Autumn Saturday Morning and All is Well

If you are a Facebook friend you may have already seen these photos. Sorry they are kind of blurry, but it was getting dark and it was zoomed in to across the pond...But anyway...we know it is fall here on Still Waters Pond because last night 10 Canada Geese landed and visited with Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane on their island for a spell.

They mulled about, chattering back and forth with each other...probably talked about the weather and how nice it was here and asking directions to the big lake where they can swim a bit, etc.

Our pond seems to be growing another marsh island...that area where they are standing used to be all water, but now it seems the land masses are shifting and it has become another little sand bar covered with dying water lilies. They tend to do that in the pond. I just hope they don't all end up covering the whole pond,  but anyway...it does give the geese and cranes more space to land and build nests, etc.

After they visited for a while I could tell that the Cranes were getting a little concerned that the geese were taking up too much of their space, so they started their loud raucous cries at them, and then the geese started muttering among themselves a little more loudly until they worked themselves up into a honking frenzy and the next thing I knew they were up in the air and flying away. Too quickly for me to get focused and get a picture, but it was quite a sight.

I am sure they will be back. This is the season for them to start congregating on our lakes and ponds for the winter months, so the excitement has begun!! Stay tuned for further developments!

Meanwhile:

Back on shore I got busy the other nice cool morning and did some work out in my little butterfly garden area.  We had removed all the garden decorations the previous week for the hurricane, and so now was a good time to try to get outside and clean up the garden and put it all back...

Yes, I know it still looks weedy. I did pull a lot of weeds and grasses away, but some of that stuff is also the remainder of the flowers that were planted.   Some are starting to die back for the winter I guess, so I will continue to prune and pull and clean up as the days go by. Next spring I may do things totally over and prepare the ground better before planting...but I tend to do things spontaneously without much forethought and that's what happens...

Oh well, it still looks a lot better than it did before I ever planted the garden. And I love my new little lawn ornaments.  I will not be putting any regular birdseed in these items because of the squirrels, but I am experimenting with Safflower seed in the glass bird feeder to see if the birds will eat it and the squirrel will ignore it because they don't like safflower seeds. So far so good...

Oh, changing gears a bit...back inside...It's been cool enough a few mornings this past week to turn on our fireplace...actually we didn't turn on the real heat part, just the lighted part that looks like a warm fire but isn't really warm yet. We mostly use this just for the ambience. It makes our house feel all warm and cozy!

Well, with that in mind, I will close for today. It's going to be another busy day.  We have our "Agape Luncheon" at church, which is a gathering of church family for a pot luck meal and fellowship. I think I am making a pot of Hobo Stew (recipe can be found HERE ) and some cornbread. At least that's the current plan.  We aren't going to Dixie Cottage this morning, but we shall see how things go. If things get really busy there, we may go in and help out for a while. We hope it does get busy...it's been kind of a slow week.

Okay, that's all folks! Have a blessed and beautiful day wherever you are!

Here's a thought for today:

1 Thessalonians 3:12

" And may the Lord make you increase 

and abound in love to one another and to all, 

just as we do to you,"

 

Friday Foto Friends At Last!

 Last night I struggled for several hours trying to write a post for today, but Blogger would not upload my pictures.  I restarted my computer, cleaned out the temporary files, did all kinds of things that others said online might help, but to no avail as of bedtime last night.  So I came in here this morning with my cup of tea and sat down and said, Okay, Lord, it's now or never!  And guess what! It's finally working again! Thank YOU, Lord, and thank you, Blogger, for fixing whatever needed fixing!  And so I will start out with this picture, which is currently for sale in our Dixie Cottage store, but it originated from our dear blogging friend Barbara, over at Sweet Tea and Sandals.  Yes, this is one of her beautiful cross-stitched creations.  If you read Barbara's blog, you will know that she has been merging her home with her new hubby's home, and so she has been purging many of her things, including many signs and other decorative items.  A few weeks ago she and Gary brought many items to Dixie Cottage to be sold on consignment, and I must say that her items have been very popular!  This is one of them, and I am thinking I may just have to purchase this one for myself:

It was sitting on this beautiful hutch in the store, but now that hutch has been sold, so it is looking for a new place to sit.  Actually several of the items on this hutch came from Barbara, and now they are scattered about in other locations as well waiting to go to their new forever homes:

Dixie Cottage is becoming more and more interesting as we find new and "old" treasures to sell. Someone actually donated this very old Singer Sewing machine for us to sell.  We aren't really an antique store, but we do a lot of re-purposing and perhaps someone just might see the potential in this lovely antique and take it home with them. It is missing its treadle and wheel, but there is actually a little motor tucked in a drawer that apparently can still be attached and used if someone knows how to do it.

