Wednesday (Actually Tuesday) Wanderings and Unusual Sightings

 My "Wednesday Wanderings" were for the most part seen on Tuesday, so  this seems like a good day to share these interesting and somewhat unusual sightings...most of you won't see them until Wednesday most likely...

This White Egret flew in and landed right in front of this Canadian Goose. At first the goose honked and acted like he was upset for such a close landing,

But then the Egret  got right in his face and he just turned his head and didn't seem to care... 

 The female goose looked up and made sure the egret was not bothering her mate...

And then the two geese just tucked their heads into their feathers and continued their naps...Never saw that happen before...

Talking about something I've never seen before:

From a distance it took me a minute to figure out that it was one cat, walking along the shore, with a very distinct reflection in the pond...If I'd been that cat and looked in the pond and saw that cat looking back at me, it would have scared at least one of my nine lives away...

 Now here's an unusual sight...we've been cooped up so long I've started wearing aprons and grinding our own meat on an old fashioned meat grinder on an old fashioned Hoosier Cupboard...

If I'd known my picture was going to be taken, I would have at least picked out an apron that didn't clash with my top...or vice versa...  What was I doing, you ask? Making ham salad with the remainder of our Easter Ham before it went bad. It was good. What did our old grandmothers say? "Waste not, want not."  Good advice from this old grandma.

Not so unusual, but this is the Memorial Garden Don Juan Rose blooming. It was in the bright sun and looks a little strange, but it was and is beautiful. This is the rose bush I brought with us when we moved, that came from the Memorial Garden at our last house.

Oh, do you know what this is?  These are paw-paws growing on the paw-paw bush over where we take our walks. I've never seen them turn brown before. At our other house they were always green, but these still seem to be okay. Must be a different variety...but still wild and growing in the woods. Click HERE for a picture of them from our previous home and woods.

Need a hand? Or a foot? Does your foot ever feel all prickly like you are walking on something sharp? Maybe you really have a prickly pear cactus foot, or hand, or whatever. It seems to be missing a finger or a toe, whichever...

And speaking of roses...This shadow lady is holding a bouquet of "knock  out roses", and she appears to be either wearing one in her hair or in her teeth...Isn't she lovely? I kind of like her camouflaged pants too.

Talk about unusual sightings: My eyes look a bit droopy here, but I guess because I was looking down at the camera...this is me wearing a mask...which our lovely quilting ladies from our church made! I love the little swans and roses design on this one.   Now I don't have an excuse to stay home.  Thank you, Quilting Ladies!

Okay, enough "unusual sightings" for today. I hope you enjoyed this little wandering around with me.

Now for something more sensible...this is the Psalm we read this morning in our devotions:

Psalm 93

1.  "The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;

The Lord is clothed,

He has girded Himself with strength.

Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.

2.  Your throne is established from of old;

You are from everlasting.

3.  The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

4.  The Lord on high is mightier

than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea.

5.  Your testimonies are very sure;

Holiness adorns Your house,

O Lord, forever."

Amen.

Nothing so unusual about that! I love verse 1 in particular!  I hope you will be encouraged by these words.

Okay, that's all for now folks. I hope you have a  wonderfully blessed day/night/week. 

Monday Morning Thoughts

It is Monday morning, and for those of us in the midst of this "social isolation" of the COVID 19 Pandemic, it seems a lot like "Groundhog Day", (the movie), if you remember that story. We wake up and every day seems the same...many of us have mentioned that we are having difficulty keeping track of the days. They all seem the same.  Although I must admit, since retirement that has been a fairly typical feeling...the only day that seemed different and special was Sunday, because we could go to church. And now we can't even do that, but thankfully we are able to still worship and praise God from our living rooms thanks to modern technology. Not quite the same thing as being there in person, enjoying the presence of other fellow believers and singing songs together, worshiping and praising and lifting our hearts in unison to sing the Doxology as we "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow...", and even though we know we can worship God anywhere at any time...it still isn't the same, and we miss it. 

