What DID Paul say...

 
The pine tree reflections on the pond look like an upside-down painting by Monet, don't you think?
   
The cardinals' visits to the feeders are almost predictable. I never tire of their brilliant plumage...
   
...and it's such a thrill to watch the goldfinches molt - slowly shedding their drab winter coats to change into bright yellow wardrobes for spring.

If only the painted bunting would return. We've had such a cold winter, I'm wondering if he decided to settle further south this year. If that's the case, then maybe he'll stop back by Pollywog Creek on his trip north in the spring. Our unusually cold winter was the subject of an amusing conversation between Louis and Emily this afternoon.

Emily: It's colder here than it is in Kansas City - that's just not right!
Louis: Emily, don't you ever read your Bible? Emily: What? Louis: What did Paul say? Emily (after a short pause): Ummm...about the weather in Kansas City?

At this point, without any idea of where Louis was going with his questioning, I was totally cracking up. It seems that Louis was going to relate Emily's comment about it being warmer in St. Louis than it was here to a lack of contentment, but by the time he took the conversation in that direction, we were laughing so hard that it was a lost effort.

By the way, Emily faithfully reads her Bible and she knows very well what Paul said.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Furry

Furry on Pollywog Creek...

A fun and furry Nicky...   A few furry insects...    A furry mama rabbit nurses her babies...   and a few days later, a furry baby leaves the nest... and it wouldn't be Pollywog Creek without a fat and furry fox squirrel... Blessings to all my photohunt friends and a great big thanks to TNChick, for hosting the Saturday Photo Hunt every week. For "furry" photos from other Photo Hunt participants be sure to click on the Photo Hunter Banner or the Technorati PhotoHunt tag below. The theme for next week's Photo Hunt is: bridges(s).

Technorati tag - PhotoHunt

Project: Coffee::Good Morning

Hazelnut cream beans and Sweetwater Organic Good Morning Blend

My favorite afternoon coffee pleasure comes from fresh ground hazelnut cream flavored beans, but for breakfast this morning I ground Sweetwater Organic Good Morning Blend. The Sweetwater website description states: "Good Morning (Medium Roast) Harmonious Breakfast blend of new crop Central and South American shade grown beans in a Full City Roast. Sweet, milk chocolaty and bright, with a smooth, nutty finish. 100% USDA Certified Organic, 60%+ Rainforest Alliance Certified™, 50%+ Smithsonian Bird Friendly, Shade Grown."

The Sweetwater blend is new to me - a wonderful gift from my brother in law who lives in Gainesville (the home of Sweetwater) and knows of my affection for coffee. Thank you, John.

It was chilly and rainy on Pollywog Creek today. Tomorrow promises to be even colder, but dry and sunny - a perfect day for coffee and books and a quilt and a nap on the backyard swing. It was two weeks ago, that I last mentioned coffee and books in the same sentence. Our lifegroup was just beginning to read Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns. We have now read through chapter 3, and I must say the discussions have been lively and good.

Emily and I are reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Life-changing. Emily introduced me to the teachings of Francis Chan a little more than a year ago, and now that I have an iPod, I subscribe to his podcasts(go to media and then "get a sermon") and listen on my walks around Pollywog Creek. His recent series entitled "Living a Life that Matters" is outstanding. Both Crazy Love and Unpacking Forgiveness were reviewed by Tim Challies and are on his list of "Top 8 Books of 2008".

Emily just finished When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan. I read this Reagan biography years ago and loved it. So did Emily. Emily has decided that she wants to read a book by or about all 44 United States Presidents. Do y'all have any suggestions?

Birds of another feather...

...or lack thereof. The fixed-winged kind. WWII planes on display in Ft. Myers:

Louis took those photos yesterday from the helicopter. I especially like the last two photos because they include the helicopter's shadow.

Emily and I stopped by the airport today just as the planes were preparing to take-off for the next stop on the tour. We were not able to get close to the planes and had to stand behind a fence while they took off, but it was still exciting to watch those huge planes start up each engine one at a time, and we held our breath as they used every inch of the runway to become airborne. My photos are not nearly as interesting as Louis'.

B-17 Flying Fortress


B-24 Liberator


P-51 Mustang

That was hard...

