All Things Nice . . .

 

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The little night things talking in their sleep,

Deep shadows where old trees are jungle thick,

The velvet softness of summer lawn,

The low contented murmur of a summer creek

Heard now like music on the quiet air,

As peaceful as a nun at midnight prayer.

A night bird chirping softly in his sleep

Beside his brooding mate who softly stirs,

Feeling the brown eggs warm beneath her breast,

By some deep instinct knowing this is hers,

The air-lanes of the sky, the earth and sea,

All bound in one mysterious unity.

The houses sleep beneath the spreading trees,

Doors open, windows wide to catch the dawn.

A cricket's song drills through the summer night,

The scent of roses drifts across the lawn,

The magic of the moonlight and the stars

Lies on the sleepy town in silver bars.

If ever heaven bends close to the earth,

Surely it would be on a summer night

When earth is wrapped in loveliness and peace

And every blade of grass is tipped with light;

And, as in Eden's garden long ago,

God walks again where tall white lilies blow.

~Edna Jacques, Midsummer Night

Backdoor Neighbors, 1946

Oh how beautifully this poet has captured all that is special and wonderful about a warm summer's night, as the sun is dipping low in the sky with clear magenta skies, streaked with golds, reds and purples . . . just before the dark velvet of a moonlit night begins to take over.  . . . its wide expanse sprinkled with tiny stars, first just one or two and then a multitude . . .  a choir that sings to the heart in the only way that a summer's night can  . . . 

Oh how wonderful it is to lay in bed with the window open, listening to the night as it falls around us, a soft and gentle breeze tickling the leaves of the maple tree behind my wee house. Tis such a special time. One cannot help but speak to God in praise and thanks for the gift of the day just given  . . .

 

 

I had some time yesterday afternoon to do a sketch in my new water-color journal. It is of some poppies.  The journal is a hand*book journal co. book pocket panorama journal, with an expanding pocket inside the back cover. 300gsm with 60 acid free pages. 3.5" by 8.24" in size with a light grey linen cover.   I bought it from DeSerres.  I had seen the same journal at Cindy's and fell in love with it. I thought it would be the perfect size to sketch botanicals in.  

I love sketching botanicals. I do not know if I will ink this, or paint this, or just leave it as it is . . .  but I am very pleased with how it came out.  I just sat and sketched while I listened to pod casts on the iPad. It was a very pleasant and relaxing way to spend an hour or two.

I also got myself some Caran D'Ache Geneve Neocolor ll Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastels. They look just like crayons.  I am excited to try them out, hopefully soon.

My sister is a very bad influence on me, lol

Eileen and Tim have gone with the rest of the Annapolis County Special Olympics team to compete in the Summer Games this weekend in Wolfville, NS.  This is a photograph of the whole team as posted on their FB page.  Eileen really loves these opportunities that they have to travel away and compete. She does ribbon gymnastics.  She has been struggling lately with anxiety and depression.   Hopefully this weekend away will be good for her. 

It is always nice to experience a change of scenery. They say a change of scenery is as good as a holiday! 

I was talking to her briefly yesterday as she was waiting to be picked up to go to Wolfville and she said that Tim was going to be going camping with the CSS program they are in later this summer.  She was not interested in going as she doesn't like sleeping in tents, etc.  I told her if she wanted to, she could come here and stay with me while Tim is away. She quite liked that idea. So did I.

 

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On Thursday this past week a major rain storm passed through our area leaving vast amounts of devastation in its wake.  This is only one example.  There was massive flooding all over the place as storm drains struggled to cope with the large influx of rain.   Cindy was here cutting my cat's nails when it began and it was simply falling in torrents when she went to leave.  Our street was filled to overflowing very quickly and all throughout the Annapolis Valley, there was flooding.  I am quite sure that the remainder of the local strawberry crops were beaten into the ground.

