All Things Nice . . .

  

Summer Song by John Sloane

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. 

Music to listen to

 

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, Oregon 
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 
this is Oregon's only surviving historical, wooden lighthouse.

 

I want to live in a lighthouse and write books for a living and dress only in mossy colored sweaters and grow mushrooms and thyme and tomatoes and lavender in a little garden surrounded by a little yellow fence . . . .

 
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“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.”
~Wendell Berry
 

  

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Cottagecore: Sound

•  The tea kettle whistling in the silent morning air. 
•  The fire crackling in the stove while you snuggle up in your favorite chair. 
•  Leaves rustling together in autumn, whispering their secrets into every breeze. 
• The screen door opening when your friends come to visit- the anticipation before the knock. 
• That one squeaky rocking chair that always manages to be the most comfortable. 
• Picking out individual calls in the birdsong that starts in the nearby forest every morning. 
• The bees buzzing by as you work in your garden. They came to say hello! 
• The sound of a hammer against a wooden fencepost, echoing down the dirt road. 
• The babbling of the stream where you eat your packed lunch. 
• Your partner (or best friend) humming from the next room.  

 

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I honestly recommend putting your hands in the dirt to everyone. Let the soil under your nail. If you are lucky meet a worm. It’s healing and we should do it more often . . .

  

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When my three middle children were teens we lived in an old farmhouse. It was out in the country on the banks of the Georgian Bay.  We were surrounded by birdseed farms and apple orchards. In late summer across the road from us were fields and fields of sunflowers.  Such a beautiful sight they were, such a beautiful sight. 

 

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A beautiful reminder to bloom where you've been planted  . . . no accidents. Its just life and opportunities for growth  . . . 

things that can help ease anxiety:

- a hot soothing drink like chamomile tea
- warm yellow lighting, like a little lamp
- sweet scents or candles
- reading a paper book
- organising things
- holding a cushion or pillow
- a big bowl of soup
- listening to songs that are calming
- light exercise or a walk in a quiet street
- fresh warm laundry and a tidy room
- remembering things you’re thankful for
- soft and comfortable clothes

  

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Slowly the morning climbs toward the day. 

As for the poem, not this poem,

but any poem. Do you feel its sting?

Do you feel its hope, its entrance

to the community?

Do you feel its hand in your hand?

~Mary Oliver, "Good Morning." 

 

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CHEERS FOR CHERRY PIES

May, 1938, The Farmer's Wife

One cheer for the good looking cooks themselves - eight of them from eight different states - who entered this national cherry pie baking contest held recently in Chicago.

A second cheer goes for the delectable pies which these girls baked from cherries grown and canned in their states. Flaky brown crusts bursting wih cherry-red fruit and oozing a bit of crimson juice! That tart-sweet favour of cherries enhanced with a bi of butter and a meltingly-rich pastry!

A third cheer goes to the country kitchen cooks among them, for six of the eight got their star in pie baking in a kitchen whose windows framed a view of the red barn and silo or perhaps a wheat field or cherry orchard. 

 

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And what would that all be without a recipe for a Cherry Pie.  (I am assuming this is the winning recipe.)

Indiana Cherry Pie

3 TBS cornstarch (5 TBS if the pie will be served warm)

1/2 cup juice

1 cup sugar

1 TBS butter

few grains salt

3 cups unsweetened red canned cherries, drained 

Mix cornstarch and juice in the top of double boiler. Cook until thick stirring constantly. Add sugar and cook five minutes longer. Remove from fire, add butter and salt, then cherries, stirring carefully. Let stand while the crust is mixed and rolled. Pour into pastry-lined tin. Cover with top crust, and cut to allow for escape of steam. Seal edges, bake 15 minutes in a hot oven (425*F) and 30 minutes in a moderate oven. (350*F).

~Mary Wein, Indiana

  

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Compliment recklessly! Say the nice things that come to your head! We've got better things to do than resisting the instinct to be kind!

 

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There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

who had so many children she knew not what to do.

~old nursery rhyme, 1794 

Debates over the meaning of the rhyme have largely revolved around matching the old woman with historical figures, as Peter Opie observed "for little reason other than the size of their families". Candidates include Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II (1683–1760), who had eight children, and Elizabeth Vergoose of Boston, who had six children of her own and ten stepchildren.[1] Some evidence suggests the rhyme refers to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev of Shuya, Russia, who reportedly birthed 69 children during her lifetime (1707–c.1782) (from Wikipedia)

 

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When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness,

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world,

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "Its simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."

~Mary Oliver 

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

  

Yes, its a picture one. You can just about hear the trickling of the water as the boat moves slowly through the river, birds singing in the tree tops along the way, the odd boom of a large fat toad long its earthy banks,  while cricket sing in the grass  . . .  

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  The Best Vanilla Cupcakes.  They are made with yogurt!  Moist and delicious. 

Have a wonderful Saturday. Yesterday was one of those days when everything turned to dust. Lets hope that today is much better! Don't forget!

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And I do too!   

 

Happy First of August!