A Varied Friday

The end of this one (above) is something I am still

pondering... in a new way, as I've read this one so many times,

but now thinking about how my life fits, what I have given up

and how life is now...

I've been noticing a lot of L'Engle's dialouge and how

much applicability, wisdom and prescient it is.

I enjoyed this (and then walked it off by walking

a good hour in NYC streets in the heat)....

All of the above is from NYC public library.

The good:

1. I walked an hour in NYC.  I also have figured out what to wear on such

hot days: cotton, flowy just over the knee length skirts, sandals, hat and sun glasses.

And lots of water to drink.

2. I had an ice cream cone and Indian food.

3.3. I went to the NYC public library where I journaled and read my re-read

of L'Engle's Young Unicorns which I thought was esp. fun because

it takes place in NYC and I was in NYC reading it.

The book was published 50 years ago this year (1968-2018) and I have loved this book

for over 20 years now (1996 I think is when I got it).

4. I am understanding NYC streets (i.e. not getting lost) and public transportation

better and better and that pleases me. 

5. Some good conversations today.

6. Hot water for dishes, dishwasher and bath.

7.  God's mercy 

The struggle:

 Just trying to figure out various parts of our unbloggable

and what to do.

Sometimes anxiety creeps up a bit much. 

The hope:

1. For better times

2. For much wished for maturity that is only hard-won through struggles. 

3. On a simple fun level, I hope to read more Miss Read books soon... :) 

What I am thankful for:

1. Food and Tea.  As I get older just enjoying good food...

2. Books! So many joys and worlds to visit!

3. That I have good eye doctors (going to look at my eye prescription tomorrow).

4. Quiet... and quietness... both are a blessing... I am reading a lovely gentle book

that is reminding me of how important quietness is... 

5. Our home and creature comforts like a comfortable bed, perfectly fitting cotton socks (seriously!), good clothes for the seasons of cold and heat, and the seasons...

Quiet at the end of a very full day

Church this morning.

I was really glad to be there... a quiet somber service...

***

We got a new water heater!

yay for hot water! Dishes, dishwasher, washing machine, 

all so easy to do and run again!

***

Then I saw that for hours our AC was not keeping up.

So we emptied the pantry as much as we had to

so that the AC can be topped up again,

so that we don't have leaking later...

been there/done that.

Mr Husband the Valiant helped.

***

Tomorrow I go to NYC.

Friday I go to neighbouring town to get my

eyes checked for prescription; it is going to take time

to see if I should have cataract surgery soon or in a year or so.

I don't think I will be able to wait more than that,

from what I am observing in my vision fluctuations,

but it could be a lot worse. 

***

I am so excited to have the fast over and to have 

some fun food tomorrow.

I am hoping to find an inexpensive ice cream cone in NYC 

for a fun treat!

I got some new tank tops a while ago in NYC 

and I am so grateful for them!

It's been so hot! 

I have a nice (and cool) white shrug that goes perfectly with

the tank tops and makes being out and about much more comfortable.

***

I wanted to write about my time at the eye doctor on Monday.

A lot of Orthodox Jewish people go there and there was a lady

there whose skin was so clear and young looking, 

though I think she was about 40 and had a past the knee black skirt,

a tan puffy shirt with black belt, 

cute black mary jane like shoes with gold trim,

a small purse with a perfect strap and a black small plastic bag,

which she had a track phone in that she received a lot of calls in,

talking, I believe, in Yiddish.

I am pretty sure her nice brown hair with an interesting ribbon with black cloth 

pleated behind it, was actually a wig, as married Orthodox Jewish women

cover their actual hair, and often by wearing a wig...

(I learned that when I went with my Husband to an Orthodox Jewish wedding

last year or so, that was lovely and memorable)...

In her purse was a very used prayer book (for lack of better word

since I don't know what it was other than in Hebrew,

reading the pages in the opposite way one reads English)

and when she read those prayers, she was so deeply into the prayer,

that her whole body swayed but she was, in my observation,

doing something not only very normal but without affectation or wish

to draw attention to herself; just very natural and beautiful in a quiet way.

