All Things Nice . . .

 

(source)

If I could paint the blues and greys,

That blend into that filmy sheen

As if an artist dipped his brush

In silver paint to draw a scene

From some high hill in Fairyland

A man with magic in his hand.

The frozen rutted pathways run

Like rabbit tracks among the trees,

The bushes weighted down with snow,

Bent like old women on their knees,

Webbed tracks like leather stitching made

In warm quilts by the ladies' aid.

The trees are decked in white array,

Like vessel maidens at a Feast,

Behind the hills the sun comes up

Like a great Monarch of the East,

Whose golden trappings shed a glow,

On the white glare of frost and snow.

A dozen children play about

Like dwarfs from Snow-white come to town,

With merry eyes and laughing lips,

And all the antics of a clown,

With cheeks as red as Santa Claus

Playing to win the crowd's applause.

And on a winter park becomes

A painting framed in frost and snow,

Where common things of every day,

Take on a radiance and glow,

Like figures acting on a screen

Doing a lovely Winter scene.

~Edna Jacques, Winter Park

Fireside Poems, 1950

It has been many years since I have seen children at play in a park. There is a lovely big park here in town with a water feature and you do see families there in the summer months with their younger children playing in the fountains, etc.  But in the Winter, no.

Do children even play outside anymore?  I haven't seen too many here. But then again, I am not looking. Perhaps at dedicated play areas, and I certainly don't hang about those! 

We were always outside playing when I was a child, unless it was tipping it down with rain, even on the coldest of days, but there was little to hold us indoors. We did not have gaming systems or computers. Our imaginations are what we used most of the time. I can remember my mother letting me play outside one dark Winter's evening and the bunch of us were sliding up and down the road in front of our houses. The snow was packed right down and slippery. It was great fun.  It was a very small community so there was not a lot of traffic at night, if any at all. I can remember the dark night skies being lit up with the search light from the base as it waved back and forth every so often.  Loads of stars.  Our breath whispering about our heads in frosty great clouds as we flopped onto our bellies and slid down the glassy road.   

Do you think perhaps in our fears for their safety we have stymied the imaginations of our children? I wonder at times, and yet I do not blame parents for wanting to keep their children safe. It is a far different world out there these days and requires a different sort of parenting and more vigilance I suppose. I will say that I am most grateful that I am not bringing up children now. It takes a special kind of courage.

 

(source)

Be kind. Everyone you meet is 

carrying a heavy burden.

~Ian MacLaren

I try to always be a kind person, in "deed" anyways.  More often than not if I am unkind, it is in thought.  I exercise unkind thoughts far more than I do unkind actions. It is much easier to tame the body than it is the mind.

When I have an unkind thought about someone else, or I am critical of them in my mind, perhaps being judgmental . . .  even if I don't express it out loud . . . someone is being damaged. Me.

 I am wounding myself by the negativity of my thoughts.  I am putting up a mental barrier against others who may be doing the best that they can under circumstances I do not know.

Thoughts matter.

It is something that I am constantly working at improving. Thoughts do matter.  I need to be better at letting go of my own righteousness and giving people the benefit of the doubt. The world is just a nicer place for "me" if I do that.  Am I being made better by judging others, even if silently? Even if I have the satisfaction of being right in my mind, I am learning that there is a greater satisfaction to be found by being kind, even silently and in my own thoughts.

Judgement can be a very difficult habit to break, but breaking it creates more space in our lives for joy and for peace. Perhaps if each time we have an unkind thought about someone else, we should ask ourselves, who is this helping? Does this bring me peace?  And then just let the unkind thought go . . . 

 

(source)

Ever have one of those days? Most days things run really smoothly, but every so often you have a day where things just go wrong. It may start with just one thing going wrong, one tiny thing and then it escalates to the point where everything is going wrong.  You drop your toast, and it lands buttered side down. You spill the milk.  You bump your head.  The cake you so carefully curated . . . falls when you take it out of the oven.  Small things go wrong, one right after the other, and you end up feeling hurried, harried, overwhelmed, even burdened.

That is when you need to take a step back. Catch your breath.  Have a moment or a few moments of silence. Put things back in perspective. 

Those unbidden unveilings of your day are insignificant when compared to the immense suffering that we can experience in our lives and that is experienced daily in the broader world. You can always make another slice of toast, wipe up the spilled milk, bake another cake  . . . 

