"The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof... I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands." ---Psalm 24:1, Psalm 143:5
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(My excuses for not blogging much lately.)
Autumn is messing with my head. Anyone else? Besides feeling grateful for Summer's disappearance, color me all contemplative, contented, and unable to blog about specifics.
Instead I:
light the fireplace candles
and switch on my new fairy lights woven among the mantle's old white dishes.
And I make pumpkin cake (recipe to follow)
then sit upon the red couch staring at the picture window with golden leaves, waving.
And dream and imagine
and watch other women via Youtube enjoying their Autumn, as well.
So there's that.
The basement water proofing is (mostly) done (long story). The two huge 8 x 8 plastic-linen-like bags of basement trash outside were finally whisked away by a crane after weeks of people poking through them.
A test, all that.
Also, a guy will arrive tomorrow to paint our newly-waterproofed basement. For 3 days he'll paint down there, but fortunately that's a quiet job, not a disruptive one. I hope.
Daniel The Cat snuck out of the house for 2 hours! When I figured that's where he must be, I went outside calling, "Treats!", and there he was, peeking at me on his tip toes over the Autumn daisies. Whew.
Yet the most shaking news is that last week my friend, Elizabeth, passed away. We met over 13 years ago via this blog and we chatted at Facebook and through email and she mailed me Valentines and Christmas cards.
Another reason for contemplation, that, requiring quiet days of healing.
How grateful I am for all the testimonies of Heaven I've discovered these past years, for now, easily, I can picture Elizabeth there experiencing joyous delights. Perhaps her mansion is even located in the snowy-but-not-icy section, for oh, Elizabeth, my Florida friend, how you loved my snow photos.
Some Autumns are like this one; glorious, quiet, bittersweet. How grateful I am to share them with God and with each of you, my readers, in spirit.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart ..." --- Ecclesiastes 3:11
"Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come."
– Henri Nouwen
Oh, and I released Twitter. They suddenly insisted upon having my cell phone number and well, I don't have one, only Tom's, but at some junctures in online life I have my personal boundaries. And that is one.
I'm sure I'll survive without Twitter. シ
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These women do Autumn so beautifully: Randi Lynn Reed and Darling Desi (both which I've shared before, but hey. Can we ever have too much Autumn?)
In fact, I ordered Randi's lovely 2023 artwork calendar. All that woodland art I can frame from just one place! A real bargain, to me. (The library fox is my favorite.)
Oh! And this lady did wonderful, elegant things to her tiny apartment.
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Pumpkin Cake
(One of those recipes where you can make all sorts of changes if you wish.)
Preheat oven to 325.
In a bowl, add:
15 ounces pumpkin puree
1/2 can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (or less)
1/2 tsp. salt (or less)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (and allspice if you wish)
Stir well. Pour into greased 8 x 8 pan (or similar).
Sprinkle on top:
1/2 cup yellow or white cake mix (or add more)
1/8 cup walnuts (or more)
Then drizzle over it 2 tbl. butter, melted, and 2 tbl. oil.
Bake at 40 minutes or until knife in center comes out clean. Makes 4 sane-sized servings. ツ
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“If I were a bird, I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumns.”- George Eliot
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"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15
It's really hard to hear that a friend has passed. Even though we can rejoice that Elizabeth is in heaven, you will miss hearing from her.
ReplyDeleteThese autumn days are made for all those things you're doing. Sometimes we need to relax and soak it all in. I've enjoyed baking more, since it's gotten cool, and we enjoy walking and seeing the leaves turning colors and falling.
The Henri Nouwen quote is stirring. I need to type it and pin it up where I can see it often.
Thanks, Debra!
Hello Debra:
ReplyDeleteYour days seem lovely to me. I've printed out your cake recipe and hope to bake it soon. My days aren't very relaxing. After moving Mom and emptying her house of 47 years of memories, we are also moving. Our house sold in 21 hours this past weekend. They want possession in 2 weeks so we are frantically moving. I take a load in my car and Dennis in his truck in the morning. Then I stay at the new place and unpack while he goes home for another load. We only get two loads a day done because it's about 45 minutes each direction and then we have to load and unload. We're moving into an apartment! We have never lived in an apartment before! Not only that, it's a 55+ community where we're the youngest ones there! We're actually hoping a condo comes available in a complex we've been watching for two years but thought we better go now while houses are still selling.
I'm excited for this next stage of our lives.
Blessings,
Betsy
Debra, I am oh so far-behind in reading my e-mails (as you can probably tell!) I am so sorry about the loss of your friend. Very recently I've been told that one of my very long-time friends has not only tuberculosis but also stage 4 lung cancer and was only given 1 to 6 months to live. He does not know the Lord so please keep him in your prayers (his name is John and he's my sister-in-law's brother and a close friend of mine.)
ReplyDeleteLoved the Henri Nouwen quote. I've read it before and did copy it down somewhere but where? Who knows ... not I, for sure! 😂 So, I copied it down again and this time it's in a notebook, not on a post-it note or piece of paper so it should be safe.
Have a nice day!
Debi