My Favorite Things . . .

 

 

Sharing today a few things that I really love to do, experience, enjoy  . . . 

 

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I love the Word of God. I love reading it, studying it, living it.  I am not necessarily good at any of those things, but I try. It speaks to my heart in a special way.  I get/gain something different from it each time I read it.  It always reaches me exactly where I need to be reached.  I love the language of the scriptures. I try to study it as best as I can. I love to watch scripture studies on YouTube, in particular, Don't Miss This. I always learn something new and gain a new perspective on the things I am reading. 

Not for everyone I know, but the word of God is really important to me.

I really love my Scottish porridge oats.  I have a bowl every morning.  With just a small drizzle of Golden Syrup on top.  I buy them from a company here in Canada called Blighty.  I make mine with milk. Not water.  I don't drink milk or tea or coffee, so this is probably the only way I get any milk into me. 

I really love spending time with my sister. She is my best friend.  I hope that the feeling is mutual and that I am not a big pain in the patootie to her.  I love my brother also, but there is a really special bond between my sister and I.  I wish that I could do more for her.

I love this photograph of me taken with my two girls on the day of my daughter Eileen's wedding. It is not the greatest photograph of me, but I'll take it!  It is probably the only one I will ever have of myself with my two girls.  My hair was so short there, and Eileen was much thinner, so was I for that matter! Good times!

I love my two fur babies. They were only 8 weeks old in this photograph. They have grown a lot since then.  Back then they were all ears and whiskers. I wish they were a bit more cuddly, but Nutmeg does like to lay near me and Cinnamon loves me to brush her.  I think every older person, especially those who live on their own, should have a pet to keep them company.

I love music.  Especially good music. I love almost all genres. Classical, Swing, Pop, Rock, Country, Gospel.  I love Worship Music.  I love listening to Music and the Spoken Word on Sundays.  I find most music to be especially inspirational.  Piano music, classical guitar, orchestra music, etc. I love it all.

Dove soap. It is the only soap I use on my face and body.  I don't use it on my face very often, I mostly only use water on that, but the rest of me gets a daily dose of Dove.  I have used it for years.

 

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Roses  . . .  I love roses  . . .  when I got married the first time I carried a small spray of red rosebuds on my childhood bible that my father had given to me when I was four.  That was my bouquet. It was nothing fancy. Just simple and meaningful.

I guess I have always been sentimental.

This will probably gross some of you out, but I love white bread spread with butter and sandwich spread.  It is a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

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I love buttons. It has been ever so  . . . 

 

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I love street lamps  . . .  especially ones that look old fashioned.

Cups and saucers. I had a lovely old one that my sister had given me, but it got broken traveling from the UK back here to Canada. It lives on in my heart however.

A well made bed . . .  a feast for the eyes and the body . . . 

Post cards  . . . 

Period Dramas  . . .  ones that are well done and authentic . . .  love them. Poldark, Cranfield, Larkrise, etc.

Vintage Pot Holders  . . . 

Paper Quilling . . .  I used to love doing it.

Wings  . . . 

Bird nests, but  . . .  not in my soup  . . . 

And I am running out of time so will end this here.   Please could you keep my friend Glenna in your prayers. She has had a small stroke. She is back in hospital. Her son took her yesterday.  I am not sure how long she will be in.

Also praying for all of those who have been impacted by the fires, either directly or indirectly. The smoke is becoming very dangerous, especially to people with breathing problems.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

A picture one for today  . . . 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Ten Foodie Things that the British Do Better than Anyone Else. 

I hope that you have a lovely day.  May you be blessed in a multitude of ways and enjoy a few of your favorite things. Don't forget!

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And I do too!    

   

Wednesday Witterings . . .

 

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 I had to pop over to one of the local grocery stores yesterday afternoon to pick up some bin bags. We have two grocery stores in town.  Usually I shop at the Independant, but occasionally I will go to the other one and pick up the specials when I need what is on offer. They had their own store brand bin bags on offer this week and so I went there.

There is this cashier in The Foodland that is such a bundle of energy. She always makes me smile.  She is bright and engaging and so friendly and kind and loving, yes . . .  loving to everyone who goes through her till. She always makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world to her at that moment. I love going through her till.  

I don't know what her name is or anything else, but I know how she makes me feel, and probably how she makes everyone she comes into contact feel.  Special. Seen. Important. Like I matter.

I have been going through the cash before in shops and felt like I was putting the person out by making them do their job. Like they wanted to be anywhere else on the planet than checking out my groceries. Like I was a big pain in the patootie and a source of frustration. You just know this is a person who hates their job and as a consequence of those feelings, you are low on their list as well.

What a wonderful talent this girl has, to make others feel special and like they matter. You come away from her feeling like a million bucks. I want to be like her. We should all be like her.

