All Things Nice . . .

 

A boy on a bicycle who can say

What dreams he has in his heart today,

He whistles a tune with a merry lilt,

Riding his bike at a reckless tilt,

Rounding the corner and down the street

His heart keeps time to his flying feet.

Pleasure is his and the glowing thrill,

Of a country road and a wind swept hill,

The soul of a knight and the heart of a boy,

He rides with adventure and drinks of joy,

The gods are glad when they hear his song,

For the woods are his and the stars belong.

Only to those who are game to try,

The taste of the wind and the open sky,

For a boy on a bike may ride to fame,

Honor and homage to crown his name,

But he'll never find though he travel long,

A sweeter note than his boyish song.

~Edna Jacques, A Boy On A Bicycle

Beside Still Waters, 1939

I'm not a boy but this took me back to when I was a child and riding my bicycle around the streets of town on summer days way back when. I felt like I was soaring and the world was my oyster.  Anything was possible.  What joyous times those were. Sometimes I would clothespin a piece of cardboard or card to the spikes of my back wheel and it would make a roaring sound (to my small ears) that let everyone know I was coming!

Funny story about a boy and his bike. My brother always had the latest and finest bicycles.  Just a perk of being the only boy in the family and the youngest.  One year he had a bicycle with a banana seat and monkey handlebars.  Oh it was fine.  He had been riding it around the place we lived and a young boy followed him home.  It turned out to be Alfie this young developmentally challenged boy my sister and I had met at the local rec center.  He used to go there and the kids would throw money at him if he danced for them. We never liked that. It made us feel sad. We thought it quite disrespectful,  and so we had kind of taken him under our wing and discouraged him from doing so.  Anyways, his bicycle fell in love with my brother's bicycle when it saw it, and he followed him home. He was ever so pleased to see that it was where my sister and I lived.  His joy was palpable!  

Alfie became a regular visitor to our home after that.  We all loved him. (I don't think he had a very good home life of his own.)  I remember mom giving him an ice cream cone one time and he cried because it was the first one he had ever had, but alas he couldn't eat it as his teeth were so poor, it hurt them too badly.

We went on a vacation that year to visit my mother's relatives in the states, and Cindy and I saw a rag doll in a store that looked just like Alfie.  Same rusty hair, freckles and wide mouthed grin. We bought it for him as a gift. He was so pleased when we gave it to him. He immediately left and he came back with a plastic truck, one of his toys that he wanted to give to us in return. It touched my heart like nothing else ever has.

I have often wondered through the years what every happened to Alfie.  I hope life was kind to him. A boy and his bicycle  . . . 

 

 

Today is my sister Cindy's Birthday. She doesn't want me to say how old she is so I won't. She's funny that way. She has been my bestest friend for all of her life.  Best gift that God ever gave me by far!  I know not all sister's get along like we do, but I like to think that many do.  I love her so much! I know I say that all the time, but it's completely true.

I could never do enough for her in return for all that she has done for me. When we were girls we used to say that we were going to end out our lives living in a big old house like the Baldwin sisters on the Waltons.  I guess we are kind of doing that.  We don't live together in a big old house and we don't produce moonshine, but like the Baldwin sisters, we are the best of friends and share everything with each other.  I know that I can come to her with anything and everything, and that she will support and love me and I hope she knows the same in reverse.  She gives the best advice and bakes the best cookies.  She has the kindest, most caring heart of anyone I know and always has done.  I love her to bits.

Later today we are going to go up country to Jonny's Cookhouse for a slap up meal.  I got a Chocolate Fudge LaRocca cake for her birthday cake. (We are always buying slices of it as a treat, so now we got more than a slice for everyone to enjoy!)  We will go back to hers and Dan's after Jonny's to enjoy a slice.  I just hope that she has the best day ever!

Our whole adult lives we have wished that we lived closer to each other. Sometimes we lived fairly close, and that was lovely, but now, living in the same town, that is just the greatest gift ever.   I am so blessed!

 

I got a really lovely thank you card in the post yesterday from my grandson Jon for his Graduation gift. It really made my day to get this card! I think that it is the first thank you card I have ever gotten from any of my grandchildren.  Oh, I have had plenty of "in-person" thanks, which are wonderful, but this is the first card.  It cheered my heart up to no end. It was a very thoughtful gesture on his part. 

It made me think. I need to do better at sending out thank you cards/notes myself.  I know we live in a modern age where it is very easy to shoot off an e-mail of thanks to acknowledge these things, but how much nicer it is to send a card or a note.  It takes a special effort to do so and I must, WILL . . .  do better.

 

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It is raining bucketloads out there this morning  . . .  we need it as we have not had a lot of rain this spring or summer.  It will give all the gardens a good soaking.  I noticed the last few times that the local strawberry You-Pick is closed to personal picking now, although there are still plenty in the farm shop to buy already picked. 

