All Things Nice . . .

 

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A little cottage edging on the lake,

A shadowed pool where small birds come and take

Their morning baths . . . then hie them for the day

To the dim woods like children loosed for play;

Who find amid the green of bush and tree,

Beauty unguessed that people never see.

A boat-house dim and cool, a small canoe

Upturned upon the sand . . . the sky's clear blue

Reflected in a million sun split waves;

Along a shore a row of tiny caves

Run back into a hill where boys explore

And dream of jewels from a pirate's store.

A little summer place, remote and quiet,

Where golden rod and mountain ash run riot,

And where at night the stars seem very near,

And little wild things venture up to peer

At the strange ways of Man who thus invades

Their age-old sanctity of forest glades.

And tired folk worn in soul and mind

Turn back to Nature's quiet heart and find

The blessed peace and quiet that they need,

Where little padded trails and roadways lead,

Them gently on where earth and waters meet

Giving them freedom for their weary feet.

~Edna Jacques, Summer Cottage

Aunt Hattie's Place, 1946

I thought this a fitting poem to end August on, this the last long weekend of Summer. Labor Day. Summer's last hurrah before the school year starts up again early next week. 

And what a summer is has been! Dry and plagued with fires. The Long Lake Fire is still burning out of control and the air quality is very bad here this morning, but they are calling for a couple of rainy days, so hopefully that will help. Fingers crossed!

 

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Not many have been able to hang out their wash to dry on the line in recent weeks, at the risk of everything ending up smelling like a forest fire. 

It is a different smell than you expect from a campfire or a driftwood fire, or even the smell of a wood-stove. It is acrid and it stings the nose and the eyes. It is not very nice at all.

It also holds the smell of fear.

The fire fighters have been doing a wonderful job and doing it tirelessly. I am sure many must be exhausted. We have fire fighters here from all across Canada and water bombers, etc. They are all doing their best. And we are grateful.

 

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It was a very long day for dad and Cindy yesterday. Cindy messaged me a bit after 8 pm to let me know she had just arrived home. She got dad settled back into the hospital here in town and then went home. What a long day for the both of them and very stressful as well. I am not entirely sure of what the outcome was. I know there is nothing wrong with his gallbladder. But she said earlier in the day that they thought maybe it was Viral Hepatitis, and then last night she said, Epstein Barr syndrome.  So, I am not entirely sure which it is, or what it is that dad has.  Of if we need to be worried that he has passed it on to us. 

I told her I would speak to her today. I felt she really needed to have some down time last night and to rest. I was not sure what time she would be getting home, or if they would have fed them or what. If I was a better sister, I would have had a meal waiting for her. I did not think of it until it was too late.

This has been an exhausting week.

 

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Speaking of cottages, I have been reading one of the Enid Blyton books Elaine sent me for my Birthday in bed each night. A chapter a night is about all I can manage, but I am enjoying it very much.  The whole crew have gone to a cottage for their summer break, along with Kiki the parrot and a new character, Gus, who is a visitor.  They landed at a farmhouse last night in my reading, on their way to the cottage, and the farmer's wife had a tea ready for them. It sounded so lovely.  This was one of the things I loved most about these books when I was a child. The food. I thought I would share it with you this morning, so that you could also enjoy it.

"That's very kind of you," said Mrs. Cunningham gratefully "My goodness what a spread!"

It certainly was. It wasn't an ordinary afternoon tea, it was a high tea. A fresh ham, glistening pink. A veal and ham pie, smothered in parsley, like the ham. Yellow butter in glass dishes. A blue jug of thick yellow cream. Honey. Homemade strawberry jam. Hot scones. A large fruitcake as black as a plum pudding inside. Egg sandwiches. Tea, cocoa, and creamy milk,"

Doesn't your mouth water at the thought of sitting down to such a feast? Such a lot of food and it all sounds delicious.  I can remember as a child reading these books and about the food in them and wondering what a scone was, or plum pudding. Cherry cakes and ginger beer.  I would love to sit down to a tea tray like this one pictured here! Such a lot of tasty sounding food!

 

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I found out who the mystery sender of my Letters from Away was.  It was my dear friend Tatiana. You all know who she is. My young friend who lives in Greece. That was so kind of her. I was surprised to say the least! It was so thoughtful of her to set that up for me. 

The world is full of kind people, and I am grateful to say "my little world" is loaded with them. I am very blessed. I don't know what I did to deserve such sweet people in my life, but it must have been something good!

 

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I just poked my nose out the door and the air is thick with smoke this morning.  But they are saying light rain this afternoon and probably some light rain tomorrow. It's a start, and we will not complain. Hurricane season is beginning and so hopefully in the coming weeks we will get a lot more and they will be able to get the fire under control.

I have had to stop reading Facebook. It is too disheartening and was getting me too distressed. If I need to know anything urgently, the emergency app on my phone will tell me. No news is good news.

 

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I thought that yesterday I would get so much accomplished, but alas at the end of the day I had not really accomplished much of anything. I did my food post for today, and I spoke to my friend Tina in the U.K. for about an hour. That was nice. She has been feeling a bit low lately. Since she has been declared legally blind and lost her driving license, her world has gotten very narrow. She was a person that was always on the go. If I lived closer to her, I could get her out and about.  (But I am happy to be right where I am, no worries!) 

We usually talk about every few weeks or so, but only for about 15 or 20 minutes at a time. Yesterday we facetimed for about an hour. It was lovely. 

I looked on YouTube and made a few gnat traps to put about the house. They are really annoying, these gnats.  I can see this morning that I have caught quite a few in the traps. Perhaps I need to put out more.

1 cup water, 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, two drops of dish soap.  

Much the same as is used to catch fruit flies. I am sure they are coming from my drain. I do not know what I can put down the drain to kill them in there. I have been pouring bleach down, to no avail.

I have a plastic dish drainer in the one side of the double sink. I have ordered a stainless steel one which is airier to replace it. I thought perhaps they are trapped and breeding beneath the plastic one as it is more solid.  Something for the fall cleanup.

 

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I am trying to think of what else I did yesterday to take up all my time.  Nutmeg was sick once and so I cleaned that up and washed the floor. (Thankfully he hasn't been sick since. I think he just gobbled up his dinner too fast. He is such a pig when it comes to eating.)  I changed my bed and put on the new bedding that Elaine sent. (It looks lovely.) I did some scripture study. I cooked myself a nice dinner.  Steak and chips and a salad.  I had not had steak in a very long time, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I spoke to Cindy a few times to see how she was doing. I walked out to check my mail.

Not a lot when you look at it but somehow it gobbled up my day. I thought about doing a lot of things, but did not get motivated enough to do them.

I had a problem with the Privacy Policy on my Mediavine/blog page. So, David, my brother, helped me sort that. I had to add some sort of code to it and update it. I don't know anything about coding, but I am grateful to have a brother who does.

 I should have had enough time to read Susan Branch's new post, but alas I did not. Maybe I will get to it today!

I do think I am slowing down. A lot. It seems to take me a lot longer to get things done and I am distracted very easily. 

I don't really have a lot else to share this morning so  . . . (I fear I am becoming boring.)

A thought to carry with you . . . 

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

*If you want sweet dreams,
you've got to live a sweet life.
~Barbara Kingsolver° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

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

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Gingerbread Cake for Two.  I served it with some whipped cream and lemon curd. Maybe not the most attractive in retrospect, but I hope that won't put you off from wanting to make it. It is really rather delicious! 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, filled with lots of things which make you happy.  Don't forget!

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And I do too!