Saturday Wanderings in December

 Here it is the 2nd day of December, and we are back to shorts and t shirts and AC clicking back on.  We had a couple of days of wintry weather (for Florida), and I truly hoped it would stick around for a while, but I should know better.  I've lived in Florida most of my life, and there's been many a Christmas day that we were wearing shorts instead of ugly Christmas sweaters! LOL.  This morning started out very foggy

And now this afternoon it is just a rather humid, muggy, late fall day on Still Waters Pond.

Mr. Great Blue Heron doesn't seem to mind.  Must be a good day for fishing...

Normally if I step outside he will fly away, but today he just stayed perfectly still, not wanting to lose his place along the shore...

Perhaps he is practicing this scripture verse:  "Be Still and know that I am God..."  Psalm 46:10

All of creation knows that God is always near.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Cardinal was chirping away at me, perhaps inviting me to tea...

Yesterday morning it was Mr. Pileated Woodpecker pecking away and getting my attention:

We do not get to see them very often here as they are usually very quick and fleeting in their search for the perfect tree to find some choice bugs for breakfast.  

 I was happy that I just happened to be looking outside when this one flew in and stayed around long enough for me to find my camera, turn it on, focus, and get a few pictures. 

And then he was gone.

I feel honored and blessed when God provides such beauty for us to behold.  I am thankful that I was listening and paying attention!

If you've followed my blog for a few years you will perhaps remember that when we first moved here to our home beside Still Waters Pond that we had some areas cleared out a little bit so we could have better access to the pond.  This was in addition to the area directly in front of our house, through the little bits of woods that surround our property along the shore.  Over the past few years we haven't been able to maintain those  clearings very well, as the underbrush grows faster than we can keep up with it, and we really don't have the equipment to keep it clear.  But I've been getting anxious to take a little walk down to the pond again through that woodsy area, and mostly there were prickly vines and small bushes in the way.  I took along my pruning shears and managed to clear enough of a trail for me to get through almost to the water:

Take a little walk with me...this is a much easier way than the way I had to do it! LOL.

There are lots of little holly trees along the way

Oh, at last we can see the water!

I love the reflection of the trees over on the little island...

Yeah, it may not seem like much to some, but I really enjoy walking through here and seeing the pond from a different angle.  Each direction has its own natural beauty.

Thankfully I didn't step on this mushroom!  Maybe someone can identify it.  I'm thinking it is a Cortinarius Violaceus, "Violet Cort", but really it looked more brown than violet. However, it may have been more violet when it was fresh.   I don't think it is edible...at least I wouldn't try it even if it was...

This is the top of it...isn't it interesting?

And a little further down the trail was this interesting discovery.  I am thinking it is some kind of "scat" of a wild animal, but I haven't been able to identify it yet. I thought perhaps a deer at first, but now I'm not so sure.  It looks like something has been enjoying eating the berries...

Well, I hope you enjoyed that little walk with me. I find myself wanting to go back again every chance I get. Meanwhile,  our son Scott wasn't able to come home today to get the Christmas things out of the storage shed. He said he will be here tomorrow afternoon.  So I did manage to pull out this one item to put on the front porch...this is the wild grapevine tree that son Benton and I made several years ago from the wild grapevines growing on our property in Salt Springs. It was quite a task to do this, but it has lasted all these years and was well worth the effort.  Today all I've managed to do is re-string some lights on it after removing the old dead ones.  The ornaments are still in the storage shed, so I will have to finish decorating later.  

If there has been any theme to today, it would be:

Yes!  "Let Heaven and Nature Sing!"....as we enter into this time of preparation for the celebration of the Lord's Birth...may we be tuned into all the ways God's creation is singing his praises around us!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come

Let Earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And Heaven and nature sing

And Heaven and nature sing

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns

Let all their songs employ

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness

And wonders of His love

And wonders of His love

And wonders, wonders, of His love

Have a blessed and joyous Advent season!! 

Friday Foto Friends~ It's December!!

Happy December 1st, 2023!  Can we believe that December is finally here? I know, for some it has seemed like a very long year...but for many of us, we can't figure out where all the time has gone. The year has just flown by, even with all of its ups and downs, goods and bads...(is that a word?)...There may be a few happy to see the year coming to an end.  But let us enjoy this month first...

