Dear Neighbor . . .

 

MAY 1st, 2026

Estate Lane,

Nova Scotia

10*C/50*F

Overcast, light rain expected

Dear Neighbor,

I put up my hummingbird feeder yesterday. I noticed that one of my neighbors had theirs up and I went online to check and they have already been seen in Nova Scotia. With precious little in bloom I thought I best get it up. I had been going to put it up in early May anyways. There is not a lot of natural food out there for them to feed on at the moment.

My back feels a bit better, or am I just learning how to manage it. I am not sure which. If I don't sit still for any more than 10 minutes and choose where I sit very carefully I can cope. I walk a lot back and forth across my wee place. I have my father's indoor walker, which he never uses, and that helps as well. I am not too proud to use it indoors. Anything that helps.

 

(source)

I am quite disappointed with the man who does my taxes each year.  Yesterday was the last day for filing. I had heard from him on Monday. He had a question and called me. I had expected that yesterday he would call and say they were ready. Nothing. I sent him a message. Nothing. I heard nothing. If I owe money I will now have to pay a late filing penalty, plus interest, etc. 

I think next year I will have to try to find someone else. I have never had this problem with him. I have been using him since 2021. It has made me somewhat anxious. I even dreamt about it last night. But what can I do. He has all of my receipts, T4's, etc. Hopefully I will hear from him today.

I hate tax season. I start feeling anxious about it in January. Life would be so much easier if I didn't have to work to keep a roof over my head. I never thought that at the age of 70 this would be the case, but here I am. It is what it is.

 

(source)

Eileen has a busy day in front of her today. I have to drop her off for her Bible Study at 9 this morning.  After that she has one of her CSS visits and then tonight she is going to the Baptist church to some sort of African Choir concert. She is really looking forward to that.  I think she has seen them before. Her pastor is going to pick her up to take her.

She appears to be doing very well despite all that has happened. Everywhere we go people seem to know her and they are happy to see her. Its not hard to like her. She always has a smile on her face, and she is so polite to everyone. We should all be so happy.

My sister brought her some small diamond art keychains to do the other day. She had seen them somewhere in her travels and picked them up for her. Eileen was so pleased.  She has already finished them. I tried looking for some kits for her the last time I was out, but couldn't find any. I guess I am just not looking in the right places.  She really loves doing them. They keep her busy and distracted and she does a great job with them. I am a bit loathe to spend any money at all at the moment until I find out if I owe anything on my taxes and if so,  how much. I need to keep enough in my bank account to cover my rent, etc.

God will provide. He hasn't let me down yet.

How can it be that the calendar of the year has already turned it's pages to May.  The year is almost half over and I have hardly noticed it slipping away. It seems there has been one event after another to distract me from taking notice of the days in the way that I usually do. I was out on the porch hanging the hummingbird feeder yesterday and Glenna was out to check her mail. She popped over to say hello. She has a new calling at church. She is the secretary in the children's Sunday School now.  She will do well at that. When I first came back to Canada she was the Relief Society President. In charge of the care of the women in our small branch. I don't have a calling at the moment. I haven't had one really since Covid, not really. I have worn many hats in the church through the years

I noticed that dandelions are beginning to bloom in the yard across the way from my place. They get the most sunshine during the day.  When I was at my sister's the other day I could see the leaves of all the wild violets in her yard unfurling. She has so many . . . purple and white.  And wild thyme as well. I remember visiting mom and smelling it in the grass.  Plus lots of wild poppies. They always danced outside the window of the basement bedroom I slept in when I would come home.

I spent a lot of time with mom through the years. It was only in the last years of her life that I was unable to do so, living as far away as I did. My heart still aches at that thought. I let her down I suppose in not being here for her, probably when she needed me most of all.

 

(source)

I really don't have a lot else to write about this morning. I need to get up and walk around a bit before I wake Eileen up. It will be soon time for that and then it will be all go until I take her for her bible study class.  I am hoping to go with Cindy this afternoon when she takes Dad out with his friend Maryann.  Again, I need to get some cat food. I am not planning anything too spectacular for supper tonight. Baked beans and cornbread. Something simple like that. 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*Joy is the happiness that

doesn't depend on what happens.

In The English Kitchen today, an oldie but a goodie. Chicken Savoyarde. A chicken casserole. French Bistro style.

I hope your day is a happy one. I hope that soon I can get back to really writing to you without having to jump up every few minutes. In the mean time I am grateful you are still here and that you still visit. I feel your friendship and thank you for it.  Don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!    

