Saturday Sunshine & a small walk

This small tree is always so beautiful in the wane of the year, before winter.  It's beautiful, brave, bright and yet so small, alone yet awash in beauty in Autumn.

I walked over a mile.  I was cautious as I didn't want to overdo it.  My cold is much better.  

I am in a bit of a slog, one could say.  Where I am confronted with my spiritual poverty and have to endure the sight of it. 

I have times like this.  

I am amazed at the bravery of others who keep showing up and struggling.... 

We all have such different lives.  

May God help us all.

Thursday

Pictures from earlier this week.

My cold is improving, had a lot of fatigue, still have congestion, plugged ears.  Chewing gum helps.

I re-read my Father Gabriel book and read things online. 

I took a 1 mile walk, thank God I am regaining strength.  

May God have mercy on us.

St Gabriel of Georgia

Today is Saint Gabriel of Georgia day.  A friend sent on this documentary on the country of Georgia and St Gabriel the Fool for Christ. Part 2 is found HERE and seeing the inside of St Gabriel's chapel is HERE.  

May God have mercy on us all.

Sunday ~ Home ~ Sunshine

I managed, by God's mercy, to sleep better.  I am thankful that I have Kleenex, herbal tea, sunshine outside, 

This video is really beautiful and gives a smile and sunshine to us. 

I was not able to go to church but am listening to liturgy on my phone.  It sounds like sunshine.  

I am really hoping tomorrow will be better.  I hope I will have more strength and can begin to clean the house.  That's always what goes first when I get sick.

Well.  May God have mercy on us all.

Saturday Sunshine & a head cold

I read Sarah Clarkson latest post, which I enjoyed reading.... It's worth reading, more than once.

(Thankful that I could, so many on substack choose to put up a paywall which means I can't read the whole article). 

Between her post and an email from a long time friend (20 plus years now) I am startled again by the amount of suffering every one goes through.  

I managed to go to vespers and I had taken a short walk beforehand and by the time I got to church I was utterly spent.  All my symptoms came back after resting all day and feeling better.  So I have to keep resting.

I am thankful that we had chicken soup in the pantry to heat up.  And leftover chicken to add to it.  My Husband got out frozen chicken broth I made earlier for future meals.  I don't think I can go to liturgy tomorrow as I am feeling poorly.  

I am also thankful for premade green smoothies that I add vegan yogurt and chia seeds to.  And Kleenex with lotion. 🤣 

And for so many other things, like not having to work when I am sick, etc.

I am doing my best to try my new glasses.  The candles up by the Altar looked blurry to me so my eyes are still adjusting.  But other things were fine.  We shall see what happens

I am very greatful for the many blessings I have.

May God have mercy on us all.

Friday ~ NYC ~ thankfulness

NYC.  I made it there and back again.  I didn't sleep well.  I feel like I could be getting sick.  I told my beloved Husband and he prepared my neti pot (nasal rinse) and after I used it I cleaned / sterilized it.  Also having lots of liquids including ginger tea and I rested a lot this afternoon.  

Results from being in NYC.... Because my new eye glasses were not working....

My vision is bad (high myopia) and my brain has been using my left eye instead of both eyes because my right eye is so much worse.  Which means that my brain doesn't know how to use both eyes with my better prescription.  Only way to find out is try new prescription for 2 weeks.  

Thank you Sandra Ann for your kindness in commenting. 

I think the grace in today was that I was given the strength to go to NYC and make dinner.  And I emptied the dishwasher.  Simple daily tasks but when I get run down each accomplishment like this is a true "win" for the day.

I got out the first in the Fairacre series by Miss Read.  I need some good solid comfort reads and Miss Read is a good one.  Perhaps this will do the trick.  

Hopefully I will sleep better tonight as I need it to help the physical depletion that I get when insomnia strikes.

I worked at a Bible Camp when I was in my late teens and early twenties.  And the camp director would always say before our staff devotions that we have a lot to thank the Lord for.  And he said it even after he lost his beloved wife of decades to cancer.  And he is so right.  We have so much to be thankful for and I must remember this.

sunshine and bird song on a Thursday

It is a beautiful Thursday morning.  I heard a few birds chirping outside. After days of not having caffeine because of sleeping badly on Saturday night I had one pot of caffinated tea today.  And I was careful not to steep it too long.  I really enjoyed it.  I will have decaf tea the rest of today.  