I'm sure many of you have already put up your Christmas tree...I wonder how many still go out and cut a real tree...or do you purchase a live tree from a lot somewhere...or I expect the majority of us have artificial trees that we have to pull out of storage and put back together...with or without lights attached already?    

John Sloane "Country Seasons" 2023 Calendar for December

Some of my fondest memories are of when our little family went out to find "the perfect tree".  When we lived up north we often went out in the freezing weather and snow...like those sweet children above (but without the draft horses and big wagon, sadly...I would have loved that!)...and my hubby and children patiently waited on me to find that perfect tree. Every side, up and down, had to be inspected for bare spaces and proper fullness, the right height and perfect shape.  It was a toe and nose numbing experience...but once the right tree was finally found we cut it down and dragged it back to our car and tied it on top and away we went...hoping it would actually fit inside the house!

This fuzzy picture below is an example of one of those special Christmas trees...That tree you see standing in the background behind my hubby and our three sons on Christmas morning in Ohio many years ago...that tree was originally about 20 feet tall, and we cut off the top 10 feet of it for our tree! We had 10' tall ceilings in that old house, and I was determined to find a tree to reach the top even if we had to cut down a whole big tree, which we did...probably much to the chagrin of the tree owner...but he actually didn't mind and was happy for us to have it.  You can see it helped make our Christmas merry and bright!

If you want to hear the whole story of that Christmas, you can read about it HERE, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".

Here's a link to a more recent search for the "perfect Christmas Tree"

And another link to see that tree actually in the house...it's a happy ending...LOL.

So December also is the beginning of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the Advent of our Lord.  It's not just about Christmas trees and gifts and shopping and baking and all of the "fun stuff", but it's about the most special gift ever...the "Gift" of God's "only begotten Son", sent to us with love from God the Father.

And that perfect gift was sent to us so that we might have peace...

Yes, in the world we do have much tribulation, but we can be of good cheer, because Christ has overcome the world, and through Him we too are overcomers! Praise God for this amazing gift...free to all who will accept it.

I continue on with the pictures from my December calendars...this one is on the Teapot Calendar:

I wonder how often we have felt "relieved by a summons to tea"...or dinner or a call to come away from whatever we are doing that may or may not be so pleasant to come to that which gives us a time of rest and refreshment.  I know that during the busy times of this month it might be a nice idea to take some breaks and enjoy a little tea time either by yourself or with a friend...it can certainly refresh our spirits and help us keep things in perspective...

I haven't done much decorating yet, but here's what I've managed so far...

I love this little "Recipe for a Happy Christmas"~

I love those happy thoughts, don't you?

And what a thought provoking "thought for the day" this is:

I like this idea...yes, we need to laugh often and sweetly...and "radiate widely your pleasure and health."

I think that goes along nicely with the idea of the verse I shared recently 

"The Joy of the Lord is your strength."  Nehemiah 8:10.

When we know the Lord His joy bubbles up from within us and radiates out to everyone we meet.

That should be our goal for this season of "comfort and joy".  

God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's pow'r When we were gone astray Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy In Bethlehem, in Jewry This blessed Babe was born And laid within a manger Upon this blessed morn The which His Mother Mary Did nothing take in scorn Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy From God our Heavenly Father A blessed Angel came, And unto certain Shepherds Brought tidings of the same, How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name. Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy

 Have a blessed December/Advent/Preparation for the Advent of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!

Tuesday 4 and More

Good Morning from not so warm north central Florida! Looks like old man winter is catching up with us! It is 44 degrees right now as I write at 6:45 a.m., and the high will only reach 57 today.  Tomorrow morning it is supposed to get down to 37 degrees!  I know for many of you that is nothing...but for us here where we live, this is pretty chilly!  

It's time to pull out my "Christmas Flannel Shirt"...my normal house attire during the chilly days of December...

The birds have been quite active lately, gathering seeds to keep them warm...

Frankly, I love the cooler weather.  It helps get me more into the "Christmas spirit".  I am hoping to finally start putting away Thanksgiving decor and bringing out the Christmas things little by little.  I will have to wait for our son Scott to come this weekend to get everything out of the shed. It's a little too much and too awkward for us "old folks" to manage. 

