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 from the past week which brought untold joy into my life. It's the small things in life which truly mean the most. Simple abundance . . . it's the best.

 

The usual suspects.  These two fill my life and days with love, joy and happiness.  They are everything to me. From the minute I wake up until the minute I go to sleep, one of both of them is with me and they are both with me all the night through. Mitzie has her own little bed right next to my side of the bed on the floor just in front of my night table.  She never bothers us during the night. No noise, except for the occasional snoring, and maybe sometimes a dream. Todd and I have twin beds that are pushed together, so we each have our own set of blankets etc. 

  

Its better that way. They do take up a lot of room, but there is no hogging of blankets, no jiggling the bed when someone turns over (I have been accused of flopping, not turning.) We each have our own space and yet we are still next to each other. If I get hot during the night and want to throw the covers off, I can do so without him freezing.  Its the best of both worlds, so yes, our beds are another one of my small and wonderfuls. In most of the places we have stayed on the Continent, we noticed that they do this and we slept so much better so we decided to do it at home. It works beautifully!

  

The ability to create beautiful things with my hands and then share them with ohers.  This is a bear I made a number of years back. I should make some more. I have always loved making bears and dolls also. I need to do it more often . . . 

 

Working with my hands and making things keeps me happy.

  

The morning chorus.  It starts with only a few voices, but it isn't long until they are all chiming in and delighting us with their beautiful songs.  Yesterday I could hear a robin, trilling.  They are cheeky little chaps . . .  robins.  Blackbirds also have a beautiful song. I can understand now why Paul McCartney wrote a song about it. 

 

The birds are already nesting. My friend April took this photo up in Scotland.  She takes the most amazing bird photos.  If the birds in Scotland are nesting, then I know they are nesting here also. We are coming up to the most beautiful birdsong time of the year! 

  

Although it ends rather sadly, I love the film Camelot.  The music is beautiful.  Todd loves it too.  We haven't watched it in a while.  Perhaps we can watch it tonight. I love all of the old musicals.  They don't really make them like that anymore.  I tried to watch that one they made last year with Ryan Gosling in it, LaLaLand, but I didn't like it very much at all.  I couldn't figure out the story. 

 

My phone calls to my mother.  She was in really good form yesterday.  Picked the phone up at the first ring and sounded all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  We talked nonstop and it wasn't a struggle to find conversation like there sometimes is.  I kept asking her questions about the past and her childhood and she was very happy to talk about those things, perhaps because her long term memory is a bazillion times better than her short term memory.  Her short term memory is very poor.  She has hardening of the arteries and some blockages, dimentia which is getting worse, and a host of other problems. The VON come in three times a week now to do her feet as she has problems with her toes.  I actually think that is a good thing, other than the fact they are doing her toes, because it is bringing someone else into her sphere of activity.  I wish the cousins and stuff were better at coming for visits. I know she would really enjoy the occasional one.  I am so grateful for all that my sister does for mom and dad.  Speaking of Cindy  . . .

Cindy and I, Gimli, Manitoba about 1961 

She is having cataract surgery this week, so keep her in your prayers for successful results. Look at my knees in that picture, lol.  They are funny shaped.  They still are!  Except they are a lot fatter now! 

But they are still getting me where I need to go, so that is another small and

wonderful thing.

  

A Valentines week treat of a takeaway Pizza.  Oh, I do so love a takeaway pizza. Todd, he is not fond of pizza at all. I am not sure why, but I love the stuff. I like homemade also, but sometimes I just crave a takeaway one. My cousin Hal makes the best takeaway pizza, but he doesn't deliver here to the UK.  That's probably a good thing because I have no will power when it comes to pizza.

I am doing great with the no chocolate thing however

about a month and counting!

 

They are getting ready to explode!  Each day they get a bit larger and pinker.  It won't be long now before we have blooms on the Camelia! They don't last for long but they sure are pretty. 

  

The hours of daylight are becoming noticeably longer and the sun is holding more warmth. Spring is on its way! 

 

Grateful to live in a country with gun control.  Our police are not even armed, except in special circumstances.  That is not to say there are no guns, but for the most part guns are controlled and I think it is a much safer place to live because of that.  Oh sure, there are still some about, but it not really common, and I don't want to start a war here, but no citizen should be able to buy automatic weapons no matter where you live. It just should not happen.  There is no reason for an ordinary person outside of war to have automatic weaponry at their disposal. No reason. At all.  I think I heard on the television yesterday that since the 1960's more people in the US have died in shooting incidents than in all the Wars they have fought altogether.  That is a really sad statistic.  I think Violent video games should also be banned.  But that is me.  Maybe I live in cloud cuckoo land, but I don't think you can sit children down in front of violent video games for hours every day and not expect that some of them are going to be adversely and mentally affected by it.  We are becoming Godless nations.

This beautiful city I get to call home.  I have always loved Chester, ever since I came over here to visit before Todd and I got married.  when we lived down South, I really missed it. I have lived longer here in Chester than I have ever lived anywhere in my whole life.

And those are my small and wonderfuls.  Lots of others as well such as health, love, church, faith, etc.  I am just living a grateful life.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.Show respect even to people who don't deserve it.

Not as a reflection of their character, 

but as a reflection of yours.

~Dave Willis   •。★★ 。* 。

Spiritual Enlightenment

  

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER 

Today's Reading - Mosiah 7:8-17 

Question - What have you learnt from the reading today? What does it mean to speak with boldness? 

Thoughts - I love that the place they gather the people is the temple. Its interesting to me that Limhi speaks this truth, we are in bondage, it is extremely hard to bear. I am grateful that because of Jesus Christ, every hard thing we have to bear now will be more than compensated to us. We have hope in the knowledge that He loves us and has redeemed us from death and hell. We have the sure knowledge of immortality stretching forth before us and even more amazingly, that we, as inconsistent and flawed as we are, can hope for, believe in, and strive with a surety towards, eternal life back with our Heavenly Parents, and our eternal families sealed to us through work we have completed in the temple. The plan of Our Father, accomplished by Jesus Christ our brother and our Saviour, which we are allowed to participate in! Oh it is wonderful to me!! 

Ammon is a great guy and a good leader. Speaking with boldness means being fearless, but I think its more than that, I think its also to be humble. Its to share what we know to be right regardless of what the world thinks because we care more about what God wants us to do. Ammon was bold because he knew that he had done nothing wrong. 

Tomorrow's Reading (Day 104) -  Mosiah 7:18-33 

Question - What have you learnt from the reading today? How are King Laman's cunning ways similar to satan's tactics?

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Tomato and Rice Soup, made with lots of goodies and brown rice.  This is fabulously tasty and quite healthy as well.

Have a wonderful week. I hope you are truly blessed.  Don't forget!

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And I do too!