a spirit of simplicity

 ~ ~ ~ I am thankful for time with my family in a beautiful spot.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ little things Thursday Thankful Thursday thursday favorite things

 ~ ~ ~ There is nothing quite like reading el-fresco on a summer afternoon in a beautiful place. Hannah's blanket under the shade of a big old maple tree. When your children are grown (Hannah is 35 now) and you get a chance to spend some time alone with them...not at a holiday gathering where everyone is hustling and bustling, not at a crowded event filled with other people and over too soon. Real time...time you can sit on a blanket in the grass under an old Maple and do nothing together... every so often one of us reads aloud a particularly meaningful passage. We are comfortable in our silence and the companionship. You appreciate a picnic blanket that they left on the grass when they got up to do something different. When they are younger there is so much of their stuff around that you think it will never end and then one day you catch yourself feeling melancholy over a blanket that they walked away from. Every single tiny bit of who they are as grown ups becomes something so sp

 ~ ~ ~ The weather has been beastly hot and humid or raining almost all summer long. These past few weeks, however, have been a bit of foreshadowing of Autumn. The nights and mornings have been cooler. Right now I am recovering from a lithotripsy/uretoscopy and stent placement. I've been having trouble with kidney stones for a few years now. They just keep coming back and getting bigger and lodged in my ureta. Not much fun!  I had a list of things I wanted to do this weekend but instead I am home recovering. Thinking ...honestly, of how blessed I am to have a beautiful home to recover in, great medical care and a doctor that I really like and trust, and a health problem that is serious but not life threatening. On my reading pile.... I've been reading N. Scott Momaday. He is a native American writer and pulitzer prize winner. I really enjoy his books.  On my TV.... we have been binge watching Reservation Dogs. Love it! I don't have a favorite blog post this week.  Somethi

 ~ ~ ~ t Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart.  Psalm 5:3 the Passion translation ~ ~ ~ I often look up different translations of bible verses. It gives me a deeper understanding. I usually read the ESV, King James, or a Catholic translation.  Even though I don't read the Passion translation very often I particularly love the visual of this verse in Psalm 5.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ scripture and a snapshot You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

 ~ ~ ~ Camping in New Hampshire with my family this weekend. Both of my daughters, my son-in-law and my three grandchildren. My husband had to work so he couldn't join us.  So. Much. Fun. ~ They are watching daddy in ducking under the water fall.  I love that my daughter and granddaughter both have the exact same smile! ~ My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren left on Sunday afternoon but my eldest daughter and I stayed over Sunday night as well. It was quiet and peaceful and I don't get to see Hannah that often so I enjoyed our time together.  ~ We a thunderstorm roll through on Friday evening. But the rest of the weekend was beautiful. On Monday I woke to this beautiful sunrise. It began to rain a few hours later but Hannah and I had packed up most of our things the night before so it didn't take us very long to dismantle the tent and be on our way. It was nice to get home early in the morning and have a chance to unpack and do some laundry.  ~ I took Tuesday off as w

~ ~ ~ This was the view from our campsite. We also had a view of a little waterfall that this water fed into. Just beautiful. communal global Wednesday around the world

 ~ ~ ~ For Today   Looking out my window It is rather rainy and windy out there. I can see the old harbour from the windows and it's rather stormy. I am off work today and plan on puttering around the house. I am thinking about how sweet it is to have a day off and be able to do some unpacking from my family camping trip...laundry and putting things away. I love stormy days. I am thankful for the opportunity to go camping this past weekend. My daughter, Hannah, found such a beautiful spot. My daughter, Bonnie and her husband, Dan, and my grandchildren, Verne, Abigail, and Natalie were all together! So much fun to be able to spend time with them. One of my favorite things is stormy days! I love the smell of the harbour, the sound of the wind, the sight of the rain hitting the windows and the waves in the Atlantic at the end of our street.  I am creating a nature basket on the coffee table. My granddaughters and I collected some beautiful natural items while we were camping and I put

 ~ ~ ~ I am so thankful for a visit from my sister.  She is one of the bravest people I know. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2009 and after 7 years of being "cancer free" it came back in her sacrum bone. Since then she has been through more chemo, more radiation and more tests and scans than one could count. She was told that it was not a matter of if it will come back it is a matter of when. And it has come back...a number of times. Each time she has a treatment that takes a permanent toll on her body and her spirit. She has drop foot and cannot walk without a brace or a cane/walker, she is in constant pain, and all this time she continues to go to one doctor appointment after another. The latest is a fracture in her hip because her bones are weak due to the radiation.  I cherish the times we get to spend together.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Little things Thursday Thankful Thursday