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.  

 

Haphazardly coming across little reminders of my mom, like letters to my boys, cards, etc.  White feathers.  At first they made me cry and now they make me feel loved and that my mother is still watching over me. It is a great blessing to have loved someone so much in this lifetime that saying goodbye is so very hard and difficult to do. I am always so grateful for the knowledge I have that this life is not all that there is and that we can be with our loved ones again.

Life, believe, is not a dream 
So dark as sages say; 
Oft a little morning rain 
Foretells a pleasant day. 
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, 
But these are transient all; 
If the shower will make the roses bloom, 
O why lament its fall? 

Rapidly, merrily, 
Life's sunny hours flit by, 
Gratefully, cheerily, 
Enjoy them as they fly!  

 What though Death at times steps in 
And calls our Best away? 
What though sorrow seems to win, 
O'er hope, a heavy sway? 
Yet hope again elastic springs, 
Unconquered, though she fell; 
Still buoyant are her golden wings, 
Still strong to bear us well. 

Manfully, fearlessly, 
The day of trial bear, 
For gloriously, victoriously, 
Can courage quell despair! 
~Charlotte Bronte, Life 

 

The flowers in our garden are looking decidedly tired now, but then  . . .  it is the last day of August 2020.  (How on earth did that happen?)  I am so grateful to live in a country that is so beautiful in all of its seasons, and for the rain that makes it so. 

  

I love being a Grandmother and am very grateful for two sons who make an extra special effort to include me in theirs and their children's lives. Facetime is the next best thing to being there.  Another thing I am grateful for.  This wonderful modern technology which allows me to see my loved ones and talk to them face to face in real time, even though they are thousands of miles away.  

There will be plenty of excitement in their households this week with going back to school, etc.  I would imagine however it feels very different from every other year. This gives me more to pray for. I don't mind. I love to pray for others and especially for family. It is a gift for me, and I hope for 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 do think that next to December, October is my favourite month of the year.  Only 31 more days!  (counting today) 

 

Early mornings on my own. I enjoy my me-time. I am not anti-social, but I am a person who enjoys their own company.  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.  The only sounds are the tap tap tapping of the computer keys, Mitzie's soft snores and the morning chorus regalling me from the back garden. 

   

 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.  With the days getting shorter now, I am back to the joy of having both embroidering my days again.   Oh how very lucky I am.  

 

Enjoying this life while I can and being able to dance through it.  I have always loved music and I have always loved dancing to it.  I dance by myself most of the time. Todd says he has no rythym.  I don't care if I have rhthym or not, I'm dancing whenever I can!  Life flows easier if you can dance a little bit. Admittedly my steps are becoming a lot slower these days. 

 

When I think back over these last six months, I am in awe.  Despite being pretty much chained to our homes we have been blessed with plenty.  We are not wealthy. You probably couldn't even call us comfortable, but we are so blessed to have every one of our needs met.  That is no small thing in a world where so many have  nothing.  I hope I never take the blessing of having enough for granted. 

 

I have always been loved  . . .  by my parents, my siblings  . . .  friends, partners, children, grandchildren . . .  I have always been loved.  My Heavenly Father loves me most of all and with a perfect love that we cannot comprehend or even put into words.  I am grateful for that knowledge and for love, both the perfect and imperfect . . .  

  

Having someone to share my abundant life with . . . a husband, a family,  a pet, friends . . .  you.  Love, joy, peace, comfort  . . .  all that is good in life is doubled when shared with others.  Magically all that is bad or that makes us sad or fearful is halved when shared with others.  Sharing  . . .  a blessing in and of itself, no matter which way you look at it.   

 

 

 I am so grateful for my son's help in getting rid of that site that was stealing my content.  I am sure it is not the last time my content will be stolen, but I am pretty sure this particular lot won't steal it again.  They know now that I won't let them get away with it.  My son was so helpful in this.  He did what I had no knowledge of how to do. I could not have done this without him and his help!  I am so grateful for his willingness to help me with whatever.  He has been blessing my life for more than 45 years now.  That's amazing!

 

You can share many things with many people in life, but there is something extra special about the bond between sisters.  Your first best friend. Someone to cry with, someone to laugh with . . . someone who sometimes understands you better than you understand yourself. Through goodtimes and through bad. A constant in your life, for all of your life.  I love mine so much.   

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *There are seven days

in the week,

and someday isn't 

one of them.

~Unknown  •。★•。★★ 。* 。

 •。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。 

 

There is quite a fun recipe in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Pancake Soup.  Also known as Crepe Soup or Fladlesuppe.  This is such a simple soup, but oh so delicious.  Very similar to chicken noodle soup except the noodles are tightly rolled up pancakes.  Yummy!  

I hope your week ahead is filled with loads of small and wonderful things and your cup runneth over with blessings.  Don't forget! 

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And I do too!    

 

 

 

 

A This and That Kind of a Day . . .

 

I have a very poorly doggie here again this morning.  I knew she was not feeling too well last night because she didn't want her normal 8 pm treat.  We watch The Gilmore Girls every night at about 8 pm (we are so predictable). As soon as she hears the music she gets all excited for her Gilmore Girls Treat which is simply a few cheese wotsits in a small bag that she can have the fun of digging out. I know she is very spoiled, but it is what it is.  She also did not come upstairs with us.  Normally she comes up and sleeps next my side of the bed all night.  She also gets a gravy bone before bed.  I give her half of one and Todd gives her the other half. She loves those. 

