Sunday: Church, More Beauty, Fellowship, Rest

It was great to be back at our far-away church today!

A real blessing! 

I am really trying to pace myself for this week...

I already got everything out to make chili tomorrow 

and I have my list of what to do...

Monday, huge bathroom clean.  Chili and cornbread.

Tuesday, Apple crisp. Maybe work on our Christmas cards. Clear card tables.

Wednesday potatoes prep and yams.  Set up table and island dishes.

Thursday, our grocery delivery service brings the turkey breast + sides.

Thanksgiving dinner will be maybe 12:30 or 1 PM. 

Friday. Clean up and I hope, the Christmas tree.  

***

Lisa, you commented that I have a lot of dishes and linens.  Yes I do.

You remember my big 9x4 pantry that has shelves built in? 

That's pretty much all of our non-perishable food save granola, cheerios, some nuts

and dried fruit we have in about 1/3 of 1 of our cupboards +

one big container of rice in about 1/3 of another cupboard shelf.  

So in other words, my kitchen with it's many cupboards and island cupboards, 

is all either baking things (cake pans, slow cooker, blender, dutch oven, pots and pans that

don't fit under oven in the 'under the oven drawer', my measuring cups and spoons...

and part of our non-moving corner shelf 'lazy Susan' 

that is vitamins and over-the-counter meds 

that everyone has in general... EVERY thing else is dishes. 

My wine glasses, of which I have 

4 sets (plus one more that lives in 2 boxes

 on the floor under one of our 2 larger buffets).

my best dessert plates, all of my fiestaware Ivory coloured dishes, 

my white bowls and plates, my mugs and waterbottles,

my clear drinking glasses, 

3 of my 4 cake stands, one of my 2 soup tureens,

 they all live in the kitchen cupboards. 

The rest of my dishes are in 2 large table-top height buffets 

and the rest are in the 2 smaller

also table-top height buffets.  

And then some things live under the two larger (as in longer) buffets. 

My linens mainly live in our spacious linen closet 

(it's over 6 feet long and is pretty full of treasures).  

I have some of my napkins in some of the smaller buffet drawers, 

plus one big decorative box of my BEST tablecloths is in the table-top buffet that

 has three open shelves in the middle, that is the buffet that has

+Patrick's pretty vintage lamp with the hand-painted roses on them + our icons

with candles lit on top.   My buffets are fairly full of dishes; they are used to store dishes,

not to display them (i.e. the plates are all stacked, not put there for show).

I actually will reclaim a shelf of one of the smaller buffets once our 

Delft blauw plates are hung on the wall, but that project may not happen this year.

I also have my white tea set 

(the one with the white tray, 2 mugs, a teapot with a sugar and creamer,

it's more modern looking but cute) 

and my Great Aunt P's two teapots in my curio cabinet in 

our bedroom, where they look really pretty...one of my teacups is there too, on display... 

So YEAH.  I LOVE dishes. I love practicing hospitality and making beautiful 

table tops.  It's one of my biggest art forms and I love doing it so much!

I think I have about 7 (incomplete) plate and bowl sets of different patterns 

(fiestaware, my Grandma's dishes, my blue willow, my other blue and white,

my Dutch pattern made in England dishes, my white and gold and my

Christmas tree spode made in England bought-on-Etsy plus I have random 

salad / dessert plates and teacups.  

Other than the things I bought at good deals over the years on Etsy,

all my dishes were either gifts, garage sale finds or from the VNA rummage sale.

And once and a while, a TJ Maxx find that is super affordable and 

made in England or Italy.  And I have a few things from thrift stores in Michigan

(including some of my beautiful trays that I enjoy using.)

My Great Grandmother Betty LOVED dishes and my Grandma and her sisters

used to lovingly laugh at her when once again, she would sell one of her

dish sets to a friend and then go out and buy a new different set for herself.

My Mother has one of her sets now (the Friendly Village) and I grew up

always seeing those dishes. 

And my Mom loves dishes (she has a lovely collection of mugs!) and now I have

beautiful things from my Great Aunt P. who kept a lot of her family's heirlooms.

So I am super-blessed to have those.  The ones from my family are the most

meaningful to me, of course.  

When I look back on my blog or on my pictures of the years, 

what I see is the beauty and that always stands out to me.

That in the midst of life's-hard there is beauty.

When my Husband and I were dating and emailing prolifically, 

we told each other what motivated us.

For my Husband it is learning (right now he is reading a huge 900 page

tome on Peter the Great and he is constantly learning about history.

and literature and theology...).

What did I say motivated me? 

Beauty.

Always.  Even when I had very little in terms of money and a small apartment,

my table was still beautiful.  I had my Grandma's dishes, my old (5 $ at a garage sale) 

blue and white ironstone set,

and a set of IKEA white for everyday (I gave those away because I was given the Fiestaware

for our wedding).  I had very few linens but did have a white table cloth I had bought at

Zellers (a store that no longer exists in Canada, it was kinda like a Walmart). 

I had beautiful teacups my Grandma and I had found antiquing years ago.

***

This post, from now years ago, remains one of my most memorable meal

moments; we went to a lovely Greek restaurant in Ottawa and then back to my 

place for cake and presents. 

It's was just when I was newly dating my Husband...

I remember how excited I was for my friend A's birthday and

how I was practically dancing with excitement at the end of vespers...

it was beautiful and such a happy moment in time...

I visited her and her husband with my Husband in Romania over a year ago now...

I had many special meals in Ottawa, even when my now Husband of +8 years, 

the very first night he visited I had a dinner party with 6 other guests to meet him.

My friends brought ALL the food, I set the table... I was working that day,

it was a Friday... of course in that blog post I did not mention

my just-meeting-my-long-distance-boyfriend as it was too new

and needed the privacy that blogging could to give!

***

Of that whole first weekend, where my now Mr Husband stayed with

my Romanian friends, A&A, we had social/church things every day...

it was really wonderful. 

***

One of the hardest things of my current life is just knowing that various friends

have or are hoping to move away and I am not sure who

I can invite over for meals, at least who are local!

But I must trust God to provide...including the people to feed! 

***

On another topic, I am worried about one of my godchildren's family;

his Dad has been quite sick and my concern is growing.

Can you say a prayer please? 

***

Well.  I have really enjoyed writing this blog post,

remembering happy memories of the past while

about to make new (Thanksgiving) memories DV this week.

***

Lord have mercy on us.

May He protect us and help us!