I have many fond memories of picking berries to make jam when my children were young. I made oodles of jam every year and strawberry was a favorite.  

One time when we were visiting the in-laws on the Island, my kids went strawberry picking with us and we set them up a little stand at the end of the drive afterwards with a few baskets of what they had picked, for sale. It was basically just something to keep them occupied.  My in-laws lived in a subdivision of mostly retired military folk.  At the end of the afternoon, my kids had loads of dosh but still had all the berries. The neighbors were buying the berries and giving them back to them so they could sell them again to someone else.  

When we were in high school, a lot of the kids would pick berries in the summer months to earn cash.  A big truck from one of the local farms would pick them up at a location and then take them out to the strawberry fields to pick.  I think they got paid by the flat and it was long, hard, hot work, for very low pay.  Mom would never let us go and do that.  If we wanted to pick berries, we could do it for her, for free, lol

 

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I had ordered a couple of notebooks from Papier a few weeks back.  A journal one with bullet lined pages and a wellness journal.  My one that I had bought in the U.K. to use as a journal is 2/3 full now. I mostly write quotes that I enjoy from different talks, etc. and share my thoughts about them. It is a bit of a faith journal. I sprinkle pretty stickers in between the thoughts and quotes.  It is my hope that one day one of my grandchildren will want to have it after I am gone. It is a bit of a legacy of my journey.  Maybe I am wrong and nobody will want it.  That would not surprise me.

We have these grandiose thoughts about who we are as people, and we hope that these things will matter to those who come after, but in reality I don't think that they will all that much.  Never mind, we have the joy of putting them together and that is what counts.

I ended up having to pay duty on the notebooks because they came from the U.S. which I did not mind, it was not much. What I did mind though was the handling fee that the Post Office charged, which was twice the cost of the gst/hst that I was charged. The total charge was $15.15 and of that, only about $5 was for the tax/duty.  The rest was for the handling fee. Somewhat criminal I think.

But the notebooks are very nice.

 

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I have been watching Love Island on Crave.  I don't know why but these types of shows fascinate me, Human behavior.  I find human behavior very interesting.  Sometimes I am totally appalled, but mostly I find them to be fascinating.  I find myself getting invested in some of the couples.  I suppose there is a part of me that never got to do these sorts of things, having gotten married right out of school, and so I find this social dance interesting. I never really dated anyone, but married my high school sweetheart (s) twice. There was no  playing the field, or getting to kiss multiple people.  I don't think I really missed out on much, but still I like to watch.  

I always pick couples that I root for and am always quite disappointed when one of them misbehaves. I sit on the sofa, tsk tsking as I watch the feet of my idols turn to clay.

They do like to keep you thinking  on these shows, however.  There is always a twist on what you think is becoming an established relationship.  The powers that be are always throwing a spanner into the works. And there are lots of tears.  For the most part, they don't stick with each other once the they leave the love Island anyways, which is not surprising, but a part of me wishes that at least some of them did.

Some people watch soap operas, I like to watch reality dating programs.  I don't see much difference, lol. Nobody sticks with anyone in the soaps either.  

I used to really love the soap Another World. I started watching it when I was a teenager and watched it right up until it ended. 

Same with Coronation Street, except that is still going. I have not watched that since I returned to Canada. I would probably no longer know the characters.

 

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I love my cats, but I really do miss having a dog.  There is great truth to that statement, "Dogs have masters, cats have slaves."  Cats really are ever so much more independent.  Mine are at any rate.  They are not real cuddle bugs.  They have their own unique personalities.  At least each of mine do. My two are as different as chalk and cheese.  Sometimes though, I will see one of the other ladies on the street walking one of their dogs and I long to have a pup. 

It would be immensely greedy and selfish for me  to have a dog.  For one thing I cannot walk a dog as it should be walked, and for another, someone would have to be willing to take the dog after/when I pass away.  Cats are easier to rehome.  At least I think so anyways.

My two furry felines do bring me a lot of joy however so I cannot complain. And they have each other for company, which is a good thing as well.   

These are my sister's two latest kittens, Gus (grey) and Sully (black) the other day, not too long after bring them home from the vets after their neutering.  As active as ever. Nothing keeps them down for long.  They, too, enjoy their cat tunnel. Mine love ours.  They are always dashing through it, pouncing on it if the other one is inside, etc.  It is a great activity toy for cats.

I am sometimes tempted to get one of those wheels, but I think my cats are too old to start using one now. I think it is something you need to get them used to when they are kittens.  Plus, where would I put it. My place is too small.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day!

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

 *Where there is great love,

there are always miracles.

~Willa Cather•。★★ 。* 。

•。★★ 。* 。 

 

In The English Kitchen today a project I started some seven months ago now. Homemade Vanilla Extract.  Its very simple to make and smells amazing!  I have another batch on the go now.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, be it filled with sunshine or rain. Whatever you get up to, I hope you find joy and wherever you end up, don't forget!

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And I do too!