I’ll Take Potpourri For The Weekend

06 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by Chris M. Day in Bible, Blogging, Christian, Church, God, Health, Music, Nature, Photography, Radio, Television, Weather

Greetings my friends !  It’s the weekend again – because here at #CountUp weekends always begin on Thursday mornings !

This weekend I’ll post the usual 4 new blog posts now (Thursday morning), Friday morning, Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning.

This Saturday I hope to do another “Walk-A-Thon” at dawn at the city park down the street from my neighborhood. After that I plan to visit the Fruit And Spice Park about 7 miles away from my home. I visited last March, and I was convinced (before I even entered the park grounds) to buy an annual pass for $25 in lieu of a one-time visit ticket for $10 thinking that (as a local) I would visit on a regular basis. Well I haven’t been back since then, so I might as well get in a free visit this weekend while it’s cool out. (We’ll be in the 50s and 60s this Saturday morning.)

Fruit & Spice Park

Later on Saturday I’ll return home (probably exhausted from all of that walking), and I’ll continue my Bible study and sermon-writing. I’m currently working on my sermon after next – tentatively titled “Malachi & Messages”. It’s probably the first of two (maybe even three) sermons in a row all about the minor prophet Malachi.

Oh ! – I’m part of #LivePDNation – so there’s that on Friday and Saturday night.

On Sunday I’ll enjoy quality time praising, worshiping, and celebrating my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ with my church family. As I tell my brothers and sisters in Christ on each new Sunday morning – it’s the peak of my week. It’s the greatest 4 hours of my life each week.

On Monday at 3 AM U.S. East Coast Time I’ll post my brand new Top 10 weekly hit music chart. Get ready for a brand new # 1 smash. (You read it here first.)

So that’s my weekend forecast. It should be a fun one !

I’ll be back here in 24 hours to go RETRO – back a full decade ago – to a time when I gave up Christian music on the radio forever (or so I thought at the time).

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Southwest Florida Road-Trip

23 Jan 2020 Comments Off on Southwest Florida Road-Trip

by Chris M. Day in Animals, Bible, Bugs, Christian, Church, Driving, God, History, Holidays, Military, Ministry, Music, Nature, People, Photography, Scripture, Travel, Weather Tags: , , ,

This past U.S. holiday weekend I enjoyed a 3-day / 3-county / 360-mile Florida road-trip to and from Fort Myers. It was my first visit to the region since last July. I always enjoy visiting Southwest Florida (Collier and Lee County). Usually I venture over there to see a concert at the Hertz Arena, and this trip was no exception.

My first stop though after crossing the Everglades via the Tamiami Trail was the flagship branch of the multi-site Collier County Museum in East Naples. It was my first visit since June 2012. Back then I thought it was my first visit ever – until I saw some of the exhibits outside – and then I realized that I had been there years earlier.

At the end of my 90-minute visit I picked-up a brochure for a nearby place that I never knew existed – the Naples Museum Of Military History – at the main terminal of the Naples Airport. So I went there, and I immersed myself in all of the awesome displays there. They were overflowing at the seams in the two rooms that they occupy there. They need more space, and hopefully they get it.

After that I took a ride out to the country and into the woods for another first-time visit ever – the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. What a wonderful and beautiful place this was – especially on a sunny and coolish day. I’m sure that it would be a miserable place to be during our 9-month bug season and especially our 5-month rainy season, but that was truly a great day to be outdoors strolling the 2.25-mile elevated boardwalk absorbing nature’s beauty – created by my Almighty God.

By the way all of the above was Day 1 of my road-trip !  Day 2 started in Fort Myers at probably their # 1 tourist attraction – the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. It was my first visit since April 2011. I love this place. I could work and have fun at this place after I retire from my military / civil service career. I took the 1-hour and 15-minute guided tour which was a lot of fun (even though I had done it before). I’d do it again !

On Sunday night I went to the Hertz Arena to see Franklin Graham conclude his recent tour of Florida. He led us in prayer for our nation and our leaders, and then he preached a classic Billy Graham Crusade sermon on Repentance & Salvation. That’s a topic that I’m quite familiar with, as many of my sermons are about the same. Jeremy Camp opened and closed for Franklin, as he performed 7 of his greatest hits. I’ll be seeing Jeremy Camp perform again at this very same arena in 6 weeks, as he opens for MercyMe.

