Its the little things . . .

 

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” ~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Every day I find that I am surrounded by ordinary miracles. Small things that bring me joy and might have gone un-noticed and un-remarked except that I have chosen to acknowledge them and give them voice. Little things that touch my heart and make me smile.

The sight of a small white feather caught in the branches of the hedgerow in the garden reminds me of my many feathered friends that live amongst the shrubbery and hedges that border our back garden on all three sides. I think of the wonderful gifts they bring to us every day of their beautiful songs . . . and the delight we find in watching their antics as they travel to and from our feeders. Down south we had many more varieties . . . up here it is mostly just sparrows, with the odd robin and black bird. Occasionally there are a pair of goldfinches who come and we have seen tits on several occasions . . . no matter that they are not exotic or unsual. They please us every day. 

  

surveying her domaine . . .

It doesn't seem to matter if I have only been out of the room for 2 minutes or out of the house for 2 hours . . . the minute I return I am greeted most enthusiastically by our lovely Mitzie. It is nice to be loved and to love back. When I get up in the morning, before I can do anything else, it is cuddle time and I sit on the sofa and stroke her silken ears as she makes those little “doggie” type of loving noises that lets me know that she is enjoying every minute of the attention and my heart melts. She often lays by my feet as I type away on the computer in the morningsr snuggles next to me on the sofa as I watch the television. Her cuddly warmth next to me is just like a big cosy hug. 

 

blackbird on the patio table . . .

I am always on the look out for little gems and gifts . . . the way the sunlight dances across the dry leaves that linger in the garden, the sight of a butterfly’s wings fluttering against the window panes in my kitchen window just as dusk begins to settle in, the wispiness of the clouds in a deep blue sky as they travel slowly across my line of sight, the sound of my Todd's breathing in bed . . . going softly in and out, the silence here in our little terraced house of an early morning as the earth outside begins to wake up, and I hear the little twitters and melodies of the birds in the bushes and the rattle of the milk float as it slowly moves up the street . . . 

  

magpie on the telephone pole out back  . . .

 

The sun begins to rise above the horizon and bathes everything in it’s special early morning golden glow . . . dry leaves and branches gilded in the crystal glint of a February frost
These everyday things might be taken for granted and often are, if we don’t take the time to stop and breathe them into our being. These little snippets of joy, free for the taking . . . are what makes life so beautiful and worth living. I hope I never stop seeing them, or hearing them, or feeling them . . .

 

 snow from a few years back  . . .  

 

We've been enjoying this new show on the BBC called All Together Now.    The concept is that hopeful singers get onto the stage and perform in front of 100 musical people and halfway through their song the 100 have the opportunity to push a button and stand up and start singing along with the hopeful contestant. The goal is to get as many people up singing along with you as possible.  The two contestants each week with the highest scores go through to the final and have an opportunity to win £50,000.  I like the concept, although I am not sure I like all of the 100 so called musical celebrities.  But meh.  Who am I.  I think it takes an incredible amount of courage to do what the contestants are doing and they make me want to get up and sing, they do, they do, they do, they do . . . they do . . . .

At least there is no sex, bad language or violence.

not yet anyways!

lol

  

Having watched all seven seasons and a year in the life three times now, we have started to watch The Gilmore Girls again for the 4th time.  Yes, I know . . . 4 times you say?  Well, we like it, and we are always seeing stuff we missed the first 3 times!  Simply put, we enjoy it.  I do have to say however that A Year in the Life was not quite as good as the original in my opinion, but sequels seldom are. It did wind everything up nicely however for the most part.

Now here is a question for any Gilmore Girl Fans out there, who was Rory's best boyfriend? In your opinion that is.  And why? 

I wish they hadn't taken Friday Night Lights off of Netflix.  I only got to watch that once on the run through and would have liked to watch it a second time. Oh well . . .   

And now I am prattling, so I best wind this down  with a thought for today  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.The older you get

the more quieter you become.

Life humbles you so deeply as you age.

You realise how much nonsense

you have wasted time on.

~unknown     •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 Baking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Ginger Dunkers.  Yum.  You should smell these baking. Heavenly bliss.

Have a wonderful Sunday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too! 

I hope you dance . . .

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat
but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one
single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you
empty handed,
I hope you still feel small
when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes
I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give
faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice
to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance . . .
I hope you dance.

(These are the words to a popular country song sung by Lee Ann Womack.) 

One of my favourite memories of visiting my family in past years was watching my little grandson Gabriel dance. I think he was about eighteen months old at the time. He's almost 12 now. He would be playing with his toys doing something completely random, and then a song would come on the radio or the television that would capture his attention . . . and all of a sudden, he would stop whatever it was he was doing, and stand completely still. Then it would start. At first just a few movements of his head, and then it would work it’s whole way down his body. Within just a few seconds, his whole body would be moving in rhythm to the music, and he would be dancing with total and complete abandon. He didn’t care that anyone was watching. I doubt he even noticed. He was dancing, and in his own little world, enveloped by sweet music and giving his whole self over to his own sense of rhythm. It was charming. It was beautiful. It was wonderful to watch. 

 

 Small children are like that. They have no sense of fear really, no self consciousness. They hear a song and they give themselves over to it. They don’t care about what you or I think . . . or what anyone thinks really. They just hear the music and they dance, with abandon and pure pleasure. Completely innocent of all the cares and woes of the world, they dance. They dance because they hear the music and they listen to how it makes them feel. They dance because they are in tune with their inner bliss. They dance because they want to.

Sometimes when I am alone I dance. I just listen to the music and I close my eyes and go with the flow. It’s a wonderful feeling, invigorating and inspiring. For those few moments . . . I can do anything, be anything . . . and I feel beautiful, the music enveloping me and carrying me away to a place where nothing and nobody else matters. It’s as if I am a bird, and I am flying, soaring through the air above this earthly realm . . . my own spirit carrying me to places only my inner voice can see or reach. For a few moments I am a child again and I am free to be me, free of all thoughts and cares and woes. It’s a wonderful feeling. 

 

Really . . . we should all dance through life. We should listen to the music around us, as it speaks to our soul. We should happily go with the flow, and abandon ourselves to feeling . . . and loving . . . and enjoying every scrap of our lives that we can, without worrying about anyone watching us, or what others will think. Finding our inner joy, and embracing it totally. Perhaps at first, we will only be comfortable moving our heads a little bit, but . . . as we free our spirits even more, we should feel the dance working it’s way down our whole body until we are totally involved and dancing in the deep end with both feet.

Too many of us live our lives just in passing, in fear of being judged, or hurt. We are afraid to listen to the music around us, afraid to abandon ourselves to the dance. We spend our lives sitting on the sidelines and letting it pass us by. Life has so much more to offer us than just a seat on the side . . . We need to grab it, hang on, and go . . . just go with the flow, enjoying the music of our lives and wherever it may take us. 

  

I hope you have a beautiful day today and that . . . you dance. Oh, and if you happen to be driving down the roadway today, and you see some crazy woman on the pavement, dancing with abandon, well . . . that would be me! 

A thought to carry with you  . . .  

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.If you stumble . . . 

make it part of the dance.

~unknown  •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment  

I'm running really late this morning, so no Book of Mormon Corner until Monday. 

   

We are going to the dogs in the kitchen today with Cheesy Dog Treats!  Mitzie loved them!  They got her two paws stamp of approval!

Have a great Saturday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too! 

My Friday Finds . . .

 

A few of the things  I find each week that pique my interest, bring me joy, inspire me to learn, create, do, become . . . Maybe they will do the same for you! 

 

 Shabby Art Boutique.  Make your own Shabby Village DIY. Cute!  Wouldn't a set of these done up for Christmas be cute?

 

I found this and was intrigued, but cannot find the source. It looks like they have done lettering in a running stitch on a white background with red embroidery floss and then gone over it again in an overlapping weave with white. Kind of like a candycane stitch.

 

From Turkey Feathers.  Cute dish towel borders.  Love these!  

 

Feeling Stitchy.  A Gadget Cosy.  So pretty.  

 

Meet Me At Mikes.  World's Easiest Tea Cosy. Complete tutorial.  Free.

 

Anyone Can Quilt.  Pot holders and tea towels.  Love the fabrics. Just eye candy, but the whole blog is eye candy.  Love it.  

 

Granny Square Hearts. Lanukas.  It is a japenese crochet symbol pattern, but they are so easy to follow.  I love them more than hand written patterns.

 

By the Bay Needleworks.  I love this simple brooch.  

 

Eye Candy from Little Herb Bouquet.  People are so talented!  Follow her on Instagram.  Totally charming. 

 

Wool and Chocolate.  A sock darning tutorial. So worth it if you have lovely wool socks.

 

Its in some kind of foreign language, but I love this and it looks easy.  Wish I could figure it out.  From Ge Ce.  I love these kind of old fashioned baby things . . . 

