Wednesday Treasures

Some words of wisdom from God's Word for this Wednesday:

Proverbs 8:34-36 NKJV

34 "Blessed is the man who listens to me,

Watching daily at my gates,

Waiting at the posts of my doors.

35 For whoever finds me finds life,

And obtains favor from the Lord;

36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;

All those who hate me love death.”

Happy Wednesday!   This picture of "Sunshine" makes me think about that first verse above..."Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors...",  And although the writer of the Proverb was speaking about man listening to God,  it made me think about how our kitties are doing in this transition of moving over to our house from our neighbor's house for meals...  Sunshine has been listening for my call, watching daily for me not far from the porch, and then running right up the steps and waiting at the back door for me to bring out the food:

She is a pretty kitty, don't you agree?  

Whearas Blackie, on the other hand, has not been listening, nor has he been showing up on time for meals, and I'm afraid Sunshine has been gobbling down his and her food at the same time.  I have stopped putting out both bowls at the same time, and I wait for Sunshine to finish hers and leave for her daily hunt in the woods before I put out the other dish now, but still I'm not seeing Blackie show up since Monday.  Somehow the food does get eaten, and I don't know if it was Blackie, or if Sunshine came back and helped herself to some more (most likely, because I caught her at it once).

This picture was taken on Monday when they were both here, and although it looks like Sunshine is about to confront Blackie, she actually came over and rubbed cheeks with Blackie and they had a very sweet moment. But since then I don't know what Blackie is doing for meals, and I can't go searching for him. He knows where the food is, and hopefully when he gets hungry enough he will come. The neighbor's daughter, who is still here taking care of things at her mother's house, said she saw him the other night so we know he's still alive, but maybe he's found another place to eat. Who knows? Outdoor "wild" cats like to do their own thing, although Blackie is quite tame and has been well fed for quite a while. So I will give him a little more time to figure it out...there is a full moon, and I've noticed a lot of cat activity in the neighborhood with other "wild" cats...so that could explain everything...

I will keep you posted. I sometimes think one needs a degree in cat psychology to figure these things out. LOL.

I went to check on the Gnome House in the yard this morning because hubby was going to mow the grass and I wanted to make sure they were safely out of the way.  Click HERE for when this little house was first created.

When I arrived I was shocked to discover everything in great disarray and it looked like a war zone...

What on earth happened here?

 Help!

Oh No! What a disaster!!

Everything was blown to bits and the Gnome family was almost buried in the rubble.

The green Toad "toad" me the story of the huge monster that flew in and just started pecking away at their home, knocking off all the bark from the outside and boring big holes in the wood in search of bugs! He didn't care at all about the Gnome family or their belongings. It was just awful!

So I gathered everyone up out of the rubble and took them to the "hospital" and washed off their wounds, and then began the search for a new home for them, someplace much safer away from the giant woodpecker (most likely a Pileated Woodpecker! )

I decided to put them in the Holly trees in the Secret Memorial Garden, where they should be much safer since the holly tree is a healthy tree and no woodpeckers should be knocking on their doors!

The Gnome family has plenty of nooks and crannies to explore and build their little homes...

So hopefully they will be much safer here and live happily ever after:

Mr. Toad said, "I could've toad you so if you had just listened!"

Yes, sometimes it pays to listen to the little toads who may be much wiser than we are about things having to do with nature!

Oh, finally the beautiful old fashioned azalea bush in the secret garden area is blooming! 

This is the kind of azalea bush that seems to live forever and you will often see beautiful bushes of them blooming in old deserted house lots long after the houses are gone...

Here is a small example...the place where we walk used to have several old homes that had to be removed or torn down when the highway was widened, but it's interesting to see what little flowers are still trying to bloom there...

Those are azaleas at the foot of that old tree, small lasting remnants left behind from what was once a beautiful old home.  

Makes me think about what kinds of things will I leave behind when I am gone on to heaven? I hope it will be a lasting legacy of love and hope and joy and especially the love of the Lord...a fragrant offering of sacrifice to God...

One last thing...the other evening we had a most unusual golden sunset and rainbow after a very stormy day:

I thought those trees looked a lot like the burning bush!

This was looking across the street...do you see the rainbow in the clouds?

It really was gorgeous.  Sadly there had been a tornado earlier in the day at a city a couple of hourse south of us, close to where my sister and her family lives, but thankfully none of them were hurt or had any damage. We give thanks to God for that. My niece said the tornado was about 3-4 miles from where she lives. That's too close for comfort, if you ask me!  Thank You, Lord, for your protection over our loved ones!

Romans 15:13

"13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Amen.

P.S.  Great News, just after I posted this, I tried one more time to call Blackie home for supper.  He was across the street at the neighbor's house, and he saw me and ran pell mell all the way here so fast you'd think he had wings on his feet!

And true to form, just eating from his own dish wasn't good enough...he wanted to share Sunshine's dish of food too.  They are very compatible and fun to watch, and I am much happier now that I know Blackie is safe and sound, although I was a bit nervous as he ran across the street without looking...Thank the Lord nothing was coming!!  I think he knew that...I've noticed that they are both very aware of the traffic on the street and normally they stop and don't cross until the cars are passed.  Shew! I'm glad this story has a happy ending!

Praise God!

Tuesday 4 ~ Teenage Years

 Teenage Years...

Hey Kids! It's time once again for Tuesday 4 brought to you each week in memory of Toni Taddeo! So, settle down with a cuppa and a pink cupcake (they fix everything) put on your thinking caps...You've got homework to do!


1. Did you have a teen heart throb? Wanna tell who it was and maybe why? Maybe there was a teen actress you looked up to?
I'm scratching my head and trying to remember back that far.  I really don't remember any particular "heart throb". I thought Ricky Nelson was really cute, (Ozzie and Harriet), I loved the Beatles, and George Harrison was my favorite. Not the cutest, but I liked him the best. I like Annette Funicello on the Mickey Mouse club and in her movies, but again, I can't really say that I was "over the moon" on any of them.

2. When you were a teen, what song made you happy when you heard it playing? Did you and a boyfriend/friend have 'Your" song?

I love the song "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys. I always wanted to be a "surfer girl", and I actually tried to surf a couple of times, but quickly learned I didn't have what it took to become a "Surfer Girl". I was more like a drowned rat in the ocean kind of girl. LOL.  I don't remember any particular "song" that I liked with a particular boyfriend.   I do remember dancing with a special boy to this song, (see below, "If I Fell", by the Beatles) but he lived too far away to ever become a real boyfriend. He was visiting his cousin who was one of my best friends, and whenever he'd come to visit we'd see each other, but distance and being too young made it too difficult to last. Funny story about him....many many years later, maybe 40 years...we ran into each other unexpectedly at a place where he was working. I recognized him before he recognized me, (because he was introducing himself to another customer and said his name out loud), and was shocked to see he was much shorter than I remembered him, and he had white hair (with a bald spot) and a bit of a pot belly. He was still "charming" in his smile and personality the way I remembered him, but definitely not in looks.  I had to make him "guess" who I was as he was not recognizing me at all. When he finally did, he said, "Oh, I would never have recognized you!"  And I was laughing and wanted to say, "Well, you should definitely look in the mirror, because you sure don't look like the cute boy I remember either!" But I didn't...I just laughed and thought to myself how happy I was that God had a better plan for my life with my tall  handsome husband. Oh, btw, they are both named "John", and both have green eyes, but that's as far as the comparison goes.  LOL. 

3. Were sleep overs a thing in your area? How about sweet 16 parties? Were they the thing to do or not?

Yes, we used to have sleep overs and campouts with our friends.  I really don't remember any "Sweet 16 Parties", however. It seems like by the time we were 16 we had all finished having birthday parties when we were just kids.

I am not in this picture, but this was at a Slumber Party at my girlfriend Rhonda's house back in 1963.  Notice the curlers in their hair...LOL.

Some friends doing the "Limbo" at the slumber party. It was a lot of fun. My friend Rhonda is doing the Limbo.  She had a big house with a huge screened in back porch,  and I think there had to be over 20 of us girls spending the night! I don't remember doing much sleeping, however. We were only 13!

This was a campout in my back yard...my two friends Sue, Carol, and ME! All slept in that little pup tent! We probably didn't do much sleeping either. We were probably 13 years old.

Fun memories...


4, You are suddenly transported back in time and you are 16 years old. You've got school tomorrow.. lay out your outfit for tomorrow and tell us what it consists of:

I have no clue.  We wore dresses to school back then of course.  When I was 16 the skirts were starting to get shorter, but never extremely so. We weren't allowed to wear mini skirts to school. 

That's me on the right. Actually I was only 13 or 14 in this picture, and it must have been spring time since we are wearing short sleeves. This was taken at school.  

When I was 16 I was sewing most of my own dresses, and they were more of an A-Line shift style, if I remember correctly, because that was easy! LOL.

This was a fun walk down memory lane.  So thankful to be fully grown now, but I sure could use some of that strength and vitality and youthful resilience today.  

I am very thankful for this truth from God's Word today:

Isaiah 46:4 NKJV

4 Even to your old age, I am He,

And even to gray hairs I will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Now let's go see what everyone else can remember!!  Thank you, Annie, for a fun Tuesday 4 today!

Sunday Evening

 

Genesis 2:2-3

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Just a quick check in on Sunday evening...It's been a lovely, peaceful day, although a bit wet! When we came out of church it was pouring down rain in buckets, and we did NOT have our umbrellas with us because it was perfectly clear when we got there this morning at 8:00 to prepare for our Sunday School Class...Yes! After "springing ahead" last night that 8:00 a.m. was really our normal 7:00 a.m., and I told my hubby that I doubted very many would show up for Sunday School this morning. We were very pleasantly surprised that actually we had a larger than normal class this morning! "Oh ye of little faith!" I said to myself!  I was totally surprised to see so many come...and on time even!  Some of those same folks had a difficult time being on time at the normal hour before daylight savings time! LOL. I think everyone was determined to not let the time change keep them from coming, and so they were on time and ready to study God's Word! That was a very pleasant way to start the day.

I just went back and read all of your wonderful comments from my yesterday's post about my neighbor's situation. Thank you all so much for your thoughtful words and also for remembering her in your prayers. I've been in frequent communication with her daughter as she has been staying here at her mother's home while she gets things settled and organized there and also making preparation for her mother to go to a rehab facility most likely this week when she is discharged from the hospital.  She mostly has been in a lot pain from some apparent small fractures in her back from her fall. It sounds to me like she must have osteoporosis as her bones were very fragile and broke without any sign of bruising from the impact. So they have been keeping her comfortable with pain medication and running tests, etc. Yes, it is hard to "get old" and especially if you live alone.  I chuckled the other evening while I was sitting with her awaiting her daughter's arrival, and she said to me, "Don't get old!".  I chuckled because I told her that was exactly what my daddy used to say to me, "Oh, Pammy, don't get old!".  And I would reply to him, "Well Daddy, what is my alternative?", and he would think for a minute and then kind of smile and say, "Oh, I see what you mean..." and we'd both laugh together. Sweet little memories.  But this experience sure makes one think about the consequences of getting older and living alone without any family close by.  That's why we've told our kids that if they move, we will move too, because I don't ever want to be in that position of not having family nearby when we get old and feeble. Even if they have to put us in a nursing home, it would be nice to have them near.  

So, anyway, I'm rambling on here. Thank you for hanging in there if you are still following along.  Speaking of following along, I spoke with the daughter about making the transfer of the care of the kitties this weekend if at all possible.  I had to wait until both kitties showed up at the same time to eat. Sometimes one will show up and the other doesn't appear until later after I've gone, but I still have left food there for both, and apparently they have made sure that each other gets something to eat. They seem to be good buddies.  

Anyway, I decided to try and get them to follow me home this evening.  In order to do that we have to cross the street, which can be tricky when you are trying to get two cats to follow.  I wish my hubby had taken pictures of me trying to get both of those cats to follow me across the street.  Blackie had no problem, but Sunshine was reluctant to follow and kept turning back, especially if he /she? (I still don't know for sure which he/she is!) heard a car in the distance. Plus he/she tends to have a weak hindleg/foot and limps sometimes. I had their food in a plastic container and kept shaking it so they'd hear it and then I'd open it and let them smell it, and they would follow a little further.  Finally Blackie came with me all the way home and Sunshine was still afraid to cross the street. But after a minute or two here he came running around the shed and up the steps to join us.  We gave them a little extra treat with their supper for being such good kitties.

Here they are, gobbling up their food on our back porch tonight:

And then after supper they both found comfortable places and enjoyed relaxing and watching the birds...which may be a problem, but one thing at a time...

Blackie loves to watch the birds and is already quite familiar with our back porch

Sunshine loves to relax in the grass down along the shore of the pond...and watch the birds...

