(Days 33, 34 & 35) without Cleo: there and back again ~ a lovely Tolkien adventure!

My Husband and I drove, after liturgy on Friday,

with lunch and a grocery store run,

to Emmaus PA where we went to the lovely

Doxamoot: The Orthodox Christian Tolkien Conference

I loved seeing my Husband so happy talking with various 

people about books, authors, Tolkien included of course,

poetry, movies, Japan to England, all was discussed :)

***

A gift and a surprise for me was that a deacon from my church in 

Ottawa was there with his daughter and wife!

We had some really uplifting conversations and it really was 

a gift for me... 

***

I saw this cute meme (below) today and I found

that my God-given gift of fellowship with ones who know

so many I love in Ottawa was in line with it! 

Today is a rest day for me!

While we were so happy that we got home

(we stayed for liturgy, Fr Andrew's serving felt very 'Tolkien' to me,

of course it can easily be said that he is very Viking in stature

so not a big surprise :) it was very nice! ) ...

***

I met a lovely lady there named Lily who I failed to get contact info for -

but I had mentioned my blog to her.  So if you are reading this Lily,

I would love to stay in touch, 

you can write me at my blog email here. :)

***

Oh, the super cute teapot, creamer and tray was at an Antique Mall.

I did not buy it but I love it :) 

***

However, we will see what we find at the VNA rummage sale,

it's this weekend!!! I have been looking forward to this for...well, 

months LOL. 

(if you are new here, the VNA rummage sale is the mother of all 

glorious estate/garage sales and I have found a lot of beautiful dishes,

silver-plate things (silver-ware and teapots, trays...) and I also find stationary

there, beautiful things but so much more affordable!).

***

I am happy to be back home now, thought my mind was filled

of so many Ottawa memories, I was aching a bit that way;

of course I also still miss my Cleo Cat.

found another two 'a year ago' pictures of her:

Cleo Cat: I still miss you!

***

It's strange to have her not here, a bit more normal

I guess however, I will always miss her.

***

I am so glad that God gave Cleo to me for the 13+ years I had her!

***

I ordered take-out to be delivered and am really grateful for that!

I have a lot to be thankful for.

***

I pray where ever you are today and what ever your situation,

you can be comforted by thankfulness to God... 

(Day 32) without Cleo: day of the Cross

Today we went to our far away church

for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross...

which I learned/was reminded that it is a feast

that is 40 days after the Feast of Transfiguration, 

linking them together, 

as the Feast of Transfiguration was, in the Gospels,

closely before Christ's crucifixion. 

***

I brought my 2 Crosses from my +Aunt Karen to be blessed 

(finally, about 9 months after I got them) and a beautiful prayer rope

for a friend! :) 

***

We had a nice meal afterwards, delicious fast-food Friday food! :) 

And my Husband got new shoes and I went to the grocery store 

for a few things....

***

It's a busy weekend and as I said in my last blog post,

I hope to tell you more about it on Monday.

***

Today I saw beautiful trees in our drive and my Husband commented

that I really love trees...and it is true... so beautiful...

***

I pray that God's mercy and the bEeauty He brings can 

help carry you, wherever you are in life,

no matter how hard or long things seem right now!

(Day 31) without Cleo: a better day and a surprise gift came in the mail

This picture is of Cleo a year ago.

I can see how much healthier she was then...

I am doing another Cleo-death-grief thing,

I am giving her beloved wet cat food away 

(other than 2 cans for a local cat here) to

friends near our far-away church + the reminder of her

dry cat food.

I went through a few months of pictures earlier to make an album I had

intended to pass along and saw lots of Cleo pictures.

I still miss her, though I don't cry everyday.

I do find myself, esp when alone, that I still tell Cleo that I love her and miss her.

Good words here. 

I am feeling a lot better today, thank God.

Which is good because I have a very packed weekend ahead!

DV I will tell you all about it on Monday :) 

I picked up this book at the airport, it was really good.

I am still thinking about it or, to be more precise, thinking about

what it made me realize about myself and how I can grow in 

empathy and awareness of others and respecting their wishes. 

It was a really good book, sad but beautiful and with a lot to think about.

But if you don't want to read a sad tragedy book right now, perhaps pass

this book on by....

I had black tea for the first time since I got back.

Boy was that nice!  I had strawberries for dessert after dinner

and added a tiny bit of French Vanilla Ice Cream and that was so nice.

I feel like I am returning to the land of the living after being exhausted and 

sick with the head cold all week.

I'd been meaning to put tea in this Delft jar for at least a year!

I finally did today!

And I got, speaking of Dutch things and of Delft Blue pottery,

I got an unexpected (belated) name's day gift today,

I felt so loved and so surprised, such a comfort! 

Dutch Stroopwafels in a lovely tin and in another package as well,

 dried fruit, Swedish candy, green tea, and the cutest Delft tulip mug!

I am in love with this mug, it's so dear! 

My new favourite :) My Mom collects mugs and 

she gives me some of the mugs she finds, so mugs and tea cups are 

both things I love!

 Isn't it just darling?!

I am excited to get some fall things up around the house next week,

including changing my table cloth... 

We had leftover beef from the freezer and rice for dinner!

I am happy to have candles lit again!

So this is another peek into the second of 3 lots of Delft and Dutch-y things that

we won this week... with thanks to my Dad for his help on it...

did you know that my Husband and I consider this line to be our 

default family motto:

we tease those we love.

Yep. For real. That's about it.  :) 

So... I really love that tall windmill in the back of the picture above,

which my Husband thinks is rather big and that storing it may be an issue

(I, however, already know where it can go, and more than one idea about it)...

anyway... I was teasing him about it and he was teasing me about it

and together he had lines like

and we can give it to your Mom for her wedding anniversary

and my telling him, 

I know, I will print the picture of it and tape it to the top centre of your computer

screen so you can see it EVERYDAY

and then commented that my joke was funny, it WAS, you were laughing!

to which he said, well, I was laughing at my own joke...

It's one of the strengths, actually, of our marriage, that we tease each other...

my parents tease-love as well and all of us do 'fun teasing' not mean teasing. 

***

Well...it was fun to talk with my Mom about the 3 lots of Dutch/Delft things we got...

one of the little houses is Rembrandt's house, one of them is actually an ash tray!

(it's pictured above, has 2 groves in the side that is open) and my Mom has the same one,

she hides the open spot and has it as one of her houses.

I always loved my Mom's Dutch porcelain houses and am excited to have some

to enjoy as well... my Dad picked the 3 lots up today and my Mom

unwrapped everything (it was just wrapped in news print) and used

"all of her bubble wrap" in wrapping it all up until we can go through it

at their house and figure out what we are keeping/giving away/bringing to NJ

to give away later on.  

For now, it's as safe as it can possibly be and 

DV we will get these treasures later on!

***

Oh, I read this book today,

it's such as week young kids chapter book,

I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who has young kids

and who is family with the more traditional (Orthodox, Catholic)

forms of Christianity...  

***

I listened to this song on repeat today...

It's beautiful... 

***

Well, I am thankful for God's mercy and pray that 

all those struggling with so many things will be upheld

and carried by Christ through the hard times... 

Day 30 (without Cleo): rest day

Today I rested a lot!

I also folded some laundry and I did some

computer and phone based errands that took

about 2 hours in the morning.

My Mom thought I was sounding better, 

when I talked with her on the phone...

I was really tired today.

I hope to get a walk in tomorrow as I think that will help overall. 

I was so glad I had prepared food to eat and 

lots of tea / ginger shot / ginger kombucha to drink!

The last picture is part of one of the 'sets' we won of Delft things

at the online auction.

The entire set of this one was 21 pieces and the total cost per item

was about $1.61! I would have paid more at a thrift store!

Esp for the pieces above, which are what I loved the most about it...

the 2 pitchers I am esp excited about and the covered jars as well!

Various pieces we will be giving away,

as we don't have room for everything, etc.

But I can imagine beautiful flowers in the pitchers or

using it for a nice dinner, lunch or breakfast, with water or milk...

***

I am thinking about my family's house, my parent's house, that is.

About how restful it is. 

How there, it's OK to rest when you need it.

I really appreciate that about my parents.

***

Praying for so many...

I was relieved that at least 2 people who I am 

friends with had good news today...

may God have mercy on us and save us!

(Day 29) without Cleo: a clean home and a head cold

I went early (about 9 AM) to our local coffee shop

for some kombucha as we don't get groceries until tomorrow.

My house is clean

(helps that we were gone!) and I did

a few loads of laundry, which is mostly taken care of.

Thankfully I did laundry at my parents house so we had

minimal laundry to do from our trip. 

I had a head cold, not surprising.

I rested a lot today and had lots of ginger tea, chicken soup

(made previously and frozen), and other such things.

Also PB and creamed honey on English Muffins.

So good.  

The next few days will be spent resting and I am thankful.

A fun note is that there is a local auction (online) where my parents live

and we "won" 3 lots of various Delft (made in Holland) pieces for a really good price

and that is fun!  My Dad will pick up the things for us and 

we will see how to get them here in the Spring or later,

depending on what all goes on and if my parents can visit us.

***

I am thankful for this.

***

So many struggles I see others going through.

May God have mercy on us and help us!