Some Fun Saturday Stuff

Mommie said it was my turn to write the blog post, so here's what's been happening today!

For a little while Mommie kept seeing this Log Yard Swing on the porch of our local building supply store, and she kept saying to Daddy how much she'd love to have a swing to put in the Secret Garden. 

Well, today my brother Scotty was off from work, and he has a pickup truck, and Mommie said, I sure would like to go get that swing before it disappears. And so Daddy agreed it was okay to buy it (with Mommie's share of the tax return money, LOL), and Scotty said he'd be happy to go pick it up.

My brother Scotty is so strong, he was able to lift that swing and put it in his truck all by himself, and take it out and set it up in the yard all by himself.

He said to be sure and get a picture of him flexing his muscles. LOL.

So here it is all set up in the Secret Memorial Garden.  Mommie and Scotty are swinging and Mommie is so happy.

Then Mommie talked Daddy into swinging with her. He was afraid he'd break it if he sat down in it.

Now there's a sweet picture! Mommie and Daddy sitting in a swing, K-i-s-s-i-n-g!

First comes love, then comes marriage...

Then comes Lily in a swinging carriage! Ha Ha. Had to make it rhyme!

I really like to swing! Remember the little poem by Robert Louis Stevenson? We talked about it HERE once before.  

"How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside...

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown...

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!"

This swing doesn't swing quite that high, but it is still high enough for me and Mommie:

Here we are trying to take selfies of ourselves while swinging. 

It was a very pleasant time in the cool breeze and shade of the Secret Memorial Garden.

Isn't it lovely?

Mommie said to never mind the sheets under those chairs. She still has to finish painting the undersides of them. Everytime she thinks she can do it, it acts like it's going to rain, so she can't finish them. But she will, she says. She will...

Now, guess what THIS is?

Yes, you are correct if you said it's another birdhouse for the chickadees!

Yes, Mommie and Daddy put up this other birdhouse today so the chickadees and the bluebirds will quit fighting over the one birdhouse.

Right away "Father Goose" came swimming over to see what was going on and if there were any intruders coming to his pond.

Once he saw it was just another birdhouse for the silly chickadees, he turned around and swam back to keep watch out for other bigger threats to his lady love sitting on her nest.

And guess who came next to check out the new birdhouse?

Yep, you guessed it!! Mr. Chickadee came right away and looked it over very carefully!

He even peeked inside to see if it would accommodate his wife and children:

And after all that work, he went and had a snack to build up his strength for the tasks ahead...

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bluebird is very busily gathering twigs and grass to build her nest in the old birdhouse, which is just fine for her!!

She stayed busy doing this most of the day, so I hope she really means business this time around!

I will say that both Mr. Bluebird and Mrs. Bluebird also flew over to the new house to look in the windows and check it out...but I think they decided their house was just fine for them and they got back to work building their nest.

Meanwhile, there is always a threat of danger nearby...This Red Shouldered Hawk was resting in this tree over on the island for quite a while. Father Goose stayed very close by, keeping a "hawk-eye" on Mr. Hawk, to make sure he didn't venture too close to Mother Goose sitting on her nest.

One other bird of note flew in to the neighborhood this afternoon and had a look around to check things out, and then he went on his way...Mr. Catbird. I don't know if he was interested in the new birdhouse, or just visiting...but he didn't bother anyone and they didn't bother him either.

Meanwhile, in between putting up new birdhouses and swinging in the swing, Mommie and Daddy also went to the local flea market this morning to buy vegetables and look around.

Besides buying more corn on the cob and cantaloupe, squash and tomatoes, Mommie spied this pretty big bowl and really liked it. She asked the nice lady who was selling it how much she wanted and she said $1.00.  Mommie thought that was a great deal, and so she bought it.

Isn't it pretty? That is a peony, which doesn't grow here in Florida, but Mommie loves them and wishes they did. Then there is a lovely moth, two butterflies and a dragonfly too, all things Mommie loves, so she was very happy to get this pretty bowl for just $1.00.

When she got home she looked up the information on the computer to find out more about the pattern, by looking at this label on the bottom of the bowl.  She discovered that this particular design and brand of dishes is VERY expensive, and this bowl would have cost  at least $25.00 if it was new! So Mommie really  likes that bowl a lot more now!! It doesn't even have a chip in it!