Can you imagine a world filled with people who "see" you and validate your worth? What a different world it would be!

 

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I got home and puttered a bit. Killed some more ants. Then I went to the mailbox to post a letter and check my mail. I had nothing, but at least it got me out there walking. Sheila was on her deck talking to Millie.  Millie used to live in my place but moved over one street to the fancier places.  Millie knew both my mother and my father.  Guess what they were talking about?

Ants.

They are both having problems with them as well. I think that's because it has been really dry this year. Usually the landlord has someone come around and spray for them. Nobody has been around this year, not yet anyways. Here's hoping.  I had ants in my kitchen yesterday and in my bedroom, crawling up my nightstand. You can imagine how creepy that made me feel.

The cats are quite curious about them in a very nonchalant way.  They just lay there and watch them, tilting their heads back and forth, giving them the occasional tap with a paw. I don't think they find them to be very exciting.

 

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There is a huge rut the end of our road, about six feet down from the stop sign. Its about 2 feet wide, runs the whole width of the road, and is now a good 3 or 4 inches deep. It is hard on the car driving over it. Its from where they were working on it about two weeks ago. The people on the next road over had lost their streetlights.  The maintenance man said due to somebody shoveling so for some reason they dug up all along the grass from that street to this one and the width of our road, I suppose to hook up those lights to our lights.

I hope they come and fill it in soon, even if it is only with gravel.  With all the rain it keeps getting deeper and deeper.  Its an unfinished job. I was always taught that when you started a job you needed to also finish it.  That is the hardest part of any job, the finishing. I often struggle to finish things, and need to make myself do it.  I think that is the ADHD in me.  My brain is always skipping forward to the next thing.

This morning I am enjoying a bowl of Scottish porridge for my breakfast.  I cooked it in  milk and have drizzled it with some golden syrup for a real treat.  It takes me back to the trip I took to Scotland a few years back. We stayed in a hotel in the Trossachs National Park. Every morning we were treated to a nice bowl of porridge, along with other choices.  

There is something very comforting to be found in a bowl of porridge. It is something I have come to really enjoy as an adult. When I was a child I could never understand the appeal. To me, back then  . . .  it held about as much appeal as eating a bowl of wall paper paste. My mother could never get any of us to eat it.

My ex husband's mother ate a bowl of it every morning and she is 96 and going strong.

It is not something I have every morning, but every now and then I fancy a bowl of porridge, always made with milk and always enjoyed with some syrup on top.  Golden, Maple, etc. Not a lot, but just a touch so that you know it is there. Date syrup, if you can get it, is especially good.

 

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Canada is on fire.  There are wild fires burning in just about every province.  It is a huge problem.  The air quality in Ottawa where my brother lives is very poor. Thankfully all the rain we have had here in Nova Scotia has helped to control them a bit and some people have been allowed back into their homes and communities, but it could spring back up at any time. We need to be vigilant. 

This is the worst year for fires on record and they are saying it is going to be an ongoing problem right on into the month of August. Another sign of Global warming?  Perhaps. The impact on our wildlife is going to be catastrophic.

 

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Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.

~Saint Benedict

How often do we allow ourselves to slow down and listen to life with the ear of our heart.  The opposite of silence.  We may think we are surrounded by silence, but there is a cacophony of  sound which attends our every moment.  At  times the silence can be quite deafening. 

Right now I can hear the refrigerator humming, the keys on my keyboard tapping, there is a slight ringing in my ears (there always is), the dull roar of the odd car that travels down the main road near my street.  Cinnamon's little cries, she wants treats. The sounds of silence.

 

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If there is paradise on the face of the earth,

It is this, oh! It is this, oh! It is this.

These last few years I have been on a journey. The journey of discovering the Divine in the ordinary. We often think that we can only find something so special as the Divine by going to places like church or synagogue, great cathedrals, temple  . . . 

I believe the Divine surrounds us. I have determined to make my home a place of refuge, quiet, and comfort.  A place where I can experience the Divine on a daily and ongoing basis. The things I choose to allow in my life, the art on my walls, the books I choose to read, the places I choose to visit when I am online, the conversations I choose to have, the things I choose to watch or the music I listen to.  

There is a great blessing that can come from losing everything if you allow it to take hold. Unfettered by the flotsam gathered by years and years of life, you have the gift of being able to consciously choose exactly what you wish to invite into your life. This is a great luxury and a blessing in disguise.

First you have to let go of the things you held on to, and that is a very painful process, but once you have done that, there comes a freedom, opportunity. Life takes on a new meaning, and I would never have thought it to be so.

The choice to walk away from everything was probably the single most difficult thing I have ever had to do in my life. But I have found paradise in the process.  I have been able to see the hand of God moving in my life in unimaginable ways. Ways I would never have experienced or been able to see otherwise.  And I am so grateful for that.

