Peace On Earth

It was a hard weekend.
Being reminded of the darkness (again)…
The hatred bubbling over into terrible action.
Choices – actions – that are hard to understand –
and some reactions that inflamed rather than soothed.

I don’t know what to say, really.
This is a season that heralds peace. Joy. Hope.
But it has always been in the context of a darkened world.

And so, I will pray.
Because I believe that to be a powerful place to start.
But I will also pay attention to the marginalised, and oppressed. The ones who don’t live in the same level of ease and safety as I do.
I will question the tendency to blame a whole community for the actions of one.
Look for what is true, and challenge unthinking reaction – whether mine, or others’.
And remember the words of One who came as a baby, to bring reconciliation.

This is what Jesus said (quoting Isaiah) –

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

****

There is still light.
Hope.
And peace for us.

Published in: on December 16, 2025 at 9:49 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , ,

Storage Problems!

Not so much the house (although we’d have to think where we would put more “stuff”).
I went to put together the previous post and found, when I tried to upload photos, that I’ve run out of media storage space!
Just before Christmas – there will be photos to share!!

It’s been 18 years of free space, so I suppose I can’t grumble.
I’ll be looking at a paid plan to upgrade, although I might have to wait till the new year. Possibly delete some of the older media? Not sure yet…

I’ve been a bit off colour the last couple of days – not The Virus (or flu), but enough to feel a bit wonky – not being sure what day it actually is, and randomly falling asleep. Even while reading!
We’ve still been able to get the necessary things done.
I just don’t want to tackle taming my media library just yet.

Thankfully, I can still add some music 🙂
This is for those who have had too much Mariah Carey, but still sort of like the song.

😀

And this is those who are leaning in to quiet joy.

❤

Published in: on December 13, 2025 at 9:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , ,

Tree’s Up! (2025 Edition)

The smoke alarms seem to be fixed,
so no more overnight vigils for us!
I slept very well Thursday night, but it’s been a bit patchy since then… I’ll keep trying 😀

I’ve finally got the tree decorated,
and the other bits and pieces in the lounge.

It’s snuggled up next to the wifi modem (router?)
My lovely Renaissance angel is back in place.

This is her 32nd year at the top of our tree.
❤

Snowmen hang around the big TV cabinet.

…and gnomes check out some classic mysteries.

Bits

and bobs!

And the centrepiece –
including a tiny nativity scene that fits into a matchbox.
A miniature snapshot of the Christmas story.

Because that’s what it’s all about, after all!

It’s been a busy, and satisfying, day.
Time to slow down…

Published in: on December 6, 2025 at 10:19 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,

Taking The Night Shift

We’re still waiting for our smoke alarms to be fixed – hopefully tomorrow.
Because we had to deactivate the alarms (to stop them going off incessantly), we have been following a roster of one person staying up (to check for smoke/fire), rather than everyone having a sleepless night.
Yes, the likelihood of a fire is tiny, but we’re in the position of not being covered if there is a fire, since we deliberately turned them off…

It’s my turn tonight.
I have a painful shoulder(blade), which helps keep me awake, but I’ll also be watching shows online, or reading.
Right now, I will while away some time sharing photos I’ve had sitting, waiting to be seen 😀

Firstly – what have we enjoyed at cafes lately?

A hot chocolate and a matcha/pistachio (or maybe matcha/white chocolate?) “cookie” (biscuit, for us Aussies)
I think this was a franchise type cafe, that we wouldn’t normally go to, but we had been chasing down a particular item, which involved driving all over town. We were tired, and this was refreshing.

Last week we tried out a cafe down the road, next to a nursery.

A cruffin…

and a red velvet hot chocolate.
Very nice. I’ve tried cruffins a couple of times. For something that’s covered in sugar, it’s not overly sweet.

This was our dining companion for a time.

…as we (almost) sat under the light of the disco-ball pot.

I have been noticing the different flowers around me.

These beauties by the mailbox.

Most of the petals on this had fallen off, but it still looked sweet. The centre bits almost look like little pink bow ties!

And here are some cheerful marigolds in our church garden, radiating the sun.

❤

Are you feeling Christmas-y yet?
How about a song!

Time to take a turn about the house!

Published in: on December 4, 2025 at 12:00 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

Rest, In The Quiet

I wanted to share a song, by Roma Waterman – it’s from the album “When God Sings”.


Just in case you need to sit in the quiet space for a while…

Published in: on November 13, 2025 at 9:08 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

On Salad Bowls, And The Coming Of The Light

I’ve been trying to ramp up my leafy green consumption lately.
Summer seems like a good time to do it.