So that was her big bargain for today!

So now to finish this post out on a more "serious" note, I wanted to share this very nice little devotional book with you.  One of Mommie's friends from church, (I call her Auntie Opal), gave this book to Mommie especially because of me!  She said because my name is Lily Grace, when she saw this book she thought of me and thought we would like to have it.

It has nice little short daily devotions in it, and Mommie said we can read them together each day.

This is the first one, and Mommie and I really liked it.  It tells us that when we keep our minds set on God, He will help us to stay "completely whole", and "steady on our feet", because we don't give up. Even when we might fall or lose our balance, speaking about our spiritual walk, we don't give up because we know that God is there to hold our hands and help us get back up and stay steady and strong.  Sometimes when we make so many mistakes we get frustrated and want to give up. But God helps us to keep trying and not give in to fear or disappointment or even embarrassment. And when we trust Him to help us, we will surely be stronger and better!!

Those are some good thoughts for today, don't you think?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little visit with us today. Did you do anything fun or different or interesting today? Mommie said to tell you she will get caught up with you soon. As you can see, today was kind of busy! But it was a good good day.

Thank You, Jesus!!

Amen.

Bye bye for now.

Love,

Lily Grace

 

Mustard Seed Faith

Good Morning all my wonderful friends in Blogland!

Happy Wednesday!  Mommie said some people call this "Hump Day", because it is the middle of the week and once we get over this "hump" it is downhill to the weekend! 

I don't know much about that...every day seems the same to me, but I like to find something good to enjoy about every day, don't you?

Jesus said that "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed nothing will be impossible for you."

And I am just a very little girl with a tiny bit of faith, but God is making lots of wonderful things possible for me!

Look at this tiny little sunflower! Do you know that it grew up here in our yard right under our bird feeder? It was just a tiny little seed that fell out of the bird feeder, and now it is a flower!!

And if you look really really close, you will see some tiny little baby wild plums starting to grow on this wild plum tree above.

Mommie said sometimes there are bad things that grow from seeds too, so we have to be careful what kind of seeds we plant in life.  Thankfully she stopped me before I tried to pick this little white flower above.  She said it is a stinging nettle, and if you grab the stem or leaves to try and pick it you will get all kinds of little stinging prickers in your hand, and it will hurt really bad. So she taught me that we need to always be aware of whether or not we are planting good seeds or bad seeds that could hurt people...sometimes that applies to things we say and do, not just in the garden...

Speaking of "in the garden", Mommie and I finally planted the Rose of Sharon bush in the Secret (Memorial) Garden. It had been in a pot ever since they moved to this house, and it needed to get planted. It has new leaves on it and hopefully it will get some pretty flowers this summer.

And also we planted the rose bush that was also in a pot.  We hope it will start blooming again now that it is planted in the ground.

Mommie put up this new garden flag in the back yard too. It has pretty flowers and birdies on it, just like the birdies we see in our yard!

Speaking of birdies in our yard, we saw the two Canada Geese getting their breakfast in Still Waters Pond, and the Goldfinches were also getting their breakfast from the feeder. Mommie had to change the sock feeder for the finches, because some big old raccoon came one night and tore it down and spilled all the seeds on the ground.  So this one is a little bit higher from the ground, and hopefully the raccoon will leave it alone. We were happy the goldfinches came back!

Mr. and Mrs. Canada Goose are very busy eating every day.  Must be something good on the bottom of the pond...

Back to our walk in the woods...we saw a wild turkey yesterday afternoon!! Can you see him there in the trees?  He ran away after we took his picture. It was exciting to see him!

We also saw where some people might be getting ready to build a house or something in the woods. There were these orange surveyor markers staking out a lot. That will be interesting to see what kind of house they will build.  

We walked around a bit on their lot to see what kind of view they would have, and found this big old dead tree on the ground. I said it looked like a big dinosaur skeleton.

And then we found a REAL skeleton!!! Not sure what it was, but we think maybe a deer. That made me sad to see it.  Mommie said sometimes animals die in the woods and the buzzards come and pick their bones clean. It still made me very sad to see it. But that is all a part of nature and life. 

John 10:10 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Mommie said she already shared this verse on her post the other day,   but this was still a good reminder to us that Jesus is the One who gives us life everlasting, and a good and full and abundant life comes only through faith in Him...even a little bit of faith like that tiny mustard seed gives us life everlasting!  That's a good thing to remember!

