I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~Joyce Kilmer
I have always had a great love for trees. I remember having to memorize this poem when I was in elementary school. It spoke to me then and it speaks to me now. I love to think about the living, beating heart of every tree, arms uplifted in prayer with nesting robins in it's hair.
When I lived at Oak Cottage, the cottage was surrounded by apple orchards. Rows and rows of beautiful apple trees. From our library window at the back of the cottage, I could look over one of the orchards. All of the seasons of the year were presented magnificently through that vista. It was beautiful any time of the year. In the spring it was loaded with blossom and the hum of bees, then in summer the beautiful leaf and growing fruit, the autumn brought noisy days as the apple pickers went about their work and then in the winter, all was sparse and bleak, sleepily awaiting the advent of spring when the orchard would come alive all over again. A simple rite of passage that happened like clockwork with the passing of each year.
I am so very grateful for having had the experience of living there and in that beautiful country.
Well we all got our hair cut yesterday afternoon. Cindy, myself, and Eileen. It feels good for my hair to have some shape again and Eileen really enjoyed the pampering experience of it all. It is not something which she gets to do very often. I will miss her ponytail for the time being, but it is what she wanted. She just had it cut into a shoulder length bob. It looks great.
Cindy looked fabulous also. She looks more like mom the older she gets. I don't think I realized how much mom she looked in the past. Mom was always a really beautiful woman and Cindy has always been really pretty also. Me, I have too many of my father's genes to be pretty, but that's okay. We are all unique.
Dad, Eileen and I are like three peas in a pod. There is no denying we are family.
The new top for my coffee table arrived yesterday. It seems they sent me a whole new coffee table. The guy who delivered it just left it on my doorstep. He didn't even ring the doorbell. It was quite heavy so I cannot blame him really. I couldn't get it into the house. Dan came over after supper last night and manhandled it into my house and took the broken one out to the garage. Its a shame really, just one corner is cracked from the top of the first one. As far as I know, I guess, I haven't had it all out of the box. I am hoping that I will be able to give it away to someone who is handy and who doesn't mind getting free coffee table that only needs a minor adjustment to the top.
I ordered myself a walker yesterday. Dad needed his back and I think it will come in handy when Eileen has her operation. We still have had no word on any further testing, etc. Her worker is going to call the Doctor today. For some reason Eileen wanted her to do it and not me. I suppose for continuity as her worker is the one who normally deals with all of her appointments. I totally understand. The Doctors office is used to dealing with the worker as well. Hopefully we will soon know what is going on.
My footcare lady is coming today to do my toenails. She is the same lady who used to do mom's. She can talk for England as they say. She is loaded with conversation. The gift of gab is a good one to have when you are in that line of work. Well, any line of work that deals with the public I guess. Because she does in-home footcare, most of her clients are elderly. They love to have someone to talk to. My friend Jo in the U.K. did in-home footcare as well and her clients were all elderly. Jo is Irish and she really has the gift of the gab, so that was a talent that came in really handy.
I, myself, would not care to work with people's feet. Just the thought gives me the "ick" as the younger generation would say. It takes a special kind of person, I think, to be able to do such a thing. And having the gift of gab is a part of the job.
We have taken to watching a lot of the Osmond videos on YouTube as of late. I watched Alan Osmond's funeral and then ever since then YT has been prompting me to watch other videos of the family. If you will recall Jay and his wife were actually members of my church congregation in the U.K. for a time. I used to sit with Karen in Relief Society all the time. They were very nice people.
The more I watch their videos the more I come to know that these were and are really good people, with great values. You can tell that they all love each other very much. It is sad that two of them are gone now, Alan and Wayne. The Osmond's were all still very popular in the U.K.
I used to love their music when I was a teeny bopper. My favorite one was actually Jay as he was just a little bit older than I. Admittedly that was kind of weird having the guy whose poster you used to have hung on your bedroom door as your friend at church as an adult, but . . . life is a strange thing sometimes.
Eileen quite likes their music. She keeps saying to me, "Mom, you have turned me on to them!"
Doug video called me from PEI yesterday. He was making Katsu Curry for their supper. He loves to cook. It looked fantastic. He only has two more weeks before he has to be back to work, after having been put off work by his Doctor these past three months. I hope he is feeling rested enough to be able to go back and cope well with his job.
Anyways, we had a nice conversation. They will be coming over in July for that Christian camp again. We are not sure of where they will stay at the moment. A lot depends on if Eileen is still with me, although I suppose they could stay in her place temporarily. It would only be for one night either end of the camp. Josh has a summer job on a garlic farm so is limited to how many days he can be away. It won't be long before the boys will all be grown up and having their own lives, and not able to come over with their mom and dad.
I hope that I will still get to see them. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have had these last 5 1/2 years being so much closer to my children and grandchildren. It has meant the world to me, even if we don't get to see each other but once or twice a year. I was laying in bed last night thinking how very grateful I am to be able to spend this time with Eileen now. We are, hopefully, building some sweet memories that will last for well after I leave this earth.
I saw this on FB yesterday and it resonated. I told Eileen, I'm not fat, I'm just flavorsome! We both had a laugh about that.
I took a photo of my two babies sleeping together in a rare moment of quiet last evening. They looked so sweet laying there next to each other. It made my heart go pitter pat.
Well, I suppose I best get my skates on. My foot lady is coming at 10 and I have a few things to get organized before them.
I will leave you with my usual thought for the day.
☾ ° ★° * 。
• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*Maybe the secret
to having a good life
is realizing how good
it already is.
~unknown
In The English Kitchen today . . . Applesauce Buttermilk Muffins. These were really good muffins and a great way to use up some applesauce that I had left in a jar in the fridge. Moist and delicious with a beautiful crumb! If you like muffins you will love these!
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday. We should be going out to supper with Dad tonight. Eileen really looks forward to those outings and getting to spend some time with Dad and Cindy. She loves her family. Whatever you get up to today, stay safe, be happy, be blessed, and don't forget!
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And I do too!
