A Sunday that I Don't Take For Granted

Our priest's sermon was very much about the Lord's love

and how in this time of suffering when church was not an option,

we learned even more how much we love church.

That we must not take it for granted.

While I don't ever want to even think of doing this,

I sure did in terms of thinking it normal and wonderful to have friends over

and to all go to church together etc. 

I remember the first time I went back to church after the lockdown we had from March-May,

how I felt like weeping... how overwhelmed I was to actually be in church,

it was just so very wonderful... 

***

After church we ate a little something (I had granola with milk)

while the leftover lamb rolls I had made heated up in the toaster oven; 

a fitting first meat after our month long Apostle's fast! 

Then I had a lot to do to get ready for my friend coming.

The table for tea was pretty much set but I had to set the main table,

put the pasta sauce to heat in the crock pot, 

fill the water in the large pot for the pasta to cook in later on,

make the egg salad 

(this was huge success: 2 spoons of whole grain mustard, enough mayo to make it creamy

with 4 boiled, peeled and chopped eggs),

set out the crackers and cookies and chocolate, slice the cheese slices for 

the brioche toasts (a Trader Joe's favourite!)... 

and I cleaned the hall bathroom! And I did a small load of dishes... 

put on a little bit of make up... found music to listen to...

my Husband watched another Shakespeare performance online while

my friend Photini and I had a wonderful tea time talking about everything that

we women needed to talk about without others listening... 

it was really nice! 

***

And not something I am going to take for granted... 

It's been a hard time for us all, 

with each of us having our own "extra burden" because of the 

pandemic... each in our own way, given our different situations... 

I am already thinking things like,

how can I make this better/easier to bear if we go in lockdown again?

Is there things I can do to stay more connected to people that I would

normally see in person? 

I don't dwell on this, but I do think about it.

I know I will feel a lot of sadness about a possible

Thanksgiving and Christmas without church or without friends coming over.

We will see what happens... 

***

We must keep trusting God in all things...

and that He will help us and never forsake us... 

Lord have mercy on us! 

Anticipating a Happy Day

We are having my friend Photini over DV tomorrow for tea

and dinner! I am really excited.

It's also the end of the Apostle's fast...

and we will have lamb rolls for lunch and for dinner

we will have DV spaghetti with herbed meat and fia sauce! 

And I made the plum torte! Recipe and info here...

I can tell how hard it is for me not to see people or be able to go out much

because of the ongoing pandemic situation because I am so HAPPY to

have someone over... 

And to eat good festive fast-free food!! 

And we get to go to liturgy, so exciting!!! 

We are doing our best to go to liturgy as often as we are able to

and try to get as "filled up" as one can....

I know this hard world-wide pandemic is not over; 

it is so hard to know what to think and so many are struggling

on so many planes/levels with this... 

Lord have mercy.

When I think of the fall and a possible resurgence of this, 

I can only be very deeply thankful for my life and

for our deep pantry, as one blogger puts it. 

Well, time to wind down, as they say.

May God save us, guide us and have mercy on us!

It's DONE (the pantry that is)

My Mother-in-law sent us this cute snowman 2 Christmases ago, I believe.

It's the cutest thing in our pantry.  When it's not happy under the Christmas tree,

it lives in the back left of our pantry, carefully on top of other things.

I can't wait to bake bread again!

And chocolate chip cookies...

I began putting the pantry back together last night...

thank the Good Lord that the HVAC guy checked the Freon

and topped it up so I don't have to do this pantry 

everything out/everything in again! 

(At least I hope that is so! It's a lot of work)

So this morning I was already getting overwhelmed...

How and where was I going to get everything back in?

Tropical storm Fay caused rain and some flooded streets where

I live, we are well, safe, sound, dry and with power, thank God!

So other than the many boxes of crackers (and some cookies!)

that we have on one shelf, that Mr Husband handed to me and I put away,

I put EVERYTHING back by myself.

So, I was sweating so much I needed a bandana just to cope.

And by late tea time (after 3 PM) I just quite for a good 30 minutes,

made tea, crackers with PB, a bit of chocolate and half a banana

and watched about half of a Murder She Wrote episode

(I actually guessed 2 of the suspects this time). 

