Sunday: Peaceful, Winter Storm 2021 has Begun

 It was so good to be in church again today.

Seeing friends, seeing children, being a community.

A friend gave us the most generous Christmas gift today!

I don't have my pictures downloaded yet but maybe I can share 

tomorrow.... 

I got my steps in!

Also bought a small box of spinach.

We hope our groceries will be delivered on Tuesday but we will see.

Got greens meanwhile.

The rest, we are all ready for.

We could get from 16-22 inches of snow! 

The wind is up and the snow is falling!

We have everything we could need, thank God,

if the power goes out.

We watched 

A Child's Christmas in Wales tonight,

a Christmas gift along with gifted popcorn and tea!

It was a perfect way to continue to enjoy Christmas,

which the whole season is until the Presentation of Christ,

which is new calendar this Tuesday and for us, on the 15th, a Monday this year.

***

Not much else to say, other than I am thankful.

***

God bless each of you and may the Lord save us!

Saturday, quickly...

 

Quickly writing here.

A good day today.

first time using my toast rack for toast LOL. :) 

5K step walk.  Yep, agree Granny Marigold, not easy,

but very much worth it!.

A good day. Reading. Vespers at home. Candle order came but

too late to go to vespers. 

Watched the service from my church in Ottawa.

Felt blessed by this.  Knitted so I would actually sit still. 

Laundry, cleaning done, putting containers back in freezer.

A good day, learning a lot.

Typed in edits on 2 essays.

Thankful.

God bless you dear ones! All of you!

Friday: Thankful for It All

I must say, the last picture,

with the quotation from

The Christmas Mouse,

is something I wish I can be one day.

***

Today was a better day,

the sun shone.

I got some more letters done and mailed!

(Elizabethd one is winging your way!) 

I organized a bit in our office (yay!)

I walked over 5K steps again, briskly. 

It was cold today.

So I always run hot, always have, when moving about.

When I was thin and now when I am more filled out and not

so thin, but mostly happy about where I am, anyway, I've always run hot

so I have learned that, even in 27F weather (that's below freezing) it's better for me

to double up on leggings (a 'silk' layer and a 'fleece' layer, both synthetic) and

same under my lined jean jacket (yep, no winter jacket for my exercise walks,

I'll merely sweat and feel overheated, and YES in cold below freezing weather); I wear

my long tall Birkenstock boots, a skirt to my knees and wool socks over my cotton

socks, a scarf (not woolly) under my jean jacket, a winter scarf over my buttoned

jean jacket and a warm hat and ear muffs.  Warm gloves.

And ZOOM I am OFF and walking.  No wool other than socks as natural fibers

merely make me itch if I get near to them! And ONLY big wool socks OVER

100% thick cotton socks!

 When I dress like this, in this colder weather, I have to keep moving!

  If I stand around I'd get cold.

But when I am walking, why I was just fine.  A bit cold means I walk faster

and feel more alive.  I like cold.  As long as I can keep moving and then when 

tired go back in where it's warm and have a nice cup of tea 

or heated milk with cocoa/hot chocolate mix.

***

So tonight I answered a few of my emails AND actually did 2 edits on two of my

essays, one edit each.  Now that felt good.  I never get to them, it seems

and I am always happy when I do.

I knit more today and talked with my good friend A in Romania. 

***

So I bought some red lentil noodles from Trader Joes.

I cooked half the bag for dinner.

Well. HMmmmmmmm........ 

they were 'OK' but felt starchy, like they never fully cooked,

too chewy/thick.  So...maybe not a buy-again product for us.

We will eat the rest of the already made pasta tomorrow.

And I have another half bag to use up at some point...

not sure exactly how to do that but something will work out.

***

Well, thank God for this day.

It's not easy, these days, almost a year in to the pandemic.

But this day did something good; in my life; I am thankful!!

***

May God help us; may He give us His peace

in the midst of life's storms....

