Finding joy in the everyday

What job/task/activity do you do that you do for your husband because it makes him happy ? Mine is making Harissa.  I don't like making it, it makes my eyes hurt, I start to cough and even though I wear gloves I can still taste chilli on my hands. And, I do not like hot chillies and I don't eat Harissa. I can't even eat what I make. However, dear husband loves my homemade Harissa so I make it for him and it makes him happy. I think one of the problems with modern marriages is that many wives no longer do special things for their husbands just to make them happy.  Sadly, we live in a very selfish world where we no longer think its important to " think " of others, in particular our spouses.  The recipe I used was similar to this one, however I used many more chillies than the recipe recommends:  http://www.coffeeandcrumpets.com/harissaa-most-versatile-hot-sauce/ And like any cooking - the dishes need to be done, but at least with Haris...

Dear blogging friends and family, Its hard to believe that it is almost the end of the year - where has 2014 gone:). Do you think it goes faster as you get older!? I thought I would share with you my "vegan" journey because you too might have a son or daughter who becomes vegan or vegetation and it can be daunting at first. Or, they may become gluten intolerant, unable to consume dairy or many other food allergies and as a parent they are all tackled the same way. My youngest son (now 22) came home 2 years ago and said he was vegetarian, one year ago he moved to vegan. As a parent I had two choices - support his decision or not. I decided to support him and learn as much as I could about being a vegan as I simply didn't know anyone who was vegan except for Sandy at " Vegans Eat Yummy Food Too ".   My idea of vegan was lots of lentils, chickpeas and not a cupcake in sight and it never looked very appealing, I discovered this isn't entirely true...

"The Sewing Circle" by Daniel Ridgway Knight (1839 - 1924) Art Friday: Busy (and creative) hands Women have had busy hands since the time of the Bible. Women, once all their chores were done - could be found sewing, knitting, quilting, gift making, embroidering, weaving, lace making, mending . . . the list was endless. Whilst women did these crafts for pleasure, many were knitting jumpers out of necessity, sewing clothes for the family to wear, making quilts to keep everyone warm, mending well worn garments. These days, most of us undertake these crafts for pleasure and no longer because we have to.  Do enjoy these paintings of women with "busy hands".  "G randmother sews pants " by Adolf Humborg is one of my favourites.  Grandmother seems to have a very wiggly boy of her lap who thinks this is all so much fun and can't stop laughing. His sister watches with great amusement!  Also, I would like to wish my dad a very happy birthday t...

How often do you think of those who might be lonely, sad, depressed, suffering illness as we approach the Christmas season? What about the single mum who is struggling just down the road, perhaps an elderly person who lives alone.  In this modern day, everyone is so busy running about sending Christmas cards, buying gifts, attending parties, working out what they will wear to all their parties,  organising  food etc.. they forget about those who need us most. The very people we should be remembering at this time of the year.  My friend Mary has written a beautiful post  ("Seeing with Compassion") that reminds us not to forget those people in need. I would highly recommend reading it as its such a good reminder at this time of the year and it contains so ideas of how to make a differences to someone else.  " . . . .   I hadn't really expected to post a holiday challenge this year, but recently it popped into my head ...

Kangaroos and wallabies being hand fed My brother and niece (who live in the US) and I visited a wildlife reserve a few weeks ago as my niece really wanted to meet some Australia wildlife. I thought I would share with you some of the furry friends we met. The nice thing about this park was being able to mingle with some of the animals face-to-face and as you can see from the photos above, able to feed them. These kangaroos and wallabies have all been hand reared, therefore very use to humans and in fact, we decided, very dog like as they kept following us. In case you were wondering how kangaroos and wallabies differ, whilst they belong to the same family (macropods and marsupials), Kangaroos are bigger at around 8 foot compared to the wallaby at 2 feet, kangaroos have longer legs between the knees and ankles and the wallaby has a brighter and more colourful coat whilst the kangaroo has more sober colours. Kangaroos eat grasses whilst the wallaby eats mostly leaves in more fo...

A mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking. ~ Helen Steiner Rice ~ ***** Mothers do the very best they can and what they do, they do with love. Mothers work very hard for their children and make many sacrifices, but many children don't truly appreciate their mother's efforts until they are all grown up and become parents themselves.  My friend Wendy had a mother who stayed at home. My mother went to work. Wendy and I have known each other all our lives and we are the same age. We are both married and have two children each.  We were both taught home making skills, how to sew, how to cook, how to care for others, neither of us were lacking in any of these important skills.  We both love our mothers equally. I love my mother for all the things she did for me, for all the meals she cooked, the stories she read, the hugs she gave, the clothes she made, the jumpers sh...

Art Friday: Luis Romero Spanish ******