A Daybook . . .

 

A DAY BOOK . . . 

What is it with garbage day and rain or snow? I know I have mentioned this before. We always, or almost always, seem to get precipitation on garbage day here. 

My poor sad window boxes. I am so not a gardener.  I think this year I am just going to fill them with petunias.  Maybe red ones. Petunias don't require a lot of care.  I love looking at beautiful gardens, but I am not a gardener by any stretch. It is just not my thing.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day.  People were out walking and working in their gardens. It was really nice.  I spoke briefly (at a distance) to my mother's old friend Will, who lives just three doors down from me. She was walking down our road with her walker. It was nice to speak to her. I told her that Cindy and I would pop in to see her some day when we are both better.  She was very pleased with that idea and I guess she actually called Cindy on the phone when she got back in.

Will's husband taught me math in grade 8 and grade 9.  He was the best math teacher I ever had. He was a teacher who was willing to go in on his off hours and give his students extra help if they needed it. Not too many teachers are like that.

 

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Love, LOVE pussy willows 

HAPPY TO REPORT . . .

We are all on the mend here. Cindy and Dan are both back to work.  Dad is feeling more like himself. I am feeling more like myself, although we are all a bit tired. I did cook something yesterday, which (other than my macaroon disaster) was the first real thing I had cooked in about a week or so.  I did a tasty sauce for pasta. Not complicated. Quick and easy to make, but it was at least cooking.  I did tomato soup and grilled cheese for my father for his supper and then gave him a dish of ice cream and a marshmallow cookie for his dessert. He always looks for a sweet indulgence at the end of every meal.  Funny that.  We did not always have dessert after our meals when we were growing up, at least I don't remember us having dessert.  I will have to ask my sister! She might remember.  I find myself looking for something sweet after dinner these days.  Its a bad habit to get into.

 

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SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR . . .

I find that most of the time you can always find something to be thankful for.  I am thankful that it took us three years of safety before we caught Covid. That gave us enough time to be well vaccinated and boostered.  I cannot imagine catching it when it first came out. This was pretty nasty stuff as it is.  At the beginning it must have been horrendous. I am so grateful for the protection of last three years, and the opportunity we had to build up our immune systems. I am also grateful that we all managed to get through it.  Funny that, even though my brother  and his family live in Ottawa, which is quite far from where the rest of us live, we all managed to contract the virus within the time span of a month. Its quite uncanny.

 

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ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS . . . 

The art of positivity.  With some people this just comes natural, being positive. With others it takes an extra effort.  I am one of the latter ones. I did not grow up in a positive home. My mother, who had the most influence on us, always saw the glass as half full. If it rained on a day in which she had something in particular to do, it was seen by her as a punishment, etc.  I had to train myself to go in a different direction.  I am grateful that I am now a positive person.  I have learned the value of seeing the glass as half full. I have trained myself to see the silver lining in each cloud and to look for the plus side in most things.  I have mastered the art of Pollyanna's "Glad Game." I have to say that looking on the "sunny side" of life makes life much easier to cope with, and more joy filled. My life is a gift . . .  even the not so good days . . . it is not a punishment, and rain just means more flowers to enjoy.

I AM CREATING . . . 

I keep looking at my fabric stash and telling myself, "You need to do something with that." I need to make more time in my life for fun. 

 

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Something like this comes to mind. It actually looks quite simple.  I am not that good at putting things/patterns/colors together I don't think.  It makes my brain tired. Oh if I could only just wiggle my nose and make things match like in Bewitched.

I AM READING . . .

Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current. 

 So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives. 

In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright. 

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion. 

Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story. 

I have only just started reading this. I actually started reading an excerpt online and then was hooked, so much so that I had to buy it for my kindle reader. 

SOMETHING TO WATCH . . .

 

If you re looking for a feel good, nice, movie, I highly recommend this film which is on Netflix. Starring Jennifer Garner, it is just a really nice film to watch.  Its based on a true story.  I love movies based on true stories.

 

(listen here)

MUSIC I LOVE . . . 

Every trip we took with the kids in the car when they were growing up was embroidered with the music from this cd.  My oldest son mentioned it to me one day.  Memories of the music from this and Kermit the Frog driving the car. (He had a Kermit doll that had velcro hands that my husband would wrap around the steering wheel so that Kermit looked like he was driving)  Its classical music with a disco beat as played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  I like to think it instilled a love of classical music in my children.  I could be wrong.  haha Maybe they hate it! 

 

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A FAVORITE THING . . . 

Quaint little book shops.  They have their own unique smell and are filled with tons and tons of books to peruse. I could spend hours in them. I remember going into one in the Yorkshire Dales that I could have spent days in.  I have always loved books. They have always been my friends.  I sometimes see art that people have made by tearing up books to create something new. I would have a problem doing that personally. It would seem a tiny bit like killing something.  Books are just so special to me and shops filled with them, well, that is just the best thing going!

I REALLY DON'T LIKE . . . 

Super long nails. I especially don't like seeing young mums with them.  So impractical and I think dangerous. I can't imagine. I don't find them attractive in the least and actually find the to be a bit vulgar. Maybe that is just me.

A THOUGHT TO CARRY WITH YOU . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

  ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

 ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*I am not what happens to me.

I am what I choose to become

despite what happens to me.•。★★ 。* 。

•。★★ 。* 。•。★★ 。* 。

In the English Kitchen.  I finally cooked something.  Pasta with Pink Sauce.  This was really good. Quick, easy, delicious.  Sized for two. 

I hope you have a beautiful day.  Be safe. Be happy. Be blessed. Don't forget! 

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And I do too!