That was hard. Don't you just hate having to make decisions? I'd much rather have a flower than a frog in my house (which reminds me of an incident that I'll tell you about in a minute), but as several of you indicated, the frog IS Pollywog Creek. I'll just have to surprise the rest of you more often with colorful flower photos in my posts. Deal?
Tuesdays are often one of my busiest days - leaving little to no time for photography wanderings, but I happened to catch this male cardinal through a bedroom window this morning.
Can you tell how brown the grass is beyond the cardinal? Except for the winter grass that Louis planted close to the house, there is little that survived last week's hard frosts and freezes. On one of those cold mornings last week, I opened the front door and two little frogs like the one in my header photo fell into the house. They must have sought refuge from the cold in the tiny space between the top of the door and the frame. They just lay on their backs on the floor and didn't move, so I assumed that they were dead and that I could leave them there for a few minutes while I looked around outside. When I returned about fifteen minutes later, the frogs were no where to be found. Louis found one of them later that evening on the other side of the house. He said that they probably didn't move at first because they were too cold, but after they warmed up a little in the house, they hopped away. Don't tell Emily, but we never did find the other one.

Do y'all want the froggy back...

What do you think? Flower or froggy?

Blue-Headed (Solitary) Vireo...

A blue-headed, or solitary, vireo wintering on Pollywog Creek... Occasional nature photos with links will likely be more numerous here in Pollywog Creek, now that I have imported the posts from my "beautiful in its time". I will eventually be adding the nature resources links from "beautiful in its time" to the sidebar here on Pollywog Creek, as well.

Simplifies my life. I know those other blogs are just a click away, but as I mentioned before, I tend to forget what's behind those closed doors.

There's color afterall...

...I was just looking in all the wrong places. In one of our devotional times this week, Emily I read Psalm 19, a passage I am quite familiar with, but on that particular day, it just seemed to say all there was to say.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork... ...Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. ~ Psalm 19:1, 14 (ESV)

Saturday Photo Hunt and Project: Month of Coffee::Chipped

Because of its large size and sturdiness, this pink chipped coffee mug on the chipped wooden picnic table is my hubby's favorite. The rose is likely to be the last bit of natural color found on Pollywog Creek for a while. This week's hard freeze severely damaged most, if not all, of our tropical foliage. This mug is also chipped, but I've disguised the chips with paint and filled it with basil where it sits on the chipped tree stump under the oak tree by the pond. The lizards don't seem to mind the chipped and splintered pieces of wood fencing. In fact, they seem to be their favorite places to catch a few sun-rays and maybe a fly or two. And the water in our backyard birdbath Thursday morning looked a lot like chipped ice to me. Blessings to all my photohunt friends and a great big thanks to TNChick, for hosting the Saturday Photo Hunt every week. For "chipped(s)" photos from other Photo Hunt participants be sure to click on the Photo Hunter Banner or the Technorati PhotoHunt tag below. The theme for next week's Photo Hunt is: furry.

Technorati tag - PhotoHunt

Now I know why...

...the songbirds have been avoiding the feeders lately.

For this we sent them to Washington...

Unbelievable waste of congressional time: Handful of lawmakers protest Gators' title, BCS Sorry. I just had to unleash this momentary rant. Our representatives can debate the NCAA football playoffs at the water cooler, in the lunchroom, or at what ever social event they so choose, but don't waste tax payer's money doing so on "company" time. Back to the regularly scheduled Pollywog Creek programming...

Lyrical theology and Keith Green...

from Desiring God Blog "Holy Hip Hop"

A few days ago I was thrilled to read a JD Walt's post on Keith Green. Almost two years ago, I wrote about the influence of Keith Green's music on my walk with Christ in "...first help me to just live it Lord".

My tastes in music styles is about as diverse as they come. I can appreciate almost everything from Toby Mac and Hillsong United to the Gaithers and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. In the world of secular music, the lyrics tend to narrow that range of diversity, but I still enjoy a wide variety of musical styles and so do our children.

As well as posting a video of Keith Green when he was only 11 years old and another leading worship years later, JD Walt links to a very informative documentary on the life of Keith Green. I am anxious for Emily to watch all of them. I'm interested to see if she sees the same parallels that I do in Keith Green and popular worship leaders and ministries to young people today.

Start a pot of coffee or put the kettle on for tea. The documentary is an hour long, but well worth your time. I'd love to know what y'all think. You, too, MJ.

UPDATE: A Great Musical Moment from Vitamin Z

A few of my favorite things...

