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.

 

The smell of wet pavement after a summer rain . . . it is unique and fresh and green. I love it 

  

Trees that grow handkerchiefs.  This was taken in Tatton Park a few years ago.  I have always thought that such a thing was magnificent. 

 

What an awesome God we have that could create such a beautiful earth for us to live on with all of its variety, from the most largest of things to the most minute of things, everything fitting together and with a singular purpose for each and every thing. Oh how I wish we were better stewards of it all. 

 

Garden visitors. I love to listen to blackbirds sing.  They have a beautiful call. Very melodic.  Have you ever wondered why it is that the male bird is always so much prettier than the female?  And yet in the human species it is the female that is more flamboyant and outstanding for the most part.  Interesting. 

  

Speaking of birds and flamboyance, my sister had two of these in her garden yesterday, proving to be quite a mystery for a time as they are not natural to Nova Scotia.  Guinea Fowl.

 

Aren't they fat little things?  I have eaten Guinea Fowl before.  Quite tasty.  They have not had water at mom's all weekend.  I hope they were able to get it sorted without too much expense.

  

I call this Beauty and the Beast . . .  these lovely flowers against the backdrop of the old brick wall of our shed.  The shed needs a bit of work doing on it I think.  Or it will be falling apart . . . 

 

The Lavender is almost finished now.  the bees have really enjoyed it. 

  

Sunday soup, from the store cupboard. If only it looked as good in real life as it does in the photo on the can.  It tastes alright though, so won't complain and when you are hungry but lacking in time, it does what it is intended to do.  Fills you up.  Todd has his with bread and butter.  I have mine with crackers.  We are both happy with that.  Todd actually put his pajamas on yesterday afternoon after church.  Well, first he had a nap while I called my mom and then he came downstairs in his pajamas after.  So not like him, but I thought what the hey!  And then I went up and put mine on and we both enjoyed hot bowls of soup in front of Songs of Praise in our pajamas while it bucketed down rain outside!  It poured and poured.  We were safe indoors eating our soup, every mouthful being carefully watched by you know how . . .  and feeling all snuggly and cosy while beautiful music tickled our ears.  Bliss.

God is good.

A thought to carry with you  . . .

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.° ˛°. .“Think the best of each other, 
especially of those you say you love. 
Assume the good and doubt the bad.” 
~Jeffrey R Holland   .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 

Spiritual Enlightenment  

Sometimes these things are just what I needed to hear  . . . wow.

  

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Buttermilk Dressed Rose Salad Bowl.

Have a great week.  May it be filled to overflowing with an abundance of small and wonderful things  Don't forget . . . 

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And I do too! 

 

Sunday morning this and that . . .

Happy to report that the rain held off yesterday and our church Ward had a very successfull and well attended BBQ!   There were burgers and sausages, with the necessary buns, etc. and a huge variety of salads, sweets and beverages for everyone to enjoy. It was so very well organized.  I think this is the first year we have gone to it, or at least the first time in a while that we have gone to it. 

 

The slip and slide for the kiddies proved to be very popular.  I hear it always is.  They run a light stream of water down these large sheets of plastic along with dish soap . . . 

  

And the kids have a ball, older ones, younger ones and everyone in between.  I didn't see any adults participating, but then again   . . .  I'm not surprised!  I think it is a youngsters sport!

 

And as you can see, very, very popular . . . 

  

With lots of cheering going on from the sidelines!  That's our newlyweds Eileen and Derek that got married a couple of weeks back.  Nice to see!

Everyone had a great time.  It was nice to get out of the house and out of my comfort zone.  I did a cake pan salad that was Diabetic friendly which was very popular, so look for that recipe soon! 

  

The traffic going into North Wales was chocker block when we were on our way to the chapel and even worse when we were on our way back home and thankfully on the other side of the motor way.  In fact it was pretty much at a stand still.  Now that the schools have all broken off for their summer break I can imagine there were a lot of families off on their summer holidays.  I can't think of a worse way to begin it  . . . 

 

You might have to be British to appreciate this . . .  its from one of my favourite One Foot in the Grave episodes entitled "The Beast in the Cage."  The whole episode takes place inside the Meldrew's car as they are stuck in traffic on the motorway on a Bank Holiday Monday.  The man is an old grump anyways, but stuck in a car going nowhere . . .  well it's pretty hilarious.  He always voices what we would love to be able to voice ourselves, but are too polite to say!  There is quite funny clip of it you can see here on You Tube.  The stuff that happens to that poor man is so funny.  His wife is so long suffering. Oh, it is good to be able to laugh at life sometimes.  We have always really enjoyed the show, even though they have stopped making new ones quite some time ago. It lives on in reruns.

I think British television is some of 

the best television out 

there.

...

