I like sun-loving things that reach
Their fingers up to find the light,
Gay morning glories by the fence
A blue wave decked in frills of white.
A kitten dozing in a patch
Of golden sunlight on the floor;
A row of pines above the lake,
Shedding their needles on the shore.
Old people love it's warmth and glow,
Against the chill of ageing limbs,
So Mother Nature gives the sun
To cater to their special whims.
The creeping things of field and wood,
Back in the splendor of its rays,
While birds have lovelier songs I know
That they save for sunny days
Small lizards baking in the sun.
A sheltered wall where ivy clings,
How poor the world would be without
The beauty of sun-loving things.
~Edna Jacques, Sun Loving Things
Fireside Poems, 1950
I love how you will always find cats and dogs laying in patches of sunlight that make their way through our windows. They know the places to be. If there is an animal around and a patch of sunlight, you can probably guarantee the two are together.
I don't blame them. I love a nice patch of sunlight myself.
Toilet roll bunnies. I saw these and thought they would be a really sweet idea for holding little Easter Treats. Candy kisses, little chocolate eggs, or whatever. They would even be cute just as they are hanging on an Easter Tree, if you were so inclined. I thought I would share them now so you could save up your toilet rolls.
I love mourning doves. There is something about their gentle cooing that sparks soft feelings in my heart. The sound that their wings make when they take off and land. Its called sonation. It sounds like whistling to me. Did you know they were monogamous? You usually see them in pairs and they incubate and raise their young together.
I have sometimes seen three together. I am not sure what that is about.
Are you a list maker? I am. I have always loved making lists. I make lists for all sorts of things. Most of my notebooks have lists of things in them. I make menu lists, shopping lists, (just check my coat pockets), wish lists, pro-con lists, etc.
One of the things I am most guilty of is making a grocery list and then coming home with a bazillion things that weren't on my list, having forgotten many of the things that were.
I am a planner who, more often than not, makes plans that are hardly ever followed. If you looked into my Big Blue Binder you would find menu pages and plans. Housekeeping plans with schedules and chores planned for each day of the week. Plans which hardly ever got followed.
I can make a menu plan and a grocery list on Saturday for the week ahead, but chances are that the plan for making tacos on Tuesday will have gone by the wayside once Tuesday rolls around because I no longer feel like eating tacos on Tuesday.
I am not sure what this indicates about me? I love to make lists and plans, but I rarely, if ever, follow them. I have a wish to be more organized, but my personality is such that it defies most of the logic of being organized. I get distracted very easily. I can start off doing one thing and I end up doing three or four other things and the original thing I started is unfinished.
I find myself in a very odd season of life. Not one I would have ever wanted to endure or experience. One only ever wants their children to be happy and I have always supported my children no matter what. It makes me sad that my daughter Eileen is going through what she is going through at the moment. On the surface she appears to be doing alright, but I think she hides a lot of what she is feeling. She is a very loyal person. Always whenever I picked the two of them up or tried to make plans with just her, she was very quick to make sure that Tim also got his turn in the front seat, or that Tim was included, not just her. Already this week she has been thrown into situations several times where she has been forced to be in his company, even sitting next to him in a car while they are being driven somewhere. I have no idea how difficult that is for her. I know it would be extremely difficult for myself.
All I can do is to try to be as supportive of her as I can. I reassure her daily that everything will be alright, in time. That she will one day be able to look back and see through the trials and know that what seemed like the worst of things was actually leading to the best of things. I tell her each day that she has nothing to be ashamed of, to hold her head high and that it's okay to not be okay about things. There is a time for mourning and we need to mourn. We just don't need to wallow in it.
Every night after we go to bed I shoot her a positive message on the iPad. Sometimes its an uplifting scripture, other times a special song. I want her to end her days with something positive and uplifting to think about.
This is Nutmeg polishing one of the legs of my coffee table. He was so funny to watch. I was going to try to take a video of it but he stopped doing it almost as soon as I pressed record. Isn't that always the way??? He is such a funny little character. Eileen gets so much pleasure out of watching the two cats and their antics with their unique little personalities. They are as different as chalk and cheese. One a big bumbling oaf and the other a delicate little rose.
