A Different Kind of Beauty at the Lake

 There is a lake not too far from us... it is a county park... and we sure enjoy going there. As I have said before, we live in the city, but our hearts are in the country... so getting out into country like this is nice for us.

We have so many pictures of this lake... in all kinds of moods and weather.

 There is a beauty to it in all seasons
 and weather.  The colors change, the water can be smooth, rippled or rough. The reflections can be mirror like, or not as clear or just a  shadow on the surface.

Today, we were there on a rainy, cloudy day. Things looked dull... and it wasn't very interesting and I was tempted to write the day off as not worth taking pictures.


I did notice the clouds since I love watching clouds. The clouds were quite interesting.

Then I also noticed the shadowed reflection of the dark cloud on the surface of the lake.

 The picture above shows the road over the dam... and how dark the day was..... 

This picture shows that dark cloud on the lake again.

The shadow changed a bit as we looked at the lake from various views... but it stayed on the lake. 

Instead of being dull and boring... I saw something new and interesting.

I still prefer the lake on sunny days, like the photo below, but I do like the lake even on rainy cloudy days.

 Here is a foggy morning on the same lake. It was so quiet and peaceful. 



The picture below looked wonderful for a peaceful time of reflection looking out at the lake.

So many differences in a lake... so much beauty. Some of it is quickly obvious and some of it only becomes visible after looking harder.  

I still prefer the beautiful blue color to the gray or dark color of the lake, but the lake is certainly beautiful. 

I am reminded that there are so many people who don't seem to be appealing at all... their demeanor and their attitude makes it easy to ignore them... to stay away.... but sometimes when we take the time to get to know them a bit, we can find a type of beauty that wasn't obvious at the beginning.

God works in such... and creates beauty as he works in a life. Maybe a life that is broken or going through hard times or walking through great darkness. None of it is too hard for God and what a blessing that He doesn't give up as easily as we do. What a blessing to see what beauty He can create from difficulties.  

Sometimes He uses us in such a work and sometimes He lets us see the results of His work. Thinking of such helps me to watch for what work God may be doing... instead of just writing a person off as "hopeless".  I have seem some people who looked utterly hopeless to me, experience God's changing work in their life... and the difference is beautiful to see. He can do that work in our lives too... if we let Him. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you see God's work in your life... and in the lives of those around you. 



Shared on:









Modest Mom Monday

Storm Damage and Flooding

 We have had some storms... some with heavy rain (5" overnight!), some with winds and loss of power and some just loud.

After one storm, there was a lot of tree damage... it was odd in that it looked like the tops of so many trees were twisted off, which may have been a microburst. There were also very strong straight winds. 

This picture has 2 arrows... the one on the left is pointing to a long piece of a tree branch... maybe 2' long x 1 1/2"... and it was stabbed into the ground. I am so thankful no one was there when it went into the ground with such force! 

The arrow on the right points to an area where a tree was in the road. There were trees and power lines down in many places.  Our damage was minimal, especially compared to what others experienced. Our power was out for 6 hours while it was so hot... making it hard to sleep. Oh, how we appreciate the air conditioning more now! Others were without power for longer... even days.

The winds were strong in this storm... the big branches and limbs were hitting the house and windows.... blowing on the roof and banging the roof... and flying to the other side of the house. We enjoy watching storms, but this one was scary.  We ended up having some damage to a roof vent which caused some leaking into the house, but we are thankful. By the way, our windows and even the screens were undamaged! So surprising, since the branches hit the windows.


 There were limbs and branches down... and some trees pulled up by the roots... some onto houses. It was a very violent storm and how thankful we were to be inside our home... and safe. There were leaves and clumps of leaves all over...whole leaves were plastered to the house and vehicles... then I also noticed that there were so many bits of leaves... tips of leaves and I wondered at the power that could tear those leaves to pieces and leave others whole. 


In this picture, you can see the hanging basket... it came through the storm just fine, as did other plants, but then some things were damaged greatly. It was an odd storm. 

