Friday and a blur of days

I made beef stroganoff. 

I think this is one of my most favourite pictures of this week.

The week has been good, busy and trying to not have it too busy

but it is very full. 

Lesson: if you forget and add the sour cream at the beginning of the cooking,

just add more at the end (what I did not do until had this again 2 days later)

and it will taste more like it should... 

These muffins are from an older Joy of Cooking recipe and

my local friend brought them to tea and I still have not had time

to make it myself, but hope to tomorrow...

I had a lovely lunch with this friend from our local church...

and a good walk too!

Cleo loving on my beloved red satchel. 

She's having some litter box issues.

I have researched it and am trying some new ideas

next week, once everything I ordered comes.

I had a very beautiful tea, that I want to share more about later,

with another local friend this week,

we had not had tea in months and it was so nice to catch up.

We are studying an incredible book at my local church:

Acquiring the Mind of Christ: Embracing the Vision of the Orthodox Church 

by Abbot Sergius Bowyer

My quilting friend and I tried the lovely

White Truffle (translated from Dutch) tea.

It's lovely, very rich, fragrant... 

 I got out every jam and dessert topping I have in the fridge for the lunch!

As you can see, I have a fridge full of goodies, just waiting for friends to come

and share them with! 

We had crepes for lunch on Thursday...

Did I mention that we had a mishap 2 weeks ago with a grocery delivery?

they are being much more careful with the kombucha bottles now...

Picture from last night's dinner of left overs.

***

Pray for Issac Lamberetson (now tonsured as Monk Joseph) as he is 

battling cancer.

Many of the Akathists we have in English are his work

and we owe a great deal to him in this way!

***

I've managed a walk Mon-Thursday.

Will keep trying...

***

Don't worry if I don't always blog like I used to,

it's just that I am trying to balance a lot of things and still

have the rest and quiet I need...

***

Thanks everyone for your encouragement on Monday and your prayers!

May God save and protect us!
***
Edited to add:



Forgot to mention that thanks to Anna I have been
listening to some very lovely piano music that has brightened up this week.

Many layers of thanksgiving

Made a new lunch yesterday!

Caramelized onions with garlic and ginger in coconut oil,

added cumin seeds, ground cumin, turmeric and curry power to the 

coconut oil before adding the onions and later the jarred garlic and ginger.

Added the broccoli after the onions were well soften and caramelizing. 

A jar of curry sauce (a bit too sweet, needed salt) heated up with a can of

chick peas, rinsed well.

Left over rice.

A nice simple meal, with left overs! 

The snow is slowly melting...

in piles, everywhere... 

We still have our Christmas tree up.

I am loving my new tea tray.

And mismatched China!

And double chocolate banana bread.

With Spiced Chai Tea from Trader Joe's, super good. 

Cleo has decided that the seat where I am writing this blog entry

is the best place to sit right now. 

Near the sunlight, near her food, near to me.

I am spoiling her, she is taking up most of the chair,

I am perched on the very front of it while I type! :)

*

Thankful for every good thing....

*

I am working on, I hope finally, getting my citizenship card replaced,

the one for Canada that is, that Mr Husband has been 

telling me to get done for 3 years now,

the one I lost in January when I was coming back from NJ to Ottawa

and lost my wallet... 

*

It makes me miss Canada, 

miss the sense of the Commonwealth, the beauty, the heritage,

the Britishness, walking in Ottawa, the sun, the cold, the snow,

just being there.

*

I have always been capable of loving more than one 

place at once, 

I am loving where I am now more and more;

I love being married to Mr Husband, I love our home,

our churches, our friends, my munchkin, my quilt group,

being able to commute easily to NYC, so many things.

*

But there will always be a part of me that is missing Canada

and that no one here really knows what exactly it is I am missing.

*

Until I talk to someone on the phone, a good friend of course, from Ottawa

who knows our church, our friends, our city and understands,

sees what it is that I now miss.

*

But yet, the sun is shining,

I am so much more at home here,

I have so much to do here.

I am seriously committed to being here,

with Mr Husband

and when I read books like

Amy Welborn's on losing her husband,

I can't help but think of how much I love my husband,

his quirky humour, his gentle rascal ways, his hair that grows

long and thick so quickly, his height, just inches above mine,

his mind, how he thinks, quickly and has many layers of understanding,

through history, theology, literature while understanding math, logic (that I regularly defy!),

science and has a wonderful memory...

*

He is really my best friend.

And I am so thankful.