   

Thursday this and that . . .

 

(source)

 I have always loved to cook. No surprise there. I've been cooking since I was in my early teens. Our mother went back to work when I was 11 years old.  For a short time we had live in baby-sitters that got our meals for us, but that didn't last long.  By the time I was 13, I was it. Taking care of my younger sister and brother after school until our parents got home and all day on the days there was no school and getting supper on the go most days.  At first it was just reheating things that our mother had prepared ahead of time, but once I became more confident then I was allowed to branch out a bit. Nothing was ever very complicated. Mom had a very strict grocery budget so everything would have had to fit within the confines of that. There was no variance. I do remember one time making creamed vegetables using something I had learned in Home Ec at School and getting in trouble for doing so. Creamed mixed vegetables in toast cups. 

They were not very good either, lol  Mom was most annoyed at me having wasted the ingredients on something that wasn't very edible. One thing she did like that I made from time to time however was Tomato Baked Haddock.  A block of frozen fish, a can of tomatoes, some diced green peppers, oregano, (her much beloved herb) onion, salt and pepper. Nothing really inventive.

Sometimes she would let my sister and I bake. That was always fun. Once again, it was nothing really inventive. Just simple things like hot milk cake or simple cookies. To be honest, mom really didn't like people messing up the kitchen. She was very fastidious and didn't like anything splattered on the stove, etc.

Food was very simple. You knew pretty much what was for supper by what day of the week it was. There was a routine to all of it and a firm plan in place.

 

(source)

I learned a lot about cooking from my first mother-in-law. She was a farm wife and was used to making hearty meals, three times a day.  Her food was simple also, but the flavor of it was wow.  She could make a potato sing like nobody else could.  She wasn't afraid to use herbs and spices and grew a lot of her own herbs in her kitchen garden. I loved her fried potatoes.  She fried them in salt pork scraps and the flavor was amazing. 

She had to be a good cook to keep her hard working family and the farm hands happy. She also loved preserving food so I learned a lot from her about that. Mom made strawberry freezer jam every year and she would make and freeze blueberry pies (dad's favorites). But I don't really recall her making a lot of jams or pickles. I got my love of doing so from my first mother-in-law.

I worked in a professional kitchen for a time, with absolutely no experience, but I was eager and willing to learn and I did. Learn. I learned a lot. Thinking back that was really brave of me.

 

(source)

I would not say I was a great cook at the beginning. I did cook a lot of rubber chicken, but I always loved watching cooking shows. Galloping Gourmet. Madame Benoit.  Yan Can Cook. And then all the cooking shows on PBS at the weekend like Julia Child. I did a lot of reading as well and studying methods, etc. I learned to become quite a capable cook through time once I married and had a family of my own.  Time and practice and I was adventurous. I loved food and I loved recipes and I loved cooking.  

I also loved eating, but that's a whole different story.

My second mother-in-law was a great cook also.  Simple food, once again, but she loved to eat and so what she did cook was from scratch and delicious. She made the best Swiss steak using, steak, onions and tomato soup.  Her baked beans were also really good. Again, using tomato soup, onions, and butter.  They were different than our moms. Both versions were delicious.  (Mom used the recipe from the package of beans and a bean crock.) My mother-in-law made things like fried rice and beef croquettes, corn bread.  She never bought store bought bread. Her gingersnaps were legendary. My father-in-law had been an army cook as well, so there was some good tasting food in that house.

It was all a journey. Every woman who came into my life, be it friend or relation, left an indelible mark on my culinary journey. I learned from them all.  My sister was much the same, and we taught and shared with each other as well. We both became really great and capable cooks through the years.

 

(source)

Getting to go to Culinary School in my early 40's was like a dream come true for me. I loved every minute of it. I didn't really learn much that was new, but I really got to hone many skills that I had already developed through the years and perfect them. I got to stretch my wings and really fly. And I have never looked back. Working at the Manor also stretched me. Getting to work with the finest ingredients, with the best tools, in the most beautiful environment. It was a great experience. 

I can cook "high-class" food and I can cook "field-hand" food and I can do both very well. I also enjoy doing both. But I do prefer "field-hand" food. Because, I can be rather lazy it seems and I think a lot of "high-class" food is highly overrated and pretentious.

I love franks and beans. And cornbread. 