She is going to get herself a cat she says. I told her it could be an emotional support cat. I know it would do her a lot of good to have something/one to take care of. She is a nurturer.
No man is an Island. Human beings need something other than themselves to believe in, something to draw upon. We do much better in our lives when we have something to feel passionate about and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Having a belief in something, anything at all, helps us to be the very best (most of the time) version of ourselves. Belief helps to prevent our minds and bodies from atrophying. Belief makes it impossible for our hearts, minds and lives to stand still. Once activated, belief itself takes on motion, and as we hold on to belief, we, too are set in motion.
That is why it is very important to carefully choose what or who it is we will believe in. One of the ways we can tell if a teaching or a belief is good or right is by how it makes us feel. It should not make us feel drained, or confused, or powerless. It may challenge us, but that is often a very good thing, something we can rise up to meet with joy and enthusiasm. Good belief should empower you and inspire you to become the best that you can be. Good belief sets you free and inspires you to soar. Good belief strengthens us.
When we feel better, we act better. When we act better, our lives become better. Fully satisfied, nourished and vibrant. At peace with life.
Kindness is a choice and the more often we choose to be kind, the more natural to us being kind becomes. Life is just better when we make kindness the prevailing choice. We live in a world that is often very unkind. Being gracious no longer prevails. There is far too much name-calling, insult and derision around us . . . at times too much dishonesty. It can be so tempting to fall into the same trap and to behave in the same way.
Doing so does not bring joy or peace into life. Doing so can destroy life at its very core . . . this being unkind . . . seeping into our health, our relationships our happiness and even our success.
As well we often find it much easier to be kinder to others and forget that we also need to be kind to ourselves. It is not a selfish thing to be kind to yourself. Being kind to yourself helps to make a better you and in turn helps you to be kinder to others.
Life is sometimes very hard. I know I am not alone in experiencing the hard times. I think that rain falls on everyone's shoulders. Nobody is immune to pain and loss and hardship. Life is also very beautiful despite the hardships, however. We just need to train ourselves to dwell on the good instead of on the bad . . . on our many blessings. I do have many, many blessings in my life. I live in a safe country. I have pretty good health, aside from the aches and pains of arthritis, but as we get older most of us experience that in one way or another. I have a comfortable roof over my head that keeps me warm and sheltered and dry. An oasis in the wilderness. My home, to me, is holy ground.
I have all that I need and then some. Enough to share with those who are not as fortunate as myself. If you have enough and then some to share, then you are very blessed indeed.
I am so grateful for the love of family and friends. For a sister who is always there for me and on whom I know I can depend on in all the seasons of life. I hope she feels the same about me as I do about her.
I am grateful for a daughter who knew and felt comfortable enough to turn to me for help in her rough times. Who had enough confidence in me to know that I would be there for her, no matter what.
I have my faith which supports and uplifts me. I would not, could not, be without it. It has gotten me through many a hard or sorrowful time and brought an abundance of joy into each of my days.
I have never known the pangs of true want or need. I have never had to listen to the sound of falling bombs.
I have been hurt just enough in life to enable me to have true compassion and love for others.
Life is good. I do carry an element of sadness in my soul, but most people do. I am not unique in that. I can live with it, even when all hope seems lost. I can dwell on the good rather than the negative, and that will . . . does . . . make all the difference in the world.
I hope you have a beautiful Saturday.
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˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*.˛.°“One ought, every day at least,
see a fine picture, and,
if it were possible,
to speak a few reasonable words.
to hear a little song, read a good poem,
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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In The English Kitchen today . . .
Mini Lemon Drizzle Cake. This is rich and light and loaded with plenty of lemon flavor, from the inside out. It has that distinct lemon sugar topping that most drizzle cakes have as well, but I will go out on a limb here and say that I would have enjoyed it even more without the topping.
I hope you have a beautiful Saturday. Whatever you get up to I hope it brings you joy. I think Cindy and I are going to drive up to Pelton's after she brings dad home from his breakfast out. Apparently they have turkey pot pies. We shall see! Anyways, have a good one, and don't forget!
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And I do too! 