So, I guess I'd better say good-bye for now! But remember to plant those tiny little seeds of faith and also plant those good seeds that help make people smile and be happy today!

Bye-Bye!

Love,

Lily Grace

xoxoxoxo

 

Friday Foto Friends: Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

Good Morning to all our special Friends in "Blogland", as Mommie calls it! And especially to my dear Aunt Debbi and Indentical Cousin Tracie way up in Charleston!  I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday.  My Mommie said that normally on Fridays she posts a lot of pictures for something called "Friday Foto Friends".  She said that since this week she has been showing most of her pictures here on my blog instead of her blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows", she thought she might as well do her Friday Fotos here too, because she said they mostly have to do with me! So we've been having a little adventure already this morning, and Mommie wanted to share it with you.

Mommie said that many of you will remember this sign from her previous home and now from her "Room with a View" in this house. It is a special sign that my big brother Benton made for her many years ago to put above her kitchen windows in their old house, and now it is perfect for over this window here.  Well, she said that today is the day to "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" for us!

Our morning started out early with running out to the back porch to hear the owl hoot again, and also to see the last few minutes of the full moon before it went out of sight until tonight.

I can just barely see it between those trees over there...and the owl never hooted again either, so we hurried back inside because

it was really really cold outside, and I was still in my jammies!

So while I warmed up by the fire:

Mommie was busy making blueberry pancakes, sausage and fried eggs!!! Wow! Daddy said that was a lumberjack's breakfast!  I'm not sure what a "lumberjack" is, but Daddy said it is a person who works really really hard chopping lots of wood so people can have fires in their fireplaces and can build things with the lumber! And so they like a big hearty breakfast before they go out in the cold and start cutting down trees and chopping wood all day long!

Mommie was using her special mug today that says "Let Heaven and Nature Sing", and that's what got us thinking about the birdies singing outside and stuff...

So after we ate our pancakes we went outside again and watched the geese in Still Waters Pond

They were so pretty!

Mommie said that you can't hear all the birdies singing in the trees that we can hear, so she took a video. I hope you can open it and listen to the birdies singing.  

Mommie said to never mind the traffic noise in the background because there is a highway on the other side of the pond and people were on their way to work and their cars and trucks make lots of noise.

But if you listen to the birdies you will enjoy hearing them. In this one the geese are swimming away from the shore, and Mommie said to forgive her for moving the camera around so much, but they were moving and she was trying to get the best angle to see them, and she kind of wiggled the camera too much and it might make you sick to watch the motion. I hope not! That would be awful!

I hope you enjoyed our little movies! We'll try to do better next time!

After this we got dressed to go take our morning walk in the woods.

I was happy to have my new jeans to wear to keep my legs warm, and Mommie made me a little hoodie sweater out of an old fluffy sock of hers so I would be nice and warm:

Isn't it neat?

Then we looked at the wild plum tree again and it is getting more blossoms every day, just like Mommie said it would:

On our walk something scary happened, but Mommie didn't have time to take any pictures. There was a truck coming down the road and a big dog was chasing the truck all the way down the road. Mommie was concerned that the doggie would see us and want to chase us as we were walking out in the open. Daddy was a bit ahead of us and couldn't get back to us very quickly if the doggie came after us.  But Mommie prayed the big doggie would turn away and keep following the truck, and guess what! That is exactly what he did! It's as if he didn't even see us walking there, and we were so relieved because he was a very big doggie and he could have knocked us both down!  Mommie said that Jesus was watching over us and sent His angels to protect us and keep us safe. I am very glad that Jesus takes good care of us. 

Psalm 91:11-12 says:

11."For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12.  In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone."

After our walk Mommie and Daddy went to the grocery store.  I got to ride in the buggy!

 Well, after that exciting morning we are back home again and Mommie is going to fix us some lunch. She says we need to go ahead and get this posted so people will be able to read it before it gets too late, so I will say good bye for now, but we might still have some more adventures to share again tomorrow!!

Thank you all for making my first week here very very special.  I look forward to many more adventures with you!  Now, why don't you go out and listen to the birdies sing?  Mommie said the words "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" isn't just for a Christmas song! It's for all the time!!

"Joy to the World; the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

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."

Bye Bye for now!

Love,

Lily Grace