All Things Nice . . .

 

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She was so glad for little things

She didn't need a coach and four

To fill her days with happiness.

A patch of sunlight on the floor,

A little kitchen warm and bright,

Was all she asked for her delight.

A corner cupboard for her cups

A little sun-porch painted green

A piece of ground for vegetables,

A lattice where pink roses lean,

Some hollyhocks as red as flame

A little homeless cat to claim.

A quiet bedroom fresh and clean

With plumped up pillows white as snow,

A wide old chair where she could rock

And listen to the radio,

Knitting in rhythm to the beat,

of lilting song and dancing feet.

A table with a colored cloth

A few bright dishes gay as paint,

Food cooked in her own favorite way,

(She looks as placid as a saint;)

There shone in her old kindly eyes

A peace that any king might prize.

~Edna Jacques, Grateful for Little Things

Roses in December, 1944

Once again, she has done it.  Read my heart in a special way. That is the special talent of a wordsmith. They have the ability to see inside your soul and bring out the feelings that you hold in your heart. This poem is so me. I love the simple things in life. I always have done. They bring me great joy.  And I am grateful for a simple heart which sees the holy in simple things . . .  a heart which is able to embrace and appreciate the divine and holy in a simple patch of sunlight, or the petals of a flower, the color of falling leaves, the beautiful patterns of frost on a windowpane, the simple and ordinary things of everyday life that many might take for granted. But not me.  I take great pleasure in the simple things. 

I don't think I would be comfortable with a chariot of gold or a castle on a hilltop.  I am more than content with what I already have.

I remember once, my friend Jo and I were helping the Mrs. at the Manor.  I think we were helping her to change her clothes around from one season to another. (She had so many beautiful things, Armani, Chanel, etc.) Jo was talking about the holiday she and her husband had been on and how much they had enjoyed it. She said to us (the Mrs.) that she had never had a holiday. I was a bit taken aback at that. I remember thinking to myself, "But your whole life is a holiday and filled with things most people can only dream of." It was only later on at home, while I was still pondering her words, that it came to me, and I understood.  I was truly blessed to live a simple life, filled with ordinary things.  In doing so, I was able to really appreciate the extraordinary when it occurred. It was not "everyday" to me like it was to her.

In that moment I gained a much deeper appreciation for the divinity to be found in the simple things of an everyday ordinary life.

 

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I remember as a teenager parting with some of my hard-earned cash to buy a bouquet of dried flowers, along with a vase to put them in.  They were all the rage at one time.  They were only strawflowers I believe, but they had been dyed all sorts of pretty colors. A rainbow of bright colors.  Deep vibrant reds and cerulean blues, golds and greens.  I thought they were so beautiful, and I knew they would be lovely arranged in a vase on top of my dresser.  And they were. To me.

My sister and I shared a bedroom for most of our growing up years. We did not always get along. It was not always peaceable. We had the usual squabbles that siblings might have. Mostly over clothes etc.

 In our older years, we each had our own bed.  They were just single beds, with a mattress and a box spring. We also had our own dressers.  They were tall and slim, made of white laminate pressed wood with gold trim. I remember they had little gold knobs and pull handles. Quite ornate. They were probably meant to hold unmentionables, lingerie and such, as an addition to a full-sized dresser.  We had no full-sized dresser, just those, and if I am not mistaken, we each had a matching night table. My memory can be a bit dim about certain things.

I doubt that much money was paid for any of it. My mother was always very thrifty. 

 In thinking back on those lingerie dressers, and how old my mother would have been at the time (only in her late 30's) it has dawned on me this morning that they were probably really special to her. They were probably something that she would have loved to have had when she was a girl growing up.  A flight of fancy.  And, in buying them for us, she was fulfilling some sort of childhood longing. With those thoughts, I now hold a better appreciation for what they were and what they must have meant to her in her ability to provide them for us. Giving us her best.

I wish she was still here so that I could tell her so.  How very much I appreciate her having given us her "best" in all things. But mostly for her loving us as much as she did. A love I have never really doubted.

 

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There is a part of me that would love to carve a jack-o-lantern this year.  There is another, smarter part of me that knows that is just a flight of fancy and that once I got it in here, on the table and started carving it I would regret the effort that it was taking. haha  Yes, I CAN sometimes be and feel that lazy.

My children used to love carving jack-o-lanterns.  Every year I would let them each pick out a pumpkin and a day or so before Halloween we would set them on the table in our dining room and carve them. It was a huge, glorious, messy affair. Of course, they were carefully monitored so that nobody got hurt, but I mostly let them do them for themselves. (Loads of supervision.)