"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." ~Philippians 4:8

 

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Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
I'll praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

(listen here)

I just wanted to share this beautiful arrangement of this hymn this  morning. It is so heart warming.  I often listen to hymns, and each Sunday I take note of the hymns we have sung in church and go over them again later in the quiet of my home and ponder the words.  Some of the most meaningful testimony meetings we have had at church have been where people share their favorite hymns and why they are their favorites,  and then we all sing the first verse.  I have a hard time picking a favorite. Most of them speak to my heart in a special way.

That is my heaven.

And with that I will leave you with a thought to carry with you for the day  . . . 

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˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.°Who hears music,

feels his solitude peopled at once.

~Robert Browning  •。★★ 。* 。

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Instant Pot Pot Roast. Yesterday I cooked my traditional pot roast in my Instant Pot. It took a fraction of the time and was so delicious! I really enjoyed this a lot!

I hope that you have a lovely day!  Cindy and I are meeting Dad and Hazel at the Chinese restaurant tonight for a change. I am looking forward to it!  Whatever you get up to, 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!    

   

A Day Book . . .

 

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW ...

We have been getting rain and lots of it.  That is a good thing. Most of the people in the Halifax area that had a home to go back to have been able to return to their homes. There are some who had no homes or businesses to return to.  People have been donating to help with the relief. There are still fires burning and we still need to be vigilant.  Our Government is saying that Canada needs to be gearing up for higher than normal fire activity across the country this summer, right through 'til August. 

Sigh  . . . 

I AM THINKING ...

Yesterday I filled a whole compost bag with partially eaten packets of crisps (potato chips.) I need to stop buying the big bags.  They will have the on offer at the shops, two for a certain price. Then I will eat a few and the rest stay in the bag.  I have vowed from now on only to buy small bags and only when I am really craving them. I shouldn't be eating the darned things anyways! Potato chips are one of my many weaknesses.

ALSO THINKING ...

I picked up this free book on Kindle yesterday. The Practice on the Presence of God: a 40 Day Devotional. The first day was about Becoming Wholly God's.  Imagining a world where there is just you and God in it.  What would change in your life and become your mindset if you were able to do just that?  A mindset where the love of everything that wasn't pertaining to God faced away into nothingness.  I found myself wondering if that is how it was for Adam in the garden of Eden.  Where he had nothing to do all day but revel in God's creation and walk around talking to God, with no care or thought as to anything else.  I wonder if that is possible  . . . 

MOST NIGHTS ...

Most nights I am well ensconced on my sofa embroidering or crocheting.  This sweet companion is never far from my side. He likes to be close to me.

Meanwhile ... 

My sweet girl is  usually on her perch.  Normally she is flat out and splayed, but when I got up to take her photo last night, she up-righted herself and this was the photo I got. She is alert to my every movement.  I will think she is fast asleep and as soon as I move, she is on the move.  She trots around with me like a little puppy. Its cute.

I love my two companions very much. 

SOMETIMES I GET MAIL ...

I got this lovely postcard from Tatiana!  It features the art of artist Inge Look.  I love this artist's work. There is just so much detail in everything.  And I love Tatiana.  She is so thoughtful.  I need to go to the drugstore in town and pick up some postcards so I can return the pleasure.

SPEAKING OF ARTISTS ...

Another scandi-artist I really like is Carl Larrson.  I have a coffee table  book of his art that I treated myself to last year.  I love looking at the photographs of his artwork.  There is a part of me that would love to have a house that looked just like that.

REMEMBERING ...

She is 13 years old today. Miss her every single day.  She was everything to me.

I AM NOT VERY GOOD AT ...

Writing letters, e-mails, keeping in touch. My days get away from me and all of my well intentioned plans go astray.  That doesn't  mean that I don't think of the people I love and think of them often.  I do.  My friend Tracy in Norway.  I think about her all the time and wonder how she is doing. I am just not very good at writing long lengthy e-mails. I am more of a shorter message kind of girl. But I feel like I need to write a lengthy e-mail and it gets put off for when I have time and then it doesn't get done. And then suddenly too much time has passed.  I feel bad about that. I wish I was better at it. Tracy used to blog at Pink Purl and then at Prana Light. She was also on Instagram, but she is not on any of those things any more.  She posts patterns on Ravelry. She is an expert knitting designer.  Such a creative soul and such a sweet lady.  I miss her.

When all that stuff happened with Todd, I stopped communicating with a few people. I just could not bring myself to.  People like Tracy and my friends Lura and Sybil. I used to communicate with them almost daily. But my heart was so broken that I don't know  . . . I just couldn't.  And then, too much time had passed. I feel bad about that.

