Porch Weather

Porch weather is upon us again, and I am trying to make full use of it before the heat of our Texas summer arrives and I’m driven back indoors!

As I sit on my front porch, I can hear various different birds singing their spring songs, and the wind blowing through the trees, who are becoming more and more green every day. Someone down the lane is building something. . . I hear the tap…tap…tapping of a hammer. Possibly our next door neighbor preparing a new pen for their growing flock of chickens, ducks, and bunnies. We have a chicken project to begin soon, too! – cleaning out Jack’s old pen and setting it up for the chickens we plan to start raising this spring.

Our irises are blooming off of the left side of the porch, and many of the rose bushes in the rose garden are showing colorful flowers as well.

I purchased these new perennials last weekend to plant here by the right side of the porch, joining the daisy that already lives there. Hopefully, they will come back each year and bless us with their beauty.

Jeff planted some lovely Petunias and Impatiens in pots on the front porch. The pretty pink Impatiens are right next to me on the table between the rockers. I really love them!

There are bags of soil, compost, and peat moss piled up by the driveway, waiting to be mixed and poured into the new raised beds in the big garden in the side yard. I will post pictures of this year’s gardens in a forthcoming post.

The temperature here today is 82 degrees. We are expecting rain in a day or so and a drop in temperature to the 60′s. Porch weather at it’s finest!

I hope you can get outside and spend some time enjoying spring in your neck of the woods!

Blessings,
Nancy

A Lovely Day

Today was a lovely day. January – but the temperature was in the 70′s and did I ever get Spring Fever! I spent most of the afternoon outside planning my gardens for this year. I also washed off the porch rockers and spent some time there thinking and enjoying the weather. The kids kept busy playing four-square, basketball, and exploring by the pond. Michael got out my Dad’s old tackle box and tried to get his fishing pole lined up.

I had mixed up some Taco Soup in the crock-pot earlier in the day, so all I needed to do for dinner was pop some cornbread in the oven, which gave me even more time to enjoy the outdoors. Sarah baked some Brownie Pops, so dessert was covered, too.

As the sun started to set this evening, the sky was very beautiful, all striped in blue and pink. The moon came out and was lit up with a lovely bright white light. It was a serendipity day – a blessing that I didn’t expect. The kind that makes my heart sing and my soul praise the Lord.

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.”
-Psalm 19:1-4

I’m so thankful for this lovely day – a nice break from winter to enjoy, and the promise of Spring ahead that it brings to mind.

Blessings,
Nancy

Our Lovely Rose Garden

The roses are in full bloom right now in the rose garden. I am enjoying their beauty as well as their lovely aroma. As I sit on the porch, I can smell their sweet smell and it is truly a blessing. I think that there are more blooms this year than ever, but maybe I say that every year? No matter, I am, as usual, bowled over by the sheer blessing of this rose garden, planted by the previous owners of our house – and ultimately a gift from the Lord. Here are a few pictures that I took the other day as I wandered around in the roses.

My Mom brought us a beautiful Knock Out Rose bush on Easter this year, which we have planted in front of the front porch, where we can see it from the rockers. It should grow into a nice size bush and bring me joy for years to come – thank you Mom!

One of my favorite things about having a rose garden is when my children bring me roses like Anna did on this day ~

Have a lovely evening!

Blessings,
Nancy

My Spring Sonnet

I meant to do my work today ~
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
and a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand,
So what could I do but laugh and go?

~ Richard LeGallienne

In case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. I hope you’ve been spending some time out in the blossoming world too!

Be back soon ~

Blessings,
Nancy

A Day With the Dinosaurs

A week or so ago we spent the afternoon at the nearby nature museum. They were hosting an exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs, which were placed around the park on one of the nature trails. It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside and we enjoyed the outing. Besides moving, the dinosaurs also made noises and were fun to look at. Here are a few of the pictures that I took ~

This cabin is one of my favorite things on the trail. We used to be able to go inside, but it is in bad need of repair now, so the park had it nailed shut. I hope its renovation is on their spring to-do list!

