Tuesday, Sunshine and Good Company

Today was a nice day.

We enjoyed some soup and leftover 

beef stroganoff from yesterday.

We had a nice cup of ginger tea at our local coffee shop.

Tomorrow is a fish day in honour of St John of Kronstadt and

we hope to go to a local newer fish restaurant for lunch.

Each day is different; I would say that today I started out hungry;

after my first breakfast of leftover biscuit and gravy from yesterday's lunch,

I was soon hungry again and we had an early lunch.

A snack of an ice cream cone late afternoon and then dinner

of noodles and beef and salad, then an English Muffin with PB and bananana

and after that I was still feeling hungry so I had granola and yogurt and finally

feel 'full' as it were. 

We are hoping to defrost our freezer tomorrow!

I am hoping to start baking for Christmas soon so this is great timing.

I also hope to make some Christmas teas this year.

Maybe next week I will actually get to sewing... 

I hope this day for you was peaceful and had some hopeful moments in it.

God bless you and keep you!

Monday, bright and full

What a full day.

I am having a hard time falling asleep at night, 

but manage to sleep in so I am not terrible sleep deprived per say, 

Thank God for that.

I was able to do some laundry, pick up house, read,

including a bit on in the large biography on Fr Seraphim Rose which is

quite enlightening about what is going on in the word.

So many things I had questions of for so long and Fr Seraphim is going

very far in answering them. 

I am taking notes in my lovely new journal...

***

I saw a friend for lunch, which was really nice and full.

Came home, talked to my Mother,

Husband came home. 

We talked.

I made a simple beef stroganoff from my new Amish cookbook.

It was basic ~ make a meatball with the 1 lb of beef (I need to mince the onions finer I think),

brown the meatballs and then add can of cream of mushroom soup 

and 1/4 cup of water, simmer, covered, for 30 minutes and serve over buttered hot noodles. 

It turned out well, but I accidentally let the gravy part burn down.

So I need to watch that next time.

I would like to make better meatballs (I need to look up my Mother's recipe)

and also make a better mushroom gravy sauce, 

but this recipe, with the one change of not adding 1/4 cup water

but instead 1/4 cup milk, did flavour the meatballs in a wonderful way.

We went to a lecture tonight which has

produced a lot of discussion at home.

I always find myself thinking, 

why did I not know these things when I was in my 20s? 

why do I not remember any of my professors talking about what

is going on in current thought and culture? 

I am glad, at any rate, that there are people still talking about things

like I heard tonight. 

***

We are still being both challenged and taken care of in our

personal unbloggable hard.

Husband is thinking of reading some commentaries on Job.

I commented that a lot of our unbloggable hard came out of the blue,

totally unseen and unexpected.

Husband said Job's did too and that Job had it much much worse than we,

but I knew that.... 

***

I am sure that when I look back at this time,

I will see the mercy of God and how He took

such good care of us during these days.

***

Surely the mercy of God will follow us all of our days...

A restful rainy Sunday

Not a lot of pictures today!

We went to our local church and stayed for coffee hour,

talking with various ones there.

Post Liturgical Nap once home. :)

We shared a plate of the sour cream apple pie I made

and later had popcorn, both while watching 2 episodes of the Walton's.

We're still facing a lot of our personal unbloggable 'hard' and at times

I feel a bit weary or sad about it, other times I am able to stay more in

the thanksgiving for the day at hand. 

Well, tomorrow I have a lunch date and also

hope to make beef stroganoff for dinner.

It is raining a LOT and there is flood and wind warnings

but even if we did lose power,

we have everything we need, from water, food, matches, candles, 

batteries, flashlights, lanterns, blankets.

We are so blessed. 

That's something we talked about tonight,

how blessed we are.

I hope today finds you warm, dry and with hope.

Blessings on a Saturday

Today was a more restful day, whew! 

Local friends gave us the kindest gift - 

good quality wool lined ear muffs for my beloved Husband 

and two wonderfully smelling soaps and an Amish cookbook for me!

