Nature and Scripture

 God has provided so many scenes for us to enjoy in nature. 
                    Come and enjoy some nature photos
          and the Scripture that is paired with the photos. 

                      This photo obviously has nature, but all is not nature.  :)  

I love the colors and peacefulness of this picture. Actually, it was a puddle yet the picture 

looks like there is a cheerful little brook there. 

The fog changes the look of a scene so wonderfully!

A bunny hiding... sometimes we can feel like a bunny 

needing to be protected.

I have taken thousands of sunrise and sunset photos, yet there 

is so much variation.

I had to take this bunny's photo between the slats of the railing.

I liked this picture in its original form, but found I really liked the inverted even better. 

We are enjoying the Orioles this year... such beautiful colors.

Thank you for visiting today. I hope you are enjoying God's creation also. Which picture was your favorite? 

Sometimes it is hard to choose. 

I love enjoying what God has made and I hope you do too, especially in these confusing

days where life has changed so much. God is still good!

Other nature blog post links you may enjoy:

Nature Photos at the Pond

Cardinals Raise Their Young

Black Swans

Little Squirrel and Spring Blossoms

A little squirrel enjoying climbing in the Bradford Pear... and it was a treat to get a glimpse of him through the branches.

The colors were beautiful..... 

My intention was to photograph those beautiful blossoms against the rich blue sky... and seeing a little squirrel in there was an extra treat.  :)  

You can just barely see him hiding in there and eating something... he was shy and kept moving.

Our world is a strange place these days with the coronavirus, stay at home orders, social distancing, businesses closed, work on hold for many and so many things going on that we hadn't imagined could happen.

How nice to see that the beauty of spring goes on anyway... the blossoms flower, the animals and birds have new young and the weather changes.

Hide and Seek with a squirrel is a new thing, but he didn't seem to mind as I moved to see him better.

This photo shows the new blossoms and leaves and also the old dried fruit from last year that is still clinging to the tree. 

I love the colors... and the beauty of God's creation and it reminds me that He is the same yesterday and today and … FOREVER! 

I hope you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour. So much going on in the world and many fearful things happening and out of our control.... but they are not out of His control. 

"In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence; and His children shall have a place of refuge." Proverbs 14:26

Thank you for visiting today and I hope you are also enjoying God's creation this spring and learning to lean on Him more and more. I know He keeps teaching me more of leaning on Him and trusting.... it is good to keep learning more and more and I am so very thankful to be one of His children. 

Do you have a verse that is comforting to you in this time? I would love for you to share it in the comments. May God bless each of you with safety, peace, trust and hope in God in these hard times.  

Other Gentle Joy Photography Posts you may enjoy.... just click on the link:

Those Funny and Frustrating Squirrels

Lessons From Squirrels?

Baby Squirrel Out of the Nest

Scenes From the Garden...

The garden is a place of changing scenes...

A garden visitor who has just snacked in the garden and seemed to consider going back for more.

A place of quiet in the early morning stillness and light fog. 

The fog wraps around the fruit trees and highlights their beautiful shapes.

The view from a distance seems peaceful in the light of the rising sun.

                  Thank you for visiting today.  I would love to hear from you in the comments.
   

Our Duck Adventure-The Beginning

You may have read my post on Gentle Joy Homemaker, about living in the country. It has been a dream of ours for many years and finally it happened! You can read about it here if you are interested:

Living In the Country

Anyway, on to the duck adventure.....

Yes, we have ducks. Six of them, to be exact. Was it a dream of ours to have ducks someday? No.... never.....                  

   So, why would we have ducks?

It started with a trip to the farm store for some forgotten reason. While there, we heard lots of peeps and chirps which led us to investigate and discover baby chicks and ducklings. They were so cute, of course... which is probably why they were close to the cash register area as a temptation. Yes, they were cute, and I thought that was that. My husband said the girls would LOVE to see those. I agreed and we went about our business. Later, another trip was made to the farm store to show the chicks and ducklings to the girls. I thought that was nice... they enjoyed it... but I was firm about saying we didn't need any ducks!

Our sons also had to go to the farm store for something and commented on the cute little ducklings. I agreed that they were cute and life went on. We had lots to do as we hadn't lived in our house in the country for very long and one son was graduating and another son got engaged. Life was busy, but it was so nice to live in the country. I was also very glad my husband had dropped the duckling idea. Whew.

Then a few weeks later, one son came to us saying he wanted to buy 2 ducklings for the youngest sister for her birthday. I resisted ..... as the voice of reason..... too much work, it'll cost too much, what would we do with them as they got older, etc. By this time, son and husband were both very enthusiastic and countered all of my objections. 

