Fernandina Beach, FL

 

We have some friends who rent a beach house for the summer, and they invited us to spend a few days with them in July.

 

There's nothing our family enjoys more than spending time at the beach. Especially my husband.

 

That's him, out for a morning stroll, looking for shark's teeth.

For the Birds...

It's that time of year again. All the little birdies have migrated back and I have been delighting in watching them at our feeders, especially the hummingbirds.

I looked out the window one morning to see this.

Baby Dove

Kate, my sensitive child with a big heart for God's creatures, found a baby dove in a friend's yard this week, and decided it needed to be rescued. Of course I told her that just because it was on the ground did not mean that it needed to be rescued by humans. But this one was in danger of being eaten by the friend's dogs. Kate tried to put it in a nearby bush, but it couldn't grasp the limbs with its feet and hold on, so it fell to the ground again. She couldn't find a nest anywhere, so she asked if she could bring it home and take care of it. Me being the softy that I am, said yes.

It's Fall Around Here

Finally...

It's beginning to feel like fall around here.... The weather is nice. We are enjoying being outside more.

This is my favorite time of the year! I love to see the leaves changing color... getting ready for winter. It won't be long and we'll be going home for Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family for the holidays!

my "pumpkin" I found on clearance at a Cracker Barrel Country Store last year

The home school group visited a local cotton field last week. The kids all picked some cotton, and they have to do some research about cotton (whatever they want to know about it) and be prepared to share what they learned when we meet next week. We will take a tour of the local cotton gin next week as well.

They all thought it was great fun picking the cotton. Of course, we were only there for probably 30 to 45 minutes, at the most! Some of the adults began telling the kids of stories told to them by their grandparents about being in the fields all day picking cotton. I can't even imagine! 

We visited our county fair last week. It is very small scale, nothing compared to the national fair we visited a couple of weeks ago! But it is always fun to walk around enjoying the displays, meeting friends, watching the entertainment, seeing the livestock shows.

And of course, the food! We have local organizations (like the Lion's Club, Kiwanis Club, and many others) that set up food booths. One of my favorites is funnel cakes from the Lion's Club! I like them so much that I sent my two oldest children over to pick up a couple of them after supper last night! Lol. We live close to the fair grounds, so it was very convenient!

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know how much we like to watch for birds around my house. We'd been hearing this one in the woods behind the house for a few days, but we hadn't seen him. Then Friday morning (I think it was Friday...) my son and I were sitting on the couch reading, when all of a sudden he popped up off the couch and excitedly announced that there was a red-headed woodpecker in the backyard! Of course we dropped the books, picked up the camera and headed outside to try to capture the bird in photograph. It's very pretty, as you can see, and we hope it will stay around for a bit.

This last picture is of a type of crab spider. It has made a web between the crepe myrtle tree and the house.

Very creepy looking to me. I think all spiders are creepy looking, but I do appreciate their God-given job of helping to keep the insect population under control! We have several spider webs around the yard and as much as I dislike spiders, I try not to disturb them.

So... What are you doing to enjoy your fall?

Pondering

Pondering God's wonderfully magnificent creation...

Marveling at His majestic creativity... how everything has an intricate design... how He weaves a beautiful tapestry of nature... just because He can.

Thanking Him for choosing to display His glory, His splendor in such a way that I can enjoy it... enjoy Him.

Reveling in the fact that He has chosen to reveal Himself to me... to make His glory known to me... to bathe me in His mercy and grace.

May you delight yourself in His glory and goodness this day. 

Dragonflies & Butterflies

This morning we incorporated another of Miss Mason's techniques into our school day. Not exactly a nature walk, but time spent outdoors, nonetheless.

We watched the birds flying in and out of our backyard... got out the binoculars to see them close-up in the trees. We especially like watching the hummingbirds come to our feeder!

This was an earlier shot (and not very clear).

Our Beach Vacation

We are back, and I am missing the beach already! My family loves the beach and we usually choose a beach vacation each year. Sometimes we go other places on vacation, but usually it's the beach.

My husband loves to go to different beaches, and this year he found a place for us to rent for the week at a place called Indian Shores, Florida. It's between Clearwater and St. Pete Beach, in the Tampa Bay area. It was so nice.

I love everything about the beach...playing in the ocean, snorkeling, searching for shells, building sand castles (as well as other creations from sand), sitting under a big umbrella reading a good book, feeling the breeze on my face and the sand under my toes, watching the beautiful sunsets. I love sitting on the balcony at night, listening to the waves crashing on the shore...so peaceful. Yep, I'd love to retire to a little place on the beach some day :)

Of course, I really love all of God's great creation. From listening to the waves crashing on the ocean shore to seeing beautiful mountains ablaze with color in the fall to just sitting in my own backyard in the evenings listening to the crickets chirping, I enjoy it all. Isn't He grand to share all this beauty with us? And shouldn't we be so grateful? He is so good!

Mom, Come See This Treefrog!!

Reading Ann Voskamp's recent post reminded me of this frog we found on our back door last week. We see little tree frogs on our back door quite regularly around here spring through fall. So when my younger son came running to me, saying "Mom, we found the biggest tree frog ever!" I have to admit I was not quite as excited about it as he was. Of course since these frogs are quite the norm around here, my response was, "That's great honey!" He wasn't going to let it end at that, however. So of course, I had to go see it! He was right; it was definitely the biggest tree frog we'd ever seen! The kids were excited...daughter ran to get the camera (she's my photographer around here!). "Maybe we've found a new species!" were the excited cries I heard from the kids. Of course, they had to get Dad and older brother in on this, too! You can see hubby's hand in the photo as well as older son's face, for size comparison. After taking pictures, daughter and younger son get out field guide to decide what kind of frog it is. We think it is a leopard frog, but not really sure. If you can identify it, feel free to let us know what you think. Anyway, it was fun for us and I thought I'd share!

Blessings!