I was reading, again, L' Engle's  The Young Unicorns and in seeing that women pray,

I could understand L' Engle's appreciation of the Jewish faith, 

when practiced like this....

Lots of the other ones there were also Jewish and it was peaceful,

just knowing that they were conservative and aware of that which is beyond themselves,

in both community and practice.

At the same time, there were two women, middle aged, with loose

tank tops like shirts talking animatedly to each other in Spanish

and on the other side of the room, two people from India talking in their language,

and then others talking English...

another one was, I think, a Mother with a grown Son who traveled a good ways to

see the doctor and who were kind...

That is something I love about NYC, the mix of cultures, languages.

I like that eye doctor's office, always a nice good mixture of people,

who all seem kind, aware of others and peaceful. 

It is nice to see, even in NYC, that there are quiet people there and 

peaceful pockets.

***

Well, I did want to write about that, so I will remember it better,

God willing, later on.

There is always peace and places of peace if one is willing to look.

I must remember this.... 

Today is the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God and it was beautiful

Good things about today...

1. We went to church this AM and it was really nice... 

for the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God

2. Had delicious Middle Eastern dinner platter for lunch with my beloved Husband 

(beef, lamb, delicious rice and grilled vegetables!) 

3. Cake and Ice Cream!

4. We went to our local church tonight for vespers and that was really nice

5. We watched a Walton's episode tonight

6. Amazon Prime One Day shipping.  

So we don't have hot water quite yet -- because of the broken hot water heater -- 

so I had my dish gloves on and went to pick up the kettle of hot water. 

OOPS.  Melted finger off glove, ack!!! 

So new gloves (and new dish towels) come tomorrow.  Both needed! 

7. I had tea with MILK.

8. Because our local church is on the 'new' calendar,

 there's liturgy tomorrow and I hope to go.  That is a blessing! 

9. I have leftovers to enjoy tomorrow, which is wonderful given

 that I don't want to cook without hot water to easily clean everything.

10.  I have a wonderful valiant beloved Husband.

Well, it's been a DAY

Updates I wrote earlier:

What a DAY. Here's the latest:

1. I knew I had a cataract in the right eye. Seems that it grew. I could read a bit better today though still a bit off. If I can live with this/it's not as bad as it was yesterday, then I just have to monitor my vision and see my ophthalmologist again in 3 months (instead of the normal 6 months). If my eye does not get better/my reading vision is still blurry, then I need to have cataract surgery. So we will see. My eyes were dilated today so I can't tell how I am doing reading wise.

2. My Husband thankfully was home this afternoon and heard something strange. He investigated and found that our hot water heater had sprung a LEAK. PSE&G came out and turned off the gas (husband already turned off the water). So we need to buy a new water heater :( .... Husband is currently driving to Lowes to get a long hose in hopes that we can drain the water heater into the bathtub so that we can do 2 things: 1. sleep a full night -- the water heater is slowly leaking still and it had almost over flowed it's silver 'bowl' onto the floor, which means it would of leaked into our neighbour's below us! :( !!!! 2. If the hose drain plan works, we can go to liturgy tomorrow morning... as planned... if not (our far-away church is over 1 hour drive), we will have to stay home.... can't afford to have it leak into our floor and our neighbour's ceiling!

We are currently trying to find someone who can install a tankless water heater!

Please pray for us!

Talk about temptations (i.e. unexpected challenges) right before a Feast day!

ps: on the trip home... also I was almost to Grove Street where I get off the PATH train when we were all kicked off at Newport instead because of something breaking. So then I took light rail and then walked the last 12 minutes. !! so I was gone from 1 PM till after 7 PM and had forgotten to bring food.... thankfully ordered takeout that was delivered and waiting for me when I did get home after 7 PM!

{later}

Good news is that the hose is working to drain the 72 gal water heater. Bad news is not knowing when we will get hot water again.... well, one day at a time...right?

