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.

 

Mom looking pretty happy with her Birthday Cake.  I love my mom. You all know that. It pained me not to be there yesterday. Life has a way of turning out the complete opposite to what you think it will. I do hope that she got some visitors and calls.  I am sure that she did. I enjoyed my call to her as always. We might try a facetime again. I talked to her a bit about it yesterday and she agreed with time she might be able to get used to it. We will see. 

  

Eileen and her husband Tim walked over all the way from town to visit mom and wish her a Happy Birthday.  I was pleased that they made the effort. (Not a great photo of Tim I know!)  Eileen is letting her hair grow long like mine.  She wants to get it dyed rainbow when she comes over here to visit and has decided we are going to get matching tattoos.  I'm not sure about that, but the hair idea sounds good to me! 

 

This is the tattoo she likes.  I think I can talk her out of it. I just have to tell her it hurts, lol.  I am not a tattoo person. Maybe we can just get matching fish necklaces.

 

I managed to walk down to the end of the garden and back yesterday evening.  That might not seem like a lot to some, but it was a lot to me. Our garden is very uneven. It is filled with bumps and lumps. My knee makes me very unsteady and just to walk a few feet is very painful. The fact that I walked, unaided to the end of the garden and back was good. I think I need a cortizone shot. I think it would help, and if it helped then I could get some exercise and then maybe take weight off instead of putting it on. Not being able to exercise is a real pain in the butt. Oh I do chair exercises, but . . .  I want to do more.

 

Our blueberries are ripening. I picked a few when I was down at the end of the garden. There is not a lot. I said to Todd it is a challenge to do anything other than eat them as they ripen (before the birds do) as not enough ripen at one time to do anything with them. We have a few plums ripening, and a few pairs, cannot see any apples and the tayberry bush is loaded.  Not a super good year for fruit I guess, but we will be happy with whatever we get.

  

This is my brother David getting ready to fly in his glider.  Well not "his" technically, but the one he was flying. Kudos to him for taking on a new skill at the age of 57!  And one like this.  To me this is  about the same equivalent as me taking up bungee jumping at 62! I seriously think he is a brave man to go up there in a glider plane and fly.  You are at the whim of the wind and thermals. He is working for Blackberry now. It only took him a year to find a new job after being made redundant at his old job. He never lost faith that he would, or if he did, he never let anyone know. God is good. Its not easy to get a new job when you are made redundant at the age of 56.  Agism exists and especially in the field of computer technology where most work is being outsourced to India.

 

Warm and sunny days with plenty of blue skies, and nights when it cools enough to make sleeping comfortable. We have not had an awful lot of rain. Not complaining. I love it when the sun shines. 

  

I did not get a photo of it, but Mitzie was sitting on the carpet in the living room yesterday and the light was shining through our window crystals and making a rainbow on her chest.  I said she was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I think her new food is going to get here today. I am really hoping that we can get her into shape. She badly needs to lose weight. Not enough exercise is the culprit I know.  I also know how that feels. 

 

Being blessed to have enough.  Enough to wear. Enough to keep us dry and warm and safe. Enough to eat.  Clean water to wash in, clean with, cook with and drink. Someone to love and care for us. So many in this world have not a portion of what I have.  May I always know that I have enough and appreciate it. May I always be aware of my abundance.  

Binge watching Pioneer Woman. Its not that she does anything different than anyone else, its just that she looks so darned good while she is doing it and she seems so nice and I love seeing her ranch. Plus she is a marketing genius, which is a talent in and of itself. Kudos to her. I would love to have her food budget to work with and her meat.  She uses the nicest meat, but then again . . .  they grow it don't they.  Hard work. Farming is really hard work.

I want to know why, how, she isn't as big as

one of her barns.  She looks

amazing!

 

The Voice, Kids.  I love this show. These are the judges, Will. I. Am. Pixie Lott and Danny Jones from Busted.  They're great.  But the real stars of the show are those kids who bravely get up in front of everyone and give it their all. These kids are amazingly talented. We both love watching this. It is feel good television.  I don't know how they are ever going to pick a winner, because those kids . . .  super talented.

  

Sunday nights with Country File (not to mention Songs of Praise and Antiques Roadshow).  And then when you throw Poldark into the mix, well, Sunday night viewing is just the best!

A thought that just occurs to me.  Life is hard.  It is harder for some than it is for others, but somehow we always manage to rise from the ashes.  The miracle is that sometimes we rise at all. Maybe I just haven't been tested hard enough yet. The tenacity of the human spirit is amazing, truly amazing.

And there you have it, my small and wonderfuls for this week. My cup runneth over with far more than I could ever tell you.  That's a very good thing  . . . 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

 .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.° ˛°. .   Something will grow from all you are going through,

and it will be you   . . . 

~Unknown    .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 

Spiritual Enlightenment

 

In the English Kitchen today. It may not be very visually appealing, but this is really delicious.  Tomato Rarebit.  A bit of nostalgia.

Have a great day.  May your week ahead be filled with an abundance of small and wonderful things.  Don't forget  . . . 

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And I do too!