I LOVE ...

Chocolate.  I used to always keep a stash of it in my house.  A just for me kind of a thing. My ex husband used to go to the local Needs store every night and buy himself 2 or 4 sweets.  Usually a packet of Wine Gums, a Bit Turk, and an Eat More. Sometimes a McIntosh's toffee bar as well.  He used to give me the black wine gums because he didn't like them.  They were my favorites.  Black Currant. I love Black Currant anything.

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YESTERDAY ...

I went out with Cindy in the morning and picked up a few bits and then came home and made a pot of chowder to take over to Glenna and her son. What a good son she has. He was there all day Sunday puttering and fixing things up for her and he was there all day again yesterday.  Making sure she is okay. Such a nice man also.  I took the chowder over along with some sweet Lemon Biscotti I had picked up at the Costco shop the last time we were there. Who doesn't enjoy a little bit of sweet.

Most of the day I was battling the ants however. I think I am winning the battle. Don't want to speak too soon and jinx myself.  The cats had a rather large one with wings last night. I caught that sucker and flushed it down the toilet.

STILL LOOKING FOR ...

A birdbath . . .  I will see one on Amazon that I like and then I read the reviews. So much stuff comes from China and they are experts at making things look good, but that end up being crapola.  The idea of turned upside down clay flower pots really appeals to me. 

SOMETHING TO READ ...

The Moon in the Palace, by Weina Dai Randel

"A thrilling work of historical fiction, bringing romance, intrigue, and the unexpected rise of an Empress to intoxicating life under the inscrutable moon. In Tang Dynasty China, a concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the Emperor's attention. Many hope to lure in the One Above All with their beauty. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. Young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the Emperor a gift he can never forget. Mei's intelligence and curiosity, the same traits that make her an outcast among the other concubines, impress the Emperor. But just as she is in a position to seduce the most powerful man in China, divided loyalties split the palace in two, culminating in a perilous battle that Mei can only hope to survive. In the breakthrough first volume in the Empress of Bright Moon duology, Weina Dai Randel paints a vibrant portrait of the Emperor's Palace—where love, ambition, and loyalty can spell life or death—and the woman who came to rule all of ancient China."

I have always been fascinated by Oriental Culture.

SOMETHING TO WATCH ...

Happy Valley on Acorn. I watched the first series when I was living in the UK. I just finished the second series on Acorn and am about to begin the third and final series.  I love LOVE British Crime Dramas.  I actually love British television full stop. They do it all so well.

 

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TRACING THE GOODNESS ...

Not every day is a good day, but there is something good in every day.  Each day, at the end of the day I try to find at least five things to be thankful for in the day just spent. I never have a hard time.  In fact most days I could go on for quite a while tracing the goodness in my days.

I was talking to my friend Jacquie yesterday and she was saying how lonely she is. I am sorry that she feels lonely. I am so grateful that I don't ever really get that way.

I am very lucky to have a sister, father and daughter close by, but also I am very lucky to have a life that is very busy.  I am grateful for my little job that keeps me in pinafores and a roof over my head and that also keeps me active and busy and thinking.  I am grateful for my two furry companions that keep me daily company. I am also grateful that I am a person who enjoys her own company. 

I don't really get bored and I don't really feel lonely.  I do sometimes feel sad, but that is more because of the things which have happened, etc. Thankfully those times are becoming a bit fewer and farther between.

This blog has been a saving grace for me.  Even if not a lot of people read these days, it has given me years and years of therapy.  It feels good to put down your feelings and thoughts each day.  Its been good for me anyways, plus I have met some very good people through this medium, people who have enriched my life in unimaginable ways. I am blessed.

SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE ...

Faster than fairies, faster than witches, 

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; 

And charging along like troops in a battle, 

All through the meadows the horses and cattle: 

All of the sights of the hill and the plain 

Fly as thick as driving rain; 

And ever again, in the wink of an eye, 

Painted stations whistle by. 

 

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, 

All by himself and gathering brambles; 

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; 

And there is the green for stringing the daisies! 

Here is a cart run away in the road 

Lumping along with man and load; 

And here is a mill and there is a river; 

Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

~Robert Louis Stevenson (About a train journey)

 

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A FEW PLANS FOR THE DAY ...

A bit of work, a bit of play, a lot of joy along the way  . . . 

COOKING IN THE KITCHEN ...

Creamy Ham and Corn Chowder.  Quite simply delicious.

A THOUGHT TO CARRY WITH YOU ...

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˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.°"Why not?" is a slogan

for an interesting life.

~Mason Cooley•。★★ 。* 。

•。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。

And that's my daybook for this week.  I hope you, yourself, have a beautiful day filled with loads of the things that bring you love and joy.  Whatever you get up to, 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!