God bless you and bless you and bless you... 

Thursday: Sunshine but Still Fighting with January Grey

 

Today was a bit of a mix of things.

The sun was shining.

One of my glass coasters broke. 2nd one. 

Ordering some plastic ones soon for places they are 

causing problems.

I felt some heaviness, some inward turmoil.

Thinking about things, praying, trying to sort out what 

Christian growth means in my life; as in what I see myself in need

of changing but only God is going to be able to do it,

with my cooperation of course, as God is a gentleman in that

God does not force but waits for us. 

***

I learned something sad, one of the many pandemic related things.

A friend's extended family had a death because of

the dread virus that left a fairly young child orphaned;

thankfully the extended family is adopting this child.

How hard life can be, how very hard.

***

I walked again today, over 5K steps, briskly. 40 heart points according to 

my phone but who knows what is true other than that

the walking does me good emotionally and physically.

It's one of the only ways I can fight it seems,

the feeling of grey or of sadness or of the struggle we have

internally at times. 

***

It was a bit of a rushed day in ways,

I was just finishing up breakfast (and last night's) 

dishes when I realized I needed to make lunch already;

my Husband needed lunch at 11 AM today because of meetings he had

to go to, including over the lunch time. 

Believe it or not, we had 2 cans of canned chicken that my Husband bought

months ago and well, I got one of those out for Mr Husband 

who had it on toasted English Muffins while I had Peanut butter and banana 

for my early lunch.  Not the most photo-worthy and I was quite rushed.

The chicken was pinkish, in soft crumbly looking chunks, like

cheese you see sometimes, in odd misshapen small lumps.

Anyway, he ate it and the salad leftover from yesterday

and I felt relief just at having created the lunch.

***

Tonight I made more potatoes (too much oil this time) and I baked a

sausage for my Husband; the smell about did me in; I never

liked the smell of sausage.  

I had the boiled egg I did not eat earlier and enjoyed potatoes, and such.

***

I wrote most of a letter, had a phone meeting,

and tomorrow have another, with a dear friend.

***

I am pretty much facing up to the fact that with this pandemic,

and people moving, 

I have very few friends left locally.

***

So I am walking a lot for that reason too.

***

But I am writing letters, reading, hoping to get back to essay edits soon,

of my own writing project.

***

And that's really it.

***

I pray that you are well.

That you had a moment of peace,

a moment that felt 'right', or of some sort of comfort that is 

really that and not otherwise.

***

May God have mercy on us and save us!

Wednesday: baking bread, creating beauty, walking = fighting against the grey of late January

The above pictures are from yesterday and show the grey days of later 

January; we have been blessed to have some sunlight in the morning; 

then it gets grey; I have been fighting it with MORE walking,

getting back to my 5K a day steps.

The WSJ looked so grey and forlorn on the pavement; not that we get it or

that I would read much of it; I really dislike news for the most part

and would rather focus on everything BUT that!

So happy to have prepared dough last night for cherry and pecan bread! 

Here is the post the first time I made it

recipe is at beginning of post

I had to look through my blog for a bit of time to find where

I had written, earlier, my shortcuts to the above recipe

and how I make it now. 

For that, and a simple run down of the recipe, see HERE.

My friend lent me her copy of Ree's love story book...

I just finished it...

It's really good writing.... I remember reading Ree's blog

back when it was much younger, newer and before her whole career 

developed from her blog... and I am sure I read various parts of her story,

that is recounted in this book, there, many years ago. 

It was a nice read; realistic but hopeful. 

I am glad she is in this world. 

Did you see the candle burning brightly above? it's why I took this picture... 

I love this bread so much. AND that I can make divide the already

finished (rising) dough at 8 AM and have fresh hot bread by 9 AM

(takes a while to get the pizza stones out/ovens hot, the actual baking

is between 30-40 minutes depending on if I am using my actual oven

or toaster oven. 

