Finding joy in the everyday

 Lightening over Sydney Harbour When I was little I would hide under the table when it was lightening and thundering, cry and making a big noise.  I hated it.  It was very scary. These days I am slightly more mature!!  Anyway, if I did climb under the table I am not sure I would be able to get back up!! This is fortunate as we have been having quite a few thunderstorms lately, including at 5am yesterday morning (along with hail and pouring rain) and evening.   In fact, as long as I am safely indoors I don't mind the thunder/lightening at all. I am not fond of driving during lightening, even though I am probably quite safe. When we lived in Darwin we would get nightly thunderstorms during the wet season (monsoon) and I would lie awake at night watching the sky light up. It was quite magical.  One of Gods wonders. God has complete control over the thunder, the rain, the hail, the sunshine, the wind and we shouldn't grumble with "too much rain", "not...

In December I am attending a school closure—not something I would usually do, but this school is special, it was the one I attend as child for 8 years.  The school is a little country school and like so many, declining numbers has made it not viable to remain open.  The school was officially opened in 1879, only to be destroyed in the 1983 bushfires (known as the Ash Wednesday bushfires) that ripped through the Hills destroying many homes and properties.  After 8 years attending this little country school I thought about its impact on my life—what do I remember, good or bad about those 8 years. Quite a bit.  Some of it completely trivial others had a greater impact on my life, not that the teachers at the time realized!   Cucumber sandwiches and warm milk : Anyone who went to school in Australia in the 1970’s should remember the warm milk—as part of government policy of making sure we all drank enough milk, milk in glass bottles were delivered every morning and ...

The grass withereth , the flower fadeth:   but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40:8    Art link * * *

I wanted to share with you today my news.  My son came home last night and announced that he and his girlfriend have got engaged. They had been dating for 5 years and are a wonderful couple. I had been praying that they would get married. And God has answered my prayers.  My son chose a beautiful ring for his lovely fiancee. I was very impressed by his selection. * * *

The humble frozen pea turned 58 this week, celebrating it's birthday on the 3rd of November.  This is when it first appears in supermarkets in the USA.  We had to wait a little longer. I love frozen peas —I use them in so many dishes—no matter the season, frozen peas are available. There's absolutely no preparation requires, grab a handful and toss into a casserole, stew, soup and just cook in the microwave and serve with mash potato.   They are also great with mint jelly when having a roast.  I couldn’t live without them!! Did you know: Peas are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, thiamine (B1), iron and phosphorus. As pulses, they are rich in protein, carbohydrate and fibre and low in fat which is mostly of the unsaturated kind. Half a cup of frozen peas has only 5% of the daily value for sodium. If you threaded every frozen pea produced each year in the UK onto a piece of string you would need 3,900,000 kms of string, which would stretch f...

When buying your groceries are you one of the “green” bags people or do you use plastic bags (or a combination of both).  I am a green bag user and have a boot full of them.    I like using them, they are easy to pack, carry and to place in the boot of the car—I have many uses for these bags from carrying food to taking parcels to work and storing things in them. However I do find plastic bags very handy at home—to line my bins, for the kitty litter,  or travelling, carrying items in the car, baby stuff (once upon a time), plus many more uses.  If I don’t have any at home I have to buy plastic bags. This got me wondering, what did our grandparents do before plastic bags—how did they line their bins, what did they do if they wanted to carry wet /muddy items and so forth.  The reason for asking is we are about to become a region where the grocery plastic bag will be banned from November next year.  This will mean buying plastic to use in the home....

There was always going to be an Art Wednesday that looked at one of my favourite animals and today is it - if you don't like cats, look away (but they are rather cute!).  The artists range from the famous (Renior) to the unknown. However they are all illustrate the wonderful loveable (and sometimes cuddly) character of our cat (domestic and wild). I have to say though that this group of artists were lousy at thinking up good titles for their paintings, how creative are these: " five cats ", " girl with ca t", " playing with kitten "!!! For some trivia: The French Impressionist Renior was a cat lover and they are depicted in several of his paintings (I have included one in this list of paintings). Mark Twain kepted 11 cats on his farm - some of their names were: Sour Mash, Apollinaris, Zoroaster, Blatherskite, Beelzebub! Sir Wintson Churchill's marmalade cat Jock slept with his master, shared his dining table, and attended numerous war-time ...