He looks quite comfortable there...

These were the last pictures I got before darkness fell...

Sunshine decided to move up to the porch.  I expect now that it is dark they are probably going to be out making their nightly rounds in the neighborhood.  

We'll see how it goes in the morning...if they realize they need to be here for breakfast, or will I have to go round them up again from the neighbor's house? We shall see.

Some of you asked how Benton did at the Farmer's Market on Saturday...well, he actually did quite well and sold quite a few items and will be busy again this week making more for another Farmer's Garden Market next weekend.  These garden/flower pots, etc. seem to be something people are looking for right now! Hope that lasts for a while!

How about we close this post with some thoughts from God's Word for the day:

Galatians 6:7-10

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 

8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 

9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Our choir sang this song today,  but here is the Gaither Vocal Band singing, "Singing with the Saints".  They kind of sing it a lot clearer so you can hear all the words.  It was a fun song to sing, so this is a good way to end this post....(and we didn't quite sound like them at all...LOL)

Lyrics

Heaven's getting ready for an end to it all celebration

To begin eternity with a righteous congregation

This world's comin' to an end and it won't be long

The party's gonna start and go on and on and on

I'll be singin' with the saints at the morning light

Ringin' in the day, 'cause there is no night

Sayin' goodbye to the heartache, trouble, and pain

I'll be sittin' at the throne with an angel band

Shoutin' hallelujah to The Great I Am

If you think it's a dream, well, it ain't

I'll be singin' with the saints

The tambourine's ringin' and David starts to feel the rhythm

Paul and Silas are hummin' a tune they wrote in prison

When Gabriel hears the music, and he picks up his horn

It's just another glory, Hallelujah morn

I'll be singin' with the saints at the morning light

Ringin' in the day, 'cause there is no night

Sayin' goodbye to the heartache, trouble, and pain

I'll be sittin' at the throne with an angel band

Shoutin' hallelujah to The Great I Am

If you think it's a dream, well, it ain't

I'll be singin' with the saints

I'll be singin' with the saints at the morning light

Ringin' in the day, 'cause there is no night

Sayin' goodbye to the heartache, trouble, and pain

I'll be sittin' at the throne with an angel band

Shoutin' hallelujah to The Great I Am

If you think it's a dream, well, it ain't

I'll be singin' with the saints at the morning light

Ringin' in the day, 'cause there is no night

Sayin' goodbye to the heartache, trouble, and pain (trouble and pain)

I'll be sittin' at the throne with an angel band

Shoutin' hallelujah to The Great I Am

If you think it's a dream, well, it ain't

I'll be singin' with the saints

I-I, I'll be singin' with the saints

Yes, yes, yes, yes

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Daryl Kenneth Williams / John Rowsey / John Starnes

Singing With the Saints lyrics © Centergy Music, Centergetic Music

Goodnight to you all....God bless you everyone!! 

Early Saturday Morning...

Today started out with an interesting sunrise...

It made me think about this song that I'm sure most of you will recognize..."Morning Has Broken"

Morning has broken

like the first morning,

blackbird has spoken

like the first bird.

You can't see them, but the black crows were flying around and singing this morning while this was going on!

Praise for the singing!

Praise for the morning!

And then Mr. (or Mrs?) Crane flew in for breakfast...

So we threw out some bird seeds for him/her?

Praise for them, springing

fresh from the Word!

He?she? was most grateful.

 Sweet the rain’s new fall

sunlit from heaven,

like the first dewfall

on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness

of the wet garden,

sprung in completeness

where God’s feet pass.

And then, much to my surprise, these two Muscovy Ducks flew in from the pond and landed on top of our back porch!  I'm not too sure if they really intended to land there, because they seemed rather confused about where they were as they waddled back and forth across the roof.

Hello! Anyone down there?

Could you send us up some of those seeds you are having, Mr. Crane?

Hello!  I think they flew in to the Rooftop Cafe' on Still Waters Pond expecting some breakfast! LOL

And after a while of going back and forth, watching the Crane below them eating his breakfast, I think they gave up on ever being served and they flew back off into the pond...can't see them in this picture, but they were rapidly departing and Mr. Crane was watching them go...

