Thanksgiving !

Our first Thanksgiving at our home, complete with a roasted turkey and trimmings. I truly love turkey.  

We stayed simple with the trimmings, opting for roasted carrots with brown sugar, nibblet corn, stuffing, and asparagus, of course, we also had gravy, mashed potatoes, and turkey.  

I think perhaps the turkey was the best part, juicy, evenly roasted, and it tasted even better the next day!  However, I feel it would be a huge disservice to take credit for the turkey.  While I did prepare the bird, I owe Laura Vitale at Laura's Kitchen on You Tube.  Her bird is amazing!  
Thank you Laura! Check out her channel on you tube and her website here http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/

Our Wedding

"Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare,... perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways;... perhaps. . . perhaps. . .love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.
                                 ~ L. M. Montgomery

While reading the "Anne" books as a young girl, I remember thinking that if ever I had the choice, that I would like to fall in love in the above manner.  Although I assumed I would meet the dark, mysterious stranger and after a whirlwind romance be carried off into the sunset, I harboured hope of a long time friendship.  Today, I look on recently past years and smile how that very hope became a reality, and it did creep to my side.  Love & romance come in different ways and diverse manners, but for me it unfolded in a manner that best suited us.  I am thankful to be married to my best friend. 

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Tonight, Tonight may all be well

Dusk has fallen, clouds cloak the darkened sky, a raindrop splatters and silently continues down the pane. As a hilltop gives view of the landsceap, my view is not far different.  Tonight is a night that novels hold for tears, but real life seldom holds to novels, and tonight we are warm.

There is a warm and gentle atmosphere

About the form of one we love, and thus

As in a tender mist our spirits are

Wrapped in the of that which is to us

The health of life’s own life--

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Isaiah 41:10

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Is 41:10

Yesterday.  Just one more of those days that feel like weight hanging around your neck.

When a friend of mine texted me this verse, I held back tears.  How much I needed to remember!

I think the part I noticed most strongly was "for I am thy God". 

~ Fear thou not.~

Autumn Colors & Projects

Today was especially overcast, almost looked like 5:00 pm in December by mid afternoon.  The rain came this evening, bringing with it the first hints of fall.  The smell in the air is amazing as the city snuggles up quietly in the dusk.  Only the occasional sound of swooshing tires can be heard, and the sound of a steady breeze.

As I sit in our warm, cozy apartment, I am continually amazed at how quiet this city is. (At least it seems our southeastern corner is quiet.) I am writing during a quick break before delving into food preparation.  Adventure awaits as I try turning grape nut cereal into something other than cereal, but that will have to be covered in a different post.

Some of you know of my current furniture make over.  I am please to announce all the chairs are stained and our entry-way table.   Aunt Nancy gave it to me before we were married.  The table top had big circle stains.  Here is an after shot :)

Touch ups of a Dining Room Set

Current project: touching up chairs.  I am currently working on 6 chairs from my husband's Grandmother's dining room set.  Hoping to make them look like new! (Well, old to match the china cabinet, and new without any dings and scratches.

A Little Nugget of Gold

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, 

not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.

Laurence Sterne

But because the Lord loved you,...the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you.  

Deut 7:8

I was struck today by the gentleness, yet powerful purposefulness of our God.  When I read this quote on courtship, it reminded me of the quiet ways God works in our lives: "a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as to not be understood."   We tend to notice the big changes, traumatic events, whirlwind changes, failures, successes, and big miracles, but do we notice unobtrusive guidence, the gentle guidance?   The next time your life seems to be stuck, not moving, unchanged, uneventful, maybe even just boring, look at it as "a number of quiet attentions."