Good Things

This is the first Friday in a long time when I've been neither working nor travelling. Yes, I've made a couple of phone-calls, and sent a work-related email, but I'm still in my pyjamas! I love when someone shares the delights in their life on their blog, and mine has been delight-deficient in some ways recently, I fear. I don't tend to come here to tell you these days what the daily happenings are that bring me joy and pleasure, so today, I thought I'd share a few of those things that I write into my gratitude journal at night.

In no particular order

Jasmine blooming and filling my hallway with the most delicious scent. Bliss to come home to!

Fred the Band. Their music makes me happy. Go on... click the link. Listen. Enjoy! If you love it, get their album, Go God Go (They're so kind, they let you listen to it in its entirety right there!). Their web-page is funny too. enjoy!

Postcard Poems. They come from many places, at odd intervals, and they delight my heart. I send a couple out most weeks, too (and that includes weeks when I tell myself I haven't written anything, so thanks to this project, in fact, I do!) Sweet! If you'd like to participate, you can register with the Perennial Postcard Project HERE

Quinoa. Just the tastiest grain. I hadn't cooked any in a long time, and when I fixed some this week, to have along with black lentil stew, I said to myself: "Why don't I eat quinoa more often? It's so tasty, so good. ... " Here's a recipe I plan to try soon... And as they say it tastes better than it looks. That's the thing about quinoa. You have to try it to understand. [and you have to rinse it well AND toast it before you cook it to take away a certain bitterness it would otherwise have]

OK... I finally got into it, and after 3 abortive passes last year, I have finished reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth, and I get why it's captured so many people. The thing that delights me most about it is the idea that we should either be accepting, enjoying or enthusiastic about whatever we do. If I can't at least accept something, then I'd be better not doing it. And when I ask myself "Well... can I accept doing this for whatever reason?" it makes it so much easier - no more struggle within. Thank you for that, Eckhart!

Knitting little blankies. The most recent one, I sent off as a bonus gift to one of my One World, One Heart winners (because I posted the gifts out really, really late).

And there's tomorrow night... Earth Hour. I have candles. I don't have a big event planned. I don't have an event planned as such, but I do want to switch my lights off and take a quiet hour for the earth. You doing anything?

There's my family (Son will be home from Argentina in just 8 days! sister just celebrated a big birthday; plans are afoot for a weekend away in April with both sisters; have seen a lot of my Dad recently) There are friends. I'm so blessed.

There are blogs... oh, the blogs I keep finding that feed me rich, nourishing ideas. There's YOU. Thank you for being one of the good things in my life. What are some of your good things?

Abundance

Today has been a day of abundance indeed. I came home from a day that had its share of difficulty, opened my emails, and a flood of gifts was waiting there for me:

Laurel at Rue's Daftique informed me I'd been the winner of one of her beautiful pendant/charms.

And then, Catherine at This Girl Remembers let me know that I'd been selected to receive this series of prints:

Pam, whose beautiful prints are at her Etsy shop, will let me choose which one I would like to have. I'm having a hard time choosing, but think I may be opting for one which features a Hummingbird, because I love them. I also like the lady in the Orange Dress. Oooh. Decisions... decisions!!!

Then... Elaine at NZFlutterby let me know that I'd turned up as a winner of the wonderful horse-themed postcards which she has on offer:

Mary Ann at Firstborn, had 5 gifts on offer, and I was lucky enough to turn up for this heart-shaped tin, containing little goodies and charms

.... I know, I know... By now you are thinking "She's got enough... she's got her fair share... "

But there's more! Fatma, of Fatmasplace offered this wonderful soldered house, and now it's mine!

And Sophie, or Miss KoolAid, let me know that I'm among the winners of her altered slide mailers. Pretty?

And, And, And

In the post came an unexpected gift from a friend, a book of marvellous poetry by Angela Patten. I hadn't had a chance to read her in the past, but am so glad my friend shared this with me.

Have I been blessed with abundance or what? I have loved the experience of sharing in One World One Heart. I'm looking forward to visiting all the blogs on the list over the coming weeks and months. Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway, thank you to the generous women whose beautiful gifts are coming my way, and thank you again, to Lisa Oceandreamer for putting it all together.

WINNER!!!!