 

I have a whole board on my Pinterest delegated to pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge.  She is so stunningly beautiful . . . 

  

I have never seen a bad photograph of her.  Never.   I am sure she must have bad hair days as we all do, but she always seems so beautiful and composed to me.    I think that is a true love match and they have such a sweet little family. I wonder if they will have any more children.   She sure has managed to keep her figure throughout all the baby making.  I loved the program they had on about Diana by her sons the other night. It was so well done.  I have one recorded about The Duchess of Cambridge that I have yet to watch.  Todd has not been in the mood for that one yet. 

  

I am saving my pennies up to take an art course that looks quite good.   The web page is here.  Make art that sells without selling out, and it is taught by an art agent.  There are a lot of freebies as well, so I will try to keep myself busy with those while I wait until I have enough saved up for the course.  Todd kind of cringed at the idea  . . .  of me paying for an art course that is . . . and in all honesty I will probably never take it.  It is quite expensive, but I like to think that I could if I really wanted to. I am not getting any younger and I want to be able to support myself in my old age.  I am not entitled to a pension on either side of the pond.  I haven't worked here long enough and I was a stay at home mom over there.  I don't know what I will do if anything ever happens to Todd.  I need, NEED to be able to support myself someway, somehow  . . . the thought terrifies me.  Just the thought of being without him is not a pleasant one, but to be without any means of support, well, I will stick my head back in the sand now and go la la la  because it just doesn't bear thinking about.

It really doesn't.

 I found this map quite humorous.  I have blotted out the one rude thing.  I am not sure what state that is.  I think it is meant to be quite tongue in the cheek, although I can imagine that jellyfish are quite disliked wherever you go.  I cannot imagine what a map of the UK would say . . . 

Must dash, I have to get ready for church.  Todd is giving a talk this morning.  I am quite looking forward to it! 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.° ˛°. .Happiness comes when 

we stop complaining

about all the troubles we have and

offer thanks for all the troubles

we don't have  . . . 

~Unknown   •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment

 In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies with both dark and white chocolates that you chunk up yourself.  All I can say is I am glad this recipe only makes about a dozen and a half cookies!  Oh boy   . . .  hard to resist, although I am trying.  I need to give them away.

Have a great Sunday.  Be blessed and don't forget  . . . 

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
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and I do too!

PS - I almost forgot.  Someone told me yesterday that a member of the Osmond family was going to be moving into our Ward with their family  . . .  hmmm . . . . will keep you posted on that one!

Sometimes you just got to laugh . . .

My daughter posted this tasty looking recipe video a few weeks back of an omelette being made in a  hollowed out slice of bread in a skillet.  You added the top back to the bread at the end with a nice layer of gooey cheese in the middle.  I had never been tempted to make a food video recipe before, until I saw this one.  I thought to myself, that looks really tasty and might be fun to try.  I was really keen! 

I thought to myself, I will take photos of every step

along the way and show it on the

food blog!

 

I had Todd pick me up a French loaf in town.  I told him . . .  it has to be oval and he managed to get it right actually.  SO I commenced into slicing it and hollowing out the centre. 

  

I thought I would use my cast iron skillet because, one . . . I don't use it enough, and two . . . it was handy and in the kitchen and I was too lazy to go outside and get the other skillet.  I am like that sometimes.  I cooked the peppers, and onions and ham bits (I used Italian herbed ham for more flavour) until the veggies were pretty much softened . . . 

  

I actually had chopped and cooked a bit too much of the filling ingredients and so I decided to make three which fit quite nicely into the pan. So far so good, right???   I was really feeling good about this. I was pumped! Time to add the eggs  . . .

  

And this is where it actually all started to go wrong . . . the eggs did not stay in the holes. In fact they leaked out all over the pan.  I tried scooping them back into the centres, but it still looked kind of messy.  They were burning on the bottom, even on the lowest heat, while the egg in the middle was not cooking.   

 

I popped on a lid, hoping that it would help to set the egg part . . . it did a bit so I then popped a goodly amount of cheese on top, and then the piece of bread I had cut out, hoping against all hope that some how, some way it would all come together.  

I really had my fingers crossed here, hoping against all hope that all would be well . . .  I carefully flipped them over so that I could brown the grilled cheese side  . . . I was still feeling pretty positive about these  . . .

 

I laughed and I laughed and I laughed, and then . . .  I laughed some more  . . . 

  

Parts of the egg had totally stuck to the skillet, and the parts that hadn't stuck . . . well . . .  those be mighty cripsy onions and peppers.  Perhaps I could save the day and called them Cajun Blackened Omelette Tartines???  

Nope, I didn't think so  

...

