Remembering my birthday

I had such a lovely birthday today.

I went to my Aunt H's house with my Mom,

A and M, my cousins, were there as well.

They all gave me unexpected birthday presents! 

And we had a nice lunch and talks 

and lots of laughs too.

I got pictures of me with my Mom, my Aunt H,

my cousins; ... we went to the thrift store afterwards

and I found a beautiful Christmas green table cloth,

some lovely green napkins and some red ones too!

(And I found 5 red ones the day before with Mr Husband!)

I think I will have enough for the big party I am doing for my 40th

belated in later January

(with the fast still going on + Christmas Jan 7th + Theophany, I decided to 

delay it until just after Theophany). 

and now I have enough linens to go with the dishes, etc! 

***

My Mom and I drove to Trader Joes while the snow fell...

***

Afterwards, we went home and soon my Dad got my Grandma,

my Sister came over, and later my Brother, my Aunt and Uncle... 

we have a lovely dinner!

Brown rice, Salmon (fish day for my birthday!), salad, vegan biscuits,

vegan cinnamon rolls and flowering tea.

***

I got pictures with everyone for my birthday.

I was blessed with cards, lots of Internet greetings, 3 phone calls

(my Aunt J left a message, my Aunt P I talked to, my friend C left a message)

and I got some really thoughtful gifts.

It was a really lovely day and I am very thankful.

Here, today

So much I could share,

just popping in to say 'hello' and that I hope you are well!

I am in a super busy few weeks on my end.

***

Had some real joys lately and some real sorrows -

4th wedding anniversary, successful first Sunday School class -

but also found out about some heavy things with friends

involving various types of serious loss.

***

So my heart is a little heavy.

***

Just wanted to say that I am going to have very little time to blog

or read blogs for the rest of the month and

the very beginning of October...

so if you don't hear from me here or I don't 

comment on your blog, it's just that I am busy,

I love you all just the same...

I am having some family visiting time that I have been 

long looking forward too!

***

I will be back. 

Husband and I are doing well.

***

I am so thankful that we have been married 4 years already!

How times goes so quickly!

***

(ps: pictures are from earlier this week and last 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. 

Life is Good ~ Linus AKA Baby Blanket # 1 is Done!

The little baby blanket began with
 this small gauge swatch.

And then I began knitting it,
back at the end of March!
I took it everywhere with me,
as in if I went to church it came with me
in the car.
Knit, knit, knit....

Some of the rows are really good...

Some,
especially in the first quarter of it,
are with mistakes...
but I had just been knitting for 1 month or so
and was still in the throes of Lent and the Mono.
Now if only I knew how to purposely make those
mistakes ... sometimes a pattern calls for holes like these!

I finished and bound it off a while ago,
but still have to weave in all the loose threads.

 

So I did that this afternoon and then showed it to
Mr. Husband...
and then said I was off to blog it,
to which he replied,
life is good.
*
Whew.
Good to have my cute as a button nephew's
baby blanket done!
It was made with love and some prayer
and that is best of all.
*
PS: Ravelry here.

Snow on the weekend; we had power, thank God!

The snow as it came down on Friday night.

We got everything ready
in case we lost power.

You can see the snow falling!

Mr. Husband guesses we had
8-12 inches...

 

Saturday we woke to a still heated home
as the power stayed on
and it was beautiful and sunny!
*
Weekends are my busiest times now;
I remember years ago my
sister-friend telling me that Saturday was super
busy for her as she was married, etc.
*
Now I understand this more...
*
One of my new friends and I were talking
about how one does not really know
what it is like to undergo huge life-changing events
like marriage, or having a child, etc
until one has experienced it themselves.
*
I love being married.
I also can say that until one has done it
one does not really know what it is like.
*
In a few weeks Lent will begin it's beginning
with the fast free week, then a week of normal fasting
then a week of fasting from meat only
and then the full Lenten fast.
*
My new church fasts differently than my Ottawa church
and I can tell that it is going to be a bit of a learning curve
and I imagine that I will be really homesick for my
Ottawa parish as Lent is my favourite time
of year there.
*
Lent is really late this year.
So strange that Pascha will be in the beginning of May.
*
I am really glad for a Lenten cookbook that
one of my new friends gave me
as a wedding gift.
*
Since our house blessing got postponed,
I am hoping to get more little things
done to our place before
it is blessed.
*
One day at a time...
*
Do keep praying for Noah.
He is ill again...

Meal Times on Friday

Fridays (or other normal fast days)
are pretty simple around our house.

Carrots for lunch.
The leftovers went
(with the carrot peels) into
the soup stock I made last night
and that is now melding flavours in the fridge).

Mr. Husband loves salad.

Toasted up bread;
yummy goodness! :) 

Mr. Husband cut up the apples...

Last night I made up a small batch
of sugar cookies.
Three trays and it was done!
I used a bit less butter and added
half-and-half (organic) instead of milk,
adding a bit more of this than last time.

 

I love my Fanny Farmer Cookbook!
I made these cookies even smaller
and they were a bit more 'fluffy' this time.
They are now sitting on the counter
in a simple plastic container...
*
So many of the items that make up my kitchen
are new to me, almost 5 months new;
wedding gifts;
can you imagine,
Mr. Husband and I will be married 5 months already;
we were talking about our early months of dating
and agreed that it felt like a long time ago already...
*
Next week exactly will be 5 months of marriage for us.
I am still loving the newly married stage;
it is a special stage, I can tell;
and I pray that God will help us continue to build
a peaceful and strong home together
protected by Christ and His Mother. 

Power is still on

 

Yay!
I don't need candles for heat
and light today!

Sunday - Sun and Storm

Beautiful morning liturgy.

I finally made my St. Phanourios bread

the recipe I used (see link above) was slightly different,

as it called for zest of 1 lemon and cinnamon as well...;

it turned out well and my priest graciously blessed it

with the small prayer that is the book I have

on this Saint.

This was a real gift to me, the making of the bread and

the small prayer that was prayed.

I am very grateful.

I am enjoying very much the book on

Elder Anthony,

Elder Moses' younger brother.

I am finding both Elder Anthony and Elder Moses,

in the reading of their life stories,

to be very restful and instructive.

I thank God for this day;

even for tonight when we had a strong storm

with wind, lightening and rain,

it gave me time to continue reading about

Elder Anthony!

*

How has your day been? Any blessing to report? Worries?