Day 3 of 3 started back in East Naples at the Naples Botanical Garden – yet another first-time visit. I walked well over 3 miles for 2 hours at this fun place on a chilly and overcast morning.

I’ve got over 80 photos of this fun road-trip to and from Southwest Florida – also known as Florida’s Paradise Coast. At least 60 of those 80 photos will probably be uploaded and captioned on my Flickr site over the next few weeks. But I’ll close this blog post with a sneak-peek. It’s a photo of the chalkboard at the start of the boardwalk at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary where visitors can write-down what they’ve seen along their walk on the boardwalk. A little less than 90 minutes later – there were more sightings documented on the chalkboard.

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All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

My Flickr Photostream

16 Jan 2020 Comments Off on My Flickr Photostream

by Chris M. Day in Holidays, Military, Nature, Photography, Travel

Happy Thursday my friends. It’s the start of a 5-blog-post holiday weekend here at #CountUp. As is always the case – weekends start on Thursdays !

2019 was a great year for one of my other longtime social media platforms – Flickr – where I store all of my treasured photos online – many for public viewing. It was my most active year (as far as uploading new photos) since 2015, and it was the first year since 2015 that I uploaded at least 10 photos per month for all 12 months.

I plan to do it again in 2020. I’m off to a good start so far with 27 photos uploaded this month (as of last night). I’m currently uploading (and captioning) the best photos of my recent Christmas Eve trip to Okeechobee Florida. I’ve currently got 21 out of 52 photos up now, and I’ll probably put up another 20 over the next few weeks. (Generally out of every 5 photos taken on any given trip – 3 to 4 make it onto my Flickr Photostream for all to see.)

Here’s a photo that is not yet up on my Flickr site:

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That’s one of several military static displays located at Veterans Park in the heart of Okeechobee Florida where U.S. 98, U.S. 441, and Florida State Road 70 converge.

My Flickr Photostream – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmday6567

You can follow me over there, or you can simply view my last 5 photos uploaded here at revchrismday.com. (They appear over on the right-hand side of the blog.)

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Christmas In Okeechobee

26 Dec 2019 Comments Off on Christmas In Okeechobee

by Chris M. Day in Animals, Driving, Food, Holidays, Nature, People, Photography, Travel

Merry Day After Christmas my friends. I hope that you got to spend some quality time with loved ones, or you got to do something that you love.

For the 2ND Christmas in a row I embarked on a Florida road-trip to and from just a few hours to the north of where I live. This time I drove 355 miles round-trip to West Palm Beach, and then over to Okeechobee. It was a 4-day road-trip. I returned home yesterday (Christmas Day) morning.

Over in West Palm Beach I saw Jim Gaffigan LIVE in concert at the Kravis Center For The Performing Arts. He’s my favorite comedian today. I last saw him in 2010. Ryan Hamilton opened for Jim. He was very funny. He reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld. The next morning I spent a couple of hours at the historic Palm Beach Zoo. I got in for free as a military veteran. It was my first visit since 2010.

A few times each year I visit a town in Florida that I’ve never been to before, I haven’t visited in many years, or I’ve only driven through – in order to determine whether or not I wish to move there in a few years after I retire. I selected Okeechobee several months ago, and I spent a couple of days and nights there leading up to Christmas Day. It’s on the northern side of the big Lake Okeechobee.

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While in Okeechobee I visited the main attraction – the big Lake ‘O’. I walked a couple of miles high atop the dike / levee known as the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. If you were to walk completely around the lake then it would take you a few days to do so – because it’s 109 miles around the lake !  I also ate at a couple of family-owned restaurants “where the locals eat”, and I toured the town’s old historic downtown district. It was a fun visit, but I don’t think I’d want to move there after I retire. Its location is a bit secluded from other towns. I’ll visit again though. It’s got small-town charm.

I ended up taking over 110 photos of my excursions on this Florida road-trip. 3 of them are up above, and I’ll probably post about half of the remaining photos over on my Flickr site in the weeks and months to come.