Thankfully there were some dinosaurs that were specially made to be climbed on by the kids, since they could really only just look at the robotic ones ~

The T-Rex was huge as was to be expected. There was water dripping from his mouth for some unknown reason, which made him all the creepier!

A fairly new and growing part of the museum is their collection of live animals. Some of the ones we saw outside were this raccoon and deer ~

The indoor portion of the museum has many hands on activities for the kids, as well as exhibits about nature items of local interest. Something new this time was live animals, some of them on temporary vacation from the outdoor area for the winter. We enjoyed watching the lemurs ~

There was an entire room devoted to snakes – UGH! But it was a good lesson for all of us on what the poisonous snakes in the area look like, so we can avoid them, like this rattlesnake for instance ~

This guy was fun to look at, although I never saw him move at all!

No matter how many times we’ve been to visit the nature museum, it is always interesting each time. We’ll be going back this Spring, when everything starts to come back to life and enjoy the flowers and plant life that was mostly dormant on this trip.

Have a nice day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Rainy Weather

It started raining here yesterday afternoon, and the temperatures started to drop. Around dinnertime, following a close-by lightning stike, the power went out. I had just put the finishing touches on the taco dinner we were having, thankfully, so we did get to eat dinner. Out came the candles and flashlights. Anna was teary – she gets nervous when the power goes out, but we assured her that it would be back on soon. Jeff, Laura, and Tommy left to go to a minor league hockey game that they had tickets to, and the rest of us settled in to a cozy, but dark evening at home. I was supposed to take them all to Michael’s basketball practice, but I decided against it, due to the storm going on outside.

We lit up the living room with candles, and brought out a couple of games. First we played Disney Apples to Apples – one of our favorites, followed by about an hour’s worth of Nintendo Monopoly ~

We got tired of having to squint to read the Monopoly board, so we called that quits. 9pm, the time the power company had estimated that they would have the power back on by, came and went, but no power. We got in pajamas and read some stories, then got out blankets and tucked in on the couches. David had just fallen asleep when the rest of the family arrived home. They had seen the power company out close to our home working, so that raised our hopes a bit. Inside I think we were all wondering if this would end up being another 3 day outage like we had last year!

One by one, everyone dropped off to sleep nestled in comforters and blankets all around the living room. I dozed awhile myself, and then got up to go lie down in my bed. About 1 am, just as I was about to fall asleep again, the lights came on. Hurray! I got up, checked on the meat in the freezer, turned out the bright lights that had just come on, turned on the nightlights, and went back to bed, thankful that we would now have heat and that the next day would be back to normal.

This morning I awoke to thunder and heavy rains outside. My first thoughts were of Jack, out in his doghouse in his pen. I wondered how wet it was out there, and when I went out on the porch to check, I saw this ~

The pond was about as full as I’ve ever seen it, and I was afraid that it would soon spill over, right down into Jack’s pen at the foot of the pond hill. I woke up Laura to go and get him, which she did. He is now resting, warmly and comfortably in his crate in the house.

The rain stopped around lunchtime, and the pond hasn’t overflowed yet, but we are supposed to get more rain later today, so we’ll see what happens. It will be Omelets for dinner tonight, certain to be another cozy night indoors – I think I’ll keep the candles handy, just in case.

Hope you’re staying warm and dry!

Blessings,
Nancy

Feeding the Birds

It has been too long since I filled up my birdfeeders for my feathered friends, and so I did so yesterday. I don’t usually worry about it too much in the spring and summer months, because there are plenty of bugs around to keep the birds satisfied. But when it starts to get cooler, and the bugs (well most of them) go away to wherever it is they go in the winter, I usually like to keep my feeders filled up. We have had a very mild Fall and Winter so far this year, so I guess I hadn’t thought too much about it, but lately I have started to miss seeing the birds gathered around the feeders. These birdfeeders hang in the Crepe Myrtles on the side of the house outside my kitchen window – the perfect spot for me to watch them come and go. It looks like I may need to add a coat of paint to some of them – they’re starting to look a little more rustic than I’d like!

It usually takes a few days after I fill the feeders for the word to get around that they’re full, so I haven’t seen too much action yet; although I did spot some little chickadees out there a little while ago. Soon the word will be out and the chickadees will have to patiently wait for their turn while the bigger birds have their fill.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep the neighbor’s cat away from the feeders!

Have a wonderful evening!

Blessings,
Nancy

Autumn Beauty

A rainy morning brought in some cooler weather this afternoon. I went out for the mail and was captivated by the beauty of the colors of the trees and the yellow leaves laying all over the ground. I pulled out the camera and took a few pictures.

It seems like the last few days the trees have really started to turn. Most of the trees around our property turn yellow in the autumn, except for the Crepe Myrtles by the house that turn a beautiful fiery red around the end of November each year. The pond area is especially beautiful with all of the trees turning and falling down into the pond. The pond is very low right now due to our drought this summer, but the banks of the pond are covered in yellow leaves – a lovely sight!

I love when the leaves start to fall all over the driveway each year. By a few weeks from now there will be a thick blanket of leaves here ~

It was a very nice walk out to the mailbox. The changing seasons are such a wonderful blessing from the Lord! Are the leaves changing where you are?

Blessings,
Nancy

A delightful change in the weather . . .

Today, for the first time in what seems like months (and maybe is!) we woke up to a nice soaking rain. We broke the record yesterday for the most 100 degree days in one summer, and to go along with all that heat, we’ve been experiencing drought conditions. All I can remember seeing all summer long was a couple of drops of rain, maybe on two different days. This morning the skies were cloudy, some thunder rumbled overhead, and finally the rain came. The sound of the thunder was like an old friend returning from a long time away. The forecast is for possible showers each day for the next week – a welcome change!

The rain cleared up by afternoon, and the kids and I sat out under the trees sketching nature pictures, and it was very pleasant. After dinner we were back outside, me on the porch, and the kids playing on the swings and trampoline. We are inside now, driven in by the dark, but are looking forward to many more days spent outdoors in the coming weeks!

Blessings,
Nancy

Simple Pleasures . . .

I’ve been thinking about how much joy can come from the simple things in life. Things that pertain to family, nature, and just life in general. They usually aren’t expensive, but are worth so very, very much. I like to think of these as – and I solidly believe that they are – blessings from a loving Father, sent to delight us and, many times, to teach us about Himself.

Here are a few of the simple pleasures that I am enjoying in my life ~

~ Bedtime stories every night with my littles.

~ The changing of the seasons.

~ An afternoon on the front porch with a cool drink and my notebooks, drinking in the beauty of tall green trees, pretty flowers, and watching my little ones play.

~ Baking goodies for my family.

~ Conversations with my teenagers.

~ Beautiful pictures in magazines – cutting them out and decorating my journal with them.

~ Lighting a seasonal candle while I’m cooking or relaxing at night.

~ Hearing a sweet “I love you” from one of my kids.

~ Harvesting anything from the garden.

~ Stroking a kitty’s soft fur.

~ Sewing on a quilt and enjoying the beautiful fabrics.

~ Small town friendliness.

~ Fresh clean laundry.

~ Stopping by the Sno-cone stand on a hot summer day.

~ Seeing my husband pulling into the driveway.

~ A good book.

~ Popcorn with a late night movie.

~ Occasionally taking the slow, windey, country road rather than the highway.

~ Watching my children grow and learn.

~ Seeing the Lord working in my heart, growing me.

I begin to think that I could probably go on and on. Thank you, Lord, for all of your special gifts to us!

What simple pleasures are you enjoying?

Blessings,
Nancy