Feeling Loved from Afar

When life gets hard and your soul is just weary, how refreshing it is to receive friends from far away! Tom and Judy are dear friends from Ridgehaven in the N.C. mountains. They visited us Sunday evening and the next morning. They spent years in Christian ministry, and I felt so encouraged just being with them.

And they came bearing gifts! Another very dear friend at Ridgehaven was clearing out some of her lovely tea party things and wanted to send a some items to me, so Tom and Judy carried the box on their vacation and put it into my arms :) Squeeeeal! Look what is now in my home!

I adore this exquisite English chintz teapot. (((SIGH))) Can it really belong to me now? I'm on a cloud!

I've kept some of these tea things on the table for a couple of days just so I can look at them. I think there's great value in looking at beauty. The older I get, the more I think this is true.

Little purple flowers are the best.

I've needed a large Brown Betty teapot for a long time. This will be so useful, over and over.

A chintz cup and saucer too :) I had some Darjeeling in this today.

This lovely blue pattern is just a joy -- there's a teapot, cups/saucers, plates. I may use this for a few years and one of the girls in the family might enjoy having it too ....

Alright, that was so uplifting, and made me feel so very loved (at just the right time). Then, I came home Monday afternoon to find a box from the post office for me!!, in the living room! Yippeeeeee!

First I must tell you that this bag, a Nantucket Diddy Bag, was inside. I'd never heard of such an animal before. It looked interesting.

This amazing package came from a very dear friend and kindred spirit who lives in Massachusetts. She sent me ... wait for it ... YARN. :) :) :)

Wool, acrylic, blends, ribbon yarn, sock yarn. Oh joy!! My knitting needles are giggling with glee as I type.

And this cool needle organizer was included too. I'm looking forward to loading it up with all my various knitting needles, which are currently living in a dresser drawer, poor things. Isn't this cool? It attaches with velcro to a clothes hanger and goes in your closet.

This neat yarn is a wool blend, and there's lots of it. I can't wait to ruminate on what I want it to become. It's very soft and has a crinkly texture. Beautiful!

If you're not tired of my happy presents yet, I want to show you the innards of this marvelous diddy bag -- it's ingenious! The inventor lives on Nantucket and sells the bags only there. You can see about it on a video here, and see the fellow himself.

The bag unzips all the way 'round and can be turned inside out and rezipped. It converts to a backpack, or can be a shoulder bag.

It's made of sturdy canvas fabric. One side has many pockets in all sizes -- it's designed for small tools, but is great for sewers or knitters/crocheters.  It holds a lots of stuff. And do you see the bottom down there? Well ...

It has a velcro-closing pocket that you could put a freezer pack in. So you could store a sandwich or cold drink in the bag's bottom. I may take this to the beach on Thursday; I want to tote along a tuna fish sandwich for lunch.

To my two precious friends who sent me such generous gifts from afar, all I can say is THANK YOU, and GOD KNEW THAT I NEEDED TO FEEL THE LOVE FROM AFAR. Rough waters right now. And there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- better than knowing that you have friends who love you.

Speaking of loving friends, last night I enjoyed an evening of Mexican Train Dominoes with my buddies here in Oriental. We had a little celebration of my birthday (earlier this month) and wrapped our welcoming lips around Kip's espresso cheesecake.

I tell you the truth: This is the best cheesecake on the planet. There is none better. It's baked perfectly, delectably creamy throughout the inside with deep coffee flavor that makes you shiver. Wonderful.

I fee so richly blessed in my friends - thank you, ALL!!