Our 2 oldest sons went out in the still rainy aftermath of the storm, during the night and saw trees down, power lines down and they guarded a power line until emergency crews could get there. They also helped to move a tree and debris out of the road. 

 These poor people had much more damage to their house...  what a mess for them.

 Trying to go places was a challenge at times.. water runoff caused flooding... 5" of water overnight needed to go somewhere!

This picture shows the road ending in water... and it also shows that the water had already receded a lot... the debris in the foreground was where the water had been. Wow!

 Yes, there is a road down there under the water.


This looks like a lake... where there had been a wet area with cattails next to the road, but it flooded the area.... clear up near the train tracks. The road went up there, but was flooded at the time. 

 Such a large amount of water. Such amazing power. I am so thankful to know the God who controls the storms.

Do we still like to watch storms? Yes, but we do so with a soberness and marvel at the mighty hand of God.

I have been commenting on earlier posts, that the skies have been amazing this year... the cloud formations are wonderful. It has been a stormy year... yet there is still a wonderful beauty present and I am glad to take pictures of that beauty.  

Have you been seeing storms and damage this year?  Maybe you live in a place that has drought...  there are so many ways that the weather affects our lives. Thank you for visiting. I look forward to reading your comments. :)  I hope you have a good week.

Other posts you may enjoy:

Severe Storm Clouds

Stormy Sky Pictures




Shared on:

Scraptastic Saturday
Friday at the Fire Station
Home and Garden Thursday
Thursday Favorite Things
Penny Pinching Party
Homestead Blog Hop
Tuesday Talk
Inspire Me Tuesday
Tuesdays w/ a Twist
Tuesdays at Our Home
image-in-ing
Amaze Me Monday
Through My Lens
You're the Star
Cooking and Crafting w/ j and j
Art of Homemaking Monday
Modest Mom Monday
Over the Moon Link Party

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....... 





Shared on:

Tuesday Talk
Dishing It and Digging It
Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make
Scraptastic Saturdays
Simple Saturdays
Friday Photo Journal
Friday at the Fire Station
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Skywatch Friday
Vintage Charm
Paula's No Rules Weekend Party
Thursday Favorite Things
Home and Garden Thursday
Homemaking Party
Homestead Blog Hop
Tip Tuesday
Counting Our Blessings
Tuesdays w/ a Twist
Inspire Me Tuesday
Through My Lens
Modest Mom Monday
Art of Homemaking Monday
Over the Moon Link Party

Featured on:

Thursday Favorite Things

Stormy Sky Pictures

 We have had a lot of storms this year... and we do enjoy watching them.

I had seen a Mackerel sky the day before, which can mean a change in the weather... or storms, so I was expecting a storm.

Some storms are interesting and this one had some wonderful cloud formations. My kids and I went to take pictures of it.

 

The day started out with a beautiful sky, as shown above. We have had lots of great clouds in the sky this season.

By evening, the clouds were  moving fast and there was much turbulence. We do enjoy watching such skies and this one had a very dark color to it.

 In a storm like this, the sky tends to be interesting in all directions as the storm builds.

 There was much lightning and lots of changing clouds. 

We were not the only ones out taking pictures either. It was an impressive sight.

 The lightning lit the sky and highlighted the clouds, making the storm more impressive.

Finally the darkness increased so much and the rain started a little, so we went home. By the time we got home, it was raining extremely hard and we got wet running in to the house.

My husband had stayed home... he thinks we are strange for taking so many pictures, but he enjoys looking at some of them. :) 


 Have you been getting storms? Do you photograph them also? I am so glad the storms don't last, but I can appreciate the power of God evident in them as only He can control such storms. Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you have a great week.  :) 


You may also enjoy.....

There's A Storm Coming






Shared on:




Simple Saturday
Friday at the Fire Station
Vintage Charm Link Up
Paula's No Rules Weekend Party
Home and Garden Thursday
Homemaking Party
Wednesday AIM Link Party
Wise Woman Link Up
Homestead Blog Hop
Tuesdays w/ a Twist
Modest Mom Monday
Through My Lens
image-in-ing
Art of Homemaking Monday