(Again, see what I wrote above this little section for

the bread recipe information.)

I finally got a *start* on my letter writing.

Finally felt like I had a day of quiet where I could begin doing that.

More letters to write/write back yet to do... 

Lunch. A blessing.

I finally got back to some simple knitting and also walked over 5K steps for the first time

in a while...

Potatoes, peeled, chopped, olive oil with garlic on top, salt, pepper.

Baked in toaster oven first at 425 then at 450F with convection to speed it up.

So good with a bit of ketchup. I forget so easily that this is one of my 

most favourite foods, and a very much a BRUNCH food.

My favourite.

My Husband reminded me that he does not like breakfast and I told him

(he laughed) that this was one of the tragedies of our marriage: that he

does not love breakfast food.  LOL.  I mean, really, think of ALL the meals 

I am not able to make?  I am going to make breakfast for supper however

tomorrow DV and my Husband already said he thinks of sausage and potatoes

(as done above) as dinner food so I am safe to make brunch.... :) 

The potatoes were my favourite part.

So excited to have more, DV tomorrow. 

***

I watched this video while knitting my favourite simple wash clothes

(I had made some or tried to do so on our trip and was so frazzled that I could not)

I really appreciated her thoughts on journaling for mental health

and exercise for both mental and physical health. 

Of course I also recommend praying it self for health.

But that's a story that is not easy to tell, just one that I know is vital.

***

Well, it's late now. 

I had a good day overall but my emotions are all over the map.

A lot of it is this pandemic and how it is still impacting our lives. 

***

God bless you all dear blog readers... many of whom I don't know

at all but still come here.

I hope you are all blessed, comforted, in what ever situation you are in; 

may God bless and save us all! 

Monday and Tuesday morning: Better

Blessed bread our local priest bakes, this prosphora seal

is Christ being baptised.  So special. So beautiful. 

These pictures are from yesterday...

My Husband let me have the last 2 mince pies

as I liked them very much and he did not mind them

but were not his top favourite. 

I feel like I could have these, one a day,

for each of the 12 days of Christmas :)

I was putting away our extra Christmas dishes from Sunday's meal...

It took me a lot of yesterday to get over the sad feelings I had

because of the pandemic and everything being so different. 

And, yes, I get that it's not as bad for me as in many places.

Currently, we can go to church in a mask and 

we still had our annual Christmas dinner.

And the meal was delicious, the dessert was perfect,

we all had different pots of tea with dessert,

I gave gifts that were really appreciated.

We got to be together, even though very differently.

I still have some sadness but am more quiet and better now.

These flowers are slowly fading but are still lovely.

Yesterday I watched my favourite Christmas movie.

The Geese are back in the parking lot we walk to for our daily walk...

This morning I had the last mince pie, it was really delicious! 

I am glad I got to experience these! 

I love all things British and that I could get these 

homemade from Tea and Sympathy 

and have them for our Christmas time was really nice.

Our weekly groceries just came. 

I will make lunch for my Husband and I soon.

You can see in the picture above that another building is being

done near us. 

We don't mind, even though we don't have the same view;

the buildings are new, nice and have good lighting for the streets.

City living is not easy, but we are glad at least to see various signs of

improvement where we live; more and more buildings

(many abandoned) are being fixed up and the more this is done,

hopefully, the better the area will be. 

But it's complicated as all is.  It also means prices go up

and the middle class/working class can get shoved out because

the rents get too high. 

And neighbourhoods change and change is never just one way.

But I will be glad for any additional beauty, anything with better 

ways, cleaner, hopefully safer.

But it's a city and cities are just that, cities. 

***

We don't plan living where we do long term; as in when we retire.

But that is a ways off and we really have no idea of what 

is next; if it is a life that can be lived in freedom and peace,

it will be all I really hoped for. 

***

I hope your are having a good day.

Thanks for your kindness towards me.

It means a lot.

***

May God have mercy on us and save us!