All Things Nice . . .

 

Woman with a rose, Anthony Van Dyke 

I don't have to chase extraordinary moments

to find happiness . . . 

Its right in front of me if I'm paying attention

and practicing gratitude.

~Brene Brown 

Today I am flooding my page with all things that are nice, because in the light of what we have been going through in the year 2020 to date, we could all use a little bit of nice. 

MUSICA 

   

 "We read books to find out who we are. 

What other people, real or imaginary, 

do and think and feel is an essential guide to 

our understanding of what 

we ourselves are and may become.” 

~Ursula K. Le Guin  

I cannot imagine a world without books, and I have far too many of them.  Some of my most favourite books are like old friends.  I read them and then put the carefully away, taking them out again in a year or maybe two or three, to revisit with them and read them all over again.  I have been doing this with Emmeline by Judith Rossner since it was first published in 1980.

   

Not all angels are from the other side of the veil.

Some of them we walk with and talk with.

Here, now, every day . . .

~Jeffrey R Holland 

Have you ever had an angelic encounter?  I don't mean the kind with wings and flaming swords. But I do know that somehow magically throughout my life help has arrived whenever I needed it.  

  

Life is ironic.

It takes sadness to know happiness,

noise to appreciate silence,

and absence to value presence.

~unknown  

My sister has never changed the message on the answering machine in my mother's house.  If you call there and get the answering machine . . .  my mother still answers  with her familiar "public speaking" voice. I confess I call sometimes when I know nobody is going to be home, just to hear her voice and then I hang up.  I never leave a message.  Perhaps I should. Do you think she would hear me if I did?  I sure wish  . . . 

 

The world only exists in your eyes,

you can make it as big or as small 

as you like.

~F Scott Fitzgerald 

Sometimes I press flowers between the pages of the books I know I am going to read again, like my scriptures.  They stay there hidden like little gems, ready to delight me again one day when I least expect it. Such surprises are amongst the many joys I count in my life.  

 

Evidence suggests that Dickinson lived much of her life in isolation. Considered an eccentric by the locals, she developed a penchant for white clothing and was known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, to even leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most friendships between her and others depended entirely upon correspondence.  Her words often speak to my heart.  I wonder what she would think did she know when she was penning her words that women down through the generations would read them and they would resonate in the hearts of so many others.  That is a question many writers must think about when they pen their journals. I know I do.

 

To see a world in a grain of sand,
and heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.
~William Blake 

I have always loved nature and pondered over even the most minute detail of it. How everything fits together with a specific plan in mind. How it all interlocks and is dependant one thing upon another. Everything with a purpose, even if we cannot immediately chance upon it. There is a reasoning in all things. 

 

July's moon is known as the Blessing Moon.  Its also known as the Meadow Moon, the Buck Moon, the Thunder Moon, the Hay Moon and the Wart Moon. 

I'll take a blessing over any of those things any day of the week! Despite the heat, this is a month of blessings, of ripening tomatoes on the vine, of beautiful flowers, plump peppers, watermelons, and the first of the baby peas. The birds have not yet gone silent and fledglings in the garden delight us with their antics. 

 

Aphelion . . .

The point in the year where the earth is the farthest from the sun.  This event falls on today, at 12:34, when the sun will be 152,095,295 km away from the earth. 

What I want to know is how do they know these things, and whose job is it to seek them out?  

 

Although you certainly cannot pop one into your pocket to carry around with you for good luck, the charm for the  month of July is the bee. They, traditionally, have had so many lucky associations that they can surely count as charms. Living, breathing, honey making charms. A bee landing on you is supposed to be deemed as lucky and one flying into your house is said to bring good luck with it or a visitor, so long as you leave it to find its own way out naturally.

And those are my nice things for today  . . .

A thought to carry with you . . .

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *Having a soft heartin a cruel world
is  courage,
not weakness.•。★★ 。* 。 

 

 In The English Kitchen today . . .  Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with a Honey-Orange Cream.  Tis the season for sweet berries!  

To everyone, Happy Saturday.  I am off to make pancakes!  Smile and don't forget! 

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And I do too!