Then I kept working.  And sweating. My goodness.

Somewhere in there I watched the rest of the above mentioned episode...

And then we had dinner.  I told Mr Husband I was not making dinner

and he suggested cereal which was pretty much what I was going to have

and so that's what we had. 

And after that I kept working, called my Mom, Mr Husband handed 

me the cracker and cookie boxes and both of them told me not to 

stand on the top big shelf of the ladder.

"that's for a can of paint, not you!"

I explained to my Mom that if I didn't I could not reach the top shelf. 

My Dad bought us the ladder as a housewarming gift.

(There's a picture of it a few pictures up in this blog post.)

The ladder is super light and very sturdy.
I love it.  We use it often. 

And now, I am telling you about it.

I am SO relieved to have the pantry done.

***

My Great Aunt P moved to a nursing home *right* when everything shut down

and she's been in lockdown and it's been pretty rough, terrible.

Suddenly not seeing anyone, not going anywhere, not being allowed guests.

Before that she had her own house.

She's 94 now.  She just got a change in (heart) meds and is feeling better

and she moves to a 2 room unit next week and will have some of her own

furniture and I sure hope they let her finally have visitors, at least her daugthers!

My Grandma and she are sisters and very close; they call each other every night.

My Grandma kept saying that this lockdown is not good for old people.

She's been so worried, I finally realized, about her sister

(my Grandma, newly 90, is still in her own small apartment in a retirement 

apartment building).  I was getting quite worried myself and thank God

for theses answers to prayers.

***

As I was sitting on our library futon for prayers, exhausted from doing the 

pantry, I thought of my Great Aunt P and how when I am older,

DV, I won't be able to do that work of the pantry.

***

I don't dwell on it, but I understand that life is not going to get easier,

even just in terms of aging. 

The rest I really try not to think about, but often fail;

it's really a troubling time in our world for so many different reasons...

***

Well, tomorrow I hope to put the rest of the house more to rights

and make a plum torte, and maybe have a friend over on Sunday...

***

May God help us and have mercy! 

Little Things

I made a fish curry yesterday... 

we deemed it 'fine but not fabulous' 

as in not like our favourite restaurant... 

but a nice meal nonetheless...

***

Our local pool is said to be opening (with lots of

social distancing measures) on Friday! 

Adult swim M-F 7AM-9AM.  

We will see.

It would be a big deal if it works....

but I also remember how tiring it is to swim in cold water 

(the pool needs time to warm up once water is put in...)

***

This pandemic is so strange in the ways it is being

communicated and the ways people are taking it;

what a gamut of responses and a lot of struggles.

I find it confusing as I have people

I love living in many places

and they all have different responses;

when and where to wear a mask; what is safe or not; etc. 

It's draining.

***

The Apostle's fast ends this Sunday

and I hope to make this torte! 

It's so good, my Husband started mentioning it last week already!

It will be so nice with some good French Vanilla ice cream!!!

***

Life is full of irony, even simple ones.

Like we finally did half or so of our library reorganization and

then had to put most of our pantry in that room.

so I can't get to any of those books.

(I have some I am reading out but you understand what I mean...!)

And here I was all motivated to read more from our library...

We had the AC man and he did fix something 

(a wire I think that was keeping a fan from working) but 

he also suggested we get an HVAC team to clean our AC unit

as it will run better when clean, makes sense.

So we are doing that, they come DV tomorrow...

Then everything will have to be put back...that's the good

but challenging part...can I put things back in a way that is

at least somewhat better than it was before...

I am really good at space-related things and how to fit

a lot into a smallish space...

I am really hoping nothing else happens to make the 

AC act up as I would have to empty the pantry AGAIN...

***

This morning, after another broken sleep,

(I wonder how many right now actually sleep well!),

I was using out kitchen sink and realized the water was not draining well.

Another simple thing, but a bit on the 'ewwwww gross side' of things,

as the metal filter over the open drain was filled.  Yuck.  It's slowly getting clean,

but our sink was awful.  I guess after that mostly unbloggable but traumatic incident I had,

I forgot to check the sink...it's a large one basin sink 

(I would actually prefer a shallower sink and 2 basins) and I put

2 dish tubs in it, the first upside down, the second upright on top of it.