And I haven't really told you anything new here this morning, or that I haven't already said through the years so I hope you will forgive me for that. I have just been practicing sitting at the computer to see how long I can tolerate it. Short bursts. That's about it. And I stubbed my toe going to the bathroom in the middle of the night so add that ache and pain to the list. Along with my sore Covid shot/ muscle injured from the fall arm. I am just batting a thousand here! lol

I have to take Eileen to the hospital for blood tests a bit later this morning. I am just going to park outside the doors and hope it goes quickly. I won't be going in with her.  She says she knows how to do it.

Then I do need to nip into a grocery store to get some cat food. Just one particular kind that I didn't get enough of last week.

I am hoping my tax guy brings my papers back today and has filed them. Will it be good news or bad?  Whatever it is I will deal with it.

And so  . . . 

I baked Eileen a Pineapple Upside Down Cake yesterday. She was so pleased to see it when she got home from her CSS visits. She has been wanting me to bake her one for weeks now. I used a vintage recipe from an old cookbook. We were both really pleased with how it came out.

I am at the edge of my endurance now so need to get up. Have a great day everyone.  Don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!    

   

What Makes You Happy . . .

 

It worked yesterday and so I thought I would try it again today. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I am able to go back to doing things the old way.

I was able to get to Greenwood to have my Covid shot yesterday. Cindy went with me. She drove and she was able to get hers also. She had had an appointment booked, but they cancelled it due to lack of shots. She was told they would call to reschedule it but they never did. So she spoke to them yesterday and they gave her one right on the spot! Result!

I know there are people who questions the need for such things, but we are not those people. We take what’s offered and are grateful.

Each day brings more healing to my back. I am babying it and taking things slow. I am grateful for all the prayers and happy thoughts. They are helping!

As you know, I have been reading this new book by Diane Shiffer and I think it’s pretty wonderful. It is very inspiring and uplifting, just like her. There is a chapter/essay in it that is titled “Do More of What Makes You Happy.” It starts of with the question, “What makes you happy?”

My recent back problem has given me lots of time to think and I have been pondering that question over these past days. What makes me happy?

First of all my faith makes me happy. I love reading and studying the scriptures and inspiring talks/sermons. I love filling my home with things that remind me of the Savior and my beliefs, with music from the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, with books that inspire me to do good and be a better person.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love God and my Savior. All these things about my faith makes me happy me very happy. I would not want to be without them. Knowing who I am and whose I am makes me happy.

 

My family makes me happy and brings me joy. I love spending time with them and around them. When I lived so far away I used to daydream about being closer. I never thought I would ever be able to see any of them again in this lifetime, so being able to do so makes me incredibly happy. Being able to help my daughter makes me so happy I can’t describe it. Likewise my other family. Admittedly I can’t do much, but what I can do brings me joy. Family brings me joy. Oh, for sure … there are some things that I wish were different, but I am grateful for the joy that is mine.

Spending time with, loving and serving my family makes me happy. I wish I could do more.

 

My home makes me happy. I have loved filling it with things that bring me joy and bring me peace. That is the beauty of being able to start again from scratch. You get to fill your home with things that you love and which bring you joy. I have perhaps been too good at it in some respects, but that is me. I have never ever done anything halfway. Each book. Each painting. Each piece of glass, etc. Just things for sure, but they do make me happy.

My bowl of yarn balls on the coffee table makes me happy. My little mug with the legs and shoes makes me happy. My knitted dish clothes and embroidered tea towels make me happy.  The knitted tea cozy that Ginny knit for me makes me happy. The embroidered pillow cases that Linda made and sent me make me happy. Likewise the red and white striped and polka dotted tea cup Elaine sent me.  Amongst many other things.  Gifts from friends that I love so much. Gifts from family that I love with all my heart. All of these things bring me happiness and joy.

I have been blessed with abundance.

 

Cinnamon and Nutmeg make me happy.  Sitting on the sofa at night with these two furry bookends keeping me warm and content brings me unimaginable joy. I love everything about them.  I love watching them, cuddling them, feeding them, playing with them.  I just love them. They make me happy.

My job makes me happy. Sure, there are times that I wish I did not have to work, but short of winning a lottery that is what my life will be like forever.  Having to work to keep a roof over my head. I made poor choices in life and this is the result of that, but at least I love what I do. I love cooking and I love writing about it, and both of those things make me happy. If you love what you do, they say you never work a day in your life. That I can keep a roof over my head doing those things is an extra special blessing and a tender mercy from the Lord.  God is good.

Writing makes me happy. Painting makes me happy. Sewing, embroidery, crocheting, etc. all of those things make me happy. I don't do enough of them. I need to do more.

