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.

 

I can remember when we got our first telephone when I was a child and it was a really big deal for us to call my grandparents on their birthday and wish them a Happy Birthday.  Of course nowadays most people don't have a house phone, at least that is how it is with my children.   Mobiles, that's pretty much it . . .  but yay for facetime!  I don't think anything on earth beats getting facetime birthday greetings from grandchildren, unless it is getting realtime birthday greetings from them.   That is pretty awesome I would imagine!  Facetime has to be the next best thing however.   That and knowing I have sons thoughtful enough to think of me and do that for me.   It meant the world to me, as you can imagine, to hear and see those little boys wish me a Happy Birthday!   Being a Grandmother is such a blessing.  My son facetimed me the other day from a street parade in Kensington.  You could never have imagined such things were possible years ago.  

  

  Birthday Greetings from near and far and everywhere in between.  I do believe that I have the best and nicest family on earth and the best and nicest friends.  I could not keep up with all of the Birthday Greetins last Tuesday on my facebook page.   I was trying to respond to each one individually, but had to eventually give it up for a group thanks because it just got to be too difficult!  I so appreciated every one, and the cards in the post.   So lovely and such a surprise some of them were!  I got a Birthday Card from my father. It made me cry. He normally did not remember in time to send one most years. I am sure my sister had everything to do with it. It was in the same envelope as her card. It was just a lovely, lovely Birthday. A sad one in some ways, but lovely all the same. 

 

The gardens are starting to look a bit tired and bedraggled now, but these tudor roses, or wild roses in the back just keep on giving, and giving and giving  . . .   I said to Todd we really should plant a couple of them out front too.  They would really fill in a couple of gaps beautifully.   So stunning and gorgeous.  And they bloom so profusely!  

  

 I may complain oftimes about the small size of my kitchen, but upon reflection, this kitchen I have now is eons better than the kitchen I had when I first moved over here to the UK.  We were living in a one bedroom maisonette/sheltered accomodation and the whole flat was very tiny.   My kitchen was quite small. All I had was basically one cupboard on either side of the sink beneath the window, and a wall cupboard on the other side, beneath the counter on that wall was the space for the washer and one more cupboard.  It was very tiny.   There was no space for anything really. It was just really, really tiny and somewhat frustrating to work in as a cook.  Of course when we worked at the Manor I was quite spoiled by the kitchen we had in the cottage there. Moving back here to Chester and into this house meant that I lost that lovely big kitchen which was a dream to cook in, but I didn't have to work under the thumb of the dragon lady anymore, which was a real load off.  I am still blessed, despite the small size of my now-kitchen, as it is still a lot bigger than the one we started out our marriage with.   You have to count your blessings where you find them.  

 

 The blessing of living in a Temperate Climate.   A place where we get to experience all of the contrasts weatherwise that Mother nature has to share with us . . .  sunny and warm, cold and frosty . . . and yes . . .  dull and rainy!   I have never lived in any other kind of a climate, so I cannot imagine what it would be like to live in a climate where it was always hot and humid, or always cold and frigid . . .  or dry and dusty.   I love that I get to experience a much wider variety of weather types.   Even if I don't always appreciate that it is raining, I do value the fact that it is the frequent rain that makes this country I live in so beautiful and green.   I am grateful for that.  As Anne Shirley would say, I am so glad that I live in a world with Octobers! 

 

I love these early mornings which I have all to myself.   The only ones here are me and you, my invisible friends . . .  and Mitzie of course.   I am alone with my thoughts with no interruption . . .  save a wet cold nose ever now and again nudging my shins, reminding me she is still there.   A quick tickle behind her ears and she is happy and goes back to sleep. 

I sit here in my chair and pen my thoughts . . .  pretty close to three hundred and sixty five days a year.  Each morning through the window in front of me I watch the milk float glide silently down the street as the milk man delivers little pint bottles to all of his customers . . .  and they still clink as they did when I was young.  A sound that has never changed.  I get to watch the sun rise  . . .

These days the back door stays open in the mornings . . .  it is warm enough to do that . . .  and the morning chorus from the sparrows which live in our hedge delights me with a melody that only they can sing and that I feel pretty blessed to hear.  Be it ever so.

The only other sound is that of my fingers tap tapping on the keys in front of me . . . yes, I am one very blessed woman . . .  and a part of that blessing comes from the fact that I know it to be so . . . 

 

Waking up happy.  I try to do this every morning.  I am one of those lucky people who always tries to see the glass as being half full.  I cannot imagine being any other way.  Yes, I am a Pollyanna type of person.  Some people find this as annoying I suppose. It is just the way that I am.  I just don't see what is to be gained from looking at anything from a negative point of view.  Does it not only make what may not be so pleasant a whole lot worse than it needs to be??  I am grateful to be a half full glass kind of a person.  

 

For sweet days that are wrapped up in the gift paper of sun-rises and sun-sets and the ability I have to be able to enjoy both. There are only a few weeks of the year where I do not have the priveledge of witnessing both.  The days are getting shorter now and I am back to the joy of having both embroidering my days again. 

 And I guess that is all of my small and wonderful things for this week . . .  I have only one thing left to share and that is this wonderful quote which I heard last night when we were watching something on the television . . . and I thought that is so true, but it is a beautiful truth.


"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."
~Robert Frost

Home is not just a place or a house or a country or anything like that . . .  home is love and acceptance and peace.  I am grateful for mine.  It is the simple things in life which truly matter most.

A thought to carry with you  . . .

 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *So much has been given to me, 
I have no time to 

ponder over that which 
has been denied. 
~ Helen Keller •。★★ 。* 。 

  

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  a simple dish.  Pasta with Chicken Broth & Cheese.  Seriously simple. Quick to make. Seriously tasty. 

I hope your week ahead is filled to overflowing with a multitude of small and wonderful things.  Don't forget! 

 

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And I do too!