The grilled cheese side didn't look too bad, despite the fact that they had blackened bits of vegetable jerky stuck to them here and there  . . .  and the fact tht the uncut out edges of the bread had not toasted in the least.   So I did what I had to do  . . . 

 

I threw together a salad and we ate them anyways.  I wasn't going to waste good food.  Todd's verdict??? 

"Well, it wasn't my favourite." 

He mumbled between

trying to pull out

blackened bits 

of vegetables

from his

teeth

...

You win some . . .  you lose some . . .  and all the while, you just have to laugh because that's life isn't it?  A happy mix of good and bad and everything in between.  😀

 

I took this photo of Mitzie laying next to me on the sofa sleeping while I was talking to our Eileen on the iPad last evening.  She was snoring away.  She is always exhausted after the groomers.  Although she knows them well (she's been going every 8 weeks since she was really young and the groomer is her breeder), and goes in quite happily, she is not a dog that likes a lot of fuss that way and it totally wears her out I suppose.  She is always really, really pleased to get home at the end of it all. 

 

Eileen always wants to know what papa is doing.  That's what she calls Todd.  I always take a photo to show her with my phone.  (Ignore the wash hanging in the background.)  Yesterday he was eating a piece of cake.  He's such a good natured bloke.  Doesn't mind me doing anything really, even taking photos of him eating.   I like to think that the cake more than made up for that awful Omelette Tartine. (Still laughing at the outcome.)

And of course all that munching woke up you know how because when there is you know what around . . .  (food) . . .  she wants to be a part of it all.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.° ˛°. .  Stop being afraid of what could go wrong,

and think about what could go right!

~unknown    .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 

Spiritual Enlightenment

 

Cooking in the English Kitchen today  . . .  Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake.

Have a great Saturday! We have a BBQ at the chapel today. It will probably rain, but hey ho!  We will all have fun anyways.  It wouldn't be a BBQ in the UK without a bit of rain!  Don't forget . . . 

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And I do too! 

 

My Friday Finds . . .

 

A few of the things I discover each week that inspire me to want to create, think, do, cook . . . maybe they will inspire you too!

I think I am going to print this out and hang it somewhere, maybe post it on the refrigerator.  A positive reminder to myself every time I feel like giving up, a bit of positivity. 

Sock Monkey Device Cover.  An affordable PDF pattern on Etsy by Aunt Janets Designs. I love it!

 

Flower Garden Tea Cosy, small enough for a 1 cup teapot.  A free pattern from  Just Jen Knits and Stitches.  Isn't it cute? I can just see it on a breakfast tray for someone special who is having breakfast in bed.

 

Adventures in Making. 8 Watercolour Techniques for beginners.   I have done the salt one many times, but there are some others I would like to try.  A great tutorial. 

 

I could not find the source for these tiles, but it looks simple enough.  Sharpie pens on ceramic tiles with isopropyl alcohol dropped on them to marble the colours.  Beautiful!  

  

Free Cat Bookmark Knitting Pattern.  From Ravelry. 

 

Journal Band with Pen Pocket.  Again a free pattern from Ravelry.  These would be great Christmas gifts, given with a pen and a fresh new journal to write in.

 

L'Oreals Fine Flowers Cleansing Range.  They smell gorgeous.  I love L'Oreal anything, because well, I AM worth it!

  

Milk Bread.  This looks so soft, fluffy and delicious.  From Woman Scribbles.  I so want to try this.

 

 A Moon Garden - All the white flowers and silvery-gray foliage reflect the light of the moon. No source.  I have always wanted to do a garden all in white . . .

 

I love, LOVE this blanket.  Love the colours and the simple way it is put together and the lacy edging.  Beautiful.  Life in my House Full of Boys.

 

Lavender Dreams Wash Cloth.  Would make a lovely gift when given with a nice bar of soap  From Amanda Saladin. 

 

Stoneware Creamer Jugs from Rowan and Wren.  Expensive, but I love the simplicity and the colours of them.

 

Love these Little  Miss pottery vases.  They are so cute. Very expensive, but cute.  From the Vanessa Bean Shop on Etsy.

 

Baste and Gather.  A T-Shirt Neckline Twill Tape Tutorial. 

 

Handmade Flannel and Fringe Scarf.  Love this. From e-How. 

 

 Rae Gun Ramblings.  A tutorial on a ten minute infinity scarf.  Love it! 

And those are my finds for this week.  I hope there was something here you could use!  We are off to the Dog Groomer this morning for Mitzies buff and puff.  She always looks and smells so good afterwards.  

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.° ˛°We are not diminished 

when someone else is added upon.

~Jeffrey R Holland .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

Spiritual Enlightenment  

 

In The  English Kitchen today . . .  Sweet & Spicy Chicken.  So tasty!

Have a wonderful Friday. Don't forget!

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
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And I do too!