Small and Wonderful things . . .

 


 "The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard  
 
A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life.   It's the small things in life which truly mean the most.  Simple abundance . . . it's the best.      

 

I never got to go to art school when I was younger.   It was something I wanted to do, but instead I took the practical route and went to Secretarial School instead.  Except for very short spurts, I have never worked as a Secretary.   About 12 years ago I went back to school and took a Medical secretary course, receiving a credit on my AMSPAR Exam, which was a really good mark as well.   Except for a short stint volunteering at the Chester Mental Health Hospital for one day a week, I have never used that either.  I love painting and drawing and writing.   That is when I am happiest, next to cooking and photographing food.   I am a creative person.   I practice a lot.  I practice drawing people, fruits, vegetables, trees, flowers, animals, etc.   In short I just practice drawing and painting whatever I can.  This was a little practice drawing I did the other day.  I wanted to portray fear in the cat and mouse, and a cheekiness in the bird.  For once the bird holds all the keys!  Not sure if I did that or not, but I had fun trying.  That's what counts.



Watching the pleasure that this little lady gets in the garden now that the yard has all dried up and it's not the wet quagmire it was all winter.   She just love, LOVES it out there.   She spends a great deal of her time sitting and just watching the perimeters of the yard, making sure that no CATS break through her defences.   Of course there is a part of her that is probably hoping that one will make a run for it so that she can bark and chase it out.  There was a white one (we hadn't seen him in a while) that dared to enter yesterday when she had popped into the kitchen for a drink and a sniff.   She didn't take long in chasing him away.   I think she ran up and down the yard about 4 times in all of her excitement, and each time she did, she came back to tell us what she had done.   She was so proud!



Today is the day that our Eileen will be making her presentation to the Duchess of Cambridge.  I'm not sure what it is or where it is happening, but I am hoping that I will be able to see a photograph of it somehow.   (This is a photo I took of her on her wedding day.  It will be two years in July!  Hard to believe!)  She sure has  led this amazing life.   Getting to represent first her province and then her country in the special Olympics program, and winning gold medals both times.   Now getting to meet royalty.   Pretty amazing stuff.  I can remember when we were first told of her disability.  She was only 4 and a half years old and I had taken her to the school for her pre-school assessment.   I think we had known all along that something wasn't quite right, but it was one of those things, if you didn't say it out loud then it wasn't true.   The School Nurse suggested we have her speech assessed and the Speech Therapist suggested we have a complete assessment done.  I will never forget the way I felt that day when they told us she was mentally disabled.  Devastated doesn't begin to cover it.   They had said it out loud and now we had to deal with it.   She has gone on to far exceed everyone's expectations, and even if she hadn't I would still be proud of her because she is a nice person.  Loving, kind, generous, pleasant, helpful, hard working and she loves the Lord.  I think she's pretty "awesome!"  But then again, I always have.  



The magic that greets me each morning when I pop outside to see what's happening in the garden.  Each day brings a new discovery and delight to my heart.   I just love this time of year when all is fresh and waking up.  I love watching Todd enjoy his days as he putters in the garden.  This is when he is in his element.   He spends time each day weeding, clipping, feeding the fish and checking on the tadpoles.  He just loves to be out of doors.  When he isn't doing gardening, he is sitting at our outdoor table reading in the sunshine.  I don't know how he can do that.  It would hurt my eyes, but he enjoys every minute of it.



With the warm sunny days we have finally been able to get out and organize our storage shed.  It was driving me crazy.  Everything was just a jumble and I couldn't find anything.  It took us half a day but now everything is back in it's proper place.   Hopefully it won't get messed up again.  I think I will have to be the one who puts things out there.  Todd doesn't really know where things are supposed to go and so, like a man, he just shoves things in any old place that they will fit and then after a few weeks it is a tip again.   It's much better for me to put things away I think.  No offence against Todd!  The part I hated most about it was hoovering up all the spider webs and dead spiders.  ugh . . .  not my favourite thing to do.   All the shelves were emptied and washed, and then everything put back, after also being wiped.   Anything that was out of date, got tipped, which surprisingly wasn't very much!  Oh and yay!  I can get into my freezer again.  Because it is outdoors, in the Winter months it freezes shut, which is very annoying.   With the warm weather that problem has resolved itself.



This latest game I am enjoying playing on my ipad.  Jelly Splash.  It was free and it's very easy to play.  I need easy as I can't cope with difficult computer games.  I just don't have the skill.  This is as easy and satisfying as popping bubble wrap.  Works for me!

A thought to carry with you through today . . .

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A thing of beauty is a joy forever, it's loveliness increases,
it will never pass into nothingness.
~John Keats 
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Cooking in The English Kitchen today  . . . Braised Bangers with Cabbage.  Simply delicious!

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Have a great week!  May it be filled with lots of small and wonderful things!