A Day Book . . .

 

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW ...

The sun is just coming up really. The sky is still dark, but overcast with clouds. I see a bit of blue there though, which is promising. It is one degree above freezing at the moment.  It is not expected to get much warmer than this today and they are expecting flurries later in the day.  Yesterday was absolutely horrible. It lashed down rain all day and was really windy. At times the rain was driving sideways. I had been going to pick up Cindy, but we decided to just stay put!

 

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I AM THINKING ...

I was thinking back to mornings when I was a child this morning.  Mom would have gotten us up, one at a time so that we could each have a turn in the bathroom.  The radio would be playing in the kitchen and we would be listening to it as we ate our breakfast. On a weekday it would be nothing more than a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast, the family cat winding itself in and out of our legs beneath the table.  We would have our daily glass of Beep. Beep was a fruity apricot and orange drink that my mother got from the milk man and was really delicious. Mom felt that it was full of vitamins and would help to give us a good start to the day. Up until we were teenagers we also got a spoon full of a liquid vitamin.  I loved the taste of those as well.  My favorite cereal was cheerios, then and now.  Oh, and puffed rice. The radio would give us the news of the day and the weather. There would be music of course, and little programs like Art Linkletter's "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and Paul Harvey's "Now You Know the Rest of the Story."  

It was years ago now, over fifty, but in my mind it seems like just yesteryear. As much as I hated to hear it then, what I wouldn't give to hear my mother's voice wake me up in the morning with a "time to get up!" now.

 

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I AM ALSO THINKING ...

About how quickly this year seems to have passed by. With only a few days left in November, December will soon be upon us.  I love the Christmas season. It has always been my favorite time of the year.  I used to always love decorating for the holidays.  It hardly seems worth it now. I will put  my wreaths up and my small tree. My Christmas table cloth that Elaine gifted me with. Put out my cards that I receive.  I do so love the cards I get each year.  They mean the world to me. To know that someone thought enough to send me a card . . .  it is such a special gift.  To do that small thing. It especially means a lot to people who live on their own, and as the years advance, our numbers increase. 

 

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LOOKING FORWARD TO ...

It is my friend Jacqueline's birthday on Wednesday (tomorrow!)  I am taking her out for lunch on Thursday. I know it is a day later,  but I go for supper with my father on Wednesday nights and I don't want to eat out twice in one day.  Jacqueline doesn't mind. If I had been thinking I would have organized a few others to join us. But it will just be her and I, which is nice also. We have known each other for a very long time  now. It was her late husband Tom who baptized me back in 1999.

MAKES ME SMILE ...

Could he be any closer.  Nutmeg likes to keep me company for a time in the mornings. He lays on the desk next to me, his head resting on my arm as I type. He purrs the whole time. The sounds of Jays or Crows in the back yard usually tempts him away eventually, but for a few moments we are at one with each other. It warms my heart. 

 

Diadamy and Athalea

CORNERS OF MY KINGDOM ...

There's been an addition to my family. Diadamy's sister Athaleah has shown up.  In real life Diadamy was my third great grandmother, and her sister really was named Athalea. I do not know how close they were to each other in real life, but they are both buried in the Whitman cemetary in South Williamston which is where most of my mother's family rests. There are over 7 generations of the family there. My sister and I will also rest there one day.  I thought Diadamy was feeling lonely and so I thought I better bring her sister here to keep her company.  They look like they are sharing a little secret with each other. 

Born a Whitman (like Diadamy) Athaleah married a man named John Robert Currell. They had 13 children.  Three died in infancy, being only about a year old. Two died during their childhood years. Only 8 lived to be adults.  Life was hard in the old days. Child mortality was very high.

SOMETHING I LOVE ...

I love dolls.  I have always loved dolls. My sister and I did not have a lot of dolls to play with when we were children. We both have a love and fascination with dolls now.  Perhaps because we did not have many as children?  I don't know. When my girls were growing up and small, they got a new doll every year for Christmas.  Amanda did not play with her dolls, whereas Eileen loved her dolls to death. I think they were really dolls I wanted for myself, but could not bring myself to buy myself, and so I bought them for my girls.  I have several dolls now, and I love them all. A beautiful porcelain one that Elaine got me a few years back, Diadamy, also a gift from Elaine, and Athaleah who I recently bought for myself. Then there is Luna Lapin.   

I AM READING ...

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

"For readers of Shirley Jackson, Iain Reid, and Claire-Louise Bennett, a haunting, compressed masterwork from an extraordinary new voice in Canadian fiction. A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. Soon after her arrival, a series of inexplicable events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed with some intensity at her and she senses a mounting threat that lies 'just beyond the garden gate.' And as she feels the hostility growing, pressing at the edges of her brother's property, she fears that, should the rumblings in the town gather themselves into a more defined shape, who knows what might happen, what one might be capable of doing."

I picked this book because the author is a Canadian Ex Pat living in Scotland. It also won the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  I have only just started it. The review on it have been very mixed. We shall see how I get on.

CRAVING ...

Thai Chicken Salad by Salt & Lavender.  I know it is not salad season, but I could eat chicken salad any time of year and the flavors of this are calling to me. Looks like it has plenty of crunch.  I do like a peanut dressing as well.

SOMETHING TO WATCH ...

Squid Game on Netflix.  I did not see the movie or Korean version, but this game program is quite compelling to me. I binge watched the first five episodes and am now waiting for the remainder to drop. with a prize fund of 4.56 million dollars for the winner. Based on a South Korean series.  I am hooked, lined and sinkered!

 

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SOMETHING I REALLY LOVE ...

Fresh cinnamon rolls. They are so dangerous for me to have around.  I really like the TikTok ones. So easy to make and so delicious!

 

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SOMETHING ELSE I LOVE  ...

Pretty fabrics. I love color and bright colors. I love pairing fabrics together.  I hoard them. I buy fabric with a plan in mind and then never get around to the plan.  I need to work on that and actually use what I have.

 

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TRACING THE GOODNESS ...

I was talking to my oldest son Anthony on facetime yesterday. It was a nice conversation. I always enjoy talking to my children. I have a really good life at the moment. I am living much closer to my family and enjoying every minute of it. I have a comfortable little home.  I have everything I am in need of. Sometimes I start to think that things are going TOO well and I wonder when this run of goodness will end, but I try not to think about it. That is only my anxiety kicking in.  All my life I have been plagued with anxiety.  Trying to live life without thinking about the worst case scenario is really difficult for me, but I am working at it. It is sometimes a daily exercise. It is often a daily exercise and something which I need to choose for myself each day.  It helps to trace the goodness of my days and I do so beginning with gratitude at the beginning of my days for having been given one day more and ending at the end of my days with prayers of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all of His tender mercies and love and blessings that I have experienced throughout my day.  If you look for the goodness you will find it in abundance and I live my life looking for the goodness that is always there, despite my  occasional anxiety about worst case scenarios.  

 

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A THOUGHT TO CARRY WITH YOU ...

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

 *.˛.Don't forget -- no one else sees 

the world the way you do,

so no one else can tell the stories

that you have to tell.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

~Charles de Lint° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

Some people will want to read them.  Most will  not.  Write them anyways!

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Lemon & Yogurt Mixed Berry Muffins. I made a small batch from a recipe I found in a Dorie Greenspan book. They are not pretty, but they sure are delicious!

I hope you have a wonderful day. I have some work to do this morning and then I am picking up my sister and running a few errands.  Stay safe and warm no matter what you get up to today! Don't forget!

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And I do too!