Well, that was nice - tea and lunch with a friend, vegan 'chicken' soup and sewing progress

Well! I have a lovely time tidying, cleaning bathroom and kitchen,

baking Koek! (FINALLY I got to bake!!), setting up table for lunch and tea,

having my newer friend over for lunch and tea...

and she knitted afterwards while I worked nearby on my goddaughter's quilt

and we talked and talked and it was so nice and I can't tell you the 

blessing this was. 

(I have very few friends locally who can visit during the day).

And I am only 2 strips away from having the quilt top all in sections 

instead of in strips of patchwork squares sewn together, 

waiting to be sewn into larger blocks to later become the quilt top.

So that was wonderful.

We still have colds coughing sore throats and the like

so tonight I made (with vegan 'chicken' base for broth) soup with 

sliced think carrots (2) and spaghetti (quickly broken in half and thrown in) and

it was lovely, soothing and nice. 

I had a big thing to pray about today related to our unbloggable

and I was praying as prepared dinner and listening to a lovely simple

piece called 'Bluebird' and here it is:

Lovely, isn't it!?!

Well, I don't know when the unbloggable will change

but my prayers had lots of 'please, please, please' included.

But I know God knows what is going on and how He can use our situation

and while it's hard, if we live it moment by moment,

there are still times like today, of beauty, connection, creative pursuits and hope.

I am so thankful.

Each day is different and I know that tomorrow could be harder than today

but today was a gift and I am merely so thankful for it

(and doing my best not to let the good day be stolen by worry about 

that which is not in this good day!)

God bless each of you.

We are all in such hard places at times and I see so many of my dear ones

struggling with continued burdens.

All I know is that we have to keep our eyes on the hills:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Determined to win ... over the common cold... and other adventures

Life can be very focused at times about simple things, 

like beating the common cold. 

More soup. Tea. Rest. A walk. 

Flowers! Seeing the construction progress nearby, the beautiful

Mother of God and Crosses of the local Church...

We are both down for the count a bit but rally we will and 

with God all shall be well...though not always the well that we 

perceive or expect but yet, 

as my Grandmother was reminded a day before she went to the doctor

to see about knee replacement surgery,

her devotional for that very day was: 

 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 

who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Wonderful Chicken Soup, a new small succulent, a quick trip to NYC and fighting colds

Well! Another Monday for the books!

I know some of my dear friends had a really rough Monday.

They really can be hard, can't they?

I woke up so stuffed up, with headache.  Colds, humph!

I pushed through, with the help of God of course, plus cold meds and hot tea.

I got distracted and had lunch a bit later than I should have, given my cold

but once I had more hot tea and food, I felt better again.

I made it into NYC but things took longer than expected so I did not get 

to Trader Joes.  We did get a bunch of bananas from a street vendor though. 

I worked really hard at having everything as ready as could be for us to come

back home from NYC together (we meet up late in the day as we were

both in the same area). 

The soup turned out really well!

I put in about 3 cups+ of egg noodles into the still on low Crock-Pot

after I removed the chicken (used my kitchen tongs!) and 

while that was cooking I removed the skin and bones from the

very tender cooked chicken (falling-off-the-bone tender)

and when I put it in (shredding it a bit first), the soup was quite hearty!

So to help things be all ready, I did the following:

1. Set the table

2. Empty pot for soup reheating on stove with lid

3. Ginger tea (dried ginger) in disposable tea bag in teapot + water in the 

electric kettle so could turn on and have tea quickly

4. Located the baguette I had in freezer before I left for quick access

All of this really paid off!

We had a nice simple dinner of soup and bread...

we both have colds so this was the perfect meal,

I was so happy that my Husband loved it too.

My sweet Husband had me choose a succulent from the farmer's market,

it is so tiny and dear! 

The man said to put it in water for 15 seconds every 10 days. 

So pretty low maintenance...we will see how it goes!

My Husband is working from home tomorrow

so we are both happy to enjoy more soup tomorrow.

I hope to bake bread as well!

Things can be hard for all of us, but thanksgiving for what we have

and homemade soup I find goes a long way.

Praying that God comforts each of you in your own struggles

on what for many was a difficult Monday.

God bless and protect you and all those you love! 

A peaceful Sunday with church, a walk, and making chicken noodle soup

It was good to be at liturgy today... 

nice coffee hour afterwards with good talks...

We had a nice walk... hard to know how to dress...

cold when the wind is up and not as cold when it is not...

I dressed warmly but, as the wind died down, I was carrying my new

red coat by the time we returned, but was so glad for it 

when the wind was blowing! 

***

Tonight I prepared a chicken soup for the crock-pot...

used these two recipes (one, two) to start off with and then basically added a lot of 

carrots, half of a huge onion, dried celery seeds (since I did not have celery),

parsley, thyme, salt and pepper... 

I am going to cook it overnight and finish preparing it in the morning

(de-boning, taking off the chicken skin + cooking the noodles while doing so)

and we will have it for lunch tomorrow! 

If I have a chance, I hope to make bread to go with it! 

***

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to NYC (again!) and hope to go to 

Trader Joes (simple list, 2 things: organic spinach and bananas!)

and will have a meeting later on...

It's going to be cold so I will dress warmly! 

We will come home and reheat the soup and have soup and bread for dinner,

most likely with hot ginger tea! 

That is going to be so nice, God willing! 

***

I was looking at my shelf with all my new vintage Miss Read books

and suddenly an image of my old hometown library,

that when I was a child was in an old white clapboard church,

and there on the shelf near a window, I am sure of it, 

was a whole shelf of Miss Read books.

She was still busy writing them when I was a child and I know that library

well and have no doubt that these books were, in fact, there

as they would have been well loved by many who lived there... 

It's funny how you can remember places that no longer are...

I remember the light of the library, bright light, yellowish walls,

cheerful, simple and so many rows of books... 

***

I remember the librarian of my childhood too,

curly short grey hair, big round glasses,

so friendly and remembering everyone's names...

it was a happy place to visit...

***

I am dreaming more and more of Thanksgiving and of

Christmas and the gifts (esp baked goods!) that I hope to make...

it's lovely to have things to look forward to!

I hope you are all having a good Sunday

and that your week begins peacefully.

***

We all have our challenges in life and things don't always 

turnout how one expects (to say the least) but we have

hope nonetheless and it is amazing to me that God loves us;

I used to take this more for granted I think, 

not realizing how little I deserved such love... 

***

May you all have a blessed week and the help you need in it!

Friday with a quick trip to NYC and a quiet day

Well, NYC 3x in one week, whew!

I found that my cold symptoms were better when I was up, outside and moving. 

Nights seem to be the worst, sinus stuff, coughing.

We are staying local this weekend.

I am thinking I see storm clouds in our unbloggable situation.

It's not fun to see that we may be in for more challenges in the future,

but we are blessed and storm clouds are part of life...

We all have those, right?

***

I have started re-reading the Healing Presence book.

I read this beautiful section in it today about being in quietness

and being still and that if we do not have silence and cannot be still,

we will not be still (peaceful) in a storm... Rossi writes earlier

that if we are never quiet, we may never know God as He can be known....

I have thought about this sort of thing a lot...

silence, the need for it, what music does and does not do for us.

Most people, esp today, do not like silence.

I can struggle with it too.  

But I believe what Rossi is saying and that we cannot learn to be still

if we do not have quiet.

***

I am reading (diving into various pages without going strait through)

Miss Read's Country Cooking book.  So cool, vintage, lots of history. Just loving it.

Read my first Mary Oliver book (Felicity). Wow. A lot to like there. Still pondering.

I am at least halfway through Miss Read's Village School also.

I was reading this on the PATH train and subway

and one part of it made laugh out loud in the midst of a bunch of 

people traveling...

Subways are so funny.

I am still getting used to them.

Today I tried to sit between two people and slipped a bit and pretty much

fell into the side of the one person, who I thought was a female with a hood

but later I realized it was a man but oh well, it was a tiny seat

between two bigger persons and such things happen.

Later on the PATH a guy nearby told off (in total city speak

with the "cool talk" that they do) a guy who stood in front of him 

(he was sitting) and made him feel crowded when the PATH was not yet that full.

The standing guy apologized (smart of him to keep peace) and later a woman,

who looked big, tough and not like one to mess with, stood there and thankfully the guy

said nothing to her about moving.  It was much more crowded by then.

A few times two guys have been on the PATH and they play their transitor 

radio/whatever it is boom box with batteries and do acrobatics.

first yelling out that no one will get hurt by their movements

and then at the end asking for support (money). 

You just never know what you are going to see.

***

I am wanting to create more - do more sewing - on my goddaughter's quilt,

plus I have such a desire to start baking for St Nicholas Day and Christmas.

Hopefully soon.

***

Meanwhile, I am trying to take things a day at a time

and do what I can to not worry.

It's going to be an ongoing process.

Thank God for His mercy within this....

NYC, books, a cold and a quiet night

 With the help of medicine my cold has been OK 

during the day, but night it becomes more difficult again.

I was able to go to NYC as planned

and even went to Trader Joes to stock up on oatmeal (was running low!)

and got some green bananas to ripen while we enjoy the others we have

ripe at the moment.

I enjoyed chicken soup for lunch.

I got some lovely pink flowers to go with our white flowers

(the white is on it's last days).

We ate dinner (left over lamp, with rice for me, toast for my Sweetie and 

a salad each) while watching the Walton's, a show that always cheers us up!

I got some more book treasures including the Miss Read Cookbook! 

I am not sleeping as well because of this cold but I am one of the few

loving the colder weather, it seems, here.

My new Red Jacket was worn not to NYC but on a walk later with my Husband

and I am slowly finding my warmer layers and wool socks and that is very nice. 

My one tall boot has issues with the zipper splitting and I have to be extra careful with it.

Hopefully it will not go out this winter and maybe next summer I can have it looked at.

I am thinking that it is finally time to switch out my summer/spring clothes for fall/winter

warmer clothes, and that is a joy to me to do.

Things still seem to be calm, for the most part, for us,

though I can see some worry we are struggling with.

I don't know is this is still a calm between or in the storm

but I am trying to be within the day and not think too much outside of this.

I feel that God is teaching me a lot about this in terms of 

'do not worry' and how to be more peaceful.

It's a learning process and I am still a rank beginner but I am excited that at least

one can learn, over time and for that I rest in hope.