However the enforced isolation continues, and probably will for a little while longer. I realize the importance of "social distancing", but I also realize the importance of getting to a place of realizing that in this life there are always going to be dangers and illnesses lurking in the shadows.  We are people of faith...and there comes a point in time when we need to allow our faith to conquer our fears and get back to living. Otherwise, our fears will overcome us and we will never be able to walk out of our homes without wondering what germ is going to get us this time.

Sorry, I can't live like that. I don't believe that people of faith were meant to live like that.

Yes, we are sensible, thoughtful, and caring about others even more than ourselves. 

However:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

7.  "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, 

but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

I think the longer we continue in this enforced isolation and not allowing people to get back to work and resume their normal lives we will find that more and more people will not be able to sustain a "sound mind".  Fear is taking over rational thought, and some are becoming handicapped by it so that they may never be able to hug another person, shake a hand, or stand closer than six feet to a person ever again. 

I believe in being reasonably cautious about spreading germs, especially where those with underlying medical conditions and the very elderly are concerned,  but we also need to be cautious about becoming so overly conscious of germs that we can't function in a normal way.

This is my opinion, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I may even lose a few "followers".

I certainly do understand that this is a serious disease and many have suffered and even died from it, even people that I know have lost loved ones or have suffered from this illness, and my heart goes out to them and my prayers are with them for healing and comfort and strength to keep going.  

However, I also understand that there are many serious diseases and germs out there, and they have been out there since time began, and after this particular pandemic is over, there will be others to follow in the days, months and years to come.

We can't stop living because we are afraid to die.

That's it in a nutshell.

We are already dying every day...and have been since the moment we were born.

Many of us have seen loved ones die way too soon from diseases that we wish the medical world would spend as much time and energy and money on trying to find a cure as they have this virus, because cancer and other major diseases have been killing our loved ones for centuries and they can't find a cure. There is no vaccine to prevent it, and no real treatment that completely cures it.

Oh well, I didn't wake up intending to write all of this, but apparently it is on my mind and it needs to be said. 

So there it is.

Something to think about and pray about and seek God's face about. 

I have a copy of this list of verses about fear and anxiety that I keep in my Bible.

It is there as a ready index to help me find words from God's Word to help me when I am feeling fearful or am anxious about life. It has been said that there are actually 365 verses or admonitions to "Fear Not" in the Bible, one for every day of the year....I don't know that for certain, but I do know that God does not want us to live in fear,  but to live in faith and to trust Him with every detail of our lives. And that is how I want to live my life. How about you?

Meanwhile, here's a few "this and that" things that have caught my attention while walking here and there and trying to stay alert and healthy:

This lovely golden dragonfly came to visit us yesterday, and stayed attached to our front window screen for a very long time.

 Here is a link to something I wrote about the dragonfly last year.  They are certainly fascinating creatures. Yesterday was the 9th anniversary of when my father passed away.  Not saying that I think anything about this is related to that, but it is an interesting connection none the less.

This is a picture of my daddy, just after winning a game of horseshoes with my brothers and hubby. This is the way I love to remember my dad, always full of fun and energy and joy at being with the family.  I miss him every day.

 Now this is certainly shifting gears a bit...The place where we like to take our walks is very secluded and woodsy.  This old dead tree has been "speaking to me" every time I pass by it. So I decided yesterday was a good time to take its picture.  Do you see the face? Not very pretty, but interesting none the less.  Hello tree creature!   People are saying since we can't hug each other we should hug a tree. Not sure I want to hug this one...

 I did, however, hug this huge pine tree one day, because it is enormous!

It's branches reach out in every direction much farther than our normal pine trees here in Florida:

 And I just thought it deserved a hug...it must be very old and wise to be still standing after so many storms of life...I'll bet if trees could talk, it could tell us many interesting stories.

Now back to Still Waters Pond in our own back yard...I know this isn't the best picture of the Great Blue Heron. It was taken at noon, and the sun was too bright for good lighting, but I wanted to include this picture so that you would understand the next picture after that better.

