Wednesday: So Many Beautiful Things

 

(Felt like trying a different form of writing, hope it is OK for you all.)

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My day began with my Husband's alarm going off and I staying in bed. I woke again to hear him talking loudly on the phone with the mechanic.  Stumbling into the kitchen, my Husband greeted me with "I am about to leave to take the car in to be winterized."  Somewhere in there, I began making tea, had my Holy Water and Prosphora (bread blessed before the liturgy) and talked to my Husband on the cold landing, seeing him off.  I may have been still having tea from breakfast when he returned (the mechanic is quite close by).  Of course, he took a cab back home, as that is the only option we have with one car, etc.   I had lavender and rose black tea, the tin is almost gone and I am being ruthless in making myself finish some cherished teas to make more room.  This tin though is a good one and I will wash and put other tea in it.   

Later on, my Husband's phone rang and I heard him listen and say, three times, "Yep" and then "OK" and then "Talk to you later bye" which I found quite comical as his goodbye was one word more than his whole phone conversation and the only sentence he actually said.  When I told him this, he comically started saying, yes and (as I had commented about men on the phone) if a women had been on the phone, instead of a man who sticks to business, she would have said, "Oh, the front breaks need fixing?, how did you feel when you found that out?" or "Oh, when you realized the transmission fluid was low, how did that make you feel?" HA.  :)  I tried to think of what I would have actually said, perhaps asking if anything else looked like it needed work in the future (our intrepid mechanics seem to deal only with what seems pressing and thus we bought tires in Michigan because they did not mention tires, apparently thinking that they were not pressing).  

By 5 PM I was hungry and tiring, so I had tea and ate an English Muffin with peanut butter and jam.  Then I began reading this book again, which actually inspired how I am writing this post.  (I like the book but bits are a bit 'off colour'). I was still reading the book until close to 6:30.  My Husband, calling out from our home office, asked if I was going to feed him dinner.  "Dinner?" I asked.  My Husband said, "yes, if you want a happy marriage, dinner is a very good idea".  I made dinner.  3 baked potatoes in microwave, toaster oven for the broccoli leftovers (which my Husband loved so much more today) and salad (Boston lettuce this time) with nuts on the side + an orange we split.  

I did not get to making the butternut squash soup today.  I was wrangling laundry much of the morning, listening to Victoria Cottage by DE Stevenson via audible and quite enjoying it.  I did try to call my Grandmother but she was not in, I will try to call another day, hopefully tomorrow. 

I got out our Delft plates + some other plates [all of which are intended to be on the walls] and we are measured the few that need plate hangers.   We have ideas for where they will go and it is exciting to work on this again! I do hope that we can work on this on Saturday.  My Husband ordered the plate hangers we still need (we had some already but 2 sizes we did not have enough of.) 

After trying to take pictures as I do of meals, as I find them of great interest (I love food and making a beautiful table, they are some of the last joys I have during this pandemic).  Well, it was simply too cluttered: the table, without the leaf in the middle (that was resting under the table), was just too small for what we needed.  My goodness, after I put the leaf back up, put our beautiful red and white Ukrainian table cloth on (smelling of the soap my Ukrainian sister gave me before I was married and left Ottawa; I keep the soap in the box with my best linens)...the table felt so huge! Gloriously spacious.  I am quite pleased.  And, oddly, surprised. 

Did you notice the very beautiful round Polish Pottery tray? It was a Christmas gift this year and I knew right away I would use it during Lent and when I had the red and white table cloth on.  It goes even better than I could have dreamed of and the round tray looks darling with the teapot, tall creamer for milk, the teabag rest (where I put my teabag basket for loose teas that goes in the top of the tea pot)and spoon for loose leaf tea.

Well, I set up the table for tomorrow's breakfast (not something I do often) and even got out our granola.  Hopefully, a good start to tomorrow will ensue.  We may get 5-10 inches of snow tomorrow-Friday.  We will see what we do in terms of walks/exercise (other than shoveling).  Miraculously, the other day, when I went downstairs to retrieve a package, 5 men were clearing our street and the pile of snow that our poor beleaguered tree was in the midst of, disappeared.  So we are quite ready for more snow.  Also wondering if it was the city that sent them or, perhaps more likely, our neighbours paid them to do this.  A mystery but one that was quite impressive. 

A lovely email came to me tonight (have not had time to reply yet but many thanks for it!) informing me of the mystery tree.  It's a Flaky Juniper (Juniperus Squamata) indeed and my google query showed that it is also called 'blue star' which is fitting!  How lovely.  

I can't tell you what one email or a comment on my blog means to me, I got a few comments today and it was so nice.  I could tell, internally, that I was feeling perhaps a tad bit lonesome.  You know, the pandemic and all.  Well, it was still a good day.  I am just aware of both sides of life as it is. 

And, that's all she wrote for tonight.  I am so thankful for all that is good and beautiful in our lives.  We are still praying for Texas, hopefully warmer weather soon for them... God bless you dear ones, each and every one!