So the vegan rescue biscuits are actually quite good with raspberry jam! They're understandably a little nutty in taste.  But with jam and hot tea and a side of cashews quite a good breakfast!  

I had a very encouraging conversation yesterday and I'm encouraged by what God is teaching me.  

I read most of a book yesterday but I found it rather sad.  I don't think I'll talk about it further but it's easy to get lost in life. I know that from my own life.  And only God can fully understand our lives and God is full of mercy. 

I'm letting go of the literary magazine subscriptions I had. I had two.  It wasn't that their bad but they weren't good enough for me to renew for me personally.  

I added the bit I wrote the other day to my writing project. Sometimes I'll write something in another document and merge it later. What I'm aware of now is that one day I will have a lot of rewriting to do. But it's not time for that.  

It is time though to slowly get ready for my walk! 

Learning to just be in today is so vitally important that I just pray that I can learn to bring the practice into the rest of my life. Because these lessons often need relearning.  But I had some very bad thought patterns. I think that surfaced even more when I was ill and now I need to create better ones. 

It's wonderful to have goals that are really worth reaching and working on.  

May God have mercy on us as we all try our best in this day. 

It's now evening. I went on a very long walk. 5.12 miles. Perhaps too long, I was very tired upon returning home.  

I felt like I started the day with some sort of courage but felt a bit deflated.  I think it's so hard for me to learn to be in just today and it's rather hard.   But I must learn this.  

We don't know when our personal unexpected struggle will end but it may be many months.  I think the sense of loneliness is perhaps the hardest thing.  I was so happy that my Husband came home earlier than expected today.

I have to go to NYC tomorrow, eye glasses trouble 😥 to be honest I would rather stay home.

May God have mercy on us.

wise words on patience and happiness

See HERE. 

a new vegan recipe ~ today has goals for me to meet

I'm hoping to make a pinto dish with tomato to use up the rest of the cilantro and have it with taco chips.  

It worked out! I sauteed the onions first. I think I could have caramelized them even more before adding the pinto beans. Once I added the pinto beans I put a lot of chili powder over it. I just sprinkled until it was a kind of uniform dark chili look. Then I stirred it up and then I added the can of tomatoes.  Then I added the chili powder again. Same thing and then I stirred it. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. At first I had it covered but it was keeping too much water. So I uncovered it so that the water would boil off. We had it with a quarter lime each squeezed on top, a bit of taco sauce and some fresh cilantro and a quarter of avocado each. It was really tasty! 

And I'm hoping to make a vegan version of rescue biscuits for tonight. 

updated to add what two cans (pinto beans and tomato) that I used:

14.5 ounce diced tomato, 15 ounce can of pinto beans (rinsed zelously in collander)

My plan is to go on a walk happened.

This (above) beginning of the chapter had a good bit of advice, from the Marie Carie book.  I gave it away to the little free library.  

And I hope to do more research. Ok, so my Chromebook is a continuous source of patience building because it keeps malfunctioning daily. 

I am again blogging from my phone. 

These days are strange ones.  I don't have a full understanding of them.  I can tell you that I really enjoyed sitting in the warm sunshine listening to the water lap on the rocky shore.  I have always loved water and how it sparkles in the sunshine.

I made rescue biscuits vegan (almond milk and vegan egg powder).  They were NOT as good but still eatable.  Just a bit too dry.  I don't understand food / cooking enough to know what the difference of one cup milk and one egg to 1 cup almond milk and egg powder but the difference is very noticeable.

The pinto beans with onion and tomato was delicious however.

I feel like this recipe is a keeper! 

As per usual, I am having a hard time keeping the kitchen clean.  I have the dishwasher going and dishes piling up.

I am learning to dig deeper than my feelings of sadness or sorrow.  God wants me to learn something.  And part of that is to learn to love life again.  

Making the tomato and pinto bean dish, with avocado, cilantro and a quarter lime squeezed over, is part of this.

It is going to take time but I am really learning some really important things.  May God protect and save us all, in His abundant mercy.