving God the glory.

After this it kind of got cloudy and that was pretty much it. I'm so glad I happened to look outside when I did, or I would have missed it!

After breakfast we got dressed and headed over to Dixie Cottage for the morning.  We are currently running a little "Labor Day Sale", and we were hopeful that it would be a busy day.  We have some interesting new items in the store as well...

A cute little entry table...

And another accessory table

This fun fall gnome was created by our DIL Rose and her sisters. They had a little "craft day" last weekend and worked on some fun projects together. I'm happy for Rose to have two of her sisters living within an hour's drive, and they like to do fun stuff like this together every so often.

This hall tree is a new item, brought in just yesterday by one of our furniture vendors. We have several people who paint/create furniture items to sell on consignment in the store, and it is a big help to Benton, so he doesn't have to do all of the furniture.

Later note: Oh! I just got off the phone with Benton and he said a woman came in this afternoon around 3:30 and bought this hall tree!!!! I guess that last hour of the day before closing is the best hour of the day! Someone else called and ordered something and gave a deposit over the phone...

I just have to pause and thank the Lord for His kindness to our kids in this venture!

Now here is a bit of a miracle story.  One thing we have learned here in our new location is that business can be really really slow during the weekdays, and it can be downright discouraging. Sometimes we sit there all morning and may only have one person come in the store, mostly just to "look".  But then all it takes is one person to come in and see something they like and say "I'll take it!", and that can make the sales goal for the whole day!  Well, yesterday was like that. When we left at noon nothing was happening. Benton came in to take over for the afternoon, and at first it was pretty slow for him too. About 3:00 a lady came in to look at a piece of furniture that she had seen online, but when she saw it she didn't really think it would do for what she had in mind.  She needed something much larger, and with glass doors.  Well, Benton told her that he had this huge china cabinet sitting in the back room that he wasn't sure what he was going to do with, because it was so big and he didn't have anyplace to put it on the showroom floor...and he hadn't had time to paint it or do anything to it yet. It was actually a free item that someone wanted to gave away, and Rose's family saw it and brought it to the store. He really didn't think it would sell because it was so big and most people aren't looking for big china cabinets these days.  Well, this elderly woman is getting ready to move into a new house and she has a lot of china and silver and needs a very large cabinet to display it in, and when he showed this to her she said, "That's exactly what I want!"  Although, she does want it painted to match another piece that she had previously purchased from us that Benton is getting ready to paint for her.  And so they agreed upon a price and he will be painting this and the other item for her in the next few weeks before she actually moves to her new house!  So we all rejoiced at this good news as it truly made the day! (and we can finally get this out of the back room where it is taking up a lot of needed space!)

Now if we could just get someone to come and buy these cute little dish towels that they've had since the other store over at the beach...beachy things don't sell as well here where we are now, so we are hoping someone will snatch these up at a good discounted price!

Other new items that came in today are some lovely quilts and seasonal wall hangings and table runners, that are hand made by one of our new vendors:

Aren't they all beautiful?  I do hope they will sell well.

She also crochets these cute little pumpkins and gourds:

And you know you just never know who might walk through the door at the store! Just before we left at noon this lovely young lady came in, dressed in her full regalia as an honest to goodness beauty queen! She is on her way to a national competition in Tennessee this weekend, and she and her family were seeking donations for a raffle that will help fund her trip expenses.  Amazingly her name is "Rose", and she is only in 8th grade!  So we gave a donation to help her on her way, and we wish her the very best of luck. She and her parents gave me permission to take her picture and share it with you.

Oh, before I go for the night, one more thing...remember I told you about the "house" that was moved in across the street?  And I asked you to pray for me to have a good attitude as well as pray for the new neighbors, whoever they may be?  Well, yesterday I finally met the man who owns the house.  I asked him point blank if he was going to fix it up and "flip it" and re-sell it or rent it?  He said he has bought it for his daughter and her family, and yes, he is totally renovating the house. He will put new siding on it and redo the inside, etc., so it will look very nice when he is finished. It may take a little while because he is doing it on his own and is very busy, but he assured me it would be like a new house when complete.  I thanked him very kindly and we had a very nice conversation. So I feel much better about it now and wanted to let you know that prayers are already being answered! So now we can continue to pray for this young woman and her family...he said she has young children.  Yes, I think I will bake them some cookies when they finally get to move into their new home!

 

Hope you have a blessed and wonderful rest of your week and weekend! I may be slow about getting around to everyone because of work and getting ready for our Labor Day family gathering, but I will try to keep up as best as I can!