****

I was so thankful to have my favourite re-reads with me, 

The Young Unicorns.

I was thankful for my morning pot of tea.

Today was a very tiring day for both my Husband and I

and we are really running on empty it feels

and do ask for any prayers that can be offered! 

prayer request

Prayer Request as shared else where....

So, I am going to see the ophthalmologist tomorrow. My eyes are having a hard time focusing when reading - for most of today - everything I read has been a bit blurry, as if I am just waking up or have been staring too long in one spot or as if there is a slight film over all I read. Like I am constantly trying to blink to have my eyes focus and they won't go into focus. Kind of like highway hypnosis feeling. This is not in general but when I am reading, which is often. The ophthalmologist (I talked to him on phone, he's great) is not worried but will see me tomorrow. Very possibly a prescription change in my glasses will be needed. I've also been sleeping poorly so being overtired may be contributing. Anyway, since I've had retina issues in the past, I do ask for prayers. The ophthalmologist is in NYC so I will take the PATH in and then get an uber to make things easier. And depending on when I go in, I have a few places I could stop on the way for breakfast... so that's something positive in spite of it all....

Nearly Friday in weeks that fly by nearly unseen in their quickness

Well hello dear friends!

Another week, nearly done.

Well, tomorrow the plan is to go to NYC if possible.

I've had some good reading this week.

Miss Read books and a bit more of Kristin Lavensdatter and 

just started this book and am captured by it.

I started this one because I needed to know if I want

to stock more for our church bookstore

(it's a book written by a man who goes to the same

Orthodox jurisdiction that we go to) and so far, it's really good.

I do hope I can write more about this book soon.

Meanwhile, we went out for Indian tonight and bought some

groceries at the upscale grocer we go to on occasion. 

The Indian was good, though the rice and the bread in the first picture

was, well, too bland.  The actual food was great though. I call it a win.

It's going to be a busy few days now, with church this weekend

and the Feast of Dormition on Tuesday, etc.

The last few days

I've been enjoying tea so much with my vegan creamer...

This pasta was a Christmas gift, I used much of it today...

I made a roast veg mix with veg oil, juice from 1 lemon and tarragon (dried not fresh),

loosely from this recipe.  It was pretty good!

My Husband is reading Tolkien's letters at the moment

and I am loving seeing him so happy reading them.

I was reading a not-as-simple book  

(a teen I care about loved it and I wanted to know why)

and he and I would both stop to read sections of our books 

to the other, and it was such a great moment in our day,

I hope for more moments like this.

We were given this book of chocolate for last Christmas and it's vegan,

so it has been fun to break into this week... 

So I made a vegan cream sauce. I had 2 cans coconut cream, roasted onions and garlic + nutritional yeast and heated them together (using immersion blender with onions and garlic). Then I added the roasted egg plant and squash and pureed that too. I found it sweet and so added some minced garlic + garlic powder. I did not want to add tons of salt but it was a bit sweet. I liked it with roasted tomatoes and salt on top. I however wanted it to taste more like a garlic cream sauce and the overall flavour was creamy, sweet with a more tang after taste. Maybe I should do a cream sauce with almond milk instead of coconut? Or more of a blend of almond and coconut? I did like it with the tomato roasted on top (and salt added to that). This dish needs more acidity in it... meanwhile, for the left overs (1 more meal of it for Husband and I), I am thinking of getting some more tomatoes to roast and put on top!

****

I discussed this recipe with a dear friend today and 

I think I will try using a vegan milk and oil to make a roux,

add more garlic; or perhaps try raw cashews with a vegan chicken broth...next time...

I love how I can cook and try things

and then try them again another way if what I tried did not work exactly as 

I wanted it to... 

that's the fun of an experiment! 

***

Well, it's late so that's all for today.

I am hoping for a date with my Husband later this week and to be 

able to pick up some more tomatoes to roast for the left over

vegan pasta sauce I made....