Oh, that sign on the top that says "Sewing~ Plain or Fancy"...well that was one of Barbara's signs, and a dear lady who says she has her own "She-Shed" where she does her sewing, wanted that sign for in there.  And the "Happiness is Homemade" also came from Barbara, and is still waiting for its new home. 

Barbara used to do a lot of quilting and this is another of her creations:

This is just a simple little sign in a frame, which happens to be a favorite benediction of mine as I remember it being said in our youth group at the close of every service when I was a teen...we would join hands criss-crossed in a circle and say this before we departed...

anyway...I love this little sign and have placed it on a table just inside the store where it will actually greet people as they enter:

Another of my favorite signs that came from Barbara is the one below that says 

"I've Reached the Age Where Happy Hour Is Taking a Nap".  I've been debating on taking that one home and hanging it above our bed...lol.

Oh, one more, well actually there are two in this picture...the "Grateful, Thankful, Blessed" sign has already been sold to a grateful, thankful, and blessed customer.  The other one, 

"Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times" is still waiting for just the right person to come along and snatch it up.

There are more lovely items from Barbara in our store, and many have already been sold, but there are still some waiting for their new homes.  Thank you, Barbara, for sharing your creations and lovely items with us...and the world!

Now, moving right along to other things...

We have several other very creative vendors at Dixie Cottage, and this particular lady has very interesting and eclectic items for sale that she creates, repurposes, restores...

This adorable child's rocking chair was sold the first day it arrived, to a couple of grandparents who wanted it for their granddaughter!  How very sweet!!

This little accessory table has been painted with much love and is waiting for just the right person to come and fall in love with it and take it home!

And now we have a new vendor who does pottery, and she brought in a few pieces to see how they will sell...

These are just some samples of what she does! Very unique and beautiful!

I really didn't intend for this post to be all about Dixie Cottage, but since that is where I spend most of my time these days, that is what I have to take pictures of!  However, yesterday hubby and I had a day all to ourselves and we decided to do something different.  We went out to breakfast at a little cafe' in the neighboring city of Palatka, called "Magnolia Cafe'".  

Of course I took some pictures:

We had visited there a few years ago (before Covid), but then they closed down during the pandemic and actually during that time totally remodeled the whole place and only reopened a short time ago. If you click on that link, you will see what it looked like then, and also the menu from 2019.  I didn't take a picture of the menu yesterday, but I should have...the prices were half again more and we were in shock, and if we hadn't have been so hungry we might have just gotten up and left, but we decided to go ahead and splurge just this once...

Our water came in that beautiful green bottle! And I loved the clear glass tea cup...

I don't get out much...I've never seen a water bottle like this before:

Oh, we were surprised to see that they also have a squirrel mascot in their cafe'! I wonder if he's related to our Skippy at Dixie Cottage?

The food might have been expensive, but they certainly gave us more than enough to eat!

Hubby had the French Toast, and those blueberries in whipped cream were supposed to go on top, but he gave them to me and I ate most of them. The whipped cream was definitely home-made, and was VERY good. I couldn't eat it all, however.

This is my plate, and that strawberry jelly on top of my toast is homemade also.  After looking back at my previous post from this place, it looks like I had the same thing, except there was no bacon with this one. I hate to think how much it would have cost to add it! LOL. And actually there was so much food here that I took home half of it, which would be enough for another full meal. So I guess I can't complain too much about the price. Next time maybe we'll order one meal and split it!  (If there IS a next time! LOL).

It really was good and we enjoyed it very much, even if it did cost us about double what we normally would spend for breakfast! 

You may not appreciate these pictures of the bathroom, but it really was so pretty in there I had to take a picture. That floor is gorgeous...and I guess the higher prices are paying for the "gold" grab bar and gilded mirror...LOL.

Okay, moving right along...