Otherwise my back hurts with the need to constantly bend down to get the

dishes in the very deep sink.... so I can't see the drain under the two dish tubs, 

which is what causes me to forget, sometimes, about cleaning the sink,

since a good part of it I can't see.

Well, baking soda is such a wonderful thing, it cleans better

than my "fancy" cleaners in spray bottles... 

it cleaned the sink up so well and so quickly!

The drain needed a clean too and baking soda and vinegar 

set in there for 15 minutes and then hot water poured down after

really did the trick! 

***

While I did stash some tea, chocolate :) and crackers before

I emptied the pantry, I have so many things out of order;

teas on my dining room table; honey and golden syrup 

(needing a gentle clean), on my island + a million other things, 

everything seems extra cluttered and disorganized.

It really throws me off, I can't function as well in this 

environment... and I know it's not just a need to

'focus on other thoughts' in this case... 

***

I really like summer overall but everything, of course,

is different this year... it's an effort to keep thankfulness at 

the forefront of my mind...

May God help us!

Busy (Indoor) Days

I wrote this earlier today:

Another reason why I am blessed to have Mr Husband as my Husband... our AC needs to be serviced and the roof top access is in the ceiling of our walk-in pantry.... he took the morning off (other than one short meeting) so he could help with this and carry the heavy boxes of smaller things that I filled (canned goods, mason jars, jams etc). My father-in-law built our pantry shelves and with the top shelves being made to be removed easily for roof top access... it's all ready now and the AC person comes tomorrow morning! Our AC is not fully broken so it's still OK in our house. I am so thankful! And we are getting some new plastic boxes (I have some already and LOVE them) to store some things in more easily! So double thankfulness!

***

It was a lot of work... 

and after we had just done a huge amount of work on our library itself...

this afternoon I had a much needed nap!

We will see if the AC can be serviced tomorrow...

we had some real big storms this afternoon and

T-storms are still in forecast for tomorrow and if there is lightening,

then nothing can be done as the AC unit is on the roof...

***

We watched another Walton's episode... 

some are especially well acted, as this one was... 

***

I've been enjoying reading this blog esp for the pantry posts...

and for the reminder that we need to keep praying and seeking Christ... 

I am so grateful for our pantry...

I don't know what is going to happen with the pandemic but 

if it comes back badly to NJ, at least I will be ready with my

pantry... but hoping for grocery delivery service as well...

***

The last picture is of a book I recently began that I bought

used, I have not read anything by her and there's not a lot about her online.

So far, am enjoying it but am just at the beginning...

***

Have any of you been thinking about Christmas?

I do at times, wondering if we can have any sort of Thanksgiving dinner 

with friends or Christmas dinner with friends. 

How to cope if we can't and what to do to celebrate...

I've thought about how I may decorate this year,

how it can be special even if the unwanted possibility of 

not be able to be at church happens, etc.  

***

We've been able to go to church more, 

wearing masks, practicing social distancing,

but just being there is wonderful.

I feel like this summer is a time that we are to take advantage of 

in whatever way is possible,

for getting 'filled up' again, to try to gain some peace

and inward strength for whatever is next. 

At the same time, I see this also includes need for rest, 

in whatever way is possible.

Everyone's situation is different....

***

May God have mercy on us and help us! 

It's Been Good

Friday and today my beloved Husband and I worked on 

our library.

This is our Madeleine L'Engle collection.

I put it in order of publication and then back on the shelves.

We wrote ever book we cared about (about 1/3 of our library or so)

in a spreadsheet, catalouging with everything save an actual catalouging number. 

***

We enjoyed the takeout leftovers and we have some reorganization left to do

but we have finally been able to put some things in a better order.

***

It's been a really blessed week as we were able to go to church so many times

after such a long time without any church to go to.

***

May God protect us and have mercy on us all!

A Special St John's Day

Liturgy was nice this morning

and I talked to some friends afterwards,

which was also nice... esp. after not seeing anyone for so long...