There are people in this world who face profound agony every day, heart wrenching loss, chronic pain, desperation. Even in my own life, there have been seasons of deep sorrow.  Burnt toast pales in comparison. This is not that. A fallen cake is not the Valley of the Shadow of Death, no matter how much it might feel like it is.

Petty angers and irritations.

Those are the moments you just need to take yourself out of.  So, you won't have cake to eat. The birds will enjoy the fallen cake, and the cats will get to enjoy the birds eating the fallen cake, and you will get to enjoy the cats watching the birds eat the fallen cake. 

Make new plans.  Take a few moments to catch your breath. Put on some good music. Crack open a book you love reading. Pour yourself a cup of hot tea, step back and just breathe.  If you are like me, you might pray for some peace in your day. Think pleasant thoughts.  Remember happy things. Dig out the family album and dwell on the memories of loved ones within its pages. Put on your favorite pod cast.

Remember.  Tomorrow is always a new day. Resolve to rescue today by doing something pleasant. Count your blessings. As the song goes, name them one . . .  by one . . .  I guarantee you will feel much better before too long.

This is how I have promised myself that I will live out the rest of my life. I think when you reach a certain age, it hits you that you do not have a lot of time left, and you resolve to make whatever that time is the "best of times".  All of those things you have been saving for rainy days?  Use them. Use the good china, the crystal, the fancy tablecloth.  Be present in your present. I know I say that a lot.  I talk a lot about being present, but this comes from the perspective of finding myself on the precipice of my golden years and realizing that they will only be golden if I make them so.  It is up to me to find the joy in each of my days that is there for the taking. 

Sure, things are not perfect, and in a perfect world I would have somebody to share these blessings with, but the fact of the matter is I do not and am not likely to now. I am a realist. Having nobody to share them with does not preclude me from enjoying them myself. 

All work and no play . . .  that's not a recipe for joy, and I remind myself of that on a daily basis. So, I now make it a point to have some time each day just for me. That could be something as simple as using one of my pretty cups and taking a few minutes to enjoy a hot drink and a cookie.  (How to make a hot drink even better. I will repent later.) Just small and simple things that don't cost a lot, but which bring small pockets of joy into my life.  One by one, they are helping to make these last years of mine truly the golden years. Simple pleasures appreciated for what they are.

I was remembering a trip we took to France with Jo and Colin one time. It was such a lovely trip. Jo used to be the housekeeper at the Manor. She left before I did, and she and Colin moved to Broadstairs which was on the East Coast very near to Dover.  We were visiting them this one time and took a day trip over to Boulogne in France.  There was a special garden display set up in the center of the walled part of the city the day we happened to be there and it was simply lovely.

Old vehicles  . . .  trucks, cars, bicycles . . .  all kitted out as individual gardens. Quite spectacular and very interesting.

Each one well-groomed and beautiful in its own right. There were curated pathways in between each to follow so you could walk amongst this garden of rejects which had been turned into something very pretty to behold.

It was really very unusual, and I think back on it now with gratitude that I had the opportunity to see and to experience such a thing.

Pockets of joy.

I loved travelling in France. We went a few times.  Once down to the Dordogne where we stayed in an old stone cottage with our friends Peter and Audrey and then for several day trips with other friends. Colin and Jo.  Julie and Paul.  Joy and Simon. What a blessing that was to live so close to the coast where we could just hop onto the ferry or take the tunnel and be in France for the day.  Enjoying drinks at sidewalk cafe's, lunches as well.  Shopping.  I am a grocery store tourist.  I love nothing more than visiting grocery shops in foreign countries.

It is no small thing to be able to reflect back and pick out the joy filled moments and happenings.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day. Cindy and I are going shopping this morning and I need to get my skates on!

A thought to carry with you . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

•。★★ 。* 。

° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚

˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.°A secret to happiness is

letting every situation be

what it is, rather than

what you think it should be.

~unknown  ° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

I am sharing my recipe for Prune & Walnut Puddings, served with a sweet lemon sauce today.  

I'm also sharing 10 Tasty Hot Sandwiches to enjoy during the Superbowl! I'm not a person who watches football all the time, but I do enjoy the Superbowl.

I hope that you have a beautiful weekend filled with lots of peace and love.  May you be truly blessed with an abundance of both.  Don't forget!

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And I do too!