My Favourite Things . . .

 

A few of the things in life that make my heart go pitty pat. Maybe they will do the same thing for yours. ♥♥♥   

 

My friends.  I love having friends.  I have lots of them, but only a few really close ones. Some of them go back a really long ways, some only a few years, some I have never met in person.  I especially love spending time with friends.  My friend Tina is stopping by today.  I can't wait to see her, spend some time together and have a good old fashioned catch up! 

 

Members of the Brassica family.  I love spending time with them as well. Eating them, lol. Seriously I think they are some of my favourite vegetables. I can't eat them raw anymore, but I even used to love them raw.  They are so delicious and so good for you! They are also known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages or mustard plants. This diverse grouping includes plants whose leaves, flowers, stems, and roots are cooked and eaten. Some of the most common brassicas include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, swedes, and turnips. Less familiar brassicas include broccoli raab, collards, cress, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, and bok choi. Love, love, love them all!

 

Colour.  I love colour. I would hate to live in a black and white world. Its perception is derived through the stimulation of cone cells in the human eye via electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum. This is why we cannot see colour in the dark and why other species of creatures do not perceive colour in quite the same way that we do.  That's the science of it.  I love colour, science or not, and I love surrounding myself with it.

 

Frozen peas. Next to fresh peas they are the only peas I will eat and I prefer the smaller ones.  I hate peas when they become overly large and woody. I cannot stand/abide tinned peas.  I grew up on tinned peas and hated them.  I remember having frozen peas at a Mother/Daughter Girl Guide Banquet and falling in love.  It was the first time I realised that peas could actually taste good!!!  My mother found a dead cricket in a tin of peas once.  I think that might be the actual moment I started hating tinned peas. 

  

 

Watching the sun rise in the morning.  I haven't been able to watch too many lately as it is getting light pretty early, but when it starts rising a bit later at other times of the year I think it is a beautiful spectacle to witness  . . .  almost as beautiful as  . . . 

  

Sun sets, and these two photos perfectly represent the differences between the beauty of the two. You can clearly see the differences in the angles of light and depth of colour.  I love them both.

 

I love all of the books of scripture but I do believe that I love the Psalms most of all.  I remember memorising the 23rd Psalm for my Religion and Life Badge in the Girl Guides and it has stayed with me all of my life. I love to sit and read them. They touch my soul in a special way. 

 

Chocolate Brownies, and I love my Fudge Walnut Brownies most of all.  They are the perfect brownie with just the right amount of moistness, density and chocolate fudgieness.  They are so good that I daren't ever bake them unless I am baking them for someone else. If I have them in the house, I cannot leave them alone. Its that simple.I remember attending the taping of a cookery show in London when we lived down South. Paul Rankin was on it along with one of the James Tanner and they baked brownies.  They were the most horrible brownies I had ever seen or tasted. Far too gooey and wet.  You should be able to pick up a brownie without it oozing down your hand. To me an oozing brownie is a brownie that is not properly baked.  You expect that in a molten lava cake. Not in a brownie. 

  

Fresh berry season and we are in the midst of it now. Our strawberries in the garden are all done now, but the blueberries and blackberries are beginning.  I adore Scottish raspberries.  They are beautiful and sweet. I cannot get enough of them.

 

Rolling yarn into balls. It is the type of mindless chore you can do while you are sitting watching television in the evenings. I like seeing my yarn all rolled into balls.  It is easy to store and a bowl of yarn balls makes the perfect coffee table decoration.

 

The two Duchesses. Love these two ladies.  What great role models for young women they are.  I think Princess Diana would have heartily approved of these two lovely women as wives for her sons.  

 

Call me old fashioned, but I hold myself to a high standard in all of these. I am not perfect by any stretch but I find that modern society is sadly lacking in correct moral principles such as virtue, honesty, respect for others, honor, integrity . . .  and no, you don't have to be a person of faith to hold onto these things or to exemplify these virtues. You just have to be a good person.   

 Lavender.  I quite simply adore it. I need to pick some before its too late. Its hard though as the bees love it too! 

  

 

Doodling.  All of the margins in all of my notebooks are filled with doodles.  I am not sure why, but doodling helps me to concentrate and focus on what I am listening to.  Is anyone else like that? 

  

Look at this doodle by Cambodian artist, Visoth Kakvei. Its truly amazing.  I have never brought it to that level.  These must take hours and hours and hours. 

I always doodle the same thing. Flowers and butterflies. Boring.

 

 And with that I will leave you with a thought for the day  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.°Negative people need drama like oxygen.

Stay positive, it will take their breath away.

~unknown   •。★★ 。* 。

We have an engineer coming today to look at our washing machine. It started making funny noises yesterday. Thank goodness for the maintenance agreement we pay for each month.  I was just saying to my sister yesterday that nothing is built to last forever anymore.  Its a shame really.  Most things seem to have a built in expiry date  . . . 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Salmon & Potato Gratin.  Its a doddle really!

Have a great Thursday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!