Times like these call for pretty dishes, a good muffin and some tea.
Have a good Saturday and take some time for a little break.
“O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” Psalm 89: 8-9
Our sitting area below the back deck/porch is now more defined with a new patio structure that has an adjustable shade cloth/screen. The next photo shows the space wide open before the added structure. The cloth/screen will be taken off the structure for the late fall to late Spring to protect it from any harsh weather.
I’ll take some more photos soon as we have tweaked it a little in it’s position.
The following gif was created several years ago when we lived in Camarillo, California for a few years. The photo is from a walk we took in Santa Barbara along a preserve.
When we made plans to go to England September 13th-27th I wrote on my planning notebook, “If the Lord wills”. Now we know that the Lord does not will for us to go. We didn’t purchase flight insurance or a ticket that was flexible. When I called British Airways and finally got through a week ago the kind gentleman let me know that our dates were not yet included in the Voucher category and we’d lose all our money but the taxes we paid if we cancelled. He said to hold off doing anything until the middle of August or the end of August. The one way we’d be entitled to ask for our money back is if our particular flight was cancelled. I prayed for that to be the case. Well…this morning I had an email letting me know that our flight has been cancelled. Thank you, Lord. I tried calling BA but the lines were way too busy today for me to even be put on hold. I’ll try again and ask for our money back. Hopefully they will be prompt in delivering on that promise.
July is just marching along. We are having temps in the upper 80’s and 90’s. Lots of watering going on. So happy for our oscillating sprinkler. We’ll need to hook up our little cast iron traveling sprinkler soon, too.
Have you seen one of these?
Standing tall at almost 500 years-old, the Airlie Oak tree invites guests out to the
Oak Lawn. The Airlie Oak is a Southern Live Oak and draped with Spanish moss.
This moss does not harm the tree and uses water & nutrients from the air to grow
and thrive.
1. Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of positive impact on your mental health? Explain.
Now that’s an interesting question. For me, depending on God more and reading His Word more has been the best positive impact on my mental health during this weird time. Knowing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever brings stability in my mind when things get crazy.
2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog!, hot shot, hot seat….choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently.
I’m choosing hot diggity dog because this song was popular and reached #1 on the “billboard” in 1956. I was five years old then and how it applies to my life now is that it makes me smile to remember it and sing along with Perry!
5. I read here a list of America’s coolest Southern towns. They are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisiana, Wilmington North Carolina, Monroeville Alabama, McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez Mississippi. How many on the list have you seen in person? Which town on the list would you most like to see?
The only place on this list I’ve been to is Wilmington, North Carolina, specifically Airlie Gardens. Abingdon, Virginia looks like a nice place to visit.
In 2013 our daughter and I drove from the Seattle area to Jacksonville, North Carolina. Our son in law was stationed at Camp Lejeune and he was returning from a deployment in Afghanistan. We had the task of finding an apartment for the two of them and moving some of their stored possessions into that apartment along with buying some furnishings. When our work was done we took a little side trip to enjoy Airlie Gardens in the Wilmington area. The photo at the top of this post is of our daughter in front of the famous Airlie Oak.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Here are some more photos from Airlie Gardens.
And…speaking of gardens here are some quotes I want to remember:
“Ever since Satan deceived Eve false teachers following his pattern, have portrayed the truth as error and offered error as truth.”
“The risk of wandering from the truth and becoming confused and disloyal is a constant threat to the church of Jesus Christ.”
“Therefore, absolute loyalty to God, Jesus Christ, the gospel, and biblical truth are nonnegotiable principles for everyone who names the name of Christ.”
MacArthur New Testament Commentary 2 Corinthians, pg. 356 & 360
Thank you to Joyce for asking the questions.
These four shots are of the same butterfly, the upper side and the underside.
On Friday afternoon we opened up our patio umbrellas and were surprised to find this visitor. It was asleep but because it’s sleeping spot was disturbed it started moving and after about an hour it flew around the opened umbrella and then flew off into the woods. I don’t mind having a few bats around since they eat mosquitoes.
Jaymison and his sister had some fun in our backyard on Friday evening while Dear and Dan put up two more steel panels on the shop roof. Sprinklers were a delight and we enjoyed some time on the tricycle.
Addy and her daddy spent some time kicking soccer balls into the soccer goal.
We’ll be babysitting these two on Saturday morning so mommy and daddy can have some free time to move about freely for a few hours. That means I won’t be moving about freely visiting blogs. I’ll catch up later.
Not for me, none of you will be seeing me in a bathing suit at the pool. It’s for your own good and then there’s that pride issue that still needs to be mortified in me.
Our two grands are enjoying pool time and need some extra protection from the sun being fair skinned.
