All things Nice . . .

 

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I am a part of all that I have been;

The hawthorn's shade, the robin's wistful note,

I have the bitter berries in my heart,

The robin's happy message in my throat.

Just as a tree is part of all the sun

That ever shone upon its smallest leaf,

So is my heart a living manuscript

Of all that I have known of joy or grief.

I am the laughter of the waking spring,

The pulse-beat in a root below the ground,

The small hands of a vine against a wall,

A clump of tangled willows closely bound.

I am a part of all the friends I've known,

The love I've shared, their laughter and their tears,

The seeking and the finding of a dream

The braggart's boasting and the widow's fears.

I am a part of all that I have been;

The years have multiplied the bread and wine,

The harvest waits beyond the river's brim

Where all that I have lost is truly mine.

~Edna Jaques, I Am A Part

Aunt Hattie's Place, 1941

I don't  know how she does it, but Edna always speaks the words of my heart. The way I think and the way I feel. I never know from one Saturday to the next which poem of hers I will choose to highlight. I pick a book at random, (I have managed to collect several volumes of her poetry) and then I will choose one from that book, also randomly.  Somehow it always echoes my thoughts and feelings, if not on that day, but at least which I have also had at some point.  This poem today is a way I have always felt and thought . . . that I am the sum of all my pieces, experiences, feelings, thoughts, joys, sorrows  . . . people I have known and loved  . . . things I have done, places I have been.

That is poetry  . . . good poetry . . .  when it is able to get to the soul and heartbeat of the human experience, and paint that picture in words.  She does this so eloquently, and now you know why I love her poetry so very much and why her books are one of my absolute treasures.

 

Cindy and I enjoyed our little jaunt yesterday.  The best part is spending the time together of course, but we did go to quite a few places, and pick up a little bit here and a little bit there. Of course we had to go to Michaels and not just for the bathroom. (When you reach a certain age, activities are always planned around the availability of bathroom facilities, lol) I picked up a little watercolor paper notebook the size of post cards.  (hope springs eternal) I also got two lovely Japanese Bimouji brush pens.  I don't know why, but the Japanese are experts in all things craft and art oriented. Their goods are beautiful.  I also got some fabric clips.

We got squashes, and all kinds of things that we were looking for and that caught our eye.  I finally caved and bought a bag of YoYo's cookies. They really are the size of YoYo's!  I was surprised at how big they were. I got the lemon ones and we enjoyed one in the car after a cheeky fish and chip's lunch.  

I had read that Nipper's British Fish and Chips van was going to be parked at Staples in New Minas yesterday and we thought why not! It is something we have both wanted to try for a while, but have been putting off as they are rather expensive.  We both ordered a small fish and chips with a pot of mushy peas. I have to say we were both a bit disappointed.  The fish was overcooked and greasy.  The batter, although crisp,  was not what I remembered from the U.K.  Maybe it has something to do with the fat it is cooked in. The chips were nice and chunky, and they tasted good. The mushy peas, were mushy peas and I enjoyed dipping my chips in them, but I found myself wishing I had got the curry sauce instead.  All in all for the price we paid, we were both not that enamored. Except for the chips, the Big Scoop delivers better and at a fraction of the price.

But it was one of those things you just have to do once or else spend the rest of your life wishing that you had.

 

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Oh I do love going into farm markets this time of year, especially here in the Annapolis Valley.  The apple crops are coming in and the air is full of the smell of fresh apples. I do so love the smell of fresh apples.  They smell like heaven to me. Mom used to love it when she got hold of a MacIntosh apple.  I can still see her in my mind's eye sniffing it and exclaiming at how wonderful it smelled. It is a sweet memory of mine.   I was thinking this morning about how much we three (brother, sister and myself) loved and love our mother and how we might all have different memories of her and how wonderful it would be to get together and share those sweet thoughts with each other.  

Anyways, I digress  . . . 

I am waiting with baited breath for the Sweet Tart apples which are grown locally to come into the Spur's Farm Market.  They are those pink fleshed apples we got last year that made such beautiful applesauce. I plan on buying several buckets of them just to make applesauce and maybe a cheeky apple pie.  They were so filled with flavor. It should not be long now.

 

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All of the farm stands were loaded with winter squashes of course. I picked up four different kinds.  My goal is to cook all four of them and then compare flavor notes. I might even do a video about it.  I just need to decide how I am going to cook them, and  . . .  this is a biggie . . .  figure out how to splice shorter videos together into one larger video. I know it can be done.  I did it with my first video, but somehow I ended up with half my video in landscape and half in portrait. I don't want that to happen again.  I would like it all in landscape.

But I thought it would be really interesting to try all of the different kinds of squashes, or at least a few, and compare the flavors of them.  

