Aunt Janet's Striving for the Simple Life

Saint Nicholas

2011-12-05T21:45:00.002-06:00

Saint Nicholas Poem Holy Bishop St. Nicholas lived farawayNear the Aegean Sea is where Turkey did lay.Travel back with us now to a time long ago.We will visit his country, his life we will know. We remember this saint, such a holy, good man.Be like him in charity, do all that you can.Many miracles Nicholas hastened to do,Helping people in need with gifts that were new. Bishop Nicholas traveled

Cranberry Relish

2011-11-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

There, too, I admired, though I did not gather, the cranberries, small waxen gems, pendants of the meadow grass, pearly and red, which the farmer plucks with an ugly rake, leaving the smooth meadow in a snarl, heedlessly measuring them by the bushel and the dollar only, and sells the spoils of the meads to Boston and New York; destined to be jammed, to satisfy the tastes of lovers of Nature

Help to Carry On

2011-07-31T01:20:00.005-05:00

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain We all have sorrow But if we are wise We know that there's always tomorrow Lean on me, when you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on Please swallow your pride If I have things you need to borrow For no one can fill those of your needs That you don't let show Lean on me,

Fable of the Porcupine

2011-07-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

I received this in an email, and the parable is so worth sharing! But have you ever seen a baby porcupine?! I would pass it along just for this! Fable of the porcupine It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of

Dirty Hands and Pineapple Sorbet

2011-07-05T22:42:00.001-05:00

Dirty hands, iced tea, garden fragrances thick in the air and a blanket of color before me, who could ask for more?Bev Adams, Mountain Gardening Not me. I love getting dirt under my nails, sipping a tall cold glass of iced tea, walking past lemon balm, mint, or lavender and getting a whiff of their abundant fragrance. I love summer! I have never found a pair of gloves that work right in the

Strawberry Ice Recipe

2011-06-22T20:44:00.002-05:00

Strawberries are the angels of the earth, innocent and sweet with green leafy wings reaching heavenward.Terri Guillemets My strawberry season is coming to an end. We have made strawberry jam and strawberry ice. The season is ending too soon, and there is definitely not enough strawberry ice. I have become addicted to this delicious, easy-to-make delicacy. I call it a delicacy because I'm not

Is Your Grass Green?

2011-06-10T22:45:00.001-05:00

If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it's because they take better care of it.Cecil Selig If only. If only I had more money, if only my husband was more attentive, if only my life went according to plan, then my life would be wonderful. Really? I don't think so. God gave you life choices, and you can go wherever you want. It's called free will. No matter what the

Children - Be Kind to Your Parents

2011-05-24T23:12:00.001-05:00

Be kind to your parents Though they don't deserve it. Remember that grown ups Is a difficult stage of life They're apt to be nervous And over excited Confused by their daily storm and strife. So keep in mind though it seems hard I know. Parents were children long ago. Incredible!! So treat them with patience and kind understanding. Despite of all the foolish things they do. Some day you

Consequences

2011-05-06T00:44:00.000-05:00

Always listen to your elder's advice,not because they are always right, but because they have more experience at being wrong.Author Unknown We learn from our experiences. We also learn from the experience of others. When we see our young making a wrong move, we try to reach out and give advice. Sometimes it is taken. Other times we are told to let them make their own mistakes. Out of love,

Serenity Prayer

2011-04-30T00:35:00.002-05:00

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference; Living one day at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it: Trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will; that I may be reasonably happy in

2011-01-05T22:03:00.000-06:00

For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice And to make an end is to make a beginning.~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding" Without thinking, I searched for a quote for today. I didn't realize that I picked the same quote from my previous post until after I began working on this post. Coincidence or is there something that draws me to explore this

Bringing in the New Year!

2010-12-31T00:02:00.007-06:00

For last year's words belong to last year's languageAnd next year's words await another voice.And to make an end is to make a beginning.T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding" New Year's Eve was always a big event in my younger years. My dad would pass out the silver dollars, those that were fond of herring would have a fork full, everyone got a little champagne, and we got to stay up past midnight! We

Why Turkey?

