Over the Fence: The Blessing of Now

 

Hello dears.   Isn't it lovely outdoors?  We had a wet sort of summer, with frequent rain and then our usual lull between where we didn't get rain for a couple of weeks.  It was rather nice but you certainly start to notice that the ground is looking dustier than it had all summer long.   Well it poured last Sunday and rained gently off and on all day Monday and then it came down by gallons on Tuesday morning.  Tuesday afternoon, I walked across the yard and the ground didn't squish under my feet even once.  In fact, all the great swells of puddles that surrounded the house were completely disappeared and there wasn't even mud left behind.  

Well the rain didn't quit.  It rained Wednesday, Thursday and off and on Friday morning.  It was a rainy, gray week...but each day for a couple of hours, the sun came out and shone as though it would never rain again and then it would start to pour.  

Oh do look over by the shed.  Do you see what I see?  It's made me laugh out loud each time I've glanced across the yard.  The cosmos, that came up in June and did NOTHING all summer long but get taller and taller, and then lay itself down in the flower bed has dozens of buds and has bloomed.  And do you see?  The FOURTH zinnia has bloomed.  And those marigolds have just about outdone themselves with blooms.  They too are loaded with buds and you'd think there'd be no room with all the flowers for more flowers to come along.   I keep cutting bouquets off them.  The cut flowers last two weeks or so.

Why?  After all my planning and spending and then planting in spring months and early summer, why bloom now?  John said it's because God knew I just needed the blessing of my own flowers blooming and perhaps he's right.  Perhaps God did know.

Just as He seemed to know that the surest way to have me focus on the moment at hand was to send me  a little rambunctious boy to keep.   I can't worry about what happened the day before or last week nor wonder what on earth will happen in the future when I have to be laser focused on what is going on about me right NOW or  regret it!

And might I also add that one thing I never expected to do at my age was to take up jogging, but it's surprising how many times a day I jog a bit and now and then I even break into a run.  I went so fast the other day while chasing down that child, that I stopped in complete surprise at myself.  I'm still limping about but I moved a whole lot quicker than I ever thought I might move in the past 30 years...

I was asked to share a photo of Caleb.  He's hard to catch a clear picture of because he pretty much stays in motion.

I call this one Coach Caleb...lol.  He's worn pants and shoes for the past two weeks but I guess Katie didn't have time to find those on Friday so she put him in shorts.  No worries.  It was plenty warm outdoors that morning and plum hot by afternoon.  But Caleb found his cap and the whistle and came into the kitchen looking for all the world like a team coach.

I can't say I'm not worn thin by the end of the week, because I am indeed.  However, I so appreciate Saturdays when I can leisurely drink coffee, even two cups if I like,  and just sort of languidly go about my day, never in a hurry.  John has made sure we get out of the house and do something relaxing, pick up take out or go out to sit down in a restaurant and eat, etc.  It's only a little more added leisure for me and I'm not complaining.  By the end of a Saturday I feel almost completely restored.

I laugh, too, that here I'd been thinking I might start my days a little earlier and of course, with Caleb arriving bright and early every morning I'm up earlier.  I get up every day except Saturday by 6:15.   That means I get showered and dressed and have coffee alone and in the quiet and then can start my daily work.  I generally get in about an 45 minutes of work before Caleb arrives and then it's go go go until he takes a nap.  I sit and rest and hope that I might get a whole hour to do nothing but usually it's only about 45 minutes.  Then we begin the afternoon round.  He is pretty set on having supper at 4:15.  I've tried to ease him towards a later supper but usually it's just best to feed him.  You've no idea how near starving he is until he suddenly hasn't the strength to do anything but crumple on the floor and wial helplessly until someone gives him the food he keeps demanding.  "Eat eat!  Eat eat!"

After he goes home, along about 5pm, we finish picking up the house and have our own supper.  After supper, I spend another 45 minutes or so doing tasks that are necessary,  By 7pm, I'm usually ready to just stop for the day.

Another bonus of this time has been that I'm reading more than I've read in ages. I am including here Amazon links to the books I've enjoyed.  As an Amazon associate I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.  If you follow one of these links and purchase any item, I earn. The commission in no way alters the cost of the items you are purchasing.    I've just finished Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler,  I just finished The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley.  Now I'm reading Kerry by Grace Livingston Hill.

This is the third or fourth book I've read in a week's time...and that to me is wonderful because for the first time in a long while I am back to my old reading habits. I am devouring books and enjoying them.  And what's more, it's meant I've spent less time on the computer.  

One of the reasons why I haven't been reading as much?  Not because I was busy but because I was spending so much time online that I seldom bothered to pick up a book.  I made a very conscious decision to cut back, but it occurred just as Caleb arrived here once more for day time care.   There's no way I can spend time on the computer when his little fingers are poking and pushing the keyboard.  Ask me how I know!   It was the same when Josh and Isaac were living here with their parents.  There was simply no such thing as sitting around during the day with a computer on my lap.  However, it doesn't bother Caleb in the least if I have a book in my hands.  I find, too, that I can put the book down and return to it without an issue if I am interrupted.  

I was spoiled by internet too in that typically most videos I might watch are a mere 10 minutes, rarely more than a half hour.  There are a couple of bloggers who run on for an hour or more but mostly it's a short attention span that is required.  Now I have a theory about attention spans and social media overall so bear with me here.  I noticed that I had less patience for a book to play out.  So I'd read short stories from my vintage magazines and call it 'reading'.  But it wasn't the same thing at all as getting lost in a book and those of you who read will know just what I mean.

But then we had instagram.   Shorter videos, most under five minutes and of course there's the whole picture/blurb thing.  Little attention required.  So attention spans get shorter.  And now it's TikTok with videos under a minute and attention spans getting shorter still...

I'm not saying it happens to everyone but I'm willing to bet it's happened to a few just as it has to me.  I found I couldn't spend time on any book because I'd so shortened my ability to pay attention that I would get restless.  It's taken time to break the habit of the past couple of years or so and take time to truly read once more.  And I'm so enjoying it!

Another thing I'm really enjoying just now is working with new recipes.  There for the longest bit of time I'd save all sorts of new recipes but I'd never seem to find one I actually wanted to make.  So I started trying recipes that certain vloggers shared (Kimmy at She's in Her Apron, Mandy at Mandy in The Making, Jessica O'Donohue at the vlog of the same name...).  I have tried several and thoroughly enjoyed them.  This week I'll take time to copy out the ones I used.  The recipes mostly aren't original to the vlogger.  They watch other vlogs or read blogs and try those recipes.  They peruse Pinterest.  Most importantly they TRY the recipes.  So when I use one of the recipes these three share I know I've got one that probably is going to be good to us as well.  I listen to any critiques made and use those to adjust the recipe.   

This week I'll be printing out the recipes I've used and add them to my recipe files.  I don't want to lose track of a recipe and forget about it.   That's something I've done in the past and then I'll discover a mention of a recipe in an old blog post and wonder why I haven't made it again.  I had forgotten all about it because I didn't put it in my file.   I don't want to 'lose' any more good recipes.