Gratitude

Mandarin Duck, Phoenix Park, Dublin



You may be wondering what on earth these three photos have in common?

 

For a while now I have been reading about the positive affirmation of life which keeping a Gratitude Journal encourages. Middlest daughter keeps one and says it helps her a lot.

I have tried doing one. Really, really tried. Several times.

3 things a day to be thankful for, not a lot.

 

For perhaps a week it goes alright-ish (although I don't enjoy examining myself or my day) and then I hit a bad patch or something happens and suddenly it seems such a false thing to do, so condescending to myself, such a waste of time.

 

There are black days when I am flipping well NOT glad to be alive and it would be easier to keep a journal of all the people/ things/ events/ stupidities/ ass-hats etc. which have annoyed me past bearing in the last 24 hours.

There are frantically busy days when I jolly well hope I am in someone else's Gratitude Journal because I ruddy well deserve to be.

 

And all the days between.

 High tide at Streedagh, Co. Sligo

So I got to thinking perhaps I am looking at it the wrong way around. Perhaps I should not be looking at the subject in terms of 'myself' but focus outwards.

 

What about an 'Appreciation Journal'?

 

The day I saw the Mandarin duck, I had stopped to feed the ducks (yes, some people don't grow up!). Normally in that pond there are a lot of mallard ducks, a few crows, some seagulls, and maybe some coots. This day there were three Mandarin ducks!

What a gift! 

So vibrant!

Such a splash of colour and so very out of the ordinary.

They were absolutely beautiful and the sight, enjoyment and marvelling at creation of such a creature still stuns me.

All the various people there soon gathered together admiring, looking over strangers' shoulders at their phones as they tried to figure what sort of ducks they were, and talking about them. That half hour of connection was also an unexpected gift.

 

Sunday Flowers, St. John's, Sligo

Appreciation is a wider outlook I think.

Appreciation is watching a marvellously coloured duck and saying Wow! aloud.

Appreciation is being awed by the surge and pull of a high tide, listening to the stones roll under the water, feeling the wind in my face, and persuading the dog that now is not a good time to go swimming.

Appreciation is the sun through stained glass windows on Sunday morning, beautiful flower arrangements from people's gardens, an organ which works and the sound of a congregation singing old, favourite hymns.

Gratitude is looking at my day and trying to figure what went right, sometimes many things, sometimes nothing much.
Appreciation is looking for the beauty outside of myself, which I have done nothing to deserve.

You may consider that I am spitting hairs and perhaps I am. But in my mind there is a powerful difference.
The Gratitude journal is, forthwith, an Appreciation Journal.
We'll see how it goes!

Last Hurrah?

Remember I said that Lord Muck had fetched in some Farmer's Gold? Well my grateful rose decided to flower again before the winter- isn't she lovely?
Actually there is a huge earwig hiding in the top right of the flower but he was too shy to have his photo taken!
And then this carnation, which has sulked for years decided to follow suit! Its just so pretty and has a lovely scent too. Actually it was grown from a cutting off some flowers the Hub gave me several years ago on our wedding anniversary!

Have any of you come across this new magazine? I found it in Eason's this week and thought I'd give it a look. With the currency exchange rate its expensive but I thought the teachers at school might get some craft projects out of it too.
Here's a funny for yous: Many years ago I started a game with the girls on our long car journeys in East Africa- someone provided a quote and everyone had to guess where it was from. Everything was allowed, books, films, memorable and silly things people said, plays, songs, Bible, and any language too, as Kiswahili and English were interchangeable at that time.

Well it is still played by us, and sometimes I play it with my Music classes too as I find it is good to make them think and amuse them. THIS Wednesday when I walked into 6th Class they had two quotes ready for ME!

'Salutations!' and 'Live Long and Prosper!'

I was well amused, and they were delighted with themselves!

It always entertains me how children find themselves so endlessly amusing!!

So, do you recognise their quotes?

Tinkful Toisday!

Thank you to Greg for hosting Thankful Thursday! He gets up REALLY early to do it you know!

This week's Thankfuls:

1. Thankful for this amazingly warm weather we are having, and also that it rained over the past few days- good growing conditions. For us, this warmth is wonderful!

2. Thankful for all the flowers, wild and cultivated, which are presently blooming; they do so brighten up the hedges, the countryside, the garden, and my day!

3. Thankful that when the car has been in the Garage recently they have been able to lend us one of their run-around vehicles. Being a rural one-car family has its challenges!

4. Thankful for the Sunday School children in Church and the fun of being with them. Last Sunday was the Sunday School Prize giving and the children did a play and sang- all four of them! It was great! (Our Congregation would consist almost entirely of retired folks, and of those of us with children they are mostly Secondary School and College age.)

5. Thankful that with all the 'away' activities my girls are into, that I can trust God to keep watch over them and to hold onto them. I've said it before but I'm saying it again- how do parents cope with their children's antics without a faith in God's love and providence?


Well, that 's my Thankfuls for this week- if you want to join in do visit Greg? He welcomes everyone at his place!

