It Was A Foggy Saturday Morning!

I started writing this post early this morning when it looked like this outside: 

We've had a lot of these foggy mornings lately, and my heart goes out to those who have to drive in it. It may not be as bad as a snow storm, but the visibility can be just as bad in some places. 

I much prefer to drive when it looks like this, which was yesterday morning:

And I also prefer to be home when the sun is setting in the west like it did last night:

It can be brutal heading west when the sun is going down, so it's much nicer to just stay here and enjoy watching it over "Still NO Waters Pond".  I do miss the beautiful reflections we used to get on the water during the sunsets.  Hopefully we will get some spring rains that will bring the pond back to its natural beauty.  We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow and again sometime during next week, along with a drop in the temperatures again...back into the 40's and high 30's in the mornings, and 50's and 60's for the high. Today it's 83 degrees right now. No wonder people keep getting sick!

I finally got all the Christmas decorations and the tree down and put away yesterday.  So instead of the tree in front of this window, here's the view now:

Oh, wait! Who's that???  Blackie? Where did YOU come from??? You're supposed to be on the outside looking in, not the inside looking out! LOL!

I wanted to thank you all for your input regarding flea treatments, etc. for Blackie.  I did zero in on one that sounds affordable and safe for an outside/inside cat. One of my very old friends from many years ago sent me a private message to tell me what she uses for their inside/outside cat. She reads my blog, but never comments on here, so it was a surprise to get an email from her with just the information I needed.  I ordered it from Amazon and it came today and we already applied it to Blackie's back of the neck...and he promptly went outside and rolled in the sand and now the spot has sand stuck on it, but hopefully that won't affect the effectiveness of the treatment. He does love to roll in the sand!!!!

I don't foresee Blackie becoming a full time indoor cat anytime soon, but we do enjoy letting him come inside for a few minutes and explore, and then I scoop him up and give him some snuggles and put him back outside (until the next time he manages to scoot in the door when we open it). For now he's happy and so are we with that arrangement.  Time will tell what will develop.

As I was cleaning off the kitchen counter where  so much of the Christmas decorations were, I rediscovered this little knicknack...

Here's what it says:

Amen!!

The little saying above that says "Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark" actually came from a Chinese Fortune Cookie, and I kept it because it spoke to me. 

It reminds me of this verse from Hebrews 11:1:

"1.  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

To me, that means that faith is having confidence that the things God has promised in His Word will indeed happen, even when I can't see them yet.   And so, like the bird who can "feel the light and sing while the dawn is still dark", I too can sing and smile with confidence that what God has promised to us, He will deliver.  

Even though the Christmas items have mostly been put away, there's still little reminders here and there...like that cup full of Christmas candy that no one seems to want to eat...

And I still haven't taken down the Christmas cards that were strung up on the room divider in the foyer...

We did enjoy receiving so many lovely cards. There were a few more that didn't make it on this arrangement because I just got lazy, but we enjoyed them just the same. LOL.

I know we didn't get as many as usual, but I didn't send out as many as usual either, because I was sick most of the month of December. I feel blessed that we somehow still managed to have Christmas at all! God is good, and we are very thankful. And as someone said recently in their blog (I'd have to go back and check to see who it was), we need to keep the Christmas spirit going on into the New Year and all year long, and continue in the spirit of love and kindness and generosity and hope and joy and peace and faith!

On another note, after the fog lifted we took a little ride this morning. Remember last week when we went to the Kenwood Boat Ramp and saw how little water was there?  Well, yesterday someone told me that if we took another little road right next to that location, we would be able to drive all the way to where the water is and where the boaters can still put in their boats and go out into what's left of the river/lake and go fishing or take a boat ride.  And so this morning we decided to ride down there and see it for ourselves, and here's what we discovered:

You can see a lot of trucks/boat trailers lined up along the shore...and there were a lot more than this, so they are out there somewhere in that water having a great day hopefully and catching whatever fish are there!

Normally there was water all the way to the tree lines, and when they release the water again in March all this bare ground will be covered in water again.

It was fascinating to see all the mussel shells all over the ground.  

There were a lot of water birds along the shore finding something good to eat.  Also, in the distance, if you notice all those tree stumps...those are cypress tree knees and or/trunks, from where they cut the trees years ago to create this reservoir.  The water in the middle is apparently the original river that flows through there naturally.

This place is fascinating to me...it's like being on a different planet! LOL.

That's an interesting cloud floating up in the sky (below).  Kind of looks like an angel!  You can also see there was still some fog lingering along the top of the water.  

I hope you enjoyed these photos. I really enjoyed being there. It was a unique experience.

After we left the river/lake/resesrvoir ?,  we stopped in at the Deep Creek Game Farm and Trading Post. Our son was there selling his garden planter/containers, so we visited with him a while, and then I went around to the different vendors and into the Trading Post store.  Out of everything there to look at, this is the main thing that caught my attention...can you guess why?

I was really tempted to buy it as it really wasn't very expensive, but to be honest, I wasn't too thrilled with the giant sea turtle flying into the window, so I decided to pass it up. I loved the church and the window and everything else about it, however.  It's still tempting because it goes along with my blog so perfectly, but I am proud of myself for not giving into temptation.  It's just kind of a strange painting I think.

Still, the theme makes one think, doesn't it?  "When God closes a door, He opens a window". That's the quote that got me started on this blog some 16 years ago.  HERE is a LINK to that very first blog post.

And the verse mentioned in that post goes along very well with the pictures above of the "rivers in the desert".    I know I've often quoted these verses, but they bear repeating as we are still beginning a new year, hopefully filled with many "new things",  and roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert of wherever we may find ourselves from time to time.  

Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV

18 “Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert."

May we be like that little bird, who "feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark."  Amen? Amen.

And also, "Just as God gives the birds an abundance of seeds, He sends us His blessings and cares for our needs."   Amen,  and Praise the Lord!

It's almost dark now, and I've  finally finished this post. I hope you have a blessed and wonderful evening and "SONday" tomorrow.  

Friday Foto Friends ~ When God Closes A Door, He Opens a Window!

Since I didn't have many new pictures for today's "Friday Foto Friends", I thought I take you on a little trip down memory lane.

Way back in February of 2010 is when this blog began.  This plaque was the inspiration for the title:

Original Post from the very beginning of this blog 

The picture above was taken inside the house where we were living at that time, looking out of the big front window. If you click on that link above you will get a better perspective of how I was feeling and what was happening at that time in my life over 13 years ago!

In these next several pictures you will see our sons Benton and Scott back in the day, planting some flowers in the front yard of that house for my birthday that year.  They were clowning around and having a good time.

They worked hard and made it look really pretty.

They were showing off their hard work and the final results. I was a happy Mama!

A year or so after those pictures were taken, God closed that door and opened another "window" to a different home out in the forest.  I won't put pictures of that house here, because you've seen it many times in the years 2012-2019...before God closed that door and opened another window to the house where we currently live.

But that's not where I want to go today.  I am going back to that original house where this blog began...just for a minute.  This past week we took a little ride to attend the funeral of my husband's cousin Jane, which I already told you about in my last post HERE.  What I didn't tell you in that post was that on our way to the town where the funeral was to be held, we had to go right past the area of this previous home we had lived in so many years ago. And since we had a little bit of time before we had to be there, we decided to take a little ride down memory lane and see how our old house looked since we left it in 2012.

Not too bad, considering that it is 11 years older...but all those lovely flowers and shrubs are long gone...and it looks like the new folks like to sit outdoors in front of the garage door. There is a nice back yard and patio, but maybe they have young kids who like to play in the front yard. I just hope they enjoy this house and are happy and blessed here. That's what really matters.

Of course we couldn't linger long lest the people inside become suspicious of our sitting in front of their house and taking pictures, especially since this was a little dead-end street and we had to turn around in the driveway and get back out of there before we attracted too much attention.  

Anyway, as most of you know, it's never easy to go back to where you've been, even for a little "looksy".  We only lived in that house about five years, but still some good memories were made there. I don't have as many pictures from that time, because it was before I got my digital camera...and so my blog posts from those years were mostly just a lot of writing with few pictures.  But if you are interested in knowing what I was thinking about back in those early days of blogging, just go to the blog archives in the right hand column and check out the posts in the years of 2010-2011.  Sometimes I like to go back and read them and remember where I was then in my life's journey and what caused me to want to start writing this blog.  I'm sure if we all could get together and compare notes about what motivated us to start writing, it could be a very interesting and inspirational experience.  Perhaps it would be a good idea to review those early days of blogging for each of us sometime! I'd love to hear your stories.

By the way, I still have that same plaque hanging on my wall here near my computer to remind me of my writing purpose and theme:

Click HERE for the actual story about this plaque.

Meanwhile, it's been another very HOT day...this whole week we have been under a high heat advisory...so we've mostly stayed indoors as much as possible.  Yesterday I was feeling kind of puny, and I decided to try my hand at making chicken and dumplings:

I made the southern style dumplings as opposed to the fluffy dumplings.  This was the recipe I used. I was not really happy with the dumplings as they seemed kind of rubbery, but the chicken and broth and mashed potatoes underneath were very filling and healing, much like chicken soup!  Today I felt better and ate mostly salads and fruit to make up for those dumplings and potatoes yesterday! LOL.

Well, I guess that's all I have for tonight...since it is almost time for bed already!  

Here's a lovely little prayer/poem  from a devotional calendar that I thought would be appropriate for all this talk of windows and doors and house and home...and may your home be blessed as well...

Amen.

Monday Monday~Great News!

 This morning we rose bright and early to head over to St. Augustine for my medical procedure.  God blessed us with this glorious sunrise to enjoy while on the way:

It was a misty foggy morning as we rode through the country...

But the sun just kept rising in the sky ahead to light the way...

Sometimes it just pays to get up early and get out on the road and enjoy the view!

Here we are crossing the St. John's River...

Now, wasn't that worth getting up early to see??

And we made it to our destination in plenty of time...even before the staff arrived. Didn't think to take any pictures there, but the good news is, I came through the procedure just fine! I will see the Dr. again in 3 weeks for the results of the findings, and then again in five years for my next procedure.

God is good, and I am very very thankful for your prayers and concern. Yesterday was a long day of you know what in preparation, and now I am "refueling my empty tank" and taking it easy while I recover from the effects of anesthesia.  The instructions were to make NO important decisions today! So I told my hubby he could not ask me to pick up and move to Tim Buk Too or any other crazy idea today! LOL.  No worries there...

Meanwhile, over the weekend things really got busy over at Dixie Cottage.  If you're a Facebook fan, you already know about all of this, but if not, here goes:

I guess they'll have to redo this sign...it's no longer in St. Augustine. Everything has been moved now to the new store in Interlachen.

Now comes the fun part of arranging and setting up and unpacking and making it all look presentable:

They've definitely got their work cut out for them:

It was wonderful to have family and friends all pitching in, and also wonderful that God gave them two beautiful days with none of the predicted thunderstorms to cloud or drown out their day!

They were able to get it all with the help of pick up trucks, cargo trailer and open trailer and didn't even have to rent a UHaul!! That was nice!

This is Rose and one of her dear friends who came and worked like a trooper too...

Everything neatly stacked and ready for the fun part...

They are still on target for their opening date of August 2nd, Lord willing and the creek don't rise!

Oh, and about that new door color?  I know most everyone said they really liked the blue doors, but the Landlady had another vision in mind:

I think they are very pretty and classy, what do you think?  If you prefer the blue, come on inside, because they are still blue on the inside!  Either way, a warm welcome awaits you when you do come for a visit...just wait until after August 2nd please and hopefully everything will be in place and ready for business!!

So, until next time, remember my slogan...

"When God closes a door, He opens a window"....or in this case...a green door!

Here's some food for thought:

"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."

Revelation 3:8

Something to think about during these troubling times in our world today...

May your day be filled with joy and blessing and the strength of the Lord.

Thank you again for your kind thoughts and prayers!