 

Ravelry, not free, but cute, cute, cute and not expensive either.  

Again from Ravelry, this one is free.  Tiny window cat.  What a cute Christmas Ornament it would be. 

 

Puff Stitch Petals Cardigan.  Love this. From Lakshmi Ravi Narayan.  

 

Stori be Art.  Video tutorial on using alcohol to make dandelions.  Love this.  Learned something new. Fascinating.

  

Painting Loose in water colour.  7 Tried and True Tips.  From Artists Network.  

 Eye candy from Beedee Babee.  Love Love her work. 

 

Pin Cushion Mice, free pdf from Bustle and Sew.  Cute! 

  

Ric Rac, Darla and Bean.  Seriously cute. You can follow her on Instagram also. 

 

Skinny Taste.  Chunky Beef, Cabbage and Tomato Soup.  Looks mighty tasty.  

 

Notey.  20 Ideas for bullet journal pages.  

And those are my finds for this week.  I hope there is something  here which twigged your interest! 

Note - Dishwasher fixed and appears to be working.  I have done two loads, one empty and one full and so far so good.  Apparently something wasn't tightened up enough and some water got into someplace it shouldn't have, so all fixed now.  YAY! 

My oldest daughter has been put on anti-anxiety medication. Not sure how I feel about that.  A bit scared about it, as I am not sure she exactly needed it.  I hope it helps instead of making things worse.  She tends to magnify things in her mind, just a part of her disability . . . she always has done. She obsesses on things.  Not sure this was the right route for the Doctor to take.  And I am not sure that she should have gone to the Doctor on this all on her own without a responsible adult to go with her.  She had been stressing because she was off one day last week from work due to a bad cold and she thought her boss was going to give her a hard time about it.  There is nothing I can do about those kinds of things living all the way over here, but if I lived there I would have gone into work with her and explained to the boss that she had been really sick. She doesn't seem to have anyone who is willing to speak up for her and I am not sure why that is. Its worrisome.

A thought to carry with you . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.We are like a snowflake,

all different in

our own beautiful way.

~Unknown  •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment

 

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER - Today's reading - Mosiah 3:1-18

Question -  What have you learnt from the reading today? What messages of hope do you see in these verses about Jesus Christ's Atonement? 

My thoughts -  Jesus suffered. Not just on the cross. Not just in Gethsemane. He suffered throughout His life. Because of the circumstances of His birth, from birth He would have known shame, humiliation and persecution, as well as the hardships listed in these verses hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, temptation. Its easy to think that because He was God's Son He was spared these things. But He wasn't. He felt it even more than man could suffer. Why do I find hope in these things? Because I know He can and will help me when I suffer, and that ultimately He HAS overcome it all. Which means that I can hope to overcome and enjoy better things to come.  There is nothing that I can feel or face, or experience that he cannot understand, or help me through.   

Tomorrow's Reading (Day 98) - Mosiah 3:19-4:3 

Question - What have you learnt from the reading today? In what ways does the Holy Spirit bring us to Christ? 

 

In the English Kitchen today  . . .  Meat Loaf Subs.  This be diner food, served with oven chips and coleslaw. 

Have a wonderful Friday, it is miserable, wet and cold here today.  Blah weather!  But you got to take the bad with the good.  Don't forget!

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And I do too! 

My Favourite things . . .

 

A few of the things I really love in life, maybe some of them are yours also. Lets share together!   

 

Japanese Kokeshi Dolls. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is typically marked with the signature of the artist.  I don't have any, but have always wanted one. Instead I collect photos of them, which is probably cheaper and takes up less space.  

 

Community Cookbooks, and Junior League Cookbooks.  My love affair with my mother's Lawrencetown Co-op Recipe Book.  It has a red cover and is literally falling apart.  Largely due to my devouring it and copying out recipes from it every time I go home. The thing about these cookbooks is that people put in their BEST recipes, their tried and trues . . . for the most part, recipes that work and have been pleasing their families, sometimes for generations.

  

I love these Buddha Bowls by Elan McPherson.  I have checked and checked to see if they are available in the UK, but alas I have not been able to find anyone yet who supplies them.  They look so comfortable to use, like they nestle right into your hands.  I can imagine sipping warm broth from one of these being a very sophoric experience. I would feel like Peter Rabbit amongst the lettuces. 

 

I love Scarecrows.  I think the first scarecrow I was attracted to was the one in The Wizard of Oz. I just think a vegetable garden is not complete without a scarecrow.  I am not sure how effective they are, but they add to the charm! 

  

Snap Dragons. I am fond of flowers in general, but next to Sweet Peas, Snap Dragons are one of my favourites!  Any colour!

 

Emmeline, by Judit Rossner.  This is my favourite book of all time.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have read it. Published in 1980, Emmeline is based on  the local  legend of a woman who becomes ostracized by everyone in her hometown in Maine after a shocking, long-held secret becomes public. The story is a fictionalized account of the life of the real life Emeline Bachelder Gurney.I do not know why I am so drawn to this tale, but I come back and revisit it again and again. 

 

Hearts of any kind.  I am always finding them places as well.  I think that must means that heart shapes are a natural thing in nature. The coolest heart I ever found was one week on a Sunday morning back to our car after church.  I was feeling quite blue, tearful even . . .  family stuff  . . .  and I looked down on the ground and saw a piece of paper.  I picked it up and it was a white heart shaped piece of paper on which was written simply "You Are Loved."  Who says God doesn't care . . . if you are open to His voice He will speak to you, and sometimes in the most unsual and unexpected ways. 

  

Covered Bridges.  They are so quaint and pretty in a very primitive way.  They look like houses, but they are not. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges have a lifespan of only 10 to 15 years because of the effects of rain and sun.  So other than being romantic looking and attractive, they also have a purpose. 

 

Middleton, Nova Scotia.  It is my home.  It is a Stars Hollow kind of a town.  I love it. I would live there in a heartbeat if only I could. 

  

Geneology.  Its fascinating and addictive.  You never know who you might be related to.  I could spend hours on it.

 

I know they can empty a feeder in a manner of minutes, and be somewhat annoying, but I really like squirrels. They are very intelligent and they have plenty of character.  They are quite cheeky and fun to watch! 

  

Cake. I love cake. I don't like dry cake much, who does??? But a properly baked cake is a delight.  I have never met a proper cake that I did not like. 

 

Inukshuks. An Inukshuk is a human-made stone landmark or cairn used by the Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska , United States to Greenland. Historically, the most common types of inuksuk are built with stone placed upon stone, and the simplest type of which is a single stone positioned in an upright manner. You do tend to see them all over the place now.  People build them everywhere.  

 

Tea Pots.  Simple ones. Unusual ones. Any type of tea pot.  Glass, ceramic, stainless steel, ornamental, painted, etc.  I don't drink tea, but I have a fascination for tea pots and if I had the space I would collect them.  I know . . .  something else to collect dust.

And those are my favourite things for this week.  What are some of yours?

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.If you want to give light to others,

you have to glow yourself.

~Thomas S Monson     •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER - Today's Reading - Mosiah 2:28-41 

A Talk to read as well -David A Bednar - 'That we may always have His Spirit to be with us'
Question - If you had to write King Benjamin's message in 20 words, what would you say it was? What does the phrase, "render to Him all that you have and are", mean to you? 

 

My Thoughts -  Vs 30 made me think of our Prophet  Thomas S Monson speaking to us at General Conference a few conferences ago . 'For even at this time, my whole frame doth tremble exceedingly while attempting to speak unto you; but the Lord God doth support me, and hath suffered me that I should speak unto you, and hath commanded me that I should declare unto you this day'... He admonished us to "Read the Book of Mormon". And I have made it a habit to do so ever since and my life has been greatly blessed for doing so. 

 

All of our Prophets, present and past, and the Apostles are such an example to me of what it is to 'render to Him all that you have and are'. Its about completely giving my life and my heart to the Lord and His work. Through obedience, repentance, service. The things King Benjamin has spoken of in this chapter! I really desire to give the Lord ALL that I have and am. He is so patient and loving as I'm learning how to do this. 

 
20 words: Learn from our fathers, Learn who you are. Keep the commandments of God, serve Him and endure. Be then happy.

 

 Tomorrow's Reading (Day 97) - Mosiah 3:1-18

Question -  What have you learnt from the reading today? What messages of hope do you see in these verses about Jesus Christ's Atonement? 

 

 

 

 

 

In the English Kitchen today . . .  Garlic Cashew Chicken.  Healthy and diabetic friendly.  This is truly delicious!

 

The Dishwasher engineer is coming back again this  morning.  I managed to do one load of dishes in it and it worked beautifully, but then I went to another one yesterday and it was going all wrong again, so we are once more dishwasherless.  I really hope they can sort this!

 

Have a great day!  Don't forget! 

  

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And I do too!