I've just made the draw for my One World One Heart Giveaway, and the winner was the 23rd commenter of 104 (comment #105 was to tell me that I had won a prize!!!). The lucky recipient of my handmade book is Linda, who told me she'd been a long-time reader of my blog, although I hadn't known that at all. In other words - a lurker won the prize! Isn't that wonderful? And I know she was really reading, because when I went to look at her blog (I have visited all those who commented here - and quite a few more OWOH participants besides), back among her archives was a post in which she mentions her favourite poets - and lo and behold! There was my name! I blush!

I'm absolutely delighted to share another few of my poems with Linda,

AND, AND, AND,

How did I get to be so lucky?

I have won no less than FIVE prizes in One World One Heart! I was really excited about picking "my" winner, but this puts jam on it altogether! I really feel blessed with all the wonderful gifts coming my way. But the best gift of all has been meeting so many bloggers whose paths had not yet crossed with mine. I want to thank Lisa from the bottom of my heart for arranging this wonderful event.

I'll make a post later tonight showing the goodness I'm being gifted with, but wanted to announce the winner of my giveaway today!

Hope everyone is having a happy and love-filled Valentine's Day!

Sunday Scribbling: New

There's a new feeling I've been carrying around for a while. It came upon me unexpectedly, and at first, I wasn't sure I could trust it to last, so I just let it sit a while. Every so often, I returned, gave a gentle poke to see was it still there, and sure enough, it stirred, sighed, said "Yes, I told you, I'm home! Now let me just settle in, will you!" What to name it? Acceptance? Forgiveness? Whatever the name for it, it's brought a new peace to my heart that is very welcome. This has been the first Christmas and New Year that I have not wept for five years. What a gift!

It turned up so easily, just when I'd accepted that I was probably going to go through the rest of my life carrying a certain level of sadness, of pain at the end of my marriage. One morning - the morning of the solstice, as it happens - random thoughts about the things we do that limit us in our lives, the things I can so easily see friends doing that bog them down, led to the simple question: Well, what is it you are carrying around that limits you, that restricts your freedom, that holds you back? And the answer was instant, simple. My woundedness. I knew that if I asked any friend that question, they would have given me this answer.

And inside me, something broke loose and began to float away. The knot of bitter feelings, of regret began to unravel itself, and I knew, that if D, my erstwhile husband was to invite me in for tea, I would now be able to say "Yes, thank you, that would be nice". Just knowing that was huge for me. This was NEW. Sudden. Somewhat shocking. But oh, I was so ready for this.

And that very day, passing through a shopping centre, I got a chance to test out the feeling - for there he was, having tea at a cafe, and when I stopped to chat, I checked myself out. Was my heart racing? Was I having bitter, bitchy thoughts? No. I really wasn't. When he invited me to join him for coffee, I did, and when I was ready to go, I wished him a happy Christmas, gathered my packages, and left, walking up the street, surprised with myself for the lack of turmoil, for the peace I felt.

Maybe it will slip away again, but now I know that I can experience this sense of peace. This is the gift I have been most thankful for this year. This is the New thing I welcome most.
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If you would like to see what other Sunday Scribblers had to say about "New/New Year" check it out HERE

Other Sunday Stuff

I've just posted a Sunday Scribblings post, but realise that I have the time and the inclination to keep going here and fill you in on some of the other stuff in my life, but it's seperate from what I had to say in Sunday Scribblings, so that's why this is another post. (Having said that, suddenly I'm sitting here, stopped, wondering "What was it I meant to say?")

Without having a decent picture to show you, I will say here that last week (was it Monday? it may have been Monday!) two wonderful gifts arrived from Liz Elayne. Way back, I won her birthday button-counting (or guessing) competition, and the exchange of addresses took a while, but was the prize worth waiting for? Oh, yes indeed. A beautiful tote-bag in shades of orange. Oh... what am I saying? No picture! I can link to her Etsy shop, where you will see, not the exact bag I received, but others like it! I've found a special use for it - holding my copy of Organising for the Spirit, my journal and vital "bits and pieces" for my ongoing project of making my home and my life places where the real me wants to live. It was such a thrill to have the notice of a package arrive! Hurrah! ... And not just one, but two packages from the same Liz, because, as a 9/11 memorial, she very generously gave away some posters of 'Awakening', a Brian Andreas Storypeople print. I wasn't familiar with them, but this resonates deeply with me, and I feel very grateful to have received one. I will be framing it to hang in my therapy room (the "where" just came to me right now... of course!)

She (Liz) asks in her latest post that we name "Five Really Good Things". Well, there's

1) Couscous. Good with almost everything, I'm realising. Fantastic when I need to prepare a meal in a hurry. quicker than defrosting. Add salad... Dinner!

