Beautiful Moments

My Husband showed this poem to me in a magazine we get

called Chronicles. He mentioned Elizabeth Goudge as such a person 

who would merit such a poem. :)

We've been enjoying our second plum torte of the summer!

We bought a gallon of USA-made hand sanitizer to refill our small bottles with...

we are preparing while there is such things to be had...

I remembered, for the second plum torte, to use tin foil AND parchment paper

before putting the batter on the bottom of the spring form pan!

We had a Walton's date! Pizza, salad and plum torte with french vanilla ice cream :)

I am thinking that baked plums all by themselves (as in without batter) but 

with cinnamon and sugar would be really good .... :) 

I loved this line (though it should read 'strengthen').... 

This Akathist (prayer service) is dedicated to an icon that is celebrated on 

September 18th, which is one of my name's Saint days 

(St Elizabeth the Mother of St John the Baptist) so that is really neat...

 On a cute and funny note... peanuts comics are so fun!

So funny and dear! I don't know where the next picture is from,

I saw it on a friend's story on social media...

What a delightful way to remind us of NOT doing those

things that rob us of simple and even profound happiness and joy...

***

Well, on a serious note... I can't remember if I mentioned...

but I found some data sets for the Dread Virus that give

stats for local/state/national information and it helped me see

that no kind of visits of/to/from family can happen

and it's like I am not in limbo now; it's still sad; but I feel more

settled now that I have found some sources of data instead of news articles

that were often so maddening in their lack of clarity.

***

Of course the minute you feel more settled about one thing,

than another thing pops up; an unbloggable, a sort of grief as well.

***

It's funny, I have such beautiful music in my head... 

I feel like I am in a middle of a calm of a storm

and am suddenly reminded of beauty, of what I love; of 

art; of God; of hope; of beautiful music; 

***

I still have moments that feel so heavy

and I allow myself breaks; 

I am reading books; watching an episode of Murder She Wrote; 

thinking about the Psalms; about the beauty of prayer and of 

the hope that I continually see in the prayers of my church;

like the one I posted about about hope of salvation; 

about how repentance and the spiritual life is about HOPE 

not despair. 

***

I am enjoying this calm and I do know it is momentary; 

tomorrow DV we go to the eye doctor; many new precautions are in place;

it will be, as my good friend described on the phone, 

a very different experience.

***

We are trying to see, while numbers are still low, if we can drive into NYC

and do some medical appointments;

I am dreaming of picking up some books at my library in Manhattan.

We shall see.

***

I wrote this on social media to a dear Artist who is also an Orthodox Christian:

"I can only imagine how VERY difficult this is. I read a lot of book set in WWII (esp DE Stevenson) and in ways we are in a similar situation; sudden changes; onslaught of hardship, loneliness; it's tipping a lot of boats and many people are struggling with despair or seeing everything spiral out in ways they can't control; I find both acknowledging the great grief we are all in (all but differently) and finding anything to be thankful for (summer, a cold plum, ice cream, beauty, an unexpected late summer rose blooming on a street corner) to be my way forward. My Husband and I pray for you daily. Your exhaustion is fully understandable; we must remember that even in our painful loneliness we are not left comfortless, as in God has not left even if we feel only aching loneliness."

***

I also wrote this, early this morning:

Thanksgiving list time!

 1. Husband reminded me to do laundry early in day (because HOT weather!) 

2. We "splurged" and had plum torte and vanilla ice cream for breakfast :) 

3. Tea with milk 

4. Instead of being unhappy about "Mount Laundry" that needs to be folded and put away, I am happy that, unlike 3 summers ago when I broke my ankle, I can stand, walk and do that work!!! 

5. My family, my Husband, my parents, my extended family, my in-law family, all blessings to me!

6. While hand soap refills at Shoprite remain elusive, we still have some AND we were able to get a gallon of USA-made hand sanitizer via Amazon. I already refilled a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer that was empty (I washed and dried the bottle and top first of course). 

7. We got groceries today delivered 

8. Today I am focusing on getting on top of all dishes, laundry, clutter but tomorrow Husband and I hope to go the adult swim again! 

That's a lot to be thankful for!

***

And so it is, this evening, a day of calm and beauty in the midst of

life's wind and weather....

***

May God have mercy on us and save us!