Doggerel (I mean Poetry) Challenge and Flowers

Ok you chaps here's a Doggerel (whoops! I mean Poetry) Challenge for you: Write a rhyme starting with-

Five little jelly babies standing in a row...

As long or short or corney or daft as you like! Post it in the comments, and if you're REALLY good I'll find a prize!

Now here's the middle section of appliqué from the pink yoke of a quilt, if you can see it:-

I think I need to do similar on the two sides, yes?

And should I add a few leaves or something on the bare bends of the stem?

I'm doing a few embroidery bits to accent the flowers but they're not visible from a distance:

Opinions? Please?

Gorgeous weather and eight 14 year-olds!

I decided to try out a style of quilting I saw at the Festival of Quilts, on the sewing machine. Normally my machine quilting is disasterous but I thought if I raised the mobile table surface so I could stand, and with the ironing board behind as extra surface, perhaps I could manage the bulk of the quilt. The result is middling, quite a few boggles which have had to be undone, and lines of stitching ripped, but still, better than I hoped, and a darn sight faster than hand-quilting, much as I enjoy it. Not finished yet, but I'm pinning the binding.

B and her friends have had a very noisy day. The weather is just glorious so they have only come inside to eat or drink! I could have set the food outside for them, but was afraid the dogs would get there first! First of all they went down to the wood to climb trees, through the garden, under the fence, over the wall, across the field and along by the stream...

Then after twenty hot-dogs and some DIY cheese sandwiches they headed off up the mountain, carrying a jumbo pack of maltesers and all the cup-cakes from the kitchen tin! Nearly two hours later they returned to lie around on the grass...

...play twister briefly,

...then back out to the woods (can you see the trees shaking?) and the fairy fort (left edge of photo) at the end of the garden. I can hear them from the kitchen but I guess they won't return now until they are hungry again! I think that's what being children is all about, trees, sunshine, friends, eating, and running loose around the countryside. Its the same childhood we had, and these guys are so lucky to live here where it is safe to do the same.

I was outside earlier looking at my weedy flowers and trying to find where the buzzing was coming from. Well if anyone is looking for hover flies, bees, wasps, and bugs of any and every description, I think they are all in this patch here! I can't get good magnification for photos but I was ages out in the sunshine watching and listening. Don't buzzy bugs epitomise summer?

Its cooling down outside now, but after the sun today our hot water will be scalding hot! Oh the joy of solar panels! I'd better start the oven for the pizzas I reckon, because as soon as the sun dips behind the hills they ravening hordes will be in like locusts devouring everything in sight! Its been such an easy day though, no refereeing necessary since they've had half of Leitrim in which to roam!
Pizza and tomorrow's hymns and the binding on the quilt...

State of the Garden

Just look at the flowers the Hub brought me yesterday for my birthday! Aren't they lovely? The lilies aren't even open yet so in another day or so they'll be spectacular. There's alstroemaria and lisianthus in there too with the chrysanthemums and statice and gerbera and phlox. I'm so delighted! Before I show you the dodgy parts of my garden, here's the fucia. Its wild and grows along the road and here and there. You can tell I haven't had a hand in it because it's doing so well! I love it though, the flowers are so perfect. When they visited Ireland as little people the girls used to think that dandelion 'down' were flying fairies, and fucia blossoms were dancing fairies!

This is some of what is waiting to be planted out...I've been gathering cuttings and other people's throw-away plants, and bought some for the last nine years whilst waiting for a garden of my own. You can imagine moving it all from the rented house...and that's only a part!

These photos I have managed to get in the wrong order, as usual, sorry. This one below is a pointsetia I've nursed along for nearly three years. In Nairobi they grew wild and were great for sticking in to fill gaps in the hedges as they generally grew to over six foot tall, so I had to have one for here even if it only goes outside in July! Last Christmas the bracts turned red with lovely yellow flowers.

Don't know whether you can see, but the broad beans are coming along. I think I need to pinch out the tops to prevent blackfly. I'm really looking forward to eating these, my favourite vegetable!

This is -ha!ha! a flowerbed. I wanted a profusion of flowers and mixed the seeds when sowing them...BAD mistake...now I don't know which are weeds and the whole thing is a jumble. Last year I carefully sowed everything in pots and then the weather was so bad they withered before getting out into deeper soil. Perhaps I'll get right next year? Mar ya, sez you!

The strawberry plants look great but have produces exactly four strawberries. They did flower, the pots are deep enough, though I plan to plant them in the deep raised bed next year, they aren't particularly foliage wild, so I dunno. Mind you, the berries they did produce were delicious.

The broad beans got totally smushed the last fortnight, I'll know to stake them for next year. This photo was supposed to be above. Some plants have been broken off and withered so I removed them. They've collapsed onto the three french bean plants I left in that bed, and something has eated all the other beans so there won't be many french beans this year. At least the Swiss Chard is doing well, no photo as we ate it during the week, so are waiting for more! Its brilliant as we've eaten it almost to the ground at least five times this summer and back it grows! Onions, rather battered, as are the mangetout to the right of them, but didn't take photo.