Here is that same bird taking off in flight. I wish it were more clear, but it is so rare that I get to actually capture a picture of one of them in flight, I had to include it for you:

Last but not least, this past week we heard some sad news.

The lovely Indian Maiden "Mia" who has graced the packaging of Land O' Lakes butter since 1928 has been removed from their packaging.  See the quoted information from Wikipedia below.

Wikipedia says: "Butter packaging[edit]

The recursive image long shown on the Land O'Lakes butter packaging is an example of the Droste effect.

The Land O'Lakes indigenous woman, named Mia, holding the butter box was painted in 1928 by Brown & Bigelow illustrator Arthur C. Hanson.^[23] According to Land O'Lakes, the original image of Mia was "simplified and modernized" in 1939 by Jess Betlach and has undergone many minor modifications since as the enduring logo of the co-op. Red Lake Ojibwe artist Patrick DesJarlait updated Mia's image in the 1950s.^[23][24] The original image is an example of the infinite-loop motif or Droste effect, in which the image is repeated, in theory infinitely, within itself.

In 2018, the image was changed to depict only the head of the Indian woman (doing away with the Droste effect).^[25] In April 2020, the company announced it was removing the image of the Indian woman altogether.^[26] The use of an indigenous woman as a mascot had been criticized as a racist stereotype,^[27] and the decision to change the label was praised by Native advocates such as Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe." ^[28]"

When I heard this news I was sad because I think "Mia" is lovely, and she certainly represents the beauty of Native American women since time began. I am sorry if people now think she is a "racist stereotype".  However, I am sure people will disagree with me there as well. However, I am happy that I have this wonderful mug with Mia's picture on it. I have had this for a long time, not even sure where or how I got it, but I love it.

It contains my little corn on the cob holders so that when we have corn on the cob you don't burn your fingers or get buttery hands while trying to eat the corn off the cob. 

They go along nicely with these corn on the cob dishes, that hold the butter so you can turn your corn cob around in it and get it nicely buttered:

Now I want some fresh corn on the cob, but it probably isn't really good for my dietary condition...LOL.  Anyway, my little Land O' Lakes Indian Maiden mug probably just went up in value so I will be taking very good care of it. Besides, I love it, and I will enjoy looking at Mia's pretty face and traditional Indian dress no matter what other people may think. There is a legend that my mother's mother's family descended from a lovely Native American woman many moons ago. It has never been fully authenticated, but it was a wonderful story. I will have to share it sometime. One of my uncles wrote it beautifully for us to preserve for future generations. Yes, I think I need to share it...perhaps in another post very soon.

For now, I hope that I have not stepped on too many toes or caused people to think less of me. I think most of us are quite anxious to have this social isolation over and done with. I also know that we have to do it carefully, gradually, and sensibly.  I am not advocating rushing back into life as we knew it before...but  I do hope that we will not allow fear to keep us from living our lives and showing our love for our families and friends.  I believe that a hug is a way to pass the love of Christ along to our fellow man. Many people need to feel the warmth of that embrace and know that God loves them.

I pray that we will soon be able to share that warmth and love once again.

What's Next?

Yesterday I was surprised to see this Sand Hill Crane standing all alone in our Still Waters Pond.

It is very unusual to see one alone. They are usually seen with their mate close by. This one kept looking back toward the shore, as if he was listening and watching for someone to join him.

But the longer he stood there, the more apparent it became that there was no one else coming.

Finally he started moving on across the pond, as if he was in a hurry to go somewhere.

As he reached the other end of the shore, he stopped and stood at attention, again listening and watching and waiting. I wondered if he was listening for a call from his mate, telling him where she was or that she was waiting for him on the other side. I didn't hear any sound...and if there had been any it would have been quite distinct....if you've ever heard their call, you would know what I mean. 

But he stood there listening intently, as if he could hear something that I could not. And then, suddenly (before I could get my camera focused of course), he flapped his mighty wings and lifted himself up and flew away in a hurry.

