I am joining my good friend Ann V. at Holy Experience

She writes:

I am seeing things I have never seen before, atuned and aware of this constant, endless stream of gifts from His hand. I am one waking from slumber….from the stupor of indifference and ignorance. I have sight, fresh and keen—-the world is new and full of His gifts.

Too often I miss Him, oblivious, blind. I don’t see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, He is everywhere, always. But maybe, before The Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me…

1. eyes to see

2. mind to be aware

3. heart to be atuned

4. a life to live awake

5. a Father who is near

6. who showers endless gifts

7. who loves

A good beginning …

Consider joining. You will be blessed!

I’m a list maker - I like to make a list of things I need to do, want to do, want to see, hope to accomplish, lists for house-cleaning, grocery shopping, spiritual growth, books I’ve read, books I want to read, menus, trip lists, ways to connect with my kids, my husband, friends, lists of creative things that lift my spirit, prayer concerns.

I found a free web-based, list-making program called Ta Da. It’s so simple to use. I keep it on my Google toolbar so that I can add to it when I’m on my computer. It’s accessible and you never lose a list.

I still use paper lists too. There is something so satisfying about drawing a line through an item. It gives such a sense of accomplishment. And a whole list of crossed off items produces an inexplicable sense of triumph.

In fact, I’ve been known to add things that were not on the original list, after I’ve done them, just to have the pleasure of crossing them off.

Should I be worried about that? 

*grin*

I don’t usually finish a list in a day. In fact some things remain on the list for quite a while - months even. Then my lists can feel discouraging, rather than helpful. To avoid that, I like to look at my list and say “What one thing can I do on this list that will make me feel good at the end of the day?”

It might be playing my harp, making my son’s favourite muffins, filling in my new address book or taking a walk. Or, if I want a sense of accomplishment that will carry me for a few days, I’ll do that one thing that has been nagging at me - the thing I’ve been avoiding - even dreading - like cleaning a closet. _{HT - Lovella :)}

Oh, the feeling when I check “clean closet” off the list!!

Self-satisfaction bordering on euphoria.

It may even be a bit insufferable

akin to 

 

Mr. Toad - Poop! Poop! 

But don’t worry - it doesn’t last long.

My kitchen counter

or the perennial cry “I don’t have any clean socks!”

pops that Toad-like smugness and brings me back to reality.

How about you? Are you a list-maker? Share your favourite list-making tips!
 

I popped over to visit my good friend Suzanne and was very impressed with her menu plan for this week. I tried to convince her to come over here and make it for me but she’d have to travel across the continent, so it’s a little bit inconvenient. Then I thought I’d check out the whole list of menu planners at the impressive, and very organized, Laura’s.  Well, I didn’t find anyone to come and cook for me but I did discover Rachel Anne of  the lovely blog Home Sanctuary.

Laura writes “Rachel Anne is  beginning a new series titled “Sanctuary is in the Small Things” where she will lovingly provide various “small things” we can do each day to create peace, order and beauty in our homes.” She starts the New Year with a beautiful verse and prayer.

Ah …

Dear Flylady, I feel overwhelmed by you right now - and Martha, you’ve always scared me.

_{One Small Thing}

really appeals.

And I’m so glad I joined late because I don’t have 2 pairs of rubber gloves to do this but I have a brand new camera and I was happy to do this.

*grin*

Thanks Rachel Anne!

I’m looking forward to creating a “Home Sanctuary” with you. 

 

Today’s small thing - a lovely bowl of fruit - simple to prepare, lovely for the eye, and healthy for the body - a relief after a few weeks of culinary indulgence.

hmmm

You may have noticed something sneaked in with that fruit

Let’s use my handy little macro button and see what it is …

oops

Well, it’s dark.

*grin*

Drop over to Rachel Anne’s Home Sanctuary and join in the fun. 

 

to say that Easter week is NOT the time for a pastor’s household to get sick …

It's a quiet Saturday morning.

The fire is warm and inviting.

The tea kettle is singing.

A rocking chair is waiting just for you.

Come in and rest awhile . . .

For Rebecca's Christmas Recipe Roundup


I inherited this old cookbook from my mother - The Purity Cookbook published in 1945. I discovered online that a copy in good condition is worth $74.50. My copy is missing a cover, a few pages and is stained with various ingredients, so I don't think it would bring the top price. But it's priceless to me. So many memories - little notes beside favourite recipes - and on the back page a recipe in my own childish handwriting for chocolate fudge. Also my mother kept a record of all our childhood illnesses in the back of the book - I had mumps in 1959, measles in 1961 and chicken pox in 1966.


These sugar cookies are one of our favourite Christmas recipes from this cookbook.I have tried a lot of sugar cookie recipes and I like this one the best. Every year we get out all of our Christmas cookie cutters, red and green sugar sprinkles and have a cookie-making party.

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg or 2 egg yolks
2 T milk or cream
1/2 t vanilla
1 3/4 c sifted flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Cream butter, add sugar gradually, followed by well beaten egg, milk and vanilla. Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt and add to first mixture. Mix well. Chill, then roll 1/8 in. thick and cut with cookie cutters. Decorate with red or green sprinkles. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 35 degrees for 8-10 min. Cookies are very light brown on bottom when baked.

Enjoy!

If you have a favourite Christmas recipe, why not pop over to Rebecca's and join the party!

with boughs of holly - winterberry holly that is.

Winterberry holly is a native deciduous shrub of Prince Edward Island. Although the leaves drop each fall, the berries remain on the branches and create a beautiful sight against the dark evergreens and white snow of a PEI winter.



We don't have any snow yet
so it made the foraging a lot easier.



Blue sky, crisp air,
chickadees calling,
the spicy scent of pine,
the laughter of friends...
a lovely afternoon.


Natural Christmas beauty - deep green pine and bright red holly berries.

Photos by Rinda Dean

Two of my favourite authors were born in the month of November - Louisa May Alcott on the 29th and L.M. Montgomery on the 30th.

It seems like neither one of them liked their birthday month...

"November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year," said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden. "That's the reason I was born in it," observed Jo pensively, quite unconscious of the blot on her nose..."
Little Women

"In November I sometimes feel as if spring could never come again," Anne sighed, grieving over the hopeless unsightliness of her frosted and bedraggled flower-plots..."
Anne's House of Dreams

I'd rather not look at my frost blackened flowers and wind-blown husk of a garden in November. The world outside is a little too bare. It won't be long though, before it's covered with a blanket of soft, white snow.

This is the beginning of the cozy season - tea-kettle singing, soup pot simmering and long evenings reading by the fire...


November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.
- Clyde Watson

that this little guy...


has facial hair!


*sigh*

where have the years gone...

Artwork by Shelly Rasche

"...Oh, but it's good to be home again! Redmond was splendid and Bolingbroke delightful -- but Prince Edward Island is HOME."
Anne of the Island

Well, it was Philadelphia, not Redmond, and Maryland, not Bolingbroke, and although they were both splendid and delightful, it is good to be home!

As we crossed the Confederation Bridge, we strained to catch a first glimpse of the Island, but it was invisible, shrouded in a thick blanket of fog and mist.

"It isn't there," a voice came from the backseat."Maybe it sank!"

Suddenly, the dense fog thinned and there it was - red cliffs, white-capped waves breaking along the shore, fields and woods...

As we drove off the bridge and onto solid ground, we all heaved a deep sigh of relief - HOME - still an hour and a half to drive, but to Islanders anywhere on this Island is home.