I am still battling a lot of sore back muscles and other issues of that nature.  Last week I had a Doctor appointment to determine the progress of the healing of my torn bicep since having that stem cell procedure done a few months ago.  If there has been any progress at all, it is very very slow.  While in the office they put a "Tens unit" on my shoulder for a few minutes to see if that would help.  I'm not sure if it did or not as I've had a lot of issues since then.  However, they did send it home with me to try.  I haven't quite figured it out yet for myself, and I was too busy last week with Thanksgiving to take the time to study it. But after Sunday's episode, I'm thinking I may need some kind of intervention...

While at the Doctor's office he also prescribed a muscle relaxer for me to take. I have taken this medicine before, but this time the dosage was 2x a day instead of just once. I started out with just one a day, but on Saturday night I was really hurting so decided I needed to go ahead and take the second one as prescribed.  Let's just say that it was too much for this old gal to take. I was having terrible nightmares and had a hard time waking up. I actually had to miss church because of the effects of this, and the worst part is, I am still having the pain in my back/shoulder area like before. So no more of that stuff for me!   So anyway...I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with a "Tens" unit, and does it help? I would appreciate your input, and if you can come down here and help me figure out how to use it, that would be nice too. LOL.

Okay, so today is Tuesday and time for the Tuesday 4 meme.  I am not a big "fan" of Hollywood, but these questions are meant for fun and sharing our thoughts and experiences with our friends so we can get to know each other better.  So here we go!

Hooray for Hollywood!

Hello and welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Per our hostess Annie: "Hollywood magic is well named. In Druidism the holly and it's wood were used in magic. Magic wands were often made of holly wood. Lightning will not strike holly so it is often planted next to homes to protect it. The word holly comes from the word holy and the holly tree was sacred in times past. Today Hollywood still churns out 'magic' and 'spellbinding' displays as well as 'stars in the firmament' who entertain, mesmerize and influence us."

I never knew this about "holly-wood", that lightning would not strike it! That's nice to know, since we have a large holly tree near to our house! (or rather a clump of holly trees grown together into one big tree!)

The birds certainly love the holly berries!

But that really isn't what we are here to talk about! LOL.

Let's talk about it....

1. Do you have a few favorite holiday movies you enjoy watching year after year? Do you make some popcorn to eat while you watch movies at home?

My favorite to watch during the Christmas season is "The Bishop's Wife".  We usually always watch one of the old Christmas Carol movies...I can't remember which one as there are so many.  No, we don't make popcorn while watching movies, but I think that sounds like a good idea.  There are other movies we watch too, but those are the ones I definitely want to watch.

2. Have you had a celebrity crush? Can we ask who it was?

Not really. I can't think of anyone in particular, and now I am too old for celebrity 'crushes'. LOL.

3. Do you have favorite actors/actresses whose movies you don't want to miss and what movie would you say is your all time favorite from those stars?

I loved the old Cary Grant movies, Gregory Peck,   Here is LINK to the last time we did this with a few similar questions that will answer this question. 

4. Have you met any famous Hollywood people in person or would you like to? Why or why not?

On my 10th birthday I met Gloria Swanson.

I even got her autograph on the photo above (which was in the newspaper!) and also in my little autograph book.  She was visiting at the grand opening of a new housing development in the area and it was quite a big event back in the day.  Strangely, that housing development today is probably pretty much a place you really wouldn't want to live...and definitely not movie star-worthy. LOL.

Okay, that's all folks.  It's time to get this chilly day started.  

Sunrise this morning

Before we go any further into "the Season"  of Christmas, let us never forget the "Reason" why we celebrate...

Internet Photo

Amen.

Friday Foto Friends~Thanksgiving Roundup

Some people call today "Black Friday".  I call it the day of rest after Thanksgiving.

This is how the sky looked around 7:00 a.m. today..."Red sky at morning...shopping malls take warning...the shoppers are coming, come rain or shine!" LOL.   