2010-11-18T22:36:00.002-06:00

Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast,And toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.Alice W. Brotherton Did you ever wonder why we eat Turkey on Thanksgiving. Was it served on the first Thanksgiving feast? From my reading, there were two writings on the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in the autumn of 1621. The first was written by Edward Winslow

Question

2010-11-16T22:36:00.001-06:00

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning. For by doubting, we are led to question; and by questioning, we arrive at the truth.Peter Abelard As a child, I was encouraged to question. There were no stupid questions, but, at times, the answers were evaded. Not necessarily because my parents did not want to answer, but because sometimes there was no explanation, or there were

Autumn

2010-10-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

falling leaveshide the pathso quietly~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com Out of all the seasons, autumn comforts my soul. Nature is nestling down for the long winter. A bountiful summer, and now it is time to rest. Pumpkins and hay rack rides. Walking through a path covered in leaves. Apple cider and bonfires. Falling in love. All signs of settling in

Waiting for the Sauce

2010-09-12T22:29:00.004-05:00

How much of human life is lost in waiting.Ralph Waldo Emerson As I sit here waiting, I started to contemplate all the time that one wastes in a lifetime waiting. Waiting to graduate, waiting for the next best job, waiting for Mr. or Miss Right, waiting for the tomato sauce to finish canning... For those of you who have canned, it could be a whole day process, depending on what you are making.

Old Friends

2010-09-11T00:37:00.000-05:00

“Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there”Author Unknown There is something to be said about old friends. The one that, even if you haven’t seen each other in eons, you can pick up the conversation like you were never separated. Talking for hours, laughing, crying, reminiscing and making new memories. The type of friend that wouldn’t be

The Canvas of Life

2010-07-21T22:56:00.000-05:00

Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing, is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality.Author Unknown I just turned 49, and I was feeling a little down. My life is not the life I envisioned for myself. What was and what I imagined it to be are two different pictures. If I could go back in time, what

Lost in the Garden

2010-05-31T22:52:00.002-05:00

Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it. When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed. ~Lewis Gannit I have been lost in my garden - my favorite place to be. All the planning, digging, rearranging, planting, and cultivating have taken up most of my off

2010-05-07T21:27:00.001-05:00

Has anyone seen my mom? I’ve been looking for her everywhere, and I can’t find her. Can you keep a secret? I heard something that I think I wasn’t suppose to hear. I might be getting a sister. She’s supposed to look like a boxer, so I hope she’s not too mean. I miss Puppy and how we used to play. I think it’s a baby, so I’ll get to play mom, and teach her how to sit and stay, and all the things

An Irish Blessing

2010-03-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

Irish Blessing May your joys be as bright as the morning, And your sorrows merely be shadows that fade, In the sunlight of love. May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet. Enough trials to keep you strong. Enough sorrows to keep you human. Enough hope to keep you happy. Enough failure to keep you humble. Enough success to keep you eager. Enough friends to give you comfort. Enough

The Baby Ruth Story

2010-03-08T22:40:00.001-06:00

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. From the television show The Wonder Years I have been trying to remember the stories that were told to me by a man I highly respected and loved. I learned from his knowledge passed on to me through stories. Many were pleasant, yet, there were those that were painful, only retold to try

Slow Down

2010-01-27T22:00:00.000-06:00

Slow down you're doing fine You can't be everything you want to be Before your time. Billy Joel After a motivating Premier Designs Rally, I was telling my husband the events of the weekend. At lunch one afternoon, the subject turned to Facebook and the games on Facebook. I admitted that I am addicted to Farmville. My one friend looked at me in shock, asking how I had time. She, too, had as

A Quest to Simplify

2010-01-03T22:22:00.001-06:00

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.Hans Hofmann I am on a quest - a quest to simplify my life, to eliminate the needless stress that I tend to invite by my actions. Consciously, but slowly, step by step, I plan to find ways and methods to relieve stress, create time, and simplify. I yearn for serenity. Over the next couple of months, I

Happy New Year's!

2010-01-01T23:44:00.000-06:00

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. Edith Lovejoy Pierce Alas, 2009 is gone, and a New Year is here! A New Year to hope, to plan, to seek, to love, and to realize dreams. I look forward to this New Year with much anticipation - it will definitely be a good year! Due