All Things Nice . . .

 

(source)

I love the little special days that dot

The year's long length, like nosegays set to catch

The highlights of a common round of days,

Like  marigolds set in a garden patch,

Making a little zone to stand apart,

Warming the lonely cockles of a heart.

Birthdays and Easters . . . Hallowe'ens and such

Christmas with all its hallowed joy and cheer,

The bells of New Year's Eve . . . Thanksgiving Day

St. Patrick's Day . . .  Palm Sunday . . . how the year

Grows lovely with its garland of bright days,

We celebrate in oh so many ways.

St. Valentine when lovers send their love,

In quaint old fashioned couplets and quatrains;

The festival of harvest when we bring,

The wealth of field in fruit and golden grain,

Barley and wheat tied up in heavy sheaves,

The scarlet glory of the autumn leaves.

These special days dotting the year's long length,

Giving to life new beauty and new strength.

~Edna Jaques, Special Days

Fireside Poems, 1950

I am also a lover of special days. A traditionalist I suppose, in many ways.  I also like to make each day special, seeing each one given to me as the gift that it is.  Even the sad ones.  Without the sad ones would the joy filled ones be as blessed? There is value in all of our days.  But I do so love special days like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. most of all. They lift our lives up out of the ordinary and into the Celestial.

It is hard to believe that Easter is just a few weeks off. This year seems to also be slipping off the calendar at an alarming rate.  Or is it just me that notices such things?

 

 

(source)

Cat Tee Pees!  So cute! I want one!  Did I ever tell you that when we were children we had a teepee?  We did. It was bright orange with a black painting of a native North American stamped on it.  It smelled kind of waxy, like crayons in a way. It was such a nice place to hide on a hot summer's day.  I used to love sitting inside it with the cool grass beneath me, reading a book.   That tee pee made us feel like the luckiest children in the world.

We also had a swing set.  It had two swings on it and a teeter totter.  I haven't thought about that in years.  We loved that swing set and used it every day in the summer months.

My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they did the best for us with it that they could.  I appreciate that.  Because we were not spoiled, these things meant a lot to us.

I remember when I was about thirteen our father made us a set of wooden stilts.  Oh what fun we had with those stilts! That was a really kind thing for him to do for us.  He built us a picnic table also. It didn't get used a lot because my mother did not like to do much of anything outdoors, and especially not eat outdoors. She had a real insect phobia.

(source)

My newest blanket is coming right along.  I am moving off the pattern for it now. I want to use up all the yarn that I bought for it and it is not enough for me to just make it as written. I am repeating the rows and doubling the color rows.  Then when it is the size I want it to, I will edge it and maybe make the pompoms for the corners.  We will see.

I love to crochet while I sit and watch the television in the evening.  It is a simple thing to do and something I can do at the same time which isn't too awfully distracting.

I started watching the latest season of Love is Blind yesterday. There are a couple of girls in it that I really don't like at all. They seem to be scheming devious characters. If you watch it you will know which two I mean. Mean girls.  I am not overly fond of mean girls.  I have had to deal with quite a few of them in my lifetime.  I just wish everyone could be nice.

 

(source)

When I was about fifteen and on upwards, having a pair of Levi Strauss jeans was everything. I remember saving my money up to buy myself a pair. I had blue jeans, but they were not Levi Strauss.  It is funny how small things like that seem to be so important when you are a teenager, such as the brand of jeans that you were.  We also all had to have Hurachi sandles in the summer.  They were made of leather and I think they came from India.  You got them wet and then wore them until they dried in the shape of your feet.  They were most uncomfortable unless you did so, but they were also a batch of teen honor.  In our small community anyways.

I remember one year our mother bought my sister and I new belts for Christmas with these huge metal peace sign buckles. She thought she was getting us something we would really love.  Wearing them would have meant social suicide.  lol  It was a real conundrum.  They quietly just disappeared into our rooms, never to be seen again.

I used to sew a lot of my own clothes when I was a teenager.  Well, the dresses anyways.  I loved the Style patterns.  When I wore a dress I had made from a Style pattern I felt like I had just stepped off of Carnaby Street in London.

