Posts Tagged ‘Autumn’
A Cosy List – For Your Morning Cuppa (tea)
Posted in Anne of Green Gables, Books!, Hospitality, Making Memories, Marriage - For Happily Evers, Videos - If You Were There, tagged Anne of Green Gables, Autumn, Avonlea Q Krueger, Calcannon, Classical Music, Cooking, Entertaining, Fall, Gardening, Happy Little Sigh, Hospitality, Jesus, Karl Jenkins, Monday Morning, Palladio, recipes, Soup Recipe, Tea, Tea Party on November 4, 2013| 2 Comments »
A Dozen Cosies to Warm Your Heart & Your Hands and Bless Your Week . . .
-
Spread a blanket and have a picnic lunch inside. Or a candlelit picnic at night when the children are abed?
-
Buy a bouquet of fresh flowers and divide them up in jars around your house. Don’t forget your bathroom and your bedside table. And don’t forget to give them a smell.
-
Rake some leaves and jump in the pile. Go in and warm your hands and your soul with some tea.
4. Bake something with cinnamon. Apple pie?
5. Go for a walk and pray until your nose and cheeks are red. Then go in and warm up with some tea.
6. Watch Anne of Green Gables and laugh and sigh when Anne is “in the depths of despair.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HZfQ7EqMUs
7. Make a cup of tea and cradle it in your hands while you read the Bible. Psalm 42?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2042&version=NASB
8. Make a big pot of soup. Calcannon, an Irish favourite?
2 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 large potatoes, thinly sliced
Chicken or vegetable stock/broth
Herbs and salt to taste
200 grams kale or cabbage, shredded
300 ml cream
1. Heat butter on low. Add onion, garlic, potatoes, cook for 5 minutes without browning.
2. Pour over enough stock/broth to cover, season to taste.
3. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the kale/cabbage, bring back to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the cream, ladle and serve.
9. Sprawl out on the carpet and listen to some favourite songs. Maybe this, by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins?
10. Invite some friends over without worrying about the house. Light some candles. Serve tea.
11. Stand under a tree, look up, and watch the leaves fall. Try to catch one.
12. As many times as you can remember, tell your spouse and your children how very much they’re loved. By God. By you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sinking In Deep
Posted in Homeschooling, Inspirations, Parenting - Raising Wee Men, tagged Autumn, Autumn art, Christianity, cottagecore, Fall, God's love, homemaking, Homeschooling, marriage, Parenting on November 2, 2013| 4 Comments »
I had nothing to show for the day.
Nothing but a pail of wet nappies and some autumnal paintings drying on the porch.
Oh, and the fridge was emptier, and that basket of clothes that needed folding,
well, it sort of overflowed.
Outside the rain fell warm,
but we hadn’t seen a drop of sun all day,
and even the yellow trees, and the red, and the orange,
they all looked
just grey.
And it felt a cold place, a lonely place, to be doing battle.
And I’ve told myself a thousand times that it shouldn’t be so hard.
It should be nothing at all to
wash sticky hands and faces,
change nappies,
sweep floors.
Couldn’t anyone do it? Anyone at all?
But there’s a little more to it, always a little more.
Because they howl when you do it. When you wipe their hands and face.
And they howl when you change them, and they try to crawl away.
And the crumbs are never nice, dry crumbs that skid across the floor.
No, no.
They stick. Mashed peas and bread crusts. Cereal welded to the wood.
And you’d have to use a crowbar, or at least your nail, to pry them free.
And it wouldn’t be so bad if it were only once.
Not three times.
Every day.
Or if your baby had actually taken his nap,
or your toddler hadn’t been ill and bit hysterical at every little thing you asked him to do.
And there isn’t a room in the house (not one room) where they don’t come after you
with their quarrels and their tears and their demands for more food.
And so yes, it is a battle. And it’s hard.
And sometimes, it can leave you wondering what you’re worth.
Because you can’t help but feel that there are grander things you should be accomplishing.
And your husband, yes, he has to hear about it all, and you can’t help but feel that this is all
just a little bit his fault.
And part of the battle is taking it all—all the busyness, and the fights, and the tears
and turning it into something good.
Finding reason for us all to give thanks.
And there’s always a reason.
Or instead of shouting,
kneeling down to look your child in the eye
to find the cause for his tears.
Or forgetting about all the good things your spouse should be doing for you,
and finding something good to do for them.
Because souls, they live in people.
In your children. In your spouse.
And people are more important than things,
and being kind is more important than being right.
And when it all seems a bit of a mess, that’s what you’ve got to remember.
And as many times as you can remember in a day, you’ve got to tell it to your children
Tell them how very much they’re loved.
By God.
By you.
And when there’s no one there to tell it to you, you need to read it.
Read it till it sinks in deep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avonlea x
Been inspired by this post? Follow my blog for more Literary inspirations for heart & home.
OR find me on . . .
Instagram/Facebook/MeWe @happylittlesigh
Happy Little Sigh
Finding beauty in the everyday ❤
You might also be inspired by A Walk with C.S. Lewis — https://happylittlesigh.com/2013/10/18/a-walk-with-c-s-lewis/
(a little too much) Adventure
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged A.A. Milne, Adventure, America, Autumn, Burglary, Fall, Glamis Castle, Rain Boots, Scotland, Wellies, Wellington Boots, Winnie-the-Pooh on October 18, 2012| 2 Comments »
“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”
~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Wellies by our backdoor in Scotland.
Two of the pairs are mine – John does not wear pink!
Findlay having a wee adventure at Glamis, our local castle and favourite place for a family day out when we lived in Scotland.
*It’s been a rather long time since you’ve heard from me, I know. It’s just that life has been a bit of an adventure recently, and not in the inspiring, tramping across fields in wellies sort of way. Adventures usually includes a few surprises, it’ s true, but this move to America has included just a few too many surprises to make it a nice, comfortable sort of adventure. A few weeks ago our house was burglarized and almost everything of value taken. This included our laptops, of course, which housed my many notes and photos. The whole experience has been a bit traumatic, I must admit, and the loss of our files was devastating. But . . . I have found myself being forced to look at my life a little differently since it happened, which I pray will turn out to be a good thing. I’ll have more to say on the subject, I’m sure, but until then, I give you this small offering–a little quote and some photos in honor of this colourful, wet, puddle-filled season we call autumn . . . or, on this side of the world, fall.
happy little sigh 