Thankful Thursday - June 11th, 2015, our backyard project

I lift up my eyes to the hills--

where does my help come from? 

 My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth. 

  He will not let your foot slip-- 

he who watches over you 

will not slumber

Psalm 121:1-3

Greetings Sweet Friends,

Hope your week has been a very
 good one!  and that you are enjoying
these weeks leading up to Summer....
It will been here in just another week
 and a half.........course, it already feels
 like that here in Florida but have to say
not quite as hot as usual this year for
June, as we are still having some cool
and breezy mornings and evenings,
which is bliss for us!! The rest of the
day is hot tho..........

My week has been a good one, with
not a whole lot going on.
Told you on Tuesday I would share
some pics of our backyard project.
Basically it was cutting back branches
off our oak tree, then cutting down a 
smaller oak tree,(that sort of empty 
space right behind my bench and to
 the right of the white pole), taking 
out an old dilapidated bench, edging, 
weeding, refilling the flower beds 
with leaves, deciding where to put my 
new bench, that Scott and Megan gave
 me for my birthday, and moving some
 things around and putting in some
 faux flower bushes (more on that at 
the end) and  painting some  bunny 
yard ornaments, cutting back the plants 
on the trellis and moving (to get it out
 of the trellis shubbery), then cleaning the 
bird bath...............
and have to say it is so nice to look out 
my porch doors from my family room 
or kitchen and see how pretty and neat
 it looks out there, as it was in great 
need of help......as you can tell from 
my list.
We still have plenty to do on both
sides of the  backyard still, so it is
still a work in progress, but very
happy with the progress so far.

Well, on with Thankful Thursday

I am thankful

#1

for the planet earth series that the kids got
 my hubby about 4 yrs. ago....we have been
 watching it again, and it is really just so
 interesting and fascinating. Just love

watching it, as God's..... fingerprints
are everywhere.

#2
that I came across a pic of hubby and I, at
 Scott and Megans wedding this week, that
 was a good pic of both of us. It was actually 
taken by a friend rather than the photographer,
 which is strange. So we decided to print and
  frame it. A nice rememberance.

#3

for the cool evenings we have been having
 and that we are able to sit outside and
 enjoy our backyard for a change.

It's really so nice since we really lost a lot 
of our spring with hot temperatures, so this

 is like making up for it.  lol

Very Surprising for June in Fl.

I must say!!

#4
for a fun time of sitting out on our very small
 front porch in kiddie chairs watching an approach-
ing, and very fast moving storm, that wound up
 bringing no rain.......but we did have fun watching
 the cloud formations and seeing things in the
 clouds, like you do as kids....been quite awhile
since we have done that!!  
A simple pleasure......
Maybe it was those kiddie chairs!!  lol

Jasmine 

Honeysuckle,  they are both on same trellis



#5
for some new marriage videos we are previewing
 from Campus Crusade for Christ.
Just saw the first one and it was great.............


#6
that I got to see 2 lil cardinals a male and female
 fly down in our backyard and touch their beaks
 together like they were greeting each other with 
a kiss, just like a human couple.......
So Adorable!!

They have also been hanging out in our bird
bath a lot lately, so fun to watch since you
can see them so well because of their bright
 color..............Here is a couple of pics from a 
few years ago that I have of one taking a bath.....
Just love it..........

these were taken before our trellis filled in so much.

#7
that I heard about a new book this morning on 
Life today show, called "What keeps you up at
night? by a Pastor named Pete Wilson.  
He said, It is not a book about how to not have
 fear and anxiety, but about how to trust
 God more...........
I am going to order it...............
sounds like a good book.

With posterized affect




#8
for exercise............ cause I feel so much 
better when I do it......


#9
for a new steamer we got a few months ago,
  it really puts out a lot of steam and works
really well......rarely use the ironing board
 anymore.
 Just in case you are interested it
is an " Esteam hand held steamer"
This is just my opinion and I get no 
compensation in any way for saying that!!  lol

#10
for our home and really, I always am thankful
for it, but don't you ever just get up some
 mornings or some time thru out the day just
get overwhelmed with warm fuzzy feelings
and think to yourself...........

 "I love my home"

 Today was one of those days!

As you can see my new bench doesn't show up too well, so have to 
paint it in the near future.  Also some yard ornaments are missing,
 bunnies as I had not painted them yet.......you will be able to see
 them in some pics coming up.



#11
for dragonflys,  they are just so cute and remind
me of lil helicopters and we have had quite a few
in our back yard recently, and I think it is because
of them we have been able to sit outside and not
be eaten alive by mosquito's lately.
Hubby read somewhere that dragon flys put off
some sort of noise that misquito's do not like so
it keeps them away. Interesting and think it must
be true too.......................... Cause typically when
 the sun goes down in our yard......... they are 
ravenously blood thirsty...........

These last 2 pics are taken in the late afternoon and from a different angle.


#12
for all of you who come by and read or peruse my
blog, and for so many wonderful bloggers that I have
 the priviledge of reading and enjoying your blogs.
Yall are full of inspiration of all kinds, each having
their own great ideas and inspiring thoughts on
so many different and diversified topics,  that bring
so much enjoyment to your readers.
May the Lord bless each of you in amazing ways!

If you click on the pics it makes them larger and  thenyou can see
my yard bunnies.

Just have to tell you this...............
See the oak tree right behind my angel statue, well,
 11 yrs. or so ago when Florida got 3 hurricanes in a
 row, the first one being Charlie, that tree was totally 
demolished all the way to the ground,  along with 
everything else in our back yard.  So...... we just cut
 it off never thinking it would grow back in a million 
years and now it beautifully stands
 as a testament to God's amazing restorative Grace.
.  If you want to see the whole tree go back up to my 
header picture, it really is a beautiful tree.............
Just remembered too, that  the big tree just to the left
 of it was cut off about waist high and it came back 
too........it typically looks better but was very sparse
near the bottom this year,  think it might of had to
do with a freeze that came after it started sprouting
when we were having those hot temps so early.

and this is the only one pitiful flower
I have blooming back here right now.
At least it is a hydrangea............lol
one of my favs.  Am hoping for more!

 I am sure you saw
those red flower bushes out by the
trellis area............well,  they are faux
azaleas because I have given up on
trying to plant anything real out there
because something always eats it....
I do have some bougainvilla in pots
that bloom at times, and at times it
has gotten eaten by something too,
 in fact, once I saw a squirrel biting it
 off and dragging it into the shed to build
 a nest.............we have lots of crazy wild
 life out here................so we have just
 decided to not waste our money or 
energy anymore, and  just let them
PARTY HARDY............lol


So happy you could come by,
 for a visit.

Hope you have a good Friday 
and Weekend
with you and yours,


Love,  Hugs,
and Early June Blessings,
Nellie


Sharing with:

Lorelai and Friends over
at Life with Lorelai


Lois and Friends over at
Walking on sunshine Recipes

Susan over at
Between Naps on the Porch

Cindy over at Dwellings

Yvonne over at Stone Gable