 

I am having the family over for supper tonight. I am going to make the Sausage Manicotti from the blog South Your Mouth.  I am might leave the spinach out however, just in case.  My father doesn't seem to be too keen on this meal at all, so I might pop out and pick him up a pot pie to cook just for him.  He doesn't like anything much out of the ordinary. I tried to explain to him that it was like lasagna in a tube instead of flat, but he hates to try new things.

I will have garlic bread and salad as well.  And some kind of dessert.  I am not sure what yet. This does look really good though.  So I have high hopes!

 

(source)

I just love this sweater. I love sweaters with screen prints on them. I had a couple of them in the UK, and I also had a lovely pink sweater with beautiful beading on it.  I wish now that I had thought to bring them in my suitcase.  I don't think I was thinking at all when I packed my suitcases, or my boxes.  I had only a few days to do it in and I can't think of where my brain was when I think of the things that I actually brought with me. Had I had more time I might have chosen differently, but what is meant to be is meant to be and I am content here and with what I have. I actually feel quite blessed to have anything at all!

When I was younger I used to dream of decorating my home in a certain way, etc.  I still do secretly have those same dreams, but the older me is much more practical and I know that I can neither afford to fulfill those dreams, nor do I have the energy or ambition to do so.  It quite simply doesn't really matter all that much any longer.

I love to look at videos on YouTube of those tiny houses. It always amazes me to see how much they can cram into them without them looking overstuffed or cluttered. You need to be really organized to have a tiny home methinks. I am not a very organized. Now my sister, she could do it. She is very organized.  

 

(source)

I wanted to get a gift for my friend Glenna who hemmed my temple dress for me.  I decided upon this piece of art by Eva Koleva Timothy called "Consider the Lilies.   I love the colors in it and the sentiment behind it. It is based on the Scripture in Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

I also love the Hymn by the same title. 

Consider the lilies of the field,

How they grow, how they grow.

Consider the birds in the sky,

 

How they fly, how they fly.

 

He clothes the lilies of the field.

He feeds the birds in the sky.

And He will feed those who trust Him,

And guide them with His eye.

 Glenna has often admired the art on my walls so I thought she would appreciate having a piece of it for her home. I love Eva's work. It just always speaks to my soul in a very special way. I really admire people with such talents as these. 

Anyways, I got a print of this art piece for Glenna and I could not resist getting one for myself as well. 

 

(source) 

 

I will always be so grateful for the way that I have been cared for in my life, in the highs and the lows and everything in between. God has seen fit to place people around me, my angels on earth, to help to carry me when I could not carry myself.  And I have just learned in life to put all my trust in Him because He has never let me down. Never. 

Bad stuff happens to everyone, at all different stages of our lives.  There are varying degrees of devastation. But when you are in it, it is always your worst. It may seem mild when compared to other's sufferings, but suffering is suffering. Your sorrows are your sorrows.  

I am so grateful for a God who has taught me always that, "This too shall pass", and if it doesn't, well,  then together we can figure out a way to get through it in one piece.

This is not meant to demean the experiences of others.  I am talking only about my own and how I have chosen to deal with them. I know it is not for everyone.

 

(source)

I have booked my next Covid Booster.  The first week of April. I think this is something we are going to have to do every six months forever now. My brother and his wife finally tested negative yesterday. Almost two weeks to the day that they tested positive. Thankfully neither one of them had a really bad case of it although my brother did feel very rough for a few days. It is not something I would wish on anyone. My next door neighbor in the UK has long Covid and will suffer forever from it.  My niece Bonnie is one of the few rare cases who ended up in the hospital after having been vaccinated with a heart problem, and she will be on medication for it for the remainder of her life as well. She is only a young woman, 49.  

It is hard to believe that three years has passed since in the UK we went into full lockdown, but here we are three years later and it is still with us.   Initially I thought it would be all over in a few months time, but here we are. Life changing moments, like 9/11.  Events that affect the whole world and change our lives forever. 

Anyways, thank goodness for modern medicine which helps us.  I am so grateful for that.  Where would we be without it!

And with that I best be off here and getting on with my day!

A thought to carry with you . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

  ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

 ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*There is space within sisterhood for likeness and difference,

for the subtle differences that challenge and delight;

there is space for disappointment and surprise.

~Christine Downing   •。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。

In The English Kitchen today . . . Baked Funfetti Donuts.  Simple and fun!

I hope you have a great Saturday. Be happy, be safe and be blessed. Whatever you do, don't forget! 

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ 

⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════     


And I do too!