...from the past few days on Pollywog Creek.
This lichen growing on the wood fence posts is called cladonia cristatella or British Soldier. I'm fascinated by the various shapes and textures and the tiny red flowers. The thickets near the creek are overflowing with grapevines. I'm particularly attracted to the way they cling with long red tendrils, the scalloped leaf edges, and the colors and textures of new growth. I'm fully aware that not everyone has the same affection for the sweetgum trees that I do. The leaves are as brilliant in the fall as any we will ever have on Pollywog Creek. I even like the spiny seedpods and the way they hang from the bare winter branches. The goldfinches and other songbirds delight in the seeds before the pods fall to the ground and Gavin can collect them in a bucket. Who doesn't like the promise of a rose bud and yellow wildflowers and gold sparkling dragonfly wings? And it wouldn't be Pollywog Creek without fox squirrels. A sabbath sunset near the point where Pollywog Creek flows into the Caloosahatchee River. I'm awe-struck every time. Can anything but Christ Himself be more glorious than the rising or setting of the sun? I've been doing a little "blog-keeping" lately. A couple of my blogs have been like rooms in the house where the door has been closed and I'd forgotten what was in there, so I imported two of them - beautiful in its time and Project 365 - into this one, and eventually they will be deleted. Links to the imported posts from those blogs are in the sidebar. Our local crisis pregnancy ministry held a Walk for Life event this past Saturday. While everyone else was out walking, I stayed behind at the registration table and took photos of everything I could think of to pass the time until they returned - which is why there is a new "me" photo in the sidebar. My week is full of goodness. Today we were able to meet Casey long enough to give him a hug, some groceries, and chocolate cupcakes from Emily. The rest of the week is packed with "mission" opportunities, Bible study, doctor appointments (check-ups), lifegroup, my writer's group, a trip to Starbucks, lots of Gavin time (though its never enough), and planning for upcoming trips to Miami (for the Hillsong United conference with Emily), a Chris Tomlin concert in West Palm, a road trip to Gainesville, Atlanta, and Nashville, and finally a two-week stay in Texas when Austin is born - if the Lord wills it so. I told you it was full of goodness. What about you? What are some of your favorite scenes from recent days, and what goodness fills your week to come?

A Pollywog Creek Sabbath wonder...

"Life is richer when we feel it. And life is much more richer when our eyes are open to the works of our awesome God." ("Wonder: Eyes Fixed on Jesus" by Steve)




"Once we relax in God's care, we begin to see things differently. We become more aware of sunsets, mountains, trees, and generous portions of sunlight." 

Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? ~ Isaiah 43:19 (NASB)
(Patsy Clairmont's I Love Being a Woman calendar for January 17)

Saturday Photo Hunt - Hat(s)

I'm on the hunt early. With only a small window of time to work with this weekend, it was post early or late. I attended a funeral today. In many ways, it was one of the sweetest. The tributes were given by young people who I've been privileged to watch grow up with my own. They are very precious to me. Their words were poignant and endearing, and they made us laugh through our tears. As the service in the small rural church was coming to a close, I watched the small group of country gentlemen - pallbearers for Grandma Sudie (my friend Sharon's mom) - don their cowboy hats, and I knew exactly what photo I would post. The three young brothers in the photo were not at a funeral, though to them it might have seemed like it. They were watching and listening (and trying to stay awake) to their mother's campaign speech at a political event in the park by the river this summer. In the small town where we live, cowboy hats are proper attire just about anywhere. Blessings to all my photohunt friends and a great big thanks to TNChick, for hosting the Saturday Photo Hunt every week. For "hat(s)" photos from other Photo Hunt participants be sure to click on the Photo Hunter Banner or the Technorati PhotoHunt tag below. The theme for next week's Photo Hunt is: chipped.

Technorati tag - PhotoHunt

Project: Coffee::A book and a gift

Last night at lifegroup (a fancy name for a small group of Christians who gather for food, fun, fellowship and study) my friend Julie gave me a new coffee mug that says, "Be Still and Know that I am God." Julie did not know that blue is one of my favorite colors and that coffee is my current photography project. Isn't that cool? Beginning next week, our lifegroup is going to begin reading and discussing Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns. I've already read and been inspired by large portions of most of it, but I'm looking forward to reading and discussing it with my closest friends. What about you? I'd love to know what you are reading over a cup of coffee (or tea or hot chocolate) at the moment?