It's a happy morning! I got a pomegranate at the grocery, and it snuggles well into my old bowl of cedarwood potpourri in the dining room.
November is the time to pull out the fuzzy socks.
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| See those sweet potatoes hiding back there? And the jars of spiced apple sauce? |
The hosta seed pods are dry and ready to drop into the soil.
Their leaves are yellow and green.
But this fern is still happy, late in the year.
We have many crepe myrtle trees here. They give some of our best autumn color foliage.
And silvery lichen on the pale pink bark ~
More pink ~ the sunrise recently over stripped farm fields.
And from our porch, now wreathed in winter plastic ~
This morning while Adam makes pumpkin scones in the kitchen for our church's Christmas shoebox-packing party tonight, I'm in my "creative corner." He enjoys encouraging my creativity ~ what a blessing that is! My candle is burning, sandalwood incense is wafting, John Rutter's happy Christmas music is lifting my spirits, my sweet niece Lorien's picture is peeking at me through the aloe plant, and I've enjoyed visiting Susan Branch this morning.
Susan's first November blog post is delightful, chock-full of comforting recipes and photos of fall delights. Click on over! Now I'll read her "Hygge for the Holidays" post, an old one.
Susan showed a photo of the recipe above, Scalloped Potatoes with Sausages. Wow! It looks so yummy. She said it's in her Vineyard Seasons cookbook. Guess what?! That's one of the books I own! I looked up the recipe (above), and made a bookmark just for this book. 'Tis the time of year for "hygge" -- comfort, friends, warmth, hot beverages, happiness, love, cool-weather activities.
And now, in smaller print and without photos, I wish to say that we bloggers, although we want to spread beauty and happiness around, do not have lives that are all as tidy and clean as a TV set kitchen :) We have troubles and heartaches like everyone, and our lives are slowly falling apart too, or as Susan Branch said today, we need beauty "to sooth our ravaged souls." Adam just told me that he put a tablespoon of salt into his flour for the scones, instead of baking powder, so he had to start over. We expect rain today, and we'll see if our patchy roof repair actually stops the leaks in our living room ceiling ... because the ceiling has black mold growing on it and Adam wants to repair and replace it, before company comes at Thanksgiving. One of our cars has windshield wipers that don't work, and the other one has an A/C leak that keeps the floor wet and moldy. I keep Lorien's sweet smile around me all day and remember her repeatedly because she died a tragic, sad, early death, and I want her brief life remembered and celebrated. We have lonely, needy people in our church and community. Adam volunteers for the Red Cross and for the Opioid Addiction Help Group because our world is full of tragedy and addiction.
All that to say ~ we bloggers try to keep our online parlors happy and beautiful not because our lives don't have messies too, but precisely because
they do. In the midst of the messies, we stand on our
soap boxes blog posts and proclaim: "Life is still wonderful, and you can choose to grasp hold of the beautiful too, if not today, then tomorrow!" Some of my friends are going through such hard times right now ~ take heart! One thing about life is certain: it will change. Hard times pass. God loves you dearly, through it all.
Blessings, friends! May you find beauty around you today, and may it lift your hearts.
10 comments:
Thank you for these words, MK. Your voice is balm. I pray balm, and practical solutions where possible, for you too x
ps What do the hosta pods do in the earth??
MK, just the pep talk I needed today. Thanks for your beautiful blog post. Lots of stress being pushed upon me right now and my body is pushing back with tension and pain. I am praying for the people causing the stress that they be healed in mind, body and spirit as in all of their cases all three of those things are surely needed.
Now you need to school me about the Hosta seed pods? Where are they found and does our hosta plants have them too? We never have enough hosta because the moles eat the roots over the winter months. If we can plant new ones that will come up in the spring, that would be awesome.
Amen to this post, MK! I do have a praise report about my son Josh. His wife has broken off the relationship she was having and he said they're going to work on putting their marriage back together. Much mental and emotional healing is needed, and it will always be a challenge, but it's a step in the right direction. Thanks for your prayers! And thanks for all the uplifting photos and thoughts! :)
I like how you acknowledge the gritty aspects of real life. Of course, we all deal with those, but I like your thoughts on why we don't always pour that out all over our blogs. I'm always trying to bring a bit of peace and beauty to the table, if I can.
I always like to read Susan Branch's posts. I have some of her books and, like you, I have Vineyard Seasons. Must go check out that recipe.
Your post today is so from-the-heart. We do all have our burdens and although we give glimpses into our worlds we don't necessarily share our pain.
Thanks for being a lovely person.
As of this afternoon, a crape myrtle lives in my front yard! My first ever. So happy about it... it's replacing that lovely sweet olive (osmanthus) that couldn't take the drought... :-(
Scalloped potatoes, pumpkin scones, Christmas music... I'd like to come by and warm up at your house!!! (But I wouldn't bother you in your creative corner.)
I liked this. You're so right that I try to focus on the "good" and the "joy" and the "gifts" but there is struggle and hardship that's happening in people close to me. Life is not perfect, but it is still beautiful. Thanks for your good words, MK.
Bless you for this writing. That's all I can say. Just thank you. :)
We've been promised trials, tribulations and tests but we've also been promised we, through Him, can overcome. When people blog about life's gritty side, it lets me know how they can be tucked in prayer. Trust is a precious gift, one that people will almost always abuse, but it's still a precious gift.
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