All Things Nice . . .

 

Dear March, come in

How glad I am

I hope for you before

Put down your hat, you must have walked

How out of breath you are

Dear March, how ae you, and the Rest

Did you leave Nature well

Oh March, Come right upstairs with me,

I have so much to tell.

I got your Letter, and the Birds,

The Maples never knew you were coming,

I declare, how Red their Faces grew,

But March, forgive me,

And those Hills you left for me to Hue,

There was no purple suitable,

You took it all with you.

Who knocks? That April.

Lock the door

I will not be pursued. He stayed away a Year to call

When I am occupied

But trifles look so trivial

As soon as you have come.

The blame is just as dear as Praise

And Praise as mere as Blame

~Emily Dickenson, Dear March

 

(source)

I was sitting here yesterday thinking that it was taking overly long for the publisher to pay me for my book, as I still had not received payment, and so I decided to e-mail them to see if there was a problem.  Apparently they never got my invoice?  Strange, but that is the internet for you. I resent it and they did get it this time.  I hope it doesn't take too long to process, as I was going to use it to pay my income tax this year.   

Just goes to show you that you need to question things if they don't happen within the time span that you expect. Had I not e-mailed, this might have gone on forever!  I don't know what it is like to run a huge company, but I would imagine that things like this do get overlooked and lost because they have tons to deal with.  I am not sure how many books they publish a year. 

The important thing the wheel is rolling now. 

 

(source)

I have always loved this house/barn, whatever it is. I would quite happily live in this.  I love the color, that dark blue and I can imagine it surrounded by white hydrangea in the summer months.  

I picture inside on the ground floor it would be open plan with a huge kitchen.  There would be a long island with a breakfast bar separating it from the dining area which would open onto a great room with a log burning wood stove.  Two bedrooms and baths off to the side and up stairs beneath that roof, a reading loft, with light that penetrates from the cupola on top.

And in the summer months a wooden glider swing in the back, painted white,  two seats facing each other . . .  where you could sit with friends, enjoying cold glasses of lemonade, ice cubes tinkling as you talk and laugh and dream together. 

And look  . . . just over that small rise  . . . the ocean sits, the perfect place to enjoy the beauty of sunrises and sunsets. 

Oh, I am dreaming now  . . . 

 

(source)

I was thinking this morning a out my garden back in the UK, about how it would be coming to life now. How the bush by the front door would be covered with huge pink blooms and the oriental poppy would be pushing its way well out of the ground, and how the hydrangea would be covered in buds waiting to burst into leaf.  Purple hyacinth coming up and daffodils in bloom. The rose bushes leafing out.

There was so much care put into that space. It always brought me great joy every month of the year.  I cannot get onto my knees to garden, to weed or plant or anything. I need a space that takes care of itself, or least window boxes or containers.  I think I could manage container gardening. Or at least I like to think that I can! 

I wonder if the frogs still go back to the garden in the UK, looking for where they began.  We had many frogs that would return every spring to spawn, even after we got rid of the pond. I used to love to watch them in the summer months, the babies . . .  sunning themselves on the rocks.  The Missionaries always enjoyed the frogs as well. 

 

(source)

Do you ever look at old portraits of people and wonder about the person . . .  who were they, what were their lives like?  You could weave whole stories around them. This is a painting of a young woman named Ginevra de Benci.  It was an early portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and so we probably know more about her than most  . . . 

She was a member of the de Benci family of Florence and was born in 1457, and died in 1521, age 63 or 64.  The fact that her family was well known and indeed that she had her portrait painted tells me that she was born into a wealthy family of some influence. Wikipedia says they were wealthy merchants, and so she had a life of privilege.

She did marry at the age of seventeen and many poets did write poetry about her.  So she must have been beautiful, or considered to be beautiful, or at the very least had a very pleasant personality and aura.

All is not happily ever after however, as she spent her later life in a self-imposed exile, recovering from illness and an ill fated love affair.

But here we are almost 500+ years later wondering about her . . . 

Am I the only one who is like that, who wonders and has a curiosity about these people we see in portraits and their dreams??? 

Thinking about this portrait reminds me of the film Romeo and Juliette that I saw back when I was in Grade Seven, in 1968. I would be 13 years old I think.  I saw it at the local Cinema here in town. (It is a restaurant now, the cinema long having been shut down.)  I remember crying throughout the film. 

It was so tragic and so beautifully acted. At least I thought that it was and it remains to this day my favorite version. It truly brought Shakespeare to life for me. 

This tale of star-crossed lovers caught in the cross-hairs of their family's feud with each other . . . both destined to die for their love. So very tragic.

I remember this boy I had had such a huge crush on was at the movie with another girl he had taken and that only added to my heart ache.  

Star-crossed lovers, tragic deaths and unrequited love . . .  an unbeatable combination.  I think that was the very first time I had my heart somewhat broken  . . .

His name was Doug MacDonald.  He played percussion in the school band of which I was a clarinetist. I thought he looked like Doctor McCoy from Star Trek. We would sometimes walk home from school together after band practice.

I found these Belgian Waffle Thins at my local pharmacy yesterday. I could not resist picking up a box.  They are not quite the same brand that I used to pick up occasionally when I was in the UK.  Those were Juls Destrooper brand.  Tres expensive here.  Anyways, I had to bring a box home with me. The girls at the tills were very curious about them, wanting to know what they tasted like.  I told them kind of like a sugar cone that you can sometimes get when you are buying ice cream.  Crisp, sweet, moreish.  

I did find a recipe for them on All Recipes, but it uses 5 pounds of flour and a dozen eggs.  Me best keep looking I think. lol

I won't be making anything like that for a while at any rate as I adjust to this new fodmap diet. Its going to be a learning curve, but hopefully it won't be long and then eventually I will be able to introduce foods back into my diet to see what it is that really causes me distress.

Life gets very exciting from time to time.

I miss Yakult.  I used to have one of those every morning.  A small pro-biotic drink. 

 

(source)

It has been very cold these past couple of days. I think it was -14 when I got up yesterday morning and today it is -8.  The heat pump has been working in overtime.  I am looking forward to spring.  Come May, it will be a year since I moved into this small place of mine, and I have made it a home.  Today it is a rather messy home with cat toys spread out all over. I will pick them up.  Those little kit kats are quite messy at times.  But I am grateful for the company.  

Right now they are sitting in their basket looking out the front window at the big snow pile out there.  

Sometimes they freak me out a bit. They sit and stare at the floor  with a certain intensity, like they are seeing or hearing something which I cannot see or hear. I find myself wondering what is it that they are seeing or hearing?  Is it mice?  Insects?  What? 

I still have not let them come in and sleep with me. I try occasionally, but always end up kicking them out because they never seem to settle, and I can't be dealing with that.

 

(source)

Having said that I am sleeping better these days than I have done in years.  I fall asleep and sleep right through for the most part. I am a person who has always had sleep problems and I am ashamed to say I have had problems with sleep medication from time to time.  

I remember back in the 1980's I had been given sleeping tablets by the Doctor and I found that they were depressing me. I would find myself sometimes crying during the daytime for no reason at all. I decided to stop taking them.  I literally did not sleep for almost a week.  I remember when I did finally fall asleep. We were watching Out of Africa on the television.  To this day I do not know how the movie ended.  Perhaps I need to go back and revisit it.

Sleep problems are common in my family. My mother could sleep on the head of a pin. My father however, struggled with insomnia, and I struggle with it also.  Lately however (and I hope I don't jinx myself) I am doing okay for the most part and that is good.

My prayers continue for the Ukraine and the world  . . . 

I am going out shopping with my sister this morning. I want to go to the Superstore to see what they have available that is lactose free and gluten free. I did pick up a very small bag of gluten free flour yesterday, by Bob's Red Mill and it was expensive. Over $8 for a very small bag.  I don't think I will be baking much over the next month.  They also have a much better selection of fruit and veg at the Superstore than we have here locally. 

Best part, spending time with my sister.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *Kindness is loaning 
someone your strength
instead of reminding 
them of their weakness.
~unknown•。★★ 。* 。 

This morning I am thinking about my Mom's Cinnamon Rolls and wishing I had one.  Sigh  . . . 

Have a great Saturday, no matter what you get up to.  Whatever it is, don't forget! 

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And I do too! 

ii