Some places and homes were destroyed in its path, and one life was lost as a youth got swept away in the rushing waters. Very sad.  It is hard to ignore the impact that climate change is having on us all, with incidents like this coming more and more frequently.   We are truly at the mercy of Mother Nature.   It is hard to ignore how powerful she is when things like this happen. This was only the tail end of Hurricane Beryl as she swept through to the North of us.  Normally the hurricanes that pass through fall to the South of us, and whilst we get the rain and the wind, the South Shore and Cape Breton seem to cop most of their impact. 

We are still under a heat warning in our area.  It has been like this all week and looks to continue for all of next week as well.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.  I cannot complain as it will be Winter again before we know it. More rain is expected this afternoon, but thankfully not like that of Thursday's!

 

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I had to take the sad step this week of blocking someone out of my life.  This may not on the surface seem like a very nice thing, but trust me when I say that as sad as it was this was the best thing for me.

 This person has been dripping toxicity into my life for about 24 years now, in one way or another.  Generally speaking I have always tried to overlook their behavior and ignore it as best as I can, but this week I decided enough was enough.  

For some reason this person decided to take issue with a recipe that I had posted back in August of 2023.  Whilst the recipe did have similar ingredients to hers, mine was a scone loaf and hers was a fruited tea cake.  This person called my integrity into question  by leaving a nasty comment, which I chose not to  publish on my blog. And when I  politely told them that they were barking up the wrong tree, they proceeded to take to social media making accusations, even doing a reel accusing me of plagiarism.  They left a 1-star review on my recipe saying it was derivative. (something which is imitative of the work of another artist, writer, etc.) And then they proceeded to troll back through my recipe archives on IG and leave comments saying they had the same recipe on their page, etc. 

The fact of the matter is I did not take her recipe. Not at all.  If I had  adapted her recipe, I would have said so.  I always give the sources of the recipes which I adapt to use on the blog.  I am also very careful to note things in my own language and style. There are a bazillion ways to make a chocolate cake for instance, but it will always be a chocolate cake. What differs and matters most  is how you choose to put it together.  

I do not know why, and cannot even begin to comprehend why this woman takes such issue with me, but she has been doing this sort of thing to me since we both worked as moderators on another recipe site back in the early 2000's. 

On the day my cookbook was published, and I  had expressed my joy at finally having achieved this, she decided that she would announce to all and sundry that she was also having a cookbook published. What kind of person does that?  Her timing was appalling. She is the type of person that smiles to your face but is backstabbing you at the same time.  Throughout the years I have seen her consistently stomping down on other people's achievements in her attempt to drive herself to the top.  She is narcissistic and nasty, and I am done with giving her the benefit of the doubt.  

As I lay in bed thinking about her latest attack towards me on Wednesday night, I came to the conclusion that I needed to cut her out of my life . . . completely.  I do not like the way her toxicity makes me feel or the negativity it brings into my life. I am tired of always feeling like I have to defend my achievements or actions to her.  And I am tired of her always raining on my parade.

I am the type of person who is always happy to celebrate the achievements of others. There is plenty of room in my world for all kinds of artistry and accomplishment.  I do not feel the need to be the best at anything, or to put myself forward by demeaning the talents and achievements of others.   And so I blocked her. On every social platform.  I wish her well, but I cannot tolerate having her in my life in even the smallest way.  And it makes me feel quite sad that I had to do that, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do for your own sanity and mental health. 

Social media has become such a popularity contest between content creators.  That is the one thing that I really dislike about it.  I wish all could be happy and play nicely together in the sandbox?   There really should be no winners or losers.

 

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I had the wonderful opportunity to go shopping last night with my sister.  After a week of mostly staying at home (due to the brakes on my car) it felt really nice to get out. I am not one for going out in the evening for the most part, but I broke with tradition last night and we went out together.  It is always nice to spend time with my sister.   We laugh, sometimes we cry, always we just enjoy each others company.  There is never a dull moment.  I love her so much.  She is one of the roses in my life.

She always helps me pack my groceries, get them to the car and then into the house.  And she does it without making me feel bad about it.  She knows my mobility struggles and is always ready to help me out with anything and everything.  She is a great blessing to me.