This little guy is cutting 3 molars! Yikes. A good night’s rest has not been happening for him or his dear parents.
And this little girl is growing like a weed.
They enjoyed these homemade summer popsicles before their pool time.
This evening we’ll enjoy seeing these 2 with their parents. We’ll have dinner together and then Dear will have some extra help with the a few more steel roof panels. Soon half of the roof of the shop will be completed. Our son has been chipping in whenever he can to help. With the temps warming up it gets harder to work on the roof. I’ll be chasing the two littles!
What are your Friday plans?
It’s always a treat to see a fawn with it’s momma.
We have a new addition to our back yard, a soccer goal.
Enjoy your Thursday wherever you are…
1. The sweetness of summer…where have you found it recently? If you’re in the Southern hemisphere, feel free to tell us about the sweetness you’re finding in winter.
When we have a group around our table enjoy each other I count it as sweetness.
2. Take your sweet time, sweet tooth, home sweet home, short but sweet, the sweet smell of success, sweet talk…choose a sweet idiom and tell us how it fits your life currently?
It would have to be Home Sweet Home. We’ve enjoyed being home alone and we’ve enjoyed overnight visitors in our home. I’m thankful to have a comfortable home where we can enjoy wide open spaces in our beautiful part of the country.
3. Sweet as honey, sweet as sugar, or sweet as pie, which phrase do you use when a sweet phrase is called for? What’s the last sweet treat you indulged in?
My mind keeps going back to Psalm 19:7-11. Dear and I have put this section of scripture to memory and recite it often. The Law of the Lord is Perfect. In verse 10 you find these words describing God’s teachings, “Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” Do any of you remember ths song from ages ago?
The latest sweet I indulged in while typing this on Tuesday afternoon was a slice of this frozen dessert below. This dessert goes a long way. I made it for 10 people and we still have part of it in the freezer to enjoy a slice of in the evening. The shot above with our 2nd batch of summer company has the dessert pictured in front of each place ready to be eaten.
4. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word fidget?
True confession: I fidget when someone is long winded or takes way to long to explain something. I don’t consider most sermons in the long winded category at all. I can listen to a good long sermon when someone is rightly dividing the Truth. Usually long winded to me is someone who talks way too long on stuff that isn’t the truth or when I can’t figure out the point they are trying to make.
5. Share with us one of your favorite childhood travel memories.
I can remember very little snippets of our travels to places to camp or pick fruit growing up. We did not travel much as a family especially after four more siblings were born after the original four. I was the youngest of the first 4. Camping was the highlight and camping at San Clemente State Beach was the ultimate camping experience for me (despite sunburns). What added to the adventure at San Clemente was the fact that the Grunion were running one of the nights we were there. It was so exciting to hear the yells, “the Grunion are running, the Grunion are running” and then to scramble and try to pick up the silvery fish and throw them in your bucket. If you’ve never heard of Grunion click here.
The above photo is of my family camping at Big Bear California.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
My other memorable summer experience in Junior High and High School was being able to go to Hume Lake Christian Camps in King’s Canyon between the Sequoia and Sierra National Forest of central California. Go north to Fresno from Southern California and turn right. This is where for the first time I clearly heard that I was a sinner who needed to repent and follow Christ instead of myself. God called me at this camp and He helped me to respond to that calling.
Thank you to Joyce for asking the questions and thank you for taking the time to read the answers.
In the last couple of days we’ve had some progress on the shop roofing. Dear and our son Dan are getting the hang of the 20ft 7inch steel roof panels (50#’s each) and how to maneuver them up onto the structure. Underneath each panel is a reflective vapor barrier that they roll out and fasten before they put the steel panel up and screw it into the purlin.
Some encouragement for those who are called by God from Spurgeon and God’s Word…
…and the living is easy.
Jaymison was gifted the sandbox from his granny for his birthday. Addy and JJ are enjoying it.
Our company just left and I’ll post some photos on Monday. Hope you all have a good weekend.
I’m going out to water.
In May of this year I took this photo. As you can see the paver section of our sitting area just below our back deck/porch is small.
In this July photo that I took on Monday it shows the space now after Dear added 40 more pavers. We still have enough pavers to make the space yet a little bigger. All the pavers were already on the property so this improvement is all labor with no cost to us except for sore muscles.
We’ve had a mild (cooler) and wetter start to summer this year and our plants are enjoying that.
Our California company arrived to our home safe and sound. We enjoyed a meal around the table and time throughout the evening catching up. Addy was thrilled to play with Avery, her “medium sized friend”. Jaymison was very skeptical of Ryan and Jack, mostly of Ryan. He was okay with the medium sized Avery and even managed a smile at Michelle. Nary a photo was taken. Oye. Maybe I’ll remember today…
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 