All Things Nice . . .

(source)

A silver thimble full of tiny holes

A Chinese coin . . . a little rusty key,

Part of a buckle -- dad's ole signet ring

A tarnished cross from someone's rosary.

Old fashioned buttons on a piece of string

My brother had them on a velvet coat,

A pen nib bright as gold, a bit of lace

A fishhook and a little scarlet float.

A piece of beeswax filled with criss-cross lines

She used to grease the thread to make it strong,

For sewing buttons on -- a crochet hook,

A little clapper from a dinner gong.

Worthless -- I know -- yet here I see her best

Rocking and sewing, singing to herself,

Her clean ping apron gaudy as a flag

Her crinkled Irish eyes as blue as delph,

(God give us mothers with old fashioned rules

And scented baskets made to hold their tools.)

~Edna Jacques, Mother's Work Basket

Roses in December, 1944

Mom had a bit of a workbasket when we were growing up. She kept it in the closet. There were also a series of old metal tins that held things like snaps and hooks and eyes, buttons, etc.  I always loved looking through everything, but especially at the buttons.  I would imagine the garments they might have been a part of.  She had one newish card of buttons that had little ducks on them, meant for a baby sweater perhaps. Oh, how I coveted them. They were such cute little things.  I remember a few others strung together that sparkled like jewels.  My grandmother's old darning needle, a curious thing that almost had the shape of a nail and looked to be made of pewter. I wish now that I had taken the time to ask her about these things.  To learn of the history. I am sure there was a tale to tell about each of them.

My mother also had eyes that sparkled like little blue lights.  She was the darling of anyone who knew her.  Prim and proper, yes, in many ways, but also with a mischievous streak that shone out of those sparkly blues.

 

(source)

I am a very simple person. I do not crave extraordinary things. I don't want jewels and silver, crystals or gold.  I just want simple things, ordinary things, thing that I value and that bring value into my life. If they can be a tiny bit pretty at the same time, then I am quite content.  Like teapots for instance. A simple brown tea pot is a thing of beauty to me, but with a pretty tea cozy on top, it becomes even more beautiful, and it brings me an extraordinary pleasure. 

Being able to just sit back in a chair and gaze out the front window at the world, drinking in the possibility that lays right outside my doorstep.  Sometimes mourning doves come to visit, strutting back and forth along the railing of the veranda. Their distinctive cooing is so peaceful to listen to. I love that they are monogamous and that they mate for life.  That's why you will usually see two together. It is a quality I find quite endearing. I find the birds themselves quite endearing. 

A simple slice of fresh bread and butter.  I like to buy the little sourdough loaves that they have at the Superstore and one of the first things I do when I get home from shopping and have put everything away is to sit down with a drink and a slice of fresh bread and butter. I would rather have that than a piece of cake. It brings me immense pleasure. I could be served caviar, but it would not taste near as good as that simple slice of bread and butter.

If you can find pleasure in simple things like this, your life will indeed be extraordinary.

 

(source)

As we pulled up the drive to pick up Maryann yesterday we spotted three deer out behind their garage.  Maryann lives with her daughter on a back road in a pretty rural area with lots of woodland around. It was a delight to see these gentle creatures. My sister thought perhaps they were yearlings.  They were not overly large, neither were they the small fawns. Just three juveniles probably.  We have a lot of deer in our area.  Probably because it is a pretty rural area. Mostly country homes and small towns. Lots of woodland. We also get bear and coyote, but we won't think about those.  There have also been occasional sightings of cougars or wildcats.  There are lots of lovely woodland trails to walk as well, but you really do need to keep an eye out, just in case.  The deer, however, they will not hurt you.

I can remember when we would come home in the summer to visit mom, we would take long walks which took us down along several large ponds.  The sound of the bullfrogs and other pond wildlife was quite lovely to hear.   

And you can hear the peepers here in the evenings now. Peepers are small tree frogs here in the Northeast, usually found near small fish-free bodies of water. There are drainage ditches that run along the road which passes by our street. I strongly suspect the sound comes from them. What we are hearing is their mating call, which is said to be louder than many songbirds weighing much heavier than them.

Canadian Spring = the sound of peepers in the evening.