Next door to the restaurant is this store, "Urban Farmhouse", which is very much like our own Dixie Cottage.  As a matter of fact, if you read that previous link I shared with you from 2019, you will see that we visited there at that time as well, and back then our son actually was a vendor in this store, selling some of his custom made console tables and other items he had painted.  As time went by our son and his wife were able to buy their own store over in St. Augustine, (Dixie Cottage), and the rest is history.  And so  this is kind of where he got his start and got the idea for this type of store...

Urban Farmhouse was still closed after we finished our breakfast, so all I could do was peek inside the windows, so please excuse the reflections in some of these pictures:

They have a lot of similar items that we have, but they have been in business a lot longer and have a lot more stuff crowded in a small space.  It is a very interesting and unique store as well, and I would have loved to have gotten inside to see a few more things up close.  Maybe I will go back another day when they are open.  Yes, we are kind of in competition with them now, but they are 15 miles away and in a whole different kind of community, and so we both serve our communities well.

I love that sign below:  "I Love You Like Biscuits and Gravy"....you'd have to be southern to understand it. LOL.

Okay, that's enough of that!  I hope you've enjoyed "window shopping" with me today! LOL.

Thinking of "windows", I thought about this Bible Verse that I've heard many times before, and somehow I just felt like I needed to share it with you:

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it."

Malachi 3:10

Actually, I commend to your reading the whole third chapter of Malachi to get the full meaning of this verse, but this one has always stuck out at me because God has used it in our lives over the years in special ways. When we give of our own substance, hearts, and lives to the service of the Lord, He always blesses us exactly as this verse says He will...He "opens the windows of heaven and pours out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it..."  I can attest to this that it is true...blessings beyond measure...not so much of monetary value, but everlasting value that does not perish.  Something to ponder today as we go about our business.

Happy Friday, Friends!!  

Persisting, Creative Love

 

I told you recently about receiving this little devotional book back again on my birthday after it being missing for over 50 years...

This morning I was needing a little bit of encouragement in my faith-walk, and I decided to pick this book up and randomly open it to see what God would say to me today, and this is what spoke to me from the page where I turned:

"Being in Christ puts taste into everything. It puts faith in our work, for we are doing it for Him; love into our labor, for we labor for Him Whom we love and steadfastness into our hope, 

for we hope in Him."

"O Jesus, Lord, Thou art working a work of faith, laboring a labor of love, steadfastly hoping--give me Thy persisting, creative love. Thou dost not fail nor art Thou discouraged. Make me like that. 

In Thy Name. Amen"

"Affirmation for the Day: I shall not fail nor be discouraged until I have set love in my situation."

In Christ, by E. Stanley Jones

I love how God knows exactly what we need, and can speak to me from pages found in a book that I had not seen for over 50 years.  Perhaps it will be encouraging to you as well today.

And now for some other interesting and encouraging pictures...most of you who have followed me this past year will remember our Sand Hill Crane family and their youngster that I named "Colt" (because that is what a juvenile Sand Hill Crane is actually called, a "colt".)  Anyway, they spent a good deal of time in our Still Waters Pond and also foraging around on our yard.  They also would fly away for days and sometimes weeks at a time and we would not see them, and then all of a sudden they would fly back in as if they'd never left.  

We watched "Colt" from the time he was this small (above), until he was as big as his parents and it soon became difficult to tell which was which!

And then one day this past week (after the hurricane was over), only two cranes showed up in our yard:

Apparently the time has come for "Colt" to move on to his adult life and find a mate for himself, and his parents are returning here to their home to begin the ritual of mating again and hopefully setting up another nest out on our pond/island to bring the next new offspring into our world!

How do I know this? Well, as I was watching Mr. and Mrs. Crane walking around, they suddenly starting breaking into this dance they love to do when mating season has begun:

I should have taken a video, but it was happening so quickly I didn't have time.  They start hopping up and down and flapping their wings at each other and just having a good old time!

I watched until they grew tired of the dance and went back to foraging for food again...but this will go on for a while until they settle back down on a new nest to begin the cycle of life all over again.

Although I miss seeing "Colt", we know he is off pursuing his own destiny and God's beautiful creation continues to do what He intended it to do:

"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,"

Genesis 1:28

(of course that command was given to Adam and Eve, but apparently it was also intended for all of His creation, because that is what they've been doing ever since the beginning of their creation)

Okay, that's the encouragement for today...

Even when we may feel a little down or discouraged, God has words of hope and love for us, and the beautiful cycle of life continues all around us.  Let us have hope and faith and most of all,

LOVE, no matter what the world throws at us.

Amen.