I collect painting reels on IG and have so many bookmarked. I will never ever be able to try to do even a fraction of the ones which interest me, but collecting them makes me happy. Likewise all of the tasty things I would love to be able to have the time to cook.

Your friendship makes me happy.  Being able to come here each day and pen my thoughts, etc. knowing that there are people out there who enjoy reading them. Your comments.  All those things make me happy.

And so, I guess I can conclude that I am a very happy person living a happy life filled with things and people and pets that make me happy. 

Am I not incredibly blessed?  I know.  Don't pinch me because if this is a dream, I never want to wake up.

This delicious Naan Bread makes me happy also. Totally yeast-free and so quick and easy to make as well. Soft and moist and perfect for enjoying with a nice curry. I think you will enjoy it also.

Anyways, I hope this day makes you happy and that it is filled with things which bring you joy. If you are even half as blessed as I am, then you are in for a real treat!  What makes you happy?  Do that.  Don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!    

   

Something Different

 

 I am going to try to write a post on my iPad this morning. We will see how that goes! A learning curve for me for sure. It won’t be my usual post or very wordy, that’s for sure, but maybe that’s a good thing! Are those sighs of relief I hear from the peanut gallery! lol 

These last five years I have done all of my computer work sitting on a dining room chair pushed up to my desk, an actual computer chair being somewhat out of my budget. I have never had a computer chair to be honest, it’s only ever been a simple kitchen or dining room chair. It may be time to change that. They say change can be a beautiful thing and I have found over these past days that I am unable to sit for very long before having to getup and walk around or lay down. Hence not really being able to sit at the computer to do much in the way of work.

It is frustrating to say the least. I am a person that likes to keep busy and to be doing. Sitting and watching others doing is not my cup of tea.

But it is a beautiful morning out there this morning. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The frost is melting off the rooftops across the way. Birds are chirping. The cats are watching, with great interest. I can hear the gentle hum of Eileen’s breathing machine, and I am wondering what to have for breakfast.

This is a colouring picture she did for me last night. She likes to color using a colouring app she has on her phone and she knows I like toadstools so she shared it with me.  She finds the app very relaxing. I can see where that would be.

I have an appointment at noon for the latest Covid shot. I am going to drive my car to Cindy’s and then she can drive the rest of the way. Hopefully my back will be okay. You never know unless you try. She and Dan managed to get my car to its appointment yesterday and my car is now sporting its summer tires. Two new ones at the front. It was an expensive appointment but you have to do what you have to do. How grateful I am for my little job which helps to keep this roof over my head and pay for all the other things I need. The tender mercies of the Lord. I could not make it without them. 

The goodness of God surrounds me. I see His abundance in my life daily and I am very grateful.

Eileen and I watched a really good film last night on Prime. I couldn’t find a proper movie poster to show you, so this will have to do. It is leaving Prime at the end of the month so if you want to watch it, yiu will have to do it soon. We both really enjoyed this very much. If you like a feel good movie that makes you think and is inspiring then you will enjoy this.

I did manage to cook a new recipe yesterday and even posted it. One Pan Sausage and Sweet Potato Bake. I am not sure how to link it on the iPad. https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2026/04/onepan-sausage-and-sweet-potato.html   That is the only way I could do it for now. It may not look like much, but it was really delicious. We enjoyed it with some steamed rice and a salad on the side. The sweet potatoes just melt in the mouth. I adapted the recipe from an old cookbook that I have of my mother’s. She gave the book to me many years ago. I suppose she got tired of me wearing a hole through its pages every time I came home for a visit! It is one of my treasures!

And I think I will count my blessings and end this now, grateful that I have even got this far! Have a great day everyone! Don’t forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!    

   

 

Update

 

(source)

 Just a quick update. I am unable to sit at the computer for any length of time and I have never been able to use my phone or iPad to write anything of any great length for some reason. I am still using my father's walker. I find that I sit for 10 minutes and then walk for 10 minutes and the pain stays tolerable. It only hurt when I try to rise, but if I avoid sitting and get up frequently it is much better.  Or if I lay down. I have to take my car this morning to have my summer tires put on.  I sure hope that I can manage this feat. Nobody can do it for me as I need to pay for it with my bank card and don't keep that kind of dosh in my house. It will cost a lot more this time as I need two new summer tires.

Please continue to pray for me and keep me in your happy thoughts. This is the pits! I miss writing to you all.  And cooking. And taking photos. And doing my recipe posts.

In the meantime, don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!    

   

 

PS - I haven't been able to respond to comments either as neither my iPad nor my phone will allow it.  Bummer that.