 

 

  

(source)

And that is a simple tutorial on creating beautiful petals on an embroidered sunflower. It looks simple enough.  They are so pretty. I think the sunflower has to be one of my favorite flowers. I wish that I could plant sunflowers all along the front of my place. Dwarf ones, but they would only bloom in the late summer so most of the time they wouldn't look like much.  Better to plant sunflowers with needles and threads in a place where you can enjoy them all of the time.

(source)

We took dad to pick up his new computer yesterday. The hard part will be having him leave it alone until David (our brother) gets here in a few weeks' time.  David is going to set it all up for him and transfer everything from the old computer onto the new one. But he really doesn't want dad to do anything to it until then.  He wants him to keep using his old one.  That is a tall ask. Dad is like a kid with a new toy and was already unpacking it before supper last night. I can understand his excitement at it all. He has been waiting for this, but if he messes with it too much it will make things more difficult for David when he goes to set it up.

That is one thing about our father. He has always been eager to embrace new technology, etc. Mom, she would not even have a bank card and computers or the idea of having one sent her into a tizzy. She did not like technology at all and was not a person who took very well to change. I understand that a bit. I don't really like change that much either.  I like to think I am a happy balance between the two schools of thought. I enjoy having a bank card and I like computers. I cannot imagine life without either one.

Funny that. I can remember someone saying "way back when" that everyone would one day have a computer in their home, and thinking to myself, why on earth would anyone want to have a computer? Now I think to myself why would anyone not want to have a computer!

 

(source)

Chances are that you are a person of a similar age to me. In the senior's range, and maybe not, but I think you probably are. No matter the age I suppose, if you've lived any kind of life at all that's worth living, you will have been hurt by another human being somewhere along the way of that life. It's inevitable. It happens. Hurt happens.

Sometimes it will come out of nowhere and leave you feeling like you've just been kicked in the gut.  It may even come from someone you love and trust deeply, leaving you in a state of shock, despair and filled with sorrow.  You may even feel angry. Perhaps even all of those things altogether.  I have been there over these past few years to be sure.

It's not what hurts you so much as what you do with it that counts most of all. How you react to it and absorb it into your life. You can choose to carry it around forever like a heavy weight, or you can treat it as an invaluable experience that you can use to help teach others how to cope with should it happen to them.

Sometimes when you are in the middle of "it," it can be difficult to see "it" as having any value at all. And that is a natural way to feel. It is often not until we are in recovery that we can see the positives of what has happened to us, and perhaps there are some things which happen that we may really struggle with ever finding a positive at all. 

There are three steps to freedom from the weight of it all and to get your life back. I firmly believe this.

1. Although you have been hurt, don't consciously try to hurt back.  Most of the time they won't even know that they have or how much they have hurt you. Hitting back will only make you feel worse. It also may cause you to stoop to their level and do you really want to do that?

2. Try hard not to take it personally. It's not YOU. It's THEM. Their behavior. Their weaknesses. Their failings. Their poor judgement, etc. It was never about you.

3. Forgive. Practice the art of forgiveness. In not doing so, you continue to give them power over your life. That does not mean you forget what they did and give them an opportunity to keep repeating it. It just means that you forgive them. Let it go and move on. This can be a tall ask in some cases. But believe me when I say that forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself.

 

(source)

I have been trying to plan a few meals for when my brother is here. He will be here from the 22nd of May to the 28th, leaving on the 29th.  So that is seven days of meals that we will share together as a family. I am sure we will go out at least once, and I am sure my sister will host at least a couple of those meals.  What I want to do is things that I can cook now and put into the freezer. Ready to take out and then just thaw out and reheat on the day. I am thinking I will need four different meals.  I need to be careful of what I cook as well, because my brother is limiting his carbs and sugars to try to keep his kidney tumors from growing larger. This will take some planning. I have my thinking cap on. High protein, low carb.

It would probably not hurt any of us to eat this way to be honest.

And with that I will leave you with a thought for the day.  I need to go out and get a few groceries this morning and pick up my prescriptions and want to be off and out before it gets too late. It's also Sheila's birthday today and I have some cake and a card to take over to her.

A thought to carry with you . . . 

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

 *.˛.Nobody can be in good health
if he does not have
fresh air, sunshine, and good water.

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

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Cherry Blushing Betty. An old-fashioned dessert, best served warm with some ice cream on top. Simple to make as well.

I hope that you have a truly lovely weekend!  I will be back here on Monday morning.  Stay safe and stay happy!  Don't forget!

═══════════ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ═════════════ 

⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ════════════

And I do too!!