Sunrise?...Sunset?...Moon?...Can You Tell Which?

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Click on comments for answers.

Psalm 62:5-8

5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Philippians 4: 6-13

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

God's In His Heaven ~ All's Right With The World!

Sometimes I Do Not Even Pray In Words

Sometimes I do not even pray in words,
I take my heart in my two hands
And hold it up before the Lord,
I'm so glad He understands.

Sometimes I do not even pray in words,
My spirit bows before His feet,
And with His hand upon my head
We just hold communion, silent, sweet.

Sometimes I do not pray in words,
For I am tired and long for rest,
And my heart finds all it needs
Just resting on the Savior's gentle breast.
By Martha Snell-Nicholson

A Good Age

This is one of my favorite pix. That sweet child is our now 21 year old son playing an arcade game. At least he thought he was playing an arcade game. He was too young to know that you had to put money in, to get them to play. He just watched the little preview of the game and twisted the knobs thinking he was making it work! Such innocence. Such joy. It didn't matter to him that the game really wasn't playing. I love the fact that this pix captured him standing on his tippy-toes to see the screen.

We were on a weekend vacation at a motel and had just gotten out of the pool. He was still wet and wearing his daddy's T-shirt. He had had the beach towel around him, but as you can see that was quickly thrown on the floor. The arcade games had to be played each time we passed by them.

This jogged my memory of a time that we went to Florida on vacation. On that trip he noticed every billboard and restaurant sign and was quick to point out any McDonald's that we happened to miss. He also noticed all the billboards with Bob Vila on them, only he called him Bob Beela. So most of the way down the interstate we heard, "Look! There's Bob Beela!" Yes, we were remodeling way back then.

The Pleasures of Ordinary Life

I've had my share of necessary losses,
Of dreams I know no longer can come true.
I'm done now with the whys and the becauses.
It's time to make things good, not just make do.
It's time to stop complaining and pursue
The pleasures of an ordinary life.

I used to rail against my compromises.
I yearned for the wild music, the swift race.
But happiness arrived in new disguises:
Sun lighting a child's hair. A friend's embrace.
Slow dancing in a safe and quiet place.
The pleasures of an ordinary life.

I'll have no trumpets, triumphs, trails of glory.
It seems the woman I've turned out to be
Is not the heroine of some grand story.
But I have learned to find the poetry
In what my hands can touch, my eyes can see.
The pleasures of an ordinary life.

Young fantasies of magic and of mystery
Are over. But they really can't compete
With all we've built together: A long history.
Connections that help render us complete.
Ties that hold and heal us. And the sweet,
Sweet pleasures of an ordinary life.

Judith Viorst

This way! No! This way!

My Beloved Smoky Mountains

Dusk

From The Scanner

I thought I had posted the last of the fall pix. I went out today to get the newspaper and saw all these gorgeous Bradford Pear leaves all over the lawn and lane. I grabbed a handful and brought them in the house and laid them on the scanner. The one with the white background was scanned with the scanner lid down. The two with the black background were scanned with the scanner lid up.

This is actually an art form. Mine was just a feeble attempt to hang on to some of fall's rich, deep color. There are artists, however, who make beautiful prints using objects and a scanner.

Which do you like the best? the light or the dark background?

Sweet Gum Leaf

View From Kitchen Window

View From The Pinnacle At Cumberland Gap

Another Sunset

Something Told The Wild Geese

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.

Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered,--"Snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned,--"Frost."

All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,

But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,--

Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

by Rachel Field

Fall: My Favorite Season

More On Laurel Lake

Laurel Lake

We got to the lake at 7:30 am. The fog didn't lift until a little after 10am.



An area where trees are submerged in water is known as standing timber. We have always called them "The Stickups". There were several large spider webs in the stickups. We couldn't figure out how the spiders got that far from shore. It reminded me of Charlotte's babies floating away on their webs. Some webs were stretched from trees at least six feet apart from each other. I was so excited to see this and to have my camera with me. At first, I didn't want to get my camera out because of the condensation from the dew and fog. BUT, when I saw the webs, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph them.









I was so excited about this pix! I know it doesn't look like much, but we were really fortunate to see this. For years, I have been taught that fish spawn in the spring. This is a pix of two bluegill beds. If you will look right in the center of the pix, you will see two flat circular areas with small stones. These are the spawning beds. There are two beds in this pix. Each bed had a male bluegill guarding it. We could not distinguish the eggs. Any time a minnow came near, the males would chase them away from the beds. We had pulled up into this little cove to find some shade for lunch and we found these beds. At first we couldn't believe it. It was the middle of September and these fish appeared to be too small to spawn. We watched them for almost an hour.



This is a close up of the larger bed and fish on the left of the above pix. Click on the pix to open it in another window and then move your curser over the lower right corner until you see the expand box. This will allow you to see the fish better. You can also save it to My Pictures and then use the zoom feature. It is hard to photograph objects that are under the water, but this is an extremely clear lake.



Dear husband found this little fellow when he tied up to let me get out on the bank and take pix of some weeds. It was too windy to take pix of the weeds. I did however get a decent shot of this little fellow sunning himself on the rocks. When we left this cove, he was in the shallow water. I also found dozens of ground webs on the bank. I will post one of them in the next series of pix.



The catch of the day! Not very big, but it made dear son very happy. He caught two on his own, and dear husband let him reel in a third. We practice catch and release and this one splashed his way back into the water!

Mom's Zinnias