It was so funny. Last night as I was going through the store I could feel like someone was right on my heels, and I was starting to feel a bit anxious about it.  I didn't want to turn around and look however, because  I thought that might seem paranoid.  When finally I did, however, it was to discover that it was her. LOL  And we had a big laugh over it. She  makes me smile. It is good that we can have a giggle together.

 

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We have gotten someone to come in and clear out the rest of Dad's place on the 26th of the month.  What a relief that will be.  They will take everything. All of the good stuff and all of the junk. It will be totally cleared.  This has been a long time coming.  Dad was wanting to get a lot of money for his things but the reality is nobody wants to give you what you think your things are worth and it can take weeks and weeks for something to sell.  We need to have his place empty and cleaned by the end of July.   And we are not spring chickens ourselves!  He finally agreed that this was the best solution.  Thank goodness.  And he still has time to go back and get anything that he might have missed in the meantime.

He has settled in very well to Cindy's, and that makes me happy. The cats have all found their places in the pecking order and the dust has settled. I am so grateful that my father has a place to spend the last years of his life where he is loved and well cared for.  Not everyone is so lucky. What a blessing that is to all of us.  I am very grateful to my sister for this service and gift to us all, and Dan too as I know it is also a bit of a sacrifice on his part. 

It is not easy to watch your parents getting old, to experience the reversal of roles with the care-er becoming the cared-for.  To be able to do so with dignity and love is a special gift. May we all be so blessed.

It won't be long now before we are able to start enjoying the fresh, local corn.  Driving by the corn fields last night it was not hard to notice how quickly the corn is growing and getting taller.  What was only knee high a week ago is now past the waist and getting taller with every day that passes. It is almost ready to break into tassels.

When I lived in the U.K. I longed to be able to enjoy good corn on the cob. I did try to grow it there several times, but they just do not have a climate that is conducive to growing good eating corn.  The first year I tried all we got was four small ears, not much more than the length of my hand, if that. It tasted good, but  . . .  what a waste of time really.

I used to dream of the corn feeds we used to have when I was a child.  During corn season we would have a few nights where all we had for supper was endless cobs of fresh corn, slathered in an abundance of real butter and salt.  We would eat all the corn off the cob and then butter the cob again and suck the butter off the cob. It was so good.

My body is no longer able to enjoy and digest corn on the cob like it used to in the old days, but I still look forward to having at least one or two cobs of corn during the season, and relishing every mouth full.

 

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I had a message from Glenna yesterday to say she is returning on Tuesday. Her son will be picking her up at the airport. She has been having a lovely visit with her girls out West, and her grandchildren that live out there as well, and she has quite a few.  She gets to see the ones here in N.S. much more often.   I am pleased that she has been enjoying herself.  I was happy to be able to let Sheila know as well.  Every day she had been asking me if I had heard from Glenna.  Glenna takes Sheila out a lot in the car and I know she is a good friend to her. Sheila has really missed her.   She was very pleased to know that Glenna was returning on Tuesday. 

The other day Sheila called me to ask if I could come over and look at her heat pump controller. She was not sure if she had set it correctly or not.  She has the cutest little Yorkshire terrier.  He gave me a very good once over and sniffing when I was there and of course I gave him a few scratches behind the ears.  My two felines were most interested in sniffing me when I got back.   He could smell them on me of course when I went over and then they could smell him on me when I returned.   I was an instrument of joy and interest to both sides.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day.  Time is marching on!

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

 *I know there is a strength

in the differences between us.

I know there is comfort in

where we overlap.

~Ani Difranco  ° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 

In The English Kitchen today, a delicious Egg in The Hole Bacon Sandwich.  I enjoyed this as my supper the other night, but it makes an equally tasty breakfast, especially for the weekend!

I hope that you all have a beautiful weekend filled with lovely things and people that you love. Be blessed. Whatever you get up to, don't forget!

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And I do too!