 

They are only tiny, but she loves that bedtime snack and it was definitely not like her to miss it  Also earlier in the evening she kept barking to go out. In, out, in, out, in, out . . . .  

This morning she has not even sniffed her dentastix (she gets half a medium one each day to clean her teeth), nor has she eaten her breakfast.  She has however thrown up once, and is now sleeping on the sofa.  

She was drinking water out of her pool yesterday, even though I told her not to.  I wonder if that has no gone well for her.  In any case, Todd is emptying it today and putting it away.  Just in case. 

Its always so worriesome when your furry family members are not well.  

  

Over 10,000 anti-lockdown protesters gathered in London yesterday at Trafalgar Square to protest  against lockdowns and vaccination programs. No masks. No social distancing. Apparently there were quite a few taking part throughout the world.  They believe the pandemic is just a hoax perpetrated by the World Health Organization and Governments in order to subdue and take control of the people.

What are they . . . .  crazy? 

I wonder if they have an answer to just what it is that is causing all of these deaths worldwide.  Or an answer to why Governments would bring down their own economies for a hoax.  Perhaps they would like to have one on one conversations with anyone who has lost a loved one to this virus, loved ones who have had to die alone without anyone to hold their hand? 

This behaviour is so irresponsible and puts the lives of everyone at risk.  Their actions are prolonging things.  Causing surges in the virus.  Making a mockery of those of us who have followed the rules in an attempt to bring this crazy virus under some kind of control.  What will they do when our health care system has been brought down, unable to cope with the numbers of our sick?? How will they feel when they are the ones fighting for their lives and no ventilators are available, or hospital beds, or care workers, etc.? 

I can tolerate a lot of things, but uttery stupidity combined with a total lack of respect for others always makes me angry. 

I feel the same way about people who believe that the Holocaust never happened and was a hoax, or that the earth is flat.  Come on  now . . .  

 

I spent a great deal of time yesterday working with my son to make some good changes to the food blog.  I am in the process of being accepted by Mediavine as one of their food blogs.  They take their bloggers really seriously and I have had to do things like change the size of my font, the format of my writing, etc. It will be well worth it in the long run I believe, and its been really fun working with my son at this.  

I am really hoping that he will want to start doing the occasional post with one or both of his boys for on the blog as well.  He thinks its a good idea, so we will see what happens. It can be the "family" business. His youngest son wants to be a vlogger when he grows up. This could be good practice for him. 

 

Some children have already gone back to school, but I know in Canada and in this country the majority of children will be going back this next week. My son's boys are going to be having a very adapted way of learning this year, with staggered classroom hours and numbers, much online learning, etc.  My oldest son's youngest son is quite anxious about returning to school, and I think all of them are actually a bit anxious about it and I don't blame them. I would think that any parent at this point would be quite nervous about it and what might happen. It must feel a bit like playing Russian Roulette with their loved ones lives. 

As a Grandmother, I am nervous about back to school.  I am glad it is not my choice to make because I know I would have a very difficult time sending my kids back to school. I am afraid I would want to opt for home schooling, but at the same time I know I would be rubbish at it. 

My brother and his wife home-schooled their four girls right up to their last few years in high school and they did a brilliant job with it. You need to be really dedicated and very organized in order to do it successfully.  It is hard work and takes a lot of planning.  I really applaud anyone who can do it and do it right.  My brother's four girls are all very accomplished and intelligent and all have gone on to secondary education. One has a great job as a graphic artist, one is a nurse and the other two are still in full time education. 

 

(Cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford) 

My sister and I were brought up right on the edge of the women's movement.  Although we were greatly encouraged, and in fact expected . . .  to get a high school diploma, that is where any encouragment ended.  Aside from that, the only thing we were encouraged to do was to get some kind of secondary training that might keep us in work until we got married to a man who would then take care of us. The idea of us ever going to University or having "careers" was never even contemplated.  Those eggs were all put into my brother's basket because . . .  he was a man and was going to have to take care of a family one day.   

I took secretarial and I have never really worked as a Secretary.  I took Chef's training in my early 40's. My sister did some book-keeping/accountancy courses later in life and works part time at that now, but for many years she worked as a fitter for a construction company, making doors and such. Very physical labour. 

Our careers for the most part were basically raising families and keeping homes, and the years I spent doing that were some of the happiest years in my life. Being a homemaker brought me great joy.

Our parents did the best for each of us that they could.  They did what they thought was right. I will always be grateful for a childhood where I was safe, well cared for and loved. 

I feel that I have accomplished quite a lot despite having got a late start in life for that, and I am proud of all of it, and I am proud of my Sister and who she is.  My parents did the best that they could for us and raised three very good, kind and caring people. There is nothing wrong with that. 

 

We all be good people,

and that is because we had a set of really good parents.

 

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

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *sometimes its better

to refrain from deep introspection

and just allow yourself to be.• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  another small batch recipe  . . .  Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with a Blackberry Sauce.  Delicious! 

 

Have a wonderful Sunday. It is quite cool here this  morning, but the sun is shining and so far there is nary a cloud in the sky.  Whatever you get up to don't forget! 

 

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And I do too!