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 really been enjoying a lot of time together with my family over the past weeks.  First with Doug and Kayla and the boys, and now with my daughter Eileen. As well, there is Cindy and Dan and Dad. This is something I never got to experience when I was living in the U.K. and something I missed out on for all of those years.  I am so grateful to now be back in a place where I can enjoy moments like these and spend this valuable time together.   Its a great blessing to me!

Eileen and I are enjoying our time together. We have plenty of laughs and enjoy an easy companionship. I am glad that we have been able to get over our difficulties from last year and Covid. She brought a game with her that we have enjoyed playing, and we have enjoyed going out for a couple of meals, shopping together, watching some television together, cooking together and just being together. The cats are used to her now. At first they were a bit nervous, but they soon settled down, especially Nutmeg.  Cinnamon is not a cuddler anyways. 

This was Cinnamon sleeping last evening on the back of the lazy boy chair. Eileen thought she was so cute with her paws stretched out in front of her.  I had to agree. She looks very comfy there.

 

Nutmeg busy sticking close to whomever.  I think male cats are a bit needier than female. He always likes to be close by and is the first to greet me when I come in the door, whether it is me coming in from the garage or just out of my bedroom in the morning. He is right there. I don't mind. I enjoy the company!

I had a call on my phone on Saturday from my credit card company to say there had been fraudulent activity on my card.  I didn't call back right away because you just never know if this is legit or not.  I did call the number on the back of my card when I got home to check it out and indeed there had been some fraudulent activity on my card.  They cancelled my card and are sending me a new one. I did go online this morning to check and there is still one spurious charge showing so I will have to call them back and tell them about it. To a Chipotle. We don't even have Chipotle here in Nova Scotia.  

This is such a pain. Because I deal with the credit union and they don't have a visa debit card, I use my credit card to pay all my bills and then just pay that off as and when. Now my bills can't be paid until I get the new card and then I will have to update all of the card information on various accounts.  Most annoying. As it is, I was unable to send out my EK newsletter this morning because the payment is due on that and of course the card details on file are no longer valid.  Who knows when I will be able to put out another newsletter.  

I am grateful, however, that the fraud got flagged and I was contacted before it got any worse!  Whew!  One wonders how on earth the thieves got the information?

The hummingbirds have been very active these last few days.  I had not seen any, or at least not noticed any for a bit but for the last few days they have been super active and I have been really noticing them.  I have quite a few that come.  It is so fun to watch them.

Eileen is enjoying them as well! She can't have anything like a hummingbird feeder or even a pet where she lives now. It will be good when she and Tim can get into a bungalow. They will be able to have a pet and a hummingbird feeder then, and even a small flower garden if they wish.

I am so grateful for  my sister in my life.  I hope that she knows how very much I appreciate her.  Sometimes I feel like a burden. Not that she ever  makes me feel that way. She doesn't.  She does so much for my father and for me, and I often wish that I could do more for her, but I do what I can. 

She clips my cats nails for me, goes places with me, helps me whenever I need help with anything. I really don't know what I would do without her. 

But aside from that, she is my best friend.  I can always count on her for the best advice on any matter.   I know she would never give me a bum steer.   I think that boils down to the fact that she is much more analytical in her thinking and I am much more impulsive.  Whenever I need advice on anything I ask her.  

I just love her so much. Always have. Always will.

I did kind of a stupid thing yesterday.  I couldn't find the cats and got worried and so I thought I would check under my bed to see if they were there. I was a bit dubious about getting down on my knees to look, but I did it anyways. The pain in my knees was excruciating.  I did not think I would be able to get up again.  (Of course they were both under my bed.)  I somehow managed to get up, but it was very clear to me that if I ever fall I will not be able to get up. The pain in my knees was excruciating. I am just grateful that I was eventually able to get up. It was not a pretty picture! LOL

Won't be doing that again!

I was quite concerned when July 1st hit about my ability to support myself. As you know I rely on my food blog almost 100% for my income. Scary sometimes, sad, but true. It is what it is. I am very grateful to have that ability.  On the 1st of July Google was changing the way they do their analytics.  There was a great deal of speculation as to how this would affect things such as income from ads. It was called GA4.  

I was very worried that my income would drop way down and I would not be able to make enough. I do get a small pension, but both of my pensions do not even equal the amount that I need to pay my rent alone, let alone anything else.  

I am so grateful to find myself at the end of the month, having earned more than enough.  God is good and things have exceeded my expectations.  At the first of the month, I just kept praying every day, just one more day.  Please let me earn enough, just one more day, and I had faith that He would.  He did, above and beyond.  

Faith, where would I be without it?

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day. I need to take Eileen to work. (Hmm, that sounds nice. To have someone to be able to do something for.)

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

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

*A loving heart

is the truest wisdom.

~Charles Dickens•。★★ 。* 。

In The English Kitchen today, a Peach, Cherry & Almond Crumble.  I served this warm with lashings of custard!  Yummy yummy!

I hope you have a wonderful day. May it be filled with loads of things which bring you joy, peace and happiness.  Whatever you get up to, don't forget!

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And I do too!