A Daybook . . .

  

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW ...

All is calm.  Its plus three this morning which means its a bit milder than it has been. Most of the snow is gone. I expect what is left of it will go today. Its mostly cloudy at the moment. But, dangit, there is a severe weather advisory in effect beginning Wednesday evening until Thursday for freezing rain.  Just so long as it is okay on Wednesday morning!  Cindy and I have plans to go out. I want to pick up a ham for our Easter Dinner. Cindy was going to cook a turkey, but to be honest, I am the only one that really enjoys turkey!  And we all like ham.  So I said I would get a ham.  It will be a lot easier for her to cook as well. She works so hard most of the time.  I will be at church Easter morning so I won't be able to cook the dinner, not and have it ready on time, so she is cooking it.  I am all for making her job that little bit easier if I can!

We always had ham for Easter when I was growing up. Mom would serve it with mustard, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. Nothing fancy really. But very traditional.

 

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SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT ...

I got to spend the day with my sister yesterday and we are going to get to spend more time together tomorrow.  Oh we do have a great time. We laugh, we cry, we just plain enjoy each other's company. Well, I do at any rate!  I shouldn't speak for her, but I think if she didn't enjoy doing things with me she would find more reasons to say no, or beg off from spending time together.   I think I am pretty safe in saying we enjoy each others company.

 

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SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR ...

I've never been without a roof over my head. Not really. I have always had a space to lay my head at night. I've always had food in my belly. I have never been without. I have always had enough. I am not buzzing with an unquenchable thirst that I can never seem to satisfy. I have enough even now.  I am grateful that I have a mind and a heart that is satisfied with having enough.  I don't need more. I don't even want more. I don't want to be living an excessive life. I just want to be content.  And I am. Content. I am thankful for that.

I've had a lot of time over these past few years to really think about things like that, and I have come to the conclusion that much of our joy in life comes from having enough. There are so many people in the world who don't even have a mere fraction of enough. To recognize that you have enough and to be able to stop chasing more, that is a "load-lifting" concept.  We all have loads that we carry in life. Having more than we need, or wanting more than we need is just one more load that we could all do without.

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." ~Philippians 4:11-13

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ...

Prayer. I pray unceasingly. I always have a running conversation going on in my mind with God. Lest I sound crazy, let me explain. I talk to God in my mind almost continuously. And I praise and thank Him also. I am just grateful for this life I am living, and I am not afraid to say that all that I have, all that I am, is down to the Grace of God. I cannot imagine not being able to or not being comfortable with talking to him. Oh, I don't do it out loud, not often at any rate. Now that would seem crazy . . . if I went around mumbling all the time. Sometimes my prayers are filled with gratitude. Sometimes they are prayers of seeking.  Some are asking. Some are pleading.  I acknowledge His presence in my life and I am in open communication with Him. And most of the time my prayers are answered immediately, and some of the time I need to wait, but always  . . .  my prayers are answered in one way or another. I don't know where I would be without prayer.

I AM CREATING ...

Its growing exponentially. My blanket is getting larger. I like how it is turning out. I have moved away from one color, one beige row because I recognized that my beige yarn just wasn't going to be enough. So I am now doing two color, one beige, and I like how it is shaping up. I don't think you can ever have too many blankets. I want enough for everyone to have one for their laps when they are in my house and it is cold.  Wrapped up together. I can't think of anything nicer!

I AM READING ...

LUCY BY THE SEA, by Elizabeth Strout

"Like many others, I did not see it coming. But William is a scientist, and he saw it coming; he saw it sooner than I did, is what I mean. ~ William is my first husband; we were married for twenty years and we have been divorced for about that long as well. We are friendly, I would see him intermittently; we both were living in New York City, where we came when we first married. By because my (second) husband had died and his (third) wife had left him, I had seen him more in this past year."

This is  Elizabeth Strout's pandemic novel. Due to Lucy’s weakened lungs, William, whose scientific background prepares him for what might be about to happen, convinces Lucy to get out of New York with him, to retire to a small coastal town in Maine, just before the lockdowns begin.

I am down to the last bit of it now and I can honestly say I am going to be sorry when it is finished. I have really enjoyed it.

 

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SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE ...

Easter. I think it is wonderful to celebrate Easter every bit as much if not more than Christmas and yet we seem to put much more into our Christmas prep than we do our Easter Prep.  Gordon B Hinkley said:

“There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.”

Easter is the whole reason He came to this earth. It is a day that Christians all over the world celebrate. Because of Easter we will all live again.  Because of Easter, this life is not all that there is.  Because of Easter we have hope.

Plus there's chocolate. And if we are lucky, there's good chocolate.  I hope I get one! 😊

 

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SOMETHING I LOVE ...

Tulips. I have always loved tulips even though they don't really last long in the garden and look horrible once they are done.  I love tulips. My ex boss taught me how to make the blooms last longer in cut tulips. You insert  a straight pin into the stem just below the bloom. For some reason that works.  I am not sure how or why, but it does.

I had always wanted to go and see the tulip fields in Holland, but never did get there.  I am sure it is a spectacular sight in person!

SOMETHING TO WATCH ...

Our Friend on Netflix. 

After Nicole and Matthew receive life-altering news, the couple find unexpected support from their friend, Dane, who puts his own life on hold to move into their family home. 

Emotional. Uplifting. I love these kinds of films.

SOMETHING I DON'T REALLY LIKE ...

Mountain Peaks. I don't really like to see them. They make me feel  lonely and afraid. I can remember on our trip to Austria looking over and seeing the peaks of the Alps in the distance and I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I just didn't  like at all. Bleak. Barren. Lonely. I just felt afraid.

When my oldest two children were very small, and we were living in Calgary we decided to drive into the Rocky mountains one day. We had not gotten very far into them when my son Anthony started crying. He did not like them. He was overwhelmed with the fear that they were going to fall on top of him. I could not reason with him.  We turned around at Banff. 

Seeing the Alps in the distance that day, after many, many years, I totally understood how he must have felt.

MUSIC I LOVE ...

Big Band Music.  I adore Big Band Music. Benny Goodman. Glenn  Miller, etc. I don't know if having learned to play the clarinet has anything to do with that, but I could listen to Big Band Music forever.  It just makes me want to move, swing, sway, dance.  I know, crazy to think about me swaying around my house to Big Band Music.  But it just makes me happy. Its romantic, toe tapping, uplifting and joyful. Or it is to me anyways!

A THOUGHT TO CARRY WITH YOU ...

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

  ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

 ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*The first problem for all of us,

men and women, 

is not to learn, but to unlearn.

~Gloria Steinem•。★★ 。* 。

In The English Kitchen today  . . . Cheesy Ranch, Chicken & Bacon Foil Packs.  Quick, easy and delicious! Perfect for a day when you are run off your feet and can't be asked to cook anything really complicated!

I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday. I am going this afternoon to have another Covid Booster.  I will take all the boosters I can get! Whatever you get up today, don't forget! 

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And I do too!