I think I should name the Rooftop Cafe' "Castle Craneycrow", which is the title of one of my favorite old books in the George Barr McCutcheon collection...a very old book copyrighted in 1902!  After this past Tuesday 4 meme,  where we were asked if we had a name for our home, throughout the week as I watched the Sand Hill Cranes come and go this name kept floating into my memorybooks, and I thought it would be a great name for our home! We certainly have had the Cranes living here on our pond ever since the beginning, and there are also many many crows living here in our trees as well. I just don't take pictures of them because they tend to annoy me, but they are very interesting birds (and very intelligent as well) if you pay attention to them. 

So maybe our home should be called "Castle Craneycrow on Still Waters Pond".  LOL.

Oh, the song is still playing!!

 Mine is the sunlight!

Mine is the morning

born of the one light

Eden saw play!

These Goldfinches have been having quite a feast time at the finch feeder. These pictures were actually taken Friday morning, and then I had to go buy some more finch seed at the hardware store to refill the feeder!

Be sure to look at each picture closely to see all the birds flying in and out and scrambling to get their place at the feeder...

Like this one:

And this one:

Praise with elation,

praise every morning,

Aren't they amazing?

God’s recreation

of the new day!

I could sit and watch them all day...as they are still at it today, especially since I refilled the feeder. They will only be here for a short while, and then they will be heading back up north to their spring/summer breeding grounds, so we will enjoy them while we can.

God's beautiful creation, new and fresh every new day!!!

Today we had other things to do, and now here it is mid afternoon and I still don't have this post written and published!  I had hoped it would be a nice "morning devotional",  but I guess it will have to do for whenever you receive it!

Last evening the "kids" came over and we made pizzas for supper. Here's Benton with Sugar, and I think Spice is on the other leash, but didn't make it into the picture. I mainly took this picture to show how Benton's truck is all loaded up with the items he's been building this week to take to the Deep Creek Farm Market today here in our town.   It was just funny to see all that stuff piled up in his truck and ready to go.

Here it is all set up at Deep Creek this morning:

We went over to check on him this morning, and I found a few things that I just needed to buy, like this little bag of several "home brew" tea bags along with that sweet little heart shaped tea infuser:

I don't know if you can read the names on these different tea bags, but they sure are interesting:  
Liverroot Brew, Fearless & Focused, Lavender Mint, and Mint to Be.   I'm trying to decide which one to try first...I'll let you know how it goes...

Another thing I bought was this loaf of home made "Milk Bread".   I thought it would make wonderful Toasted BLT sandwiches, because I also bought some beautiful big tomatoes and lettuce. Unfortunately we did not have any bacon, but we did have ham, and so that was almost as good, and yes, it was a wonderful sandwich!

I didn't take a picture of the sandwich, but here's how the bread looks. I may just have some with butter later...  (that's why I don't make or buy homemade bread very often...I will keep eating it and eating it...)

Yesterday we stopped at the hardware store and I picked up these packets of seeds to plant in the butterfly garden. Now I just need to get some good soil before I plant them...

Something else has happened in the past few days...you know I've been feeding the neighbor's "neighborhood cats" that she had adopted, but because she has not been well I have been feeding them...and sadly this week she fell and now is in the hospital and most likely will not be coming back to her home to live.  She's just not strong enough and really shouldn't be living alone. I actually found her when I went over to feed the cats the other evening. She had been laying on her bedroom floor for several hours she said. Her cell phone was too far away (and the battery had died).  Thankfully, she had left the back door unlocked for me to come in and bring her the mail, and when I stepped inside I could hear her calling me.  So long story short, I called hubby over and between the two of us we could not move her so we called 911. She was still coherent, etc., and she refused to go to the hospital, but she was very weak and could not do much at all and had not eaten and didn't want to eat, etc., so I called her daughter who lives a couple of hours away, and I stayed with her until her daughter arrived and then she ended up taking her to the hospital that night.  Please keep my neighbor in your thoughts and prayers, and also her daughter while she figures out all the details of where her mother should go. The daughter is single and still works full time, so she can't really take care of her mother at her house. This is one of those difficult decisions that has come to many of us who have had elderly parents that eventually needed more care than we could give them on our own. It's never an easy decision.  My heart goes out to both of them. And there are no other siblings to help out either.  

So now I will definitely be figuring out how to get the cats to follow me over to my house to eat from now on. Hopefully they will figure that out and it won't be a problem.

Well, I guess that's all the news and pictures I have for you today. 

Mark 9:23-24 NKJV

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, 

all things are possible to him who believes.”

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”