All Things Nice . . .

 

The door was shut, as doors should be, 

 Before you went to bed last night; 

Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see, 

 And left your window silver white. 

 He must have waited till you slept; 

 And not a single word he spoke, 

But pencilled o’er the panes and crept 

 Away again before you woke. 

 And now you cannot see the hills 

 Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane; 

But there are fairer things than these 

 His fingers traced on every pane. 

 Rocks and castles towering high; 

 Hills and dales, and streams and fields; 

And knights in armor riding by, 

 With nodding plumes and shining shields. 

 And here are little boats, 

and there Big ships 

with sails spread to the breeze; 

And yonder, palm trees waving fair 

 On islands set in silver seas, 

 And butterflies with gauzy wings; 

 And herds of cows and flocks of sheep; 

And fruit and flowers and all the things 

 You see when you are sound asleep. 

 For, creeping softly underneath 

 The door when all the lights are out, 

Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe, 

 And knows the things you think about. 

 

He paints them on the window-pane 

 In fairy lines with frozen steam; 

And when you wake you see again 

 The lovely things you saw in dream.

~Gabriel Setoun, Jack Frost 

We've had a couple of really frosty mornings this past week. Mornings where everything out front looked as if it had been dusted with sugar.  It reminded me of when I was a young child living in Manitoba, North of Winnipeg in a small town called Gimli. We moved there when I was five and left when I was 10.

It was a small Icelandic town, about two hours North of Winnipeg. It would get really cold there in the Winter.  Our Windows always frosted up.  I used to love waking up in the morning and seeing all the wonderful brush strokes that Jack Frost had left on the windows. Oh, the magical scenes he left behind were filled with pure wonder.

It has been a very long time since I have seen a window frosted like that. I doubt, with the double glazed and insulated windows we have today, it is a sight I will ever see again. 

 

I've been doing the Joy Dare for November from Ann Voskamp. I have a notebook and I am making note of each thing in spaces I have left just for that purpose. Of course you will not find all things in order and on the day.  These small blessings are spread throughout the month.  It is a special way of taking note of the tiny blessings that are abundant in all of our lives would we only take the time to pay attention.  Or at least that is my thoughts on it at any rate!  It never hurts to pay attention to the tender mercies which are ours to freely receive each and every day of our lives.  

My two little munchkins have discovered the joys of playing in the bathtub this week. This is nutmeg playing peekaboo around the corner.  There is never a dull moment with these two around.  What a blessing they have been in my life. 

 

Of course they are looking more like cats now than kittens.   Cinnamon gives me regular massages, her wee caramel colored paws are very adept at the art.   She gets up on my chest and looks at me with sleepy love filled eyes as her paws start moving back and forth, kneading my chest, little toes spreading wide and going back to narrow again and again, as she purrs a simple song of joy to me. Nutmeg doesn't do that. Just Cinnamon.  

Kneading is a natural part of cat behavior. A cat will usually knead by pushing their front paws into a soft object altering pressure between the paws. It could be a blanket, a pillow, or a part of your own body. The reason it’s called “kneading” is that the motion is somewhat similar to the process of kneading dough. In fact, some people refer to this as “making biscuits.” I like that terminology. 

Making biscuits. Cinnamon can make biscuits on me any time she wants. 

 

I am sorely tempted to make these cookies.  Pan-Banging Snickerdoodles. The recipe is from A Farm Girl Dabbles.  It only makes 10 cookies, so, with 2 cups of flour in it, they must be pretty big cookies.  Apparently you bang the cookie sheet on the rack of the oven several times while they are baking (Pan-banging) and each time it spreads them out, resulting in a chewy centered, crisp edged cookie.  I am intrigued and cannot resist a snickerdoodle. 

My sister brought me over a tiny jar of snickerdoodle almond butter that she had made earlier this week. It is some good eaten with apple slices.  A healthy snack, especially this time of the year when the apples are so fresh. 

 

Each year, around this time of year, all the big shops in the UK start to release their annual Christmas television adverts. They are usually highly anticipated and some of them are really quite good.  I have caught a few this year on YouTube because I don't live there anymore, but so far have been disappointed in the caliber of what I have seen.  Boots with a bottomless gift bag.  The actress who plays Queen Victoria in the series is in that and to me it just smacks of greed and people wanting more of everything. But maybe that is post Covid. (Not that we are anywhere near being post-Covid.) Maybe people are wanting to splash out more than ever. 

The M&S one where we finally get to hear Percy Pig speak is my favorite one so far.  The Disney Step Dad one is not too bad either. You can find most of them on YouTube. Just type in British Christmas Adverts 2021. Be warned, you  will not find it easy to get away, as you start watching all of them, even the ones from years gone past, and they can really tug on your heart strings.

 

So this is happening now.  And he's not even laying on the towel I have there specifically for this purpose. I really need to get a desk.  I guess I best end this off as it will only get worse.  Before I know it, he will be trying to sleep on the keyboard itself.

 

He is so darned compelling.  I am off shopping with my sister this morning anyways, so must get ready to go.  I will leave you with a thought for the day  . . . 

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

 *A beautiful day begins

with a beautiful mindset.

•。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。 

In The English Kitchen today  . . . .  Mom's Best Apple Crisp.  Delicious!

Have a wonderful Saturday!  Whatever you get up to today be happy and  don't forget! 

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And I do too!