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

01 Aug 2019 1 Comment

by Chris M. Day in Animals, Church, Driving, Food, Nature, Photography, Travel

Let’s try this again – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

  • I went on a short weekend getaway last weekend.
  • I left at dawn last Friday, and I returned late this past Monday morning.
  • It was a 76-hour vacation away from home.
  • I drove about 140 miles away from home, so not too far.
  • Once upon a time I’d announce my vacations away from home on social media.
  • I’m much smarter nowadays, as I now reveal vacations after-the-fact.
  • So I drove to Fort Myers Florida on Friday.
  • I ate Breakfast at Perkins along the way in Naples.
  • I like Perkins. I wish we had those here at home.
  • I enjoyed a late Lunch / early Dinner at Outback Steakhouse.
  • I can’t remember the last time I ate there (maybe over 10 years ?)
  • We don’t have one close to home, but we have Longhorn & Texas here.
  • I love to eat steak !
  • I saw longtime comedian Brian Regan LIVE in concert that night.
  • He packed-in a lot of laughs in 55 minutes.
  • I wish he had performed for 90 minutes.
  • He left us wanting more, so he did his job as a comedian.
  • He had an opening act too – a comedian that made us laugh for 15 minutes.
  • The next morning I headed over to Fort Myers Beach.
  • I visited “The Island” (as the natives refer to it) 7 times from 2011 to 2015.
  • It was love at first sight at the end of April of 2011.
  • I thought I had found my future retirement town.
  • On subsequent visits I discovered the “seedier” side of town.
  • I decided not to retire there.
  • I decided to stop visiting there.
  • So this was my 8TH visit, but 1ST visit in a little over 4 years.
  • It’s still a fun place to visit.
  • I’ll visit for a 9TH time sooner rather than later.
  • I did considerable research on churches on the island beforehand.
  • There are a lot of churches along its narrow 7-mile length.
  • A friend suggested a specific church to visit.
  • I watched the previous Sunday sermon from the Pastor.
  • I didn’t care for his style. He was too Jimmy Buffett-like.
  • He acted too silly for me.
  • His use of Scripture was mighty thin too.
  • I like a Pastor with a sense of humor, but this dude was over-the-top.
  • I ended-up watching a LIVE Facebook feed of my own Pastor back home.
  • I like his style.
  • Later on Sunday night I took a fun 3-hour boat cruise that I pre-booked.
  • It was billed as a “Dolphin & Shelling Sunset Cruise“.
  • There were 38 of us including the Captain & Skipper.
  • Both narrated portions of the cruise.
  • We saw lots of birds at play on the various islands.
  • Dolphins jumped all around us at the rear of the boat.
  • Those dolphins know how to get from Point A to Point B quicker.
  • They simply ride the waves created by the boat.
  • I didn’t get any pictures of the dolphins because there were lots of kids too.
  • They blocked my view, but it’s all good.
  • The sunset was beautiful too, but again my line-of-sight was blocked.
  • I did manage to get one reasonably good photo of the sunset.

Sunset (Cruise)

  • You’re lookin’ good Fort Myers Beach !

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

My Flickr Photostream

20 Jun 2019 1 Comment

by Chris M. Day in Photography, Travel

Happy Thursday June 20TH 2019. Let’s kickoff a fresh new weekend of blogging !

I’ve been uploading a lot of new photos to my Flickr site recently. Actually it’s been a very active past 7 months – since December. I’ve added 269 photos since the start of December. That’s the most active 7-month time-period since 2015. Now that I’m spending much less time on Facebook I’ve got plenty of time to populate my Flickr site with cool new photos.

I created my Flickr account in April 2011, and I’ve uploaded over 2,900 photos since then. Most of them are public. Some are not. They represent my “best of the best” photos. More than half of my photos won’t make it onto my Flickr site. They just aren’t good enough, but they are nevertheless treasured memories. They reside on my other photo sites that I don’t promote.

Can you believe that I have never signed-on to Instagram ?  I’m happy with Flickr.

I’m currently adding photos from my first week of May vacation on Venice Beach Florida. I manually upload my photos one at a time – with captions. I think it’s the modern 21ST Century equivalent of scrapbooking. These are memories of a lifetime, so it’s my way to respect each photo and the precise moment in my life when I captured each memory.

My last 5 added photos always appear on the right-hand side panel of the web site edition of this blog at http://www.revchrismday.com.

If you wish to see more than that you can:
View my Flickr Photostream at – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmday6567
View my Flickr Albums at – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmday6567/albums

I’ll close with a photo that’s not good enough for my Flickr site. I captured this memory inside Everglades National Park on December 31ST 2016 at 3:01 PM. It’s a photo of my 2015 Honda Civic at the time parked in front of an open missile launch barn featuring an actual restored Nike Hercules Missile on static display. (I worked there as a volunteer tour guide every Saturday for two winter seasons.)

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All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries