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.  

 

 

Family times.  I have been able to spend a lot of time with my sister and father since I returned to Canada, and it has been just wonderful. I love my family so much.  I don't think I realized how very much I missed them when I was in the UK. Oh, I knew that I did, but most of the time I tried not to think about it. I was making the best of the situation I had found myself in.  

When I first went to the UK it was with the idea in mind that I would only be there for two years, and that my husband would emigrate to Canada when he started getting his old age pension, and we would both move back then. I actually did go back to Canada and start looking for a job so that we could do that, but then Todd told me he wouldn't be able to because he had a criminal record for something he had done when he was younger.  Rioting or some such. You believe what you are told. Anyways, I ended up back over there, making the best of the situation. I wasn't going to walk away from a third marriage, and fail three times.  

I missed my family terribly however, even though I tried to make light of it. I think a part of me always was sad that I had not been able to return as planned. 

Oddly enough when I read my Patriarchal blessing it tells me that I will be blessed to be able to return to my homeland and make a life for myself there.  I never knew how that was going to happen, but happen it did! 

Anyways, family times are the best of times!!

Anthony Birthday number one

May 1976

My firstborn son turned 47 yesterday. It seems like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital.  All my life I had wanted to be a mom.  I used to wish that my mother would have another baby and of course she wouldn't, lol.  I always loved playing house and playing with my doll, being the mother. When I got married the first time, I could hardly wait to start a family and Anthony was born 9 months and five days after we got married!  I was right in my glory.  

He was everyone's baby.  My parents doted on him.  Cindy and David also. He was very much loved by us all and still is. I am so proud of him, as I am all of my children. He is a good, good person, with a kind and generous heart.  A good father and a good husband and a good son.  He turned me into a mom and actually he turned me into a grandmother as well! 

I hope he had a great day!  I did facetime with him on Saturday and he was getting ready to make a trip to the market for samosas! 

Being a mom, one of my most favorite of things.

 

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Being creative again. I have always loved creating and doing things with my hands. Painting, needlework, etc. Being able to get back into it by making Luna Lapin has been wonderful for me. Being able to do it with my sister has doubled the pleasure.  I am just enjoying this so very much.  Planning clothes, buying fabric. Just doing this together. Its been really wonderful. I need to finish putting mine together. Cindy has hers all put together and she looks fabulous. I have my legs done. I need to remind myself that I need to have time for play as well as work.  Note to self:  play some today.

 

I got my red geraniums!  We had to go to three different places but finally I was able to find my hanging baskets.  I just think red geraniums say hello. Welcome.  Home Sweet Home.  I love them. 

On a side note, its been over two weeks since they have cut the grass here and the lawns are all looking terribly overgrown. I think that the person they have hired to do them is not capable of keeping up with the work.  Its a different person than they had last year. They also did the snow removal this past winter and I don't think they were really great at that either. When they finally do get around to cutting the grass there is going to be huge clumps of it laying all over the lawn which will look really bad, but right now the grass has gone to seed and the lawns are covered with spent dandelions.

Not nice.  It is the talk of the street. But I am grateful to have a roof over my head, a place to call home.  Even if the grass does need mowing. 😄

 

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The last few nights I have tried to let the cats stay in with me when I have gone to bed.  Nutmeg gets really cuddly, but it doesn't last long. He ends up getting really playful then and jumping around, etc. I end up having to put them both out eventually. I have a hard enough time falling asleep without that to contend with!  But the cuddly moments are the best. I do enjoy those. In the past, my cats have always slept on my bed with me.  I am hoping in time these two darlings will also sleep on my bed with me.

Mitzie always slept next to me on my bedroom floor, right next to the bed. I could reach down in the middle of the night and stroke her ears if I wanted to.  She was always gone by morning and waiting for me downstairs. On the 4th she will be 12 years old.  She is an old dog now.  That makes me feel sad.

Enjoying time with my fur babies however,  and memories of a dear sweet dog, a very wonderful thing.

 

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I think I am going to enjoy being in Young Women's at church, but I am feeling a bit anxious about it as well. I hope that I am up for the responsability. We had a meeting as a Presidency after church yesterday and we each had our duties outlined for us. I am the second counselor and so my duties are not as full on as the first counselor's are, but still, they are a bit daunting. Just learning the Young Women's theme is daunting enough. I don't think I will ever be able to memorize it.  Memorization is not my forte.

 

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Maybe if I break it down into parts and memorize them, one at a time.  Eventually I will get there. One of my responsibilities is to keep track of the birthdays and have cards ready, etc. I will have to go to the dollar store and pick up a bunch of birthday cards I think.

One thing is for sure. I will do anything pretty much but camp. They better not be asking me to go camping, lol. Me and sleeping outside of my own home do not mix. I don't sleep. Its as simple as that.

Being able to serve the young women in my branch however, that is a wonderful thing.

 

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I picked up some rhubarb the other day and am hoping to do something with it today or tomorrow. I adore rhubarb. It is one of my favorite fruit/vegetables.  It has ever been so.  I have been perusing recipes for something different to do with it. We shall see what I come up with! 

Rhubarb season is a really wonderful thing. 

Being able to worthily partake of the sacrament each week.  That is a huge part of my life and I really missed it when we were not able to go to church during Covid. For those who have priesthood members in the home, it was not so bad. They could still have it blessed and passed, but those of us who do not have worthy priesthood members in the home, it was a different story.  I love those special sacred moments at church when I can set aside all of my cares and woes and just ponder on the Savior and renew my covenants I made at Baptism, think about all He did for us, take His name upon me again.  Sacred and pretty wonderful.

Being able to sit and watch the hummingbirds visit the feeder.  They keep the cats mesmerized, but they mesmerize me as well. I love them.  They really keep us all entertained. I missed hummingbirds when I was in the UK. They are really small and really wonderful things! 

I am pleased to join in with celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this week. I know not all will agree with me, but I have a great admiration for the Queen. I think she has done an exemplar job during her reign.  I don't think that being a royal is a very easy position to be in. I know they are wealthy but at what cost to them. They live in a fish bowl with lives that are not really their own to live. They really do live in service to their people, and I will not hear otherwise. They are at the same time very human and the pressures on them to "keep up" a certain way of life, and to portray a certain image must be immense. Most of them do it very admirably, and we must overlook the frailties of the others who don't.  Could you live your life as they have to?  Would you want to?  I know for me, I could not and would  not want to.  That she has been able to do so and do it so well, in spite of all of the weak members of the family and their poor examples, is something to be honored in my opinion and so this week I will be celebrating her fine example!

There are many who think that the Royal family should be done away with, but in reality the fact that there is a British Monarchy brings a lot of cash into that country. People flock to the UK to take in all the pomp and ceremony.  Buckingham palace is always loaded with sightsee-ers. People/tourists love all things Royal. Its a fact and the country makes a lot of money from that love.

 

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My life is very full at the moment. I am so grateful for all the many blessings in my life. I think that to live a life filled with gratitude makes for a life filled with a multitude of joys.  NO life is perfect, but I think my life is pretty darn close! I would not have it any other way.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

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

 *.˛.Life is a journey,

and if you fall in love

with the journey,

you will be in love forever.

~Peter Hagerty•。★★ 。* 。 

In The English Kitchen today I have gathered together ten of my favorite Pasta Salad Recipes for the summer. Tis the season and all that!   Each one is pretty delicious in its own right.  There is a bit of something there for everyone!

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful week, filled to overflowing with an abundance of small and wonderful things. Don't forget!

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And I do too!