Isn’t it pretty!
More pink than I’d expected.
(And yes – it’s not just salad…)

I could say “Sumer Is Icumen In”, but it’s more like summer has come barrelling in, flattening all before it.
Still, the days have become brighter, and the sun picks out flashes of colour and light.
I have (finally) got around to displaying some of my jewellery – including a new “cat” badge.

Can you tell which one it is? 😀

I don’t really wear jewellery much. I prefer to decorate with it.
The different metals catch the light, and glow contentedly in their space.

Glass sparkles on the shelf…

Even seemingly plain feathers find their colour in the light!

A shy little glass flower reflects…

And the rainbows continue to sing – sometimes captured…

Sometimes on their own, dreaming.

Summer is here, and we can bask/dream/sing in the sun.
We were made to live in the light!
❤

Published in: on October 23, 2025 at 10:06 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

Dolly In Springtime

…Parton, that is.
I’ve had a lovely day of catching up with this and that, enjoying the (slightly) cool day, and reminiscing with music. One of those CDs was a Dolly Parton “Greatest Hits” – I don’t know all her songs, but there are some I remember from many years ago (my first cassette tape was a country hits tape 🙂 )
Her voice is distinctive, and comforting. She seems like someone you’d like to meet, too!

I popped in to a bakery down the road this morning.
Indulged in a BBQ pork bánh mì, then saw some Neenish tarts in the display case.

Haven’t had one in ages!
I remember my Dad liked them. I don’t remember the ones he had being quite so violently pink, though.
It was an experience 🙂
The icing was hard (it cracked, rather than behaving as icing should…) The filling is mock cream, with a base of jam, so – a bit richer than I like these days. It also seemed to be a lot bigger than I remember.

But – that was my day.
Bimbling (mentally 🙂 )
Listening to Dolly.
Eating a Neenish tart.

Reminiscing.

It’s not the way I thought my day would go, but that’s OK.

(and if you want to reminisce along with me, as well as feeling the springtime vibe…)

❤

Published in: on October 4, 2025 at 8:21 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

Reflecting On The Journey

Feels like I’m climbing out of the (not so fun) side quest that our life has been lately…
We went out to the shops today, just to see if we could. Went pretty well overall, although a bit tiring. I wore my mask (still unsure if I’m broadcasting germs – I don’t think so, but don’t want to risk sharing to the general public). It co-ordinated nicely with what I was wearing 😀
I’ve been catching up with online classes today, and probably tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ve been ensconcing myself in my comfy reading nest.

…with my coffee at my side, and a lovely breeze through the windows.

Because we’ve been out of action for so long, it feels like we’ve stepped out of the flow of life for a bit. A bit disorientating – it probably doesn’t help that lately it seems like the world has spun off its axis in some ways!
We’ll be back. And moving forward.
Here’s a song to help settle the existential swirl.

Looking at my calendar, I see that it’s been just over three months (thirteen weeks) since we first heard that we had to leave the previous house. It’s been an eventful few months! A lot of changes, and a bit of uncertainty as to where we were headed. Some things are still up in the air.
Time to fly!
❤

Published in: on September 24, 2025 at 10:39 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

It’s The Little Things…

Another week of rest and recuperation…
I’ve been up and about more, though 🙂
Did some organising in the art room, which included excavating some tiny things from a soapstone box that I haven’t really seen for years!
Lots of little trinkets – finally figured out what to do with the glass beads I brought back from Venice, many years ago.

It’s a bit difficult to focus properly when there’s glass around, and not much space to maneuver. They’re prettier than they look…
There were shells at the top of the box. I’m pretty sure I picked at least some of them off the beach. Possibly all?

We (briefly) ventured out on Monday. It was our anniversary, so we popped out (suitably masked) to the local bakery.

I celebrated with a lemon meringue tart, and half a vanilla slice.

Next week should see us slowly getting back into gear.
There are things to do! Places to be!
And a song to share, which seemed to fit the “breaking back out into life” vibe.

Dolly always makes me smile.
❤

Published in: on September 20, 2025 at 11:20 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,

The Purpling Cold

The skies have been beautiful lately.
As the year starts to chill into mid-winter, the evenings fade into shades of pink and lavender.
The other day was a lovely purply-to-blue sunset.

This evening, the clouds took up the hue.

Our housing future has been looking a bit cloudy.
We had another open house last Saturday. There didn’t seem to be anyone who put an offer in, but an investor from the first open house did…twice. Both offers were refused.
This Monday we got our notice to leave.
It seems the owner wants us out anyway.
We’ve looked at one place so far, which looked good online.
It…was not.
There are others bookmarked, so we’ll see how that goes 🙂

In the meantime…
we wait.
And trust.
And probably, at some point, pack.

But the moon still rises, bright in the purple blue.

And the sun throws out its fire, as it leaves for another day.

Whatever the day, there is always hope in the world.

Published in: on July 9, 2025 at 10:50 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »