Gopher Tortoise

It is a little difficult to see the hole where our friend comes and goes but it is the opening behind the stake. First I must tell you, it is NOT our turtle. It was here when we moved in a few years ago. It does not bother much since I put the little fence up around some of my flowers and we do not bother it. They were probably named Gopher as a reference to the pocket gopher, a small mammal which also creates lengthy burrows. This turtle is famous for digging underground burrows 10 to 35 feet long with bedrooms at the ends. The burrows are found in sandy, well
drained areas. Over 70 other kinds of animals have been found using Gopher Tortoise burrows in various ways. These include burrowing owls, raccoons, opossums, gopher frogs, spiders, insects, cotton rats, indigo snakes, coachwhips, and rattlesnakes. Now this last one is the one that concerns me, however we have been here 5 years this
June and we have not seen one anywhere near our property.
This is the first time we have seen it this spring. Two years ago I found about 10 babies running around in my flower bed, I'm not sure where they came from and I do not know where they went. We have not named it since it is not a pet and besides what kind of a name do you give a turtle? Do you have any suggestions?

Post card & craft

I tried to get this text higher on the page but for some reason could not. I know so many of us love the old post cards so I was happy to find this one and add my own words to it. I made the tree with the eggs on it. I wish I could say I made the eggs but alas they were a find in one of my favorite thrift stores. I did however find the branch in my yard, painted it gold, anchored it in the antique pot and placed a few yellow flowers around the base. Of course the Easter egg tree has nothing to do with the true meaning ....which is the resurrection of my Lord and savior, JESUS. So do you plan on going to a Sunrise Service, I have some beautiful memories of going to them in the Keys as they would always be at beach, there is something special about seeing the sun come up over the ocean. HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY. To see the details of the pictures on the eggs, click on the picture for an enlargement.

Last Day of Winter

Where does the time go? Life at our house has been anything but normal for the past week. My elderly neighbor's husband passed away and I have been helping her. They were only married a short time, it would have been 4 years this July. He used to live about 150 miles south of here, so when they married he moved and brought a LOT of stuff with him. Now his children want it. This has been so hard on my friend. They came yesterday and now hopefully there will be forgiveness and healing so life can go on. On a lighter note, today is the last day of winter. Our weather here has been beautiful. I went for a walk in the yard this morning and took these pictures. Can you see the bumble bee? I did not want to get into his space to much, and the poor butterfly is missing part of one of his wings so I do not know how long he will survive. Janet, if you are reading this I just want to say I think of you every time I see purple flowers blooming in my yard. Wish you were here, we could sit on the porch with a glass of tea and watch the wisteria feed the little critters.

SPRING HAS REALLY SPRUNG IN NORTH FLORIDA.......HOPE IT IS NICE WHEREVER YOU ARE. BE BLESSED

Garden of Joy

In all of the preparation and rushing about I forgot my camera....and I'm so sorry I did as I know the pictures of the skit would have been good.
Everything went well. The skit was cute and VERY funny, I'll tell you more later.
Both meetings, Friday night and Saturday morning were straight from the throne room of God. The main words were PURPOSE and GIFTS. Do you know your purpose, are you living your purpose, and do you know what gifts God has placed with you and are you using them. I was very challenged in my thinking and stirred in my heart. It was just the boost I needed to move me into being a "doer" and not just a "hearer of the Word".
The skit is called "The Garden of Joy". It is about a little Petunia that got planted in an onion patch, and all she can do is cry. A few feet away is a flower bed with roses, sun flowers, and daisies in it. I was a rose, I asked, as did all the other flowers, "why are you crying", after hearing the complaints of living in a stinky onion patch, I explained how I had lived in a lot of places, even in the dessert but I never cried about it, I just bloomed. The sun flower said, " do as I do and turn your face towards the sun and He will dry your tears", pointing up and speaking of God. The daisy said, "people pick my petals all the time, saying he loves me, he loves me not, but I know He loves me so I don't cry". We all tell Petunia she can live with us, she says where, and we all say, In The Garden Of Joy. Then we all sing a little chorus :
Jesus, and others and you
What a wonderful way to spell JOY , repeat.
J is for Jesus- for he has first place
O is for others- we meet face to face
Y is for you- in whatever you do,
put yourself third and spell JOY. (the skit had more to it but for space and times sake I cut it)

A Good Thing To Do When It Rains

It rained here today! I really had a lot of other things I could be doing BUT..... I did this instead. Now I want to find someone that can read these. Well maybe I don't, that might get a little scary. I really do not feel like the ones on the bottom are finished. They are all 3.5 square. I think I felt the need to play today as I will be very busy the next three days. We are having a women's conference at our church starting tomorrow and running through Sunday. In the morning I will be baking, then leaving home about 2:00, getting home late. Saturday morning I will be making a huge salad, and relish tray, then leaving the house by 8:30 (as in a.m.) mmmmm! That one will dismiss after lunch. I will also be in a skit, I'm a rose, complete with costume. If any of the pictures turn out, without me looking like I need to be locked up I MIGHT share them. OK I'm off to see if I can make up any of the time I lost today.