2) Finding music I'd forgotten I had. Searching for a tape for a friend, I rediscovered Mary Chapin Carpenter, Janis Ian, Leonard Cohen, Guy Clark... Hurrah.

3) Memories of my sister's wedding. My attempt to post after the 14th September wedding was frustrated by computer problems, and a few days later, my attention was focused on the loss of my little dog, Trixie, so I never got to tell any of you about it (and I'm not sure she'd appreciate having her photos up here in public), but I will tell you she was a beautiful, elegant, radiant bride. More than one of us noticed her resemblance to Grace Kelly. It was a happy, happy, day - filled with emotion, laughter, poignant memories and moments, and some tears. She and her new husband make a beautiful couple. His tender care for her is a joy to witness. Her total love for him is open and profound. His family's embrace of my sister is full and open and reassuring to see. Their words of that day echo in my heart. Their happiness is a Really Good Thing.

4) My Autumn/Winter wardrobe. I never did this before. I usually buy budget clothes far too often, running into a shop, buying somthing, finding after a couple of wears that it really doesn't suit, (or fit, or wear well...), and running into a shop again... a neverending wheel. Well, not this year, because when I was shopping for the wedding (see 3 above), I consulted a personal shopper (another one of my "If I could do anything I wanted..." items from the Artsits's Way), who outfitted me for the wedding, and for work-wear to take me through the coming months. I have trousers, blouses, sweaters, jackets and shoes that co-ordinate and match, are easily-laundered and pose me no dilemmas when I wake up in the morning! Hurrah!

5) Baraka, the movie without words, that is soul-filling, soul-lifting. It makes me feel my real relative size in the world, and the size of the world around me. It stretches me and connects me. This is a good thing.

Hmm.... there were other things I meant to speak of, but that little list took me in so many directions, I'm a bit scattered. I've decided that, as the balance of my life has shifted, in terms of time devoted to (employed) work, it's really important for me to make sure to schedule in friends time, Baha'i community time, me-time. (This counts as friends time, I guess!) A few days ago, one friend and her son came to dinner. Yesterday, I went to visit a friend - just an hour, but good, good, good to see her. Today, I'm heading out to enjoy some October in the countryside, going to one of my favourite places. I'll be going soon, in fact, so it's time to wind up this post.

Oh... and because my 50th birthday is coming up, my sister and I have been planning, and decided that, instead of celebrating it all at once on a single day, we're stretching the celebrations, and are going here (oh... can't get any pictures to post! OK... It's Paris!) in May. We'll be visiting Monet's garden at Giverny, and May is the best time. I'm so excited!

I know I won't get to visit and read up on everyone's posts from the past few days, and if I do, I may not comment, but I hope all my BlogLand pals have a really good weekend, and a great week ahead too. Au revoir!

Sunday Scribbling - Yummy!

This week, Sunday Scribbling offers a delicious theme - Yummy!

I stood at Blogger's door, begging to be let in, for hours, a waif, with my little basket of goodies in my hand, and finally, it looks like I may be able to post while it is still Sunday!

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YUMMY!!!!
These things – today’s yummies – anything with pineapple or coconut, or both. Ice-cream or curries, scones or dips. Gimme pineapple or coconut. Gimme smoothies. More of the same, but with mango and raspberries too. Give me raspberries a-plenty. Let me have them with ice-cream, with yogurt, with custard. In jam – real jam, oozing fruit.

Childhood yummies – Mammy’s bread, Mammy’s apple-tart – no-nonsense, thick-crust, full-of-a-roasting-tin tart. Rice with custard, vanilla-scented scones. Fish-in-sauce with mashed potato.

Sensible yummies – things I feel virtuous eating – aduki bean stew, black lentils, all things beany and lentilly, warm and filling. Sweet potato soup, mulligatawny, lemon sorbet, no-meat chilli, pomegranates, spinach and orange salad.

Yummy outside the tummy – flowers, hyacinth-scent, jasmine, Trixie’s silken head, all the good things in Jacqui’s new shop – crystals, incense, fabrics, goddesses. Woodsmoke, open fire, warm mohair blanket.

This week’s number one yummy beyond all the others – three-week old baby Charlie – the touch of his cheek, his little fingers, his little toes, his sweet breath, his delicate tiny, perfect mouth, yawning, his eyes drooping into sleep, his trust in my arms, and later, the sight of him turning to his Mummy, the perfection of them together. Feeling blessed to witness. ….. Yummy.

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Find more Yummy Things HERE