A Daybook . . .

  

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW . . .

This is the forsythia bush across the way, blooming profusely and brightening up the neighborhood. It is the season of yellow for sure. Its lovely to see people's gardens coming back to life after the end of the Winter. We really did not have a bad Winter this year. We had hardly any snow to speak of.  A few days of it, that's all.  In the car yesterday my sister was saying that they are predicting snow for every day this coming December.  I dread to think!  I won't think about that. Instead I will just enjoy the blooms that are coming up now and the summer months to come.   Enjoying each day as it comes, and gathering the blessings of each one into  my bouquet of life.

I LEARNED A NEW WORD . . .

Sapiosexual.  I had never heard of such a thing and had to look it up.  It means that someone is highly (sexually) attracted to Intelligent people. Who knew there was such a thing. Because attraction is centered on the intellect or how a person's mind works, people who are sapiosexual do not feel attraction until their mind feels stimulated by a potential partner. There is no lust, liking, wanting, or sexual gratification unless the brain has been stimulated on an intellectual level first. 

What next  . . .  you can't make this stuff up. Or maybe you can.

(source)

SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR . . .

Brighter lighter mornings and evenings.  Sunny warmer days.  Not having to have my heat on.  I welcome these lighter brighter days.  I am blessed to always have lived in a temperate climate and to have been able to enjoy the changing of the seasons. It will be mostly cloudy today, but quite mild. I have to go out and take my rent cheques for the next year to the Landlord's office. I was going to take them last week, but Covid.  When I am there I will put a bug in their ear to come back and fix my heat pump now I am okay.  I hope I don't have to wait too long.

 

(source)

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS . . .

Houses with plenty of character.  I love to paint them. Not that I have painted many, but I do enjoy sketching them, thinking about the families that live inside them, etc.  Our town is filled with loads of houses with character.  I always called it a Leave it to Beaver kind of a town. It used to have a thriving downtown center once upon a time.  There was a music store, a jewelers, shoe store, department store, furniture store, etc.  Those things are gone now. Two banks, a drugstore, some fast food joints, a hardware store, two grocery stores, a gift store, the dollar store, and that's about it.   But there are plenty of homes with loads of character. I think we also have about five different churches.

I AM CREATING . . .

I am still looking at my fabric stash and wanting to do something with some of it.  I have a great love of fabrics.  I could spend hours looking at fabrics and enjoying all the different patterns, etc.  My sister is very good at putting patterns and colors together.  I don't quite have the eye that she has.  I really enjoy florals and old fashioned prints.  I used to sew a lot.  When my girls were growing up I used to sew all of their clothes.  They had matching outfits much of the time, albeit in different colors.  I got a great deal of satisfaction from that.  It is much more fun to dress little girls than it is to dress little boys.  Or maybe that is just my opinion.

I am also working on another blanket, with brighter colors. Who knows what I will do with all the blankets I crochet. Maybe in time I will have enough to give one to each grandchild. Hope springs eternal!

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.  (I haven't gotten much further than last week.  I don't know what happens to my time!)

SOMETHING TO WATCH . . . 

Indian Matchmaking on Netflix.  I love these kinds of shows.  Indian culture is so fascinating as well.  I have never been to India, but have heard that it is a country to fall in love with. My brother has been several times and has friends there. 

This is a reality show and the premise is that of an Indian Matchmaker working for families/individuals to try to find them husbands/wives for themselves or their children.  For centuries marriages in India were based on the premise of parents hiring matchmakers to find a proper match for their child.  I find the whole concept very compelling to watch.  Apparently there is quite an art to it, using astrological charts, etc.

 

(source)

SOMETHING ELSE WHICH I LOVE . . .

Windows, especially stained glass windows. I have always wanted a house with stained glass windows. Or windows with an unusual shape.  I really love homes which have been renovated from old schools or church's. There is one up country that is a renovated church and they have kept the arched church window which sits at the front of the house above the door.  I find that very attractive.

 

(source)

SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO  . . . 

Worship Guitar on YouTube.  I stumbled onto this the other day.  I have kept it running off and on over the past few days. Its quite relaxing and inspiring.  I like to have nice music playing when I putter about in my home.  I especially love instrumentals. These are played on the Acoustic Guitar. Something I always wanted to do was to learn to play the guitar.  Yes, I love music and have wanted to learn to play a lot of instruments.  My friend Glenna takes both piano and violin lessons.  Piano lessons are still on my wish list  . . .  maybe one day.

 

(source)

A FAVORITE THING . . .

Books with ornate covers.  I follow Haley Solano on IG and she always finds the most beautiful books. I could eat them up like candy. I guess I just love pretty things, be they fabrics, or books, etc. 

I think Instagram is also one of my favorite things. There are so many talented people on there sharing their passions. I could spent ages swishing through their content. I am in awe of many of them.  

 

(source)

I REALLY DON'T LIKE

Spiders. I know that they are a necessity and we need them to help our planet keep going, but I really don't like having them in my house. My mother was terrified of spiders. I love to look at spider webs, they are so intricate and beautiful, especially if highlighted by the dew or frost, but I don't want them in my house.  I have heard it said that if you have a lot of spiders in your house you have good air in your home. No thank you.

When we first moved to New Brunswick many years ago the house we were renting was inundated with huge monstrous spiders all around the eaves of the house. They were nocturnal and would come out on their webs at night, casting horrifying shadows on the bedroom walls upstairs. My girls were quite terrified of them.  These spiders had huge bodies and the shadows of their bodies and webs were amplified  by the street lights outside.   I still shudder when I think of them.

Yuck.

And that's it for my daybook for today.  I hope you are enjoying this new format I am trying out. Something a bit different and hopefully a lot  more interesting.  

I will leave you with a thought for the day  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

  ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

 ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*Its been my experience

that you can nearly always

enjoy things if you make up

your mind firmly that you will.

~Anne of Green Gables•。★★ 。* 。 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Loaded Baked Potato Casserole for two.  I had some leftover baked potatoes that wanted using up.  This is what I created with them. It was quite simply delicious!

I hope that you have a beautiful day.  Be happy and blessed. Stay safe.  Love and be loved, and don't ever forget! 

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ 

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


And I do too!