Frugal Girl's post "Stop Saying Things Are Easy" really resonated with me this weekend. A great deal of what we must learn to do is difficult, but it does have it's rewards. However, I do believe that many people get very discouraged when they realize that their first attempts are not as easy as it appeared nor does their end result look as perfect as they expected. Truth: It's called a learning curve for good reason!
On the back page of the Country Living December 2019 issue, I found this quote:
"Kindness is like snow--it beautifies everything it covers."
I made this French Apple Cake for our Sabbath dinner. It was easy enough to do. It was delicious. I didn't have the rum or rum extract but I did have a bit of whisky in the back of the cupboard and added that instead. The little boys liked it, too. No worries... all the alcohol evaporates and all that's left behind is a slight taste of something different in the background of the cake's flavor. I'll print this one out to put into my recipe binder. Lovely.
From 'Coffee Tea Books and Me' blog I snipped this lovely bit of thought:
I have found that those of us who are women of faith need to have a reminder now and then that it is not only okay that we love beauty around us, it is in our spiritual DNA. We were born in a garden that was the picture of perfection and we have longed for Eden ever since the day our original parents were cast out of that home.
I have found that the enemy of our soul is still in the deceiving business and whispers in our ear that unimportant things such as wanting our home to be warm and beautiful is not very spiritual, you know. How... worldly.
But it isn't. Worldly that is. Not when it is done because we need beauty. It only becomes worldly when we desire the applause of the world.
I crave beauty myself and fully understand the desire to have a lovely and cozy home. I'm not seeking perfection nor even a cookie cutter looks exactly like 900,000,000 other homes. But beauty I desire and my soul does sing when I know that I have taken what I have, or a thrift store bargain and created something that pleases me inside and out and makes me sigh with the satisfaction of having done well.
I mentioned the documentary about canal boats last week but couldn't find the name of it. "British Inland Waterways with John Noakes" was the title. I found it earlier this weekend and thought I'd share in case anyone was interested in seeing it. It's a very nice companion to 'Travels by Narrow Boat".
And another good program this past weekend was "Althorp, The Spencers" all about Princess Diana's family ancestral home. It was very interesting and well worth watching.
Just because it amused me no end I thought I'd share this: From Godey's Lady Book, 1853
"The perfect hostess will see to it that the works of male and female authors be properly separated on her bookshelves. Their proximity, unless they happen to be married, should not be tolerated."
My simple dining table centerpiece. I picked up leaves from the yard, cut rosemary and put them on a simple old cotton towel.
Anabelle makes such lovely pies that I was at least inspired to try my hand at something a bit fancier than a plain pie for our gathering. Josh suggested my acorns might be pineapples, but he guessed they'd do for an acorn, lol. Nothing quite so frank as a 5 year old is there?
The pie making was a fiasco that is laughably funny NOW but wasn't so much at the time I was in the midst of it all. I've made up my mind though that come the New Year, I am going to learn to make a right proper pie crust. I'm not a pie person overall but I don't suppose John will be sorry if I make a practice of making pies for a change. But it shall be well after this year. We've pies upon pies in the kitchen now that the feast has ended.
I ruminated something this afternoon. Three days of cooking...1 hour of eating...3 hours of cleaning up behind. The fridge is packed with uneaten foods and the freezer space I'd made available has filled, too.
I thought it a very nice holiday and I'm glad a portion of my family was able to gather for it. There was a fly in the ointment...always the same fly year after year and I know of nothing to do about it except to stop inviting it. I was, thankfully, in blissful ignorance of it whilst it was annoying others, and only heard about it afterwards.
The two little boys were thrilled to hold the baby with me hovering right over them. Josh informed Aunt Katie that he was glad to have his new cousin and then asked if he could walk and later if they had taught him to play with a ball yet. The new little boy didn't mind a bit being in the boys' arms and looked at each one solemnly even though he was hungry and ready to eat.
I hope you all had a lovely holiday. I'm going to end this post a wee bit early and take a bit of a rest break. Happy Thanksgiving!
2 comments:
I think I am behind on posts. Sounds like a lovely Thanksgiving with lots to be thankful for...how sweet about the grandboys. Can't you just see them in a few years, playing and running around. You are truly blessed!
Your table looks lovely, and I think your pie with the leaf and acorns is so pretty.
I love this post. So many lovely nuggets. I can't wait to try the French Apple Cake - that would be lovely for breakfast with a cup of coffee! That quote about the hostess duties to separate books got me laughing good! LOL
And pie crust?! My mother-in-law makes amazing pie crust but I have never perfected it. I hate the rolling out part. My girls do it really well and I even got them custom pie plates with Grandma's recipe for pie crust printed in her handwriting in the pie plate. I have one too. But I still can't roll it out very well. Not sure what I do wrong. The refrigerated roll up kind is my friend because I can make it look like I made it. LOL
And the Thanksgiving meal thing? I've thought on that for a long time. Seems silly but worth it I suppose to feed our families.
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