Funny thing, when I was a child I did not like squash. None of us did, but now we love it.  Perhaps it was just that we did not like the way our mother cooked it. She simply boiled it in water and mashed it and it was always a tad bit watery and lacking in flavor. 

I like to roast it and then mash it.  Somehow this manages to enhance the natural sweetness of the flesh and it just tastes fabulous.  Some squashes are dryer than others of course.

 One thing that Cindy and I are always both on the look out for are unusual shaped tins, especially smaller ones.  Ones that might hold mints or some such.  Cindy spied these ones yesterday. They are the size and shape of an Altoid tin. They look like little Ouija Boards. Of course we each had to get one.  (We use them in sewing boxes, and Cindy likes to paint them.)

 

The cutest thing is that the mints inside are shaped just like the Ouija pointer.  I had to laugh at that.  How very authentic.

Now, this is one tin I would love to be able to get my hands on. And I can just see Cindy painting it.  She would do a lovely job on it and I am putting it here just so that she can see it.  I don't know where I would ever find one. They are from the U.K.

The older we get the more and more alike I can see that we both are. We seem to like and enjoy many of the same things. No surprise there!  We come from the roots of the same tree.

 

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As I said, we like to collect these tins.  I used to make tin sewing boxes and sold them on Etsy.  I picked up unusual shaped biscuit tins and then filled them with sewing accessories. I printed off vintage looking button and thread cards, picked up sweet little measuring tapes, scissors, etc. and then I would pack the pretty tins with them. I managed to bring one back to Canada with me. It is in a Black Scottie Dog Walkers shortbread tin. I treasure it as you can well imagine.

Its funny how I like old things  . . . 

I've been slowly collecting old china dinner plates. None of them match. I have about 10 now. They are good for taking my food photos on and I think they would be wonderful to use for a special dinner.  Everyone could have a different plate to eat from.  I think I would like to have twelve and then I will start collecting smaller ones, sandwich sized ones.

I usually get them on Etsy.  You can blame my sister. She gave me two when I first moved into my place, lol  Its all her fault!

 

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But I am a lover of old things  . . .  china, textiles, furniture, etc. Old things have character and substance. If you have an older appliance, etc. best to hang onto it.  Back in the day things were made to last forever. Nowadays nothing is made to last for very long. Most things crack up just a few days after their warrantee expires, and that is usually meant to be for not much longer than a year.  I just had to order a new laptop. The third since I moved back to Canada. I got one about a month after I arrived and that lasted me about two years, and so I got a new one and now this week that one has given up the ghost.  The keyboard. Half the keys stopped working, all in a certain area, and every day a couple of times a day I was getting a black screen.  I do have another larger PC which I am working on now, but it is not ideal, and I find it awkward. I prefer the smaller screen and keyboard. It is easier on my eyes.

I can remember back in the mid 90's thinking who on earth would want or find use for a computer in the home?  Boy was that ever shortsighted on my part. I would not want to be without one now. That is one modern convenience I would not want to have missing from my life.

Back in the 1970's they got a computer where my mother worked on the base here in Greenwood. They had a whole room to house it.  Can you imagine?  It was temperature controlled and everything. My mother almost had a nervous breakdown getting used to it. She hated it and in fact was off work for a few days, maybe even a week,  because of the stress of it all. the doctor gave her valium to take.  It made her feel like she was drunk. She didn't like it and she did eventually get used to the computer.  She never did have the desire to have one in her personal life however.  She wouldn't have a debit card either.  She used to say that if she didn't have enough forethought on Friday to go to the bank and get out the amount of money she needed for things, then she didn't need the money.

She wouldn't have a bank card, a cell phone, a computer, etc. and she still wanted her pay check/pension check mailed out to her. There was no way anyone was getting into her bank account!

Old things  . . .  I like old things, but I do applaud the convenience of modern things as well. Computers, bank cards, etc.

 

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The stores are full of autumn and Halloween, in fact I noticed at Michael's they were getting rid of their Halloween stuff and making space for Christmas. I am not sure what I think about that. I am only just getting in the mood for autumn and Halloween.  The retail sector seems to want to rush us through the holidays  . . .  I like to savor them, and actually when they are happening, not months and months ahead of time.

I think embracing them too early takes away from the specialness of them.  I hate seeing Christmas Trees in September and Easter Eggs in December . . . 

I am only just now falling into autumn and I don't want to rush through it. I want to savor every moment . . . 

And with that I best leave you with a thought for today  . . . 

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

 *.˛.Keep what is worth keeping,
and with a breath of kindness
blow the rest away.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
~Dinah M. Craik° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Cinnamon Raisin Batter Bread. Such a simple make and quick as well.  I have had this recipe in my BBB for a very long time and have been baking it for years. It turns out a bit rustic looking, but has a beautiful flavor and texture!

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, filled with all things nice and people who love you and who you love back. Be happy. Be blessed. don't forget!

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And I do too!