But not me. I wouldn't go shopping today if my life depended on it...I'd rather stay home and relax and savor the sweet memories of the past few days...This was the sunrise yesterday morning...Thanksgiving day dawned bright and clear and quite chilly for us here in Florida, around 50 degrees...but it was a perfect day in every way...

Let's take a walk back in time over the past couple of days so I can remember it all while it is still "fresh" on my mind...

The first guests to arrive for Thanksgiving were the Sand Hill Crane Family and Mr. Great Blue Heron:

I tried to catch the photo of the Crane family flying across Still Waters Pond to come and have their Thanksgiving day breakfast along the shore...but my camera wasn't fast enough for them.  When they decide to pick up and fly, they do it quickly.  Mr. Heron just stayed calm and relaxed over on the post...

Mrs. Cardinal was nonplussed by their arrival. She just kept eating away at her breakfast at the lovely cut glass diner...

Mr. Heron must have been taking an early morning nap. He has his chin tucked into his wings and he's not paying any attention to what's going on around him.  Maybe he was up all night...

Of course, a lot of preparation for Thanksgiving day began the day before...and I needed all the help I could get. So Lily Grace volunteered to help me bake the pumpkin pies:

She really is a great little helper...she made sure we beat the eggs just right and then we put in the right amounts of spices...

And then she helped stir in the can of pumpkin...

Once the pies were baked she declared they were the prettiest pies we ever baked...

Now back to Thanksgiving morning...the table is all set and ready...

And some more of our special guests have arrived: Sugar and Spice are here to keep everything running smoothly...

Mr. and Mrs. Little Pilgrim are poised at their place on the table.  Hey! I just noticed today that Mrs. Pilgrim is a redhead, and Mr. Pilgrim has dark hair! Just like my hubby and me,  back when our hair was still "young"...LOL. Afraid it's not quite that bright anymore...

Finally everything was ready, and we asked the Lord's blessing on our food

And the serving/dining began:

It's so nice to see these smiling faces:

Even if he does have his eyes closed! LOL:

These turkeys were having a little chat and giving thanks that they weren't the ones being roasted today:

I guess I should have figured out how to take this picture with me in it too...but here's our family and our special guest, the "other Pamela", a dear friend from our church who is a "snow-bird" and we are her Florida family...

Oh, there I am, the two Pamela's could mean double trouble...LOL.

Scott was taking some random photos without us looking...everything was SO good we didn't want to waste anymore time with photos...

Rose and Benton were a big help...they cooked the turkey plus other things...and that was a BIG help to me!

After we finished eating but before everyone left the table we spent some time going around the table sharing what we were thankful for. It was a very sweet and moving time.  This is Scott telling his stories of thankfulness...

We were each and every one extremely grateful for all that God has done for us in this past year.

One special story I want to share...there is a dear couple in our church who we invited to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, but because the wife is currently undergoing treatments for cancer and is immunocompromised they could not come and dine with us.  However, she insisted on baking a pie for our dessert even though they couldn't be here.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of our desserts, and I wish I had because it was a beautiful pumpkin chiffon/coconut pie.  It was delicious.  I offered to send home dinner for them, but because of her illness she is very careful about what she can eat at this time and so they wanted to prepare their own meal. But what I want to share with you is what she said when I thanked her for the pie:  She said "I'm very thankful I could cook a meal today--I'm happy to see today...attitude is everything...cancer hates joy, so I choose joy!"    

Wow! That really touched my heart...and made me really think about the things I take for granted...and when she said "I choose joy",  I remembered this verse that I have sitting on my countertop in the kitchen, 

"The Joy of the Lord is your strength"  Nehemiah 8:10

You may remember the story of this little "Prayer Pillow" from this story on Mother's Day.  I love what my friend said, "so I choose joy".  Yes, I want to choose JOY each day as well. Something to really think about at this time of Thanksgiving and as we begin the advent of Christmas...

So as we faze out the Thanksgiving decor and have a last cup of Pumpkin Spice tea

while I sit here writing this post...

And before we get all caught up in the hustle and bustle of the "shop 'til you drop" season and all things leading up to Christmas...Let us take these last few moments of the day to remember to 

"Be thankful, grateful and blessed"...

And most of all, to choose JOY!

Happy Thanksgiving!!