It was so nice to have a day that we rested up.

I read, napped, took a hot bath...

lunch was left overs + applegate chicken nuggets and a salad.

Vespers and then dinner at our favourite diner. 

I am really grateful.

I hope you have things that you were blessed with today as well!

Friday: feels like I had 2 weeks in 1

Whew. How much has to be crammed into one day,

I sometimes wonder.

Well, the weather finally turned cold.

So this morning I not only did the house-pick up but switched out

my summer and winter clothes; 

they all live on one pole in our bedroom closet, but the clothes

to the right of the pole are much harder to get at and thus are

the clothes that are not in season at that moment. 

Lunch.  Nap.  PT.

Cinnamon Rolls. Made a vegan pasta for dinner;

used my Swedish nut grinder for the first time.

What a dream it was to use!

So easy and fast!

The raw cashews look like Parmesan cheese, newly grated!

So what I did to make this dish.

Chopped 2 large carrots into pieces.

Sauteed about 3 cloves garlic in coconut oil.

Sauteed carrots (still were a bit crunchy) for a good few minutes,

then added 2 chopped large portobello mushrooms,

Sauteed both until mushrooms were soft. 

Set both of these things aside.

Added more coconut oil and some flour to make a roux.

1 can coconut milk, 1 cup vegetable broth,

half cup ground raw cashews,

about half a cup or a bit less nutritional yeast.

Maybe 4 stocks of basil, trimmed and cut.

When it was good a thick,

I added the carrots and mushrooms back.

It was pretty good, though needed a bit of salt. 

I hope to keep experimenting with this and hopefully 

come up with an even better sauce.

I know carrots were not normal to add, but I was trying to 

make something a bit more healthy and use what I had on hand.

It was not our top favourite, but it was still enjoyable

and I look forward to trying more of this sort of thing in the future!

I still have a bit more basil to use up....

***

We watched another Walton's episode; I just love those;

I always feel a bit more courage and hope by watching them.

****

I realized this after I wrote yesterday's post (reposting what I wrote on social media 

last night after I was done with the blog post):

So I got this stone today that says 'courage' as I felt the need for it. I gave it to my Husband saying 'Courage Dear Heart' and later, when I googled that phrase, I realized it is from CS Lewis' Narnia books, the Dawn Treader to precise and that Aslan says it to Lucy. While my Husband does not know why I bought the stone itself, I am so happy for it and for Lewis' words, 'Courage Dear Heart'... (I had already planned on having this stone where is is, next to my Narnia books from my Grandma and now the unknown connection is an even greater blessing to me!)

****

As always, I hope this day

had moments of peace for you.

Courage Dear Heart

Thank The LORD! 

We are home, had the cozy evening (Walton's date!), all went 

well today in NYC.

  I had some fear about today and was exhausted when all

we well and we were coming home.

I don't think I realized how hard it was for me until it was all over;

I was battling some real fear-thinking.

I bought this stone for myself and my Husband

and gave it to him, saying

Courage Dear Heart

and of course, my Husband being the joke-cracking-off-the-wall humour,

said "abandon all hope, you who come here"

(this of course being at the beginning of Dante's 

Divine Comedy, when Dante enters Hell (The Inferno))

to which I said "Dante made it to Paradise and we may too"

to which he said "We hope!" to which I agreed. 

***

Well, the chicken fajitas worked out.

Ended up needing them 'bland' so that was perfect.

Tomorrow I may try my soft vegan tacos.

***

Husband and I prayed most of the 

Akathist to the Protection of the Mother of God again this 

morning and that was a real blessing to us.

***

We saw the cutest little gift store, pictures above.

I got to talk to my quilting-friend on the phone and that was great.

***

I pray that all of you are comforted when you are

exhausted, distressed or sad and that today

had some shards of hope, some peace, something

that spoke to your soul saying:

you are not alone and 

it's going to be OK.