Small and Wonderful Things . . .

 

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

 A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life. It's the small things in life which truly mean the most. Simple abundance . . . it's the best. 

 

My family circa 1975

from left to right my brother David, Dad, Mom, Myself, Cindy holding

my oldest son Anthony who was only a few months old.

I would have to say that family has been the greatest and biggest blessing in my life. I miss my mother terribly. I don't know what I would do without my family. Especially my sister.  She is not just my sister, but she is the best friend that anyone could ever want to have or need.  I know that I can call on her anytime and she will be there for me. Even if it's not convenient or if she would rather be doing something else.

Saturday morning, I woke up about 4:30 am with severe abdominal pain. I thought perhaps diverticulitis. By 6 a.m. I knew it wasn't going away and was getting worse, so I called my sister. She was still asleep but came right over and we ended up driving to Kentville to the hospital there as the one in town is closed on the weekend. It ended up that I was passing a kidney stone.  It took them until noon to determine that and in the meantime, I was in severe pain. Pain like you can't imagine unless you have had one yourself. (If you have you will know what I am talking about. Unbearable.) She stayed with me the whole time. I don't know what I would have done without her. Once they got me sorted and drugged up with more drugs to carry me through the next 24 hours, she drove me home and checked up on me as the day went on. We got back about 3-ish I would say. 

I am so grateful for my family. They have all always been there for me.  From my brother paying for the hotel that I had to stay in during Quarantine, to my father helping me with my Vet bills, etc. And not just financially.  They are just there. They loved me unconditionally and would do anything for me. It has always been that way. I know not all families are like that, but I am grateful that mine is. They have been God's greatest gift and blessing to me.

(On a side note, the Urologist called me yesterday to see how I was doing and told me I still have a stone in my kidney other than the one that passed, so that will have to come out somehow. I will be going for another CT scan, and we will proceed from there.  I am praying that I don't have to go through what I went through again. Please God.)

 

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I am grateful for our Health Care System. I have been blessed to live in a country with free health care all of my life. I have never been rich or been in the situation to be the type of person who would have been able to pay for my health care. I know we often take it for granted, but free health care is one of the greatest blessings you can have in life. No, it is not perfect, and it could be improved, but is a bazillion times better than not having it.  They always come through in the end. Even if it sometimes takes a bit longer than you hope it will take. And most of the time you are treated with a great deal of compassion and care. 

My faith.  This is something else I would never want to be without. It embroiders my life with strength, hope, and possibility. I cannot remember ever not having a belief in a higher power. I have been praying since I was a very young child, and I am grateful that nothing has ever happened in my life that would destroy that faith. I still believe with a childlike faith.  And I can feel my Heavenly Father's presence in my life. I can feel the strong arm of the Savior.  They are real to me. I have felt the presence of angels carrying me. I cannot imagine what it would be like to get through this life without some sort of faith. Life is hard. For everyone.  We all face challenges. I am grateful for my faith which helps to carry me through mine.

 

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I am grateful for a job and a purpose that gives me a reason to get up every morning and which keeps a roof over my head. I love blogging. I love writing here on this blog for the joy of it and I love writing on the food blog for the joy of that also. I am grateful for the income that the food blog brings into my life. For the way it helps to take care of my needs. I would not be able to survive financially without it.  The timing of my monetization of it was Divinely ordained. I could have monetized it years before and I never did. And then in the latter part of August of 2020 I was inspired to do so. I had no idea at that point that my life was going to completely blow apart. I got my first paycheck a month to the day after I arrived back in Canada and it has helped to keep me afloat ever since. I do not believe in coincidence, only God-incidence.  He knows the beginning from the end. He knew ahead of time what was going to happen and the timing of all His goodness was perfect.  Being able to see that helps me to be able to find gratitude for the hard times because without them I would not ever be able to see the goodness of God at work in my life.

 

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I am grateful for rain. It is raining this morning and we have had a few days of rain over the past week or so. It is supposed to be a rainy week this week. I am grateful for every drop of it. After the dry late Spring and Summer we have had, and the ramifications of that with drought, fires and poor crop harvests every scrap of rain we get is more than welcome. And I know this won't be popular, but I hope we get lots of snow this Winter as well so that we can start next Spring with our ground water, rivers, ponds, lakes and wells full.

 

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All of you. I am grateful for all of you. You come here to read what I write faithfully and you leave such sweet comments.  You all bless my life in untold ways. Thank you.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day. I have been exhausted the last couple of days. I have fallen into bed at night and slept like a baby, waking up late each morning. I guess being unwell is very tiring!

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

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

*You cannot use up creativity.

The more you use, the more you have.

~Maya Angelou  • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 

I used to do a post every month for a company called Degustabox. I took them all of my foodblog a while back. I am slowly reposting the recipes I shared without any Degustabox links.  This Roasted Autumn Vegetable Pizza is one of them. It is a really delicious pizza with a partially whole wheat crust, white pizza sauce, cheese and roasted autumn vegetable topping.  Squash, sweet potatoes, onions, tossed with pesto and honey and a few other bits, roasted until sweetly caramelized before topping the pizza. Remarkably tasty!

I hope you have a day and a week filled with small and wonderful things. Be blessed.  Don't forget!

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And I do too!