Dan really loves carving pumpkins.  That is one thing I really love about Dan. He really gets into the holidays. Any holiday. He gets a great deal of pleasure decorating for each of them. He puts the joy in holidays. I really appreciate his enthusiasm for them. Last year after Halloween I found a pumpkin carving set on sale and I picked it up for him.  I can't wait to see what he creates with it this year.

One year after I moved back here, I carved a turnip. For Bonfire Night.  That was a bit hard. And I mean that in every sense of the word. It was really HARD, as in dense.  Turnip is not soft like a pumpkin. I used my melon baller to scoop out the turnip flesh. I did cook it. (I love cooked turnip.) Maybe I will do it again, but for Halloween.  We shall see. It depends on how much energy I have! But it would be nice. I think so anyways.

 

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With these colder nights, the air of an evening and in the morning has been filled with the smell of woodsmoke, mingled with the smell of falling leaves. It is a smell I love.  I miss the smell of coal fires that you used to get in the U.K. Mostly up North when I lived there. I never caught that signature fragrance when we were living in the south.  I always found it to be quite a pleasant smell, although I am sure some might not think it so.  There was just something about it that I loved.

We have had some beautiful days this past week. Sunny and bright with blue, blue skies. I don't think the skies are ever any bluer than they appear to be in October.  They are so lovely and bright, and of course the blue skies contrast so very well with the leaf color.  The leaves are coming down fast now. They will soon be all down. Best enjoy them while we can.

This is a photograph that I just took with my phone. You can see the frost on the rooftops and grass this morning. The sky has not yet taken on the blue that it will.  The leaves are not quite as dramatic across the way as they were a week or so ago. I will have to take my plant down and dump it. I noticed yesterday that it was very frost-bitten when I was on my way back from checking my post box. I did not have the time then to do it.

I know, that sounds funny. I did not have the time. I really have all the time in the world, but it is filled with priorities, I guess. I had other things that I needed to do first and then I didn't feel like it. That's the truth of it.  But that is one of the luxuries of getting older like I am.  Nothing is so pressing that it cannot wait a bit.

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Speaking of Jo, I had a lovely facetime call with her yesterday. We had been planning this for a few weeks now and everything finally fell into place.  I think we talked for two and a half hours, and it was simply wonderful to catch up with each other.  I don't think either of us noticed the time passing until it had passed!  That is always the mark of a good friend, when you haven't talked in ages and then you finally catch up and it seems as if no time has passed since the last time that you talked and you could just talk forever when you finally do, without even noticing.  It was such a lovely catch up.  I enjoyed every minute of it. I told her we really need to do it more often.  But she and Colin live very busy lives, and amazingly I do as well.  We have made a vow to try to catch up with each other at least before Christmas. Here's hoping!

 

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I have plans to do a video today.  I just need to go to the store and pick up a few bits. I will leave it as a surprise.  My daughter Eileen has been wanting me to do this particular thing and keeps asking me to, so I think I will do it today.  I have this newer phone now that has a pause button on the video function, so I am going to try it out!  I hope that it all goes to plan!  And if not, well I will have fun doing it anyways!  It will be good for a laugh no matter how it turns out. Count it all joy.

Oh, and I have so been enjoying Nobody Wants This on Netflix. I am down to the last couple of episodes now and am not wanting it to end. (I have been savoring it and stretching it out for as long as I can. I think I heard that there is going to be a second series. I sure hope so!)

Do you think I can say that I have dodged the Covid bullet yet? I am afraid to think it so, but it has been 11 days since I was first exposed to it.  I have been trying to book an appointment to have my next booster online, but for some reason the page won't come up for me.  Glenna has been able to book hers for next week.  Maybe they are all full up. I know that the library won't be getting any new test packages until November they said. There will probably be a run on them. I hope that I remember to go and get a pack for myself. The ones I do have are a bit out of date, but they do say that they are still effective if out of date. At least that is what I have read.

I can hear the blue jays and the crows out back shouting for their breakfast and with that I best leave you with a thought for the day . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

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

 *.˛.°Never lose an opportunity of seeing 
anything beautiful, for beauty
is God's handwriting.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
~Ralph Waldo Emerson° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

New in the Kitchen today, Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaf. I know the photos are not the greatest, but this is a really delicious loaf. I hope you won't let the darkness of the photo put you off.  It was really lovely. Moist and dense, sweet and spicy. I enjoyed some of it with lashings of butter yesterday and a cup of hot apple tea!

I hope that you have a beautiful weekend full of nice things that bring you joy.  I will see you back here on Monday. Stay safe, be blessed, be happy. Whatever you get up to, don't forget!

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And I do too!