Today, being another Sunday that we cannot join together in person with our dear church family, my heart and mind is tuned in to worship.  I was thinking about this Sand Hill Crane standing there alone on the shore, waiting and listening for a call from his mate...and I thought about the church...and about myself personally.  It is as if we are all standing and waiting, listening for God's voice to give us directions for our next step.  We've been set apart for a little while, and we are getting anxious to get back into action together as The Body of Christ.

But before we can come back together, my heart tells me we need to be listening for God's voice in our own personal lives.  

We need to be seeking His direction, and preparing our hearts for the "what's next". 

I was reading in Isaiah 6, and the verse that stood out in particular for me this morning is

Isaiah 6:8

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

"Whom shall I send,

and who will go for Us?"

Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." 

Also I was reading in the Gospel of John 20:19-23, when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and in verse 19 it tells us that "the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 

"Peace be with you."

And then in verse 21, Jesus said to them again:

"Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Jesus gave the disciples a command in Matthew 28:19-20 to:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

and lo, 

I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 

Amen.

We have this commission to go.  We've been resting and waiting and hopefully preparing our hearts for the "what's next".  God has work for us to do when we come back together. The way things are going in this world, we may not have much time left to keep sharing the Gospel freely.

  

This little song came to mind this morning as I was sitting here thinking about these things, and this is the prayer of my heart today.  What about you?  It may help us to figure out the "What's Next?" question as we ponder and pray and LISTEN for God's voice.  

Here I Am, Lord, Is It I, Lord?

Praying you have a blessed and beautiful SONday. Let us not forget Whose day this is.

It is the Lord's Day.

Amen.

Friday Fotos-God's Green Thumb

I really don't have a green thumb.  Somehow, when God was handing out green thumbs, I must have had mine in my mouth, so He gave the green thumb to my sister...who can grow most anything!  Her yard is full of beautiful flowers and I must admit to being a bit envious from time to time.   If you happen to be one of her Facebook friends, you will see the beautiful pictures of flowers she posts almost every day...and they truly are wonderful!  That is her special gift from God, and it is a blessing to all who see them!  

I love beautiful plants and flowers, and I do try to grow them...and often times they DO grow, but I wouldn't give myself much credit for their ability to survive under "harsh conditions." (lack of watering, lack of fertilizer, lack of knowing what I'm doing).   If they do thrive, it is because God has the green thumb and takes care of them for me. Sometimes He nudges me to go out and water and take care of them, but it just doesn't seem to come as naturally to me as it does to my sister. 

 Some of my current "gardening"

 I love this "Crown of Thorns" plant that a new friend from our church recently gave me! So far it is still growing!

More of my current garden projects

My Memorial Garden Rose Bush that I brought with us when we moved is about to bloom again! Praise God!

I've usually blamed my lack of gardening expertise on the fact that we've moved a lot in our 50+ years of marriage.   It's hard to grow nice gardens and shrubs when you pick up and move every so often. I won't say how often or how many times we've moved because many would not understand the whys and wherefores that brought about such mobility through the years.  But just trust me, it was all for a good cause...further education, Jobs, Seminary, Ministry, Family...someday I will write that book that tells about all of our "Giant Leaps of Faith and Other Crazy Moves" (the title I've given my book in my head if it ever gets written), but until then, you will get the story in little bleeps and blurbs if you are paying attention to what I am sharing.

So, back to the subject at hand...God's Green Thumb.  I have always relied on God to provide His natural beauty to our landscape. He has surprised me many times with flowers and shrubs growing that I did not even know existed or that were actually living in our yard. Since many plants do not reveal their true beauty until certain seasons, primarily spring and summer...and some in the fall,  one may not know what is there until that season reveals exactly what that green thing is that keeps growing in the yard. It is a good idea to try and figure it out before you cut it all down not realizing what you've got until it is too late.  That's what happened here in our yard.

 When we first saw this property last summer, the back yard was completely overgrown with a wild growth of weeds and trees, so much so that you couldn't even tell that there was a pond out there. (You can read more about this on this post from last summer)

 As a matter of fact, some of our neighbors did not even realize there was a pond there, and were really surprised after we moved in and had the overgrowth removed  and they could see the pond for the first time.

 Our house had not been lived in for quite a while, and the previous owners never did really develop the property so that the pond view could be enjoyed.

 In some ways I liked the woodsy feel of it, and really didn't want too much of the foliage to be removed, but then again, the whole purpose of buying this particular house was because we wanted waterfront property...so I caved in and let the undergrowth and overgrowth be cleaned out...within reason, so that we could see views like this:

And views like this:

And so it was definitely worth it to have it cleaned up.  

But now that spring is here, some of the things that were cut down last summer are starting to sprout up again in areas where we do not mow so much.  Last summer there were a lot of bushes in this one area that had many berries on them. They were green at the time, since it was summer, and I was not sure what they were. I really didn't want them cut down because I knew they would be good food for the birds and potential deer, but I didn't speak loudly or quickly enough and the kind man who was doing the brush hogging for us cut them all down.

 (this was last summer, after we moved into our house)

So now these little plants are sprouting up and they have little tiny flowers on them where the berries will eventually appear:

So I decided to look them up online to see if I could find out what they are before they get mowed down again:

And this is what I discovered:
https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/yaupon-holly.html

These plants are a "Yaupon Holly", which is a native holly plant here in Florida, which will get beautiful red holly berries in the fall and winter for our birds.

Photo from Internet

After looking this up, I realized that this is what the holly trees are that are still on the property, and I just didn't know what we had:

This group of holly trees below are in my favorite spot to sit in the shade in the afternoons and look at the pond beyond and watch the birds...

And then I noticed there are other such trees along the shore in the areas where we didn't cut them down and they are blooming now too...so if I leave these bushes and trees alone, we will have lots of wonderful holly bushes to help attract and feed the birds and hopefully some deer in the winter!

That makes me happy!

I also saw more of these little yellow flowers blooming along the shore of the pond and decided to look them up online to see if I could find out what they are:

http://hawthornhillwildflowers.blogspot.com/2010/01/pineland-heliotrope-heliotropium.html  According to this, the closest I could figure out they are a variety of "Pineland Heliotrope".  UPDATE: After closer inspection and consultation with my sister, who is the plant expert, and also after looking at Google Lens to inquire what this is, we have determined that this is actually St. John's Wort.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypericum, which has many medicinal applications. I'm not going to be eating it anytime soon, but wanted to update this info for future reference. (5/24/2020)  Isn't that interesting?  I may not have many cultivated flowers, but God has provided many beautiful wildflowers and trees for us to enjoy, thanks to "God's Green Thumb".

Okay, last photos I promise.  We took our morning walk in our usual place this morning, and God blessed me with this beauty:

 A beautiful large Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Sadly, he is missing one of this "swallowtails", but he was still flying about enjoying sipping nectar from different bushes in the woodsy area where we walk.

 And these beautiful yellow cactus blooms were awaiting my perusal and delight.

Pretty close to perfect, wouldn't you agree?

These profound words of Solomon certainly seem to apply to our current situation in this world. Again, I say, "pretty close to perfect, wouldn't you agree?":

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

1.  "To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

2.  A time to be born,

and a time to die;

A time to plant,

and a time to pluck what is planted;

3.  A time to kill,

and a time to heal; a time to break down,

and a time to build up;

4.  A time to weep,

and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

and a time to dance;

5.  A time to cast away stones,

and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,

and a time to refrain from embracing;

6.  A time to gain,

and a time to lose;

A time to keep,

and a time to throw away;

7.  A time to tear,

and a time to sew

A time to keep silence,

and a time to speak;

8.  A time to love,

and a time to hate;

A time of war,

and a time of peace.

9.  What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

10.  I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.

11.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

12.  I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, 

and to do good in their lives,

13.  and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor--

It is the gift of God."

Amen!

Have a blessed and beautiful day my friends.