***

After liturgy we ordered takeout from 2 different restaurants!

We had delicious Thai green curry today with Talipia!

(We are still in the Apostle's fast and since St John's day is today

it is a fish day, so this was a real treat, and we love curry!)

I also got some middle eastern food for the weekend...

Mr Husband has tomorrow off and we hope to do some library reorg

and (loosely) cataloging... 

I am so happy to have food that is easy to prepare...

this makes it feel like a real holiday weekend for me as well!

***

So I ended up with a really neat surprise...

I had bought 2 books from thrift books... and the one was 

marked an 'acceptable copy' of Q's legacy by Helene Hanff,

the author of 84 Charing Cross Road,

which (84 C C Road that is...)

is a lovely book about her writing to this address in London,

which was a bookshop with antiquarian books...

she sends them food as the food rationing in England was still going on,

post-WWII.

So, this other book, Q's Legacy, that I had just bought by Hanff came 

and, without even opening the bag,

I put it in another bag and placed it in the freezer for a few days,

as we do this to be sure of not having bug infestations.

So after we got home today, 

(we went grocery shopping too), I got the 2 books out and opened then....

I was opening the Q's Legacy by Hanff at our dining-room table 

and exclaimed to my Husband, upon opening it,

as this is what I saw:

It was SIGNED by Helen Hanff!!!

I was so excited!!! Had no idea!!!

THEN I opened to the first page,

not having noticed the staples showing on the page that you can see above...

and this is what I saw next...(!)

A letter FROM Helene Hanff!!!!!! to the library of the organization

that gave her the award...

To say I was overjoyed, flabbergasted and surprised is about right!

I felt like God has given me a special gift on St John's day!

***

(Of course it's always sad when you realize a library has

discarded a book that you find to be really special... makes me 

wonderful what happened to the library and why they would not want this book...

but then a reflection on current educational currents could sadly answer that question...)

***

Amazingly, this book cost me $3.99... ! 

***

So that was really special for us! 

I read some of it to Mr Husband already and he really enjoyed it...

Hanff has this great sense of humour when telling a story...

***

It was wonderful to just heat up delicious leftovers for dinner...

So today was a pretty happy day,

the best one I have had in a good few weeks,

a real blessing, miracle, of a day.

***

Here is a video about St John and how people love him today

and how God answers prayers... 

I know so many are struggling.

We are all struggling.

Let's not give up and look to Christ. 

I read simple words the other day about how

our prayers are not in vain,

no matter how great our struggle.

May God help us...

A consoling read

I got my hair cut today!

It was down about 4 inches below the shoulder, 

those 4 inches are gone now :) 

My Husband is going through a brief adjustment to my

having shorter hair...he loves my hair long and naturally curly...

but I understand this adjustment, I love the haircut I gave my 

Husband but I loved his thick hair long as it was too :) 

***

I began reading what I would call an Orthodox Classic,

the biography of Elder Macarius of Optina...

I was consoled by his story, esp about his wish to live

in a place of peace... 

(he was a Monk who was given a duty that was in a very social busy 

situation that caused him a lot of trouble, he wished to live more in solitude and pray)... 

and I was reminded to make the most of my time in this circumstance

we are in... and to be thankful... indeed, I can see how in the 2 months

of almost total isolation, how God helped us through it

and how Sunday was still Sunday because of our efforts, 

even when we could not go to church...

***

thank you everyone who leaves such kind comments,

and Diane, thank you for your prayers, I can't thank you enough :) 

***

Well, I need to get to bed LOL! DV we are going to church

(with masks of course) for St John of Shanghai and San Francisco's day tomorrow! 

He was a really cool Saint, who led his flock from China, to the Philippines, 

to San Francisco... they had to leave Russia (and later China) because of 

persecution of Christians... he prayed a LOT and loved a LOT and

the stories of how he would care about those sick in hospital, or 

of the MANY orphans he took care of, including in China, 

they are so wonderful and consoling stories. 

***

Well.  It is good to remember how God gets us through things.

May He give us His peace, consolation and mercy...and protection!