Spring onions, quite a few eaten already, as are the carrots. I've also found several gratuitous tomatos in with the rogue potatoes, so we'll see how they do. Obviously the compost wasn't as composted as I thought! What hey! Its free!

Should the rhubarb be growing this vigorously at this time of year? Its 'Timperly Early' and brand new, only got it in May.

And herewith one Hub hard at work on his shed! He drilled 16 holes into the cement plinth (for which we can't afford to build a breize block shed as the planning specifies) last night, inserted the dowel rods and is waiting for the putty/glue to dry. Tonight he hopes to bolt down the base. Tuesday,he returned home clanking oddly and proceeded to extract 16 x 7" (?) bolts from his pockets! Is it any wonder his trousers wear out??

Yesterday afternoon Sos presented me with a little bar of chocolate tied up in ribbon: 'Happy Birthday Mom, and can I have the ribbon back?' Hmmm!

Dilly has been home since Monday afternoon (she was suffering withdrawal symptoms from my Georghette Heyer books), though she leaves this afternoon, and its been great. Sos and B have talked endlessly with her, but yesterday afternoon the conversation waned. Firstly they played a murderous game of 'Risk!', ignoring all the strategy cards and going for world domination. I tell you, even some terrorists could learn from these three hoodlums! When Sos had won (I really don't know how as the other two were cheating), they then started singing all the Disney songs they know, which is A LOT! That carried on for over an hour and was deafening- not very musical either!

I meant to include a progress photo on the little quilt, but that'll have to wait til tomorrow. Its not finished, but it is taking shape.

Tomorrow I'm off to London for four days with the folks, to stay with my brother. I'm really looking forward to it as we're going to two Prom Concerts, another recital, and a Show. Also a flower Market on Sunday morning, and Oxford Street. I wonder what Aer Lingus would say if I pitched up at check-in with a trolley load of plants? More to the point, what would my Dad say...

Hope you're not bored with the long post?

Lucifer and Astilibe!

I just did something really stupid- I pressed ‘play’ on the CD player without checking either the volume or the disc and was practically thrown across the kitchen…at a respectable volume, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ soundtrack is great, but at 40plus is mind -blowing…I’d forgotten the girls were playing it last night. Change to Enya, I think...

Once again I've managed to get photos in the wrong order, oh well, 'and the last shall be first and the first, last', but Jesus hadn't my computer inadequacy in mind when He said that!
Sos is on her final designs for her Debs dress so as soon as the Hub is paid there’ll be a trip to Cliffoney for fabric. She’s decided she wants two layers. Goodness help me! This is the sketch front and back, and the photo at the side is from the Nomads catalogue, she wants ribbons round the waist like that dress. I hope you can make it out ok.

The montbretia is beginning to flower, starting with my pots of hybrid ‘Lucifer’. Mum bought me the bulbs at the Chelsea Flower Show a few years back and I’ve always wondered whether there was irony involved in the choice or did she just like the colour?! I haven’t asked in case I don’t like the answer!!
I just went out to take a photo and in rooting round the pots found what I think is a white astilibe- I’ve been wanting one but they were 12euro in Horkan’s and that was too much for me. I also spoke to the sumac which is doing well (thought it had died in the winter), and to my delight I’ve just discovered that the mahonia is alive. I thought I’d lost it, it’s not very healthy but ok. As you can tell I’m a great gardener…

And here are my two partners in the garden- Ben who likes to dig things up...

And Bertie who lies on everything.
Dilly’s been having a frustrated day at work; firstly a visitor drank all the milk they had for the free teas and coffees in the foyer. Then someone phoned to book tickets for the play and couldn’t find his credit card so kept the phone line busy for a while. Since booking he’s been phoning to alter the booking at intervals, figuring that the various people are entitled to concessions. Dilly is going nuts although she admits that in between there are loads of really pleasant polite folks.
I know as a teacher, it takes one major run-in with a student to discolour one’s day, and Dilly says the same. I guess it’s the same for everyone; it makes good manners so important.

Sos has taken B to the cinema to see the new Harry Potter film. B’s birthday was during the final stages before Sos’s exams, and there was also a family Wedding happening, and Sos remembered this morning she had never got her a present, so this trip is it. Afterwards B is having her hair cut by a friend of Sos from school who is training to be a hairdresser. So the Hub dropped them off in town on the way to work.

I am reading a Nora Robert’s book, ‘Angel Falls’ and becoming rather engrossed. I lent the last one to Mum for her holiday. I ordered Jane Kirkpatrick’s book ‘Aurora’ from Amazon last week as her book don’t get this far west and the other evening on the internet I discovered there will be another Diana Gabaldon novel out at the end of this year, or thereabouts. Several somethings to look forward to,(unfortunately my book addiction started young, and shows no sign of abating, although I do try to keep it under control…)

Now, since I am temporarily girl-less, I am going to quilt some more.