Now, don't get me wrong. I do NOT make the decisions for our family....  I just let my ideas be known because my husband had asked, "What do you think, Honey?" This went on for a while and excitement over the possible birthday surprise rose. I started feeling like I was holding up the party and figured that maybe I was being too inflexible, so I agreed she would love the ducks and since son and husband said they would take care of details, I hesitantly thought, "Ooookay... " 

The day of her birthday was approaching, but ducklings were out of stock. What a disappointment... and a secret relief for me. Whew again! 

Then the store had another unexpected duckling shipment arrive, so the surprise was still on. What a hard secret to keep!  

                         Our Ducklings first pool was a small birdbath.


Our life began to revolve around ducks...  they needed to be warm enough, but not too warm. They needed to eat... and then we also had to buy grit for them to be able to digest their food.... they liked the water, but couldn't stay in too long since they didn't have the ability to oil their feathers at such a young age, and more. 

                 Our ducklings graduated to swimming in the wheelbarrow. They loved to have dandelions in the water for a snack.

                                 A little pool gave the ducks more room to swim.


We learned, played with ducks, learned some more, cuddled ducks and kept learning.... and cleaning up after ducks. sigh.

              Getting dried off and cuddled after swim time....  2 very sleepy little ducks.




So, that is how we ended up with 2 sweet little ducklings. I know, I know.... there are more than 2 ducks in the first picture in this post and you are right.... we do have more than 2 ducks now. How all of that came about is a story for another time. 

The ducklings were fun and a lot of work also.... and our family thoroughly enjoyed them... and yes, I also learned to really like the ducks.  All of the family loved to watch them and hold them.  Join me again for more pictures and stories of these sweet little ducklings and our adventures with them. I would love to read your comments also...   Thanks for visiting me here at Gentle Joy Photography. 




Find more posts on family, herbs, gardening, homeschooling, cooking, recipes, life and more by clicking on this link to my other blog:

   Gentle Joy Homemaker


 

Those Funny and Frustrating Squirrels!

 I like taking pictures of the squirrels... but I don't like the damage these silly squirrels do to our house, outdoor furniture, lights, tomatoes, etc. 

We  only had a couple of squirrels the last few years.... and that was enough. This year, though, the neighbors put up a squirrel feeder and we have LOTS of squirrels.

 I think the squirrels in the area have sent out invitations to family and friends from all over and they keep arriving.  Sigh.

 These squirrels dig in my pots, getting dirt all over. Sometimes they leave the flowers, roots and all, out on the ground to dry out and die. Sometimes they eat the roots.

 This year, since there are so many of them, they have gotten quite bold and come often to our deck...  and dig in the flower pots. We chase them away, but they come back... and many times they don't go far at all.

 You can see the evidence of this guy's digging in my Hibiscus... on the floor and on his face.

I chased him out of the plant and he went down the stairs a bit, then started peeking at me.

Another time one of them was jumping from plant to plant...  quite hyper, as squirrels can be. 

 He seems to feel quite at home...

Like I said, these guys are pretty hyper... moving here and there.... racing from one place to another, making it hard to get pictures, but I still took quite a few. 

 I was on the back deck and heard noise behind and above me... and here was this guy on the roof. We've seen them on neighbor's houses, but not ours. This wasn't a good thing. 

I made noise and he ran over the top of the roof, so I went through the house and out the front door.... only to find 2 of them on the roof out there. They were chasing each other and having fun.

This is a big concern since I have heard that they will try to get inside the attic and I have seen one nosing around different parts of the roof this week. They can chew wires and cause house fires.

My husband and sons plan to check the house and roof to be sure all is sealed up tight and if it isn't, they will fix it. We do need to keep these guys out. They do seem to be getting more aggressive which is a concern.

 As I stood watching them, they came CLOSER to me and kept watching me. 

As they came to the gutter and kept watching me, it seemed they were warning ME off. Hmmm... whose house is this anyway?!!!

Like I said, we feel a bit over run with squirrels. As you can see, they feel right at home.... and my tomatoes aren't even ripe yet... they love those and take plenty of them.

Not sure how to evict them, but would like to have them find a new home.  

I'll still keep taking pictures of them since they are here. They are funny and a bit cute.

I know some of my readers have commented that they don't have squirrels in their country, which surprised me. Do you have squirrels... do you like them or get tired of them? It's a good time of the year to be sure the house is all tight and safe from squirrels and other pests.

If you like squirrels, you may also enjoy these posts:

In the Life of a Squirrel 

Baby Squirrel Out of the Nest.... 

Lessons From... Squirrels? 

Birds and Squirrels....... 





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