Thick comfy socks, obviously 🙂
Or snuggly slippers.
Otherwise – spending the day sipping rooibos chai, helpfully brewed by my tea strainer duck.
Hello!
Lolling in my armchair, while incense releases sweetness to the room.
And increasing my vitamin C intake, with a perfectly sized mandarin –
(just fits the bowl, which just nestles into the centre of my flower cushion)
That ought to do it!
(with the added benefit of complete enjoyment 🙂 )
❤
Not quite the same date.
I was at an online conference today, after a wonderful start last night.
It’s the second year I’ve been to it.
The Saturday session last year fell on the same day as the first open house for our previous rental.
We had expected to sign a new lease, but on the Monday before were informed that the house was being sold.
I sat on the sofa, headphones on, being inspired (and comforted) by straightforward speakers laying out the Word of God to me, as random people filed past, looking around and giving their opinion of what we had thought of as our home…
It was a bit of a strange day.
This year, we have already signed the lease for our next year in this house.
And I could still spend the day being comforted and inspired!
After the shock of last year’s kerfuffle, everything moved quickly.
We had packed and moved in about five and a half weeks (and we have no wish to do that again!)
Room to breathe, now.
And to spill colour and words into my room, while putting my feet up, dreaming.
The verse we finished the day with – one of my favourites!
“The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
– Zephaniah 3:17
❤
– the act of moving around in a relaxed, leisurely, and unhurried way.
Which pretty much describes my life 🙂
It has become busier lately, and I sometimes overdo things.
At least there’s coffee!
I remember the days when I could work all the hours, lifting heavy weights, often not eating or sleeping much…
obviously, that was not sustainable.
But I still forget, and start to head down that road again.
That’s when it’s time to potter. Bimble. Dawdle.
Watch the world go by, and think deep thoughts.
And be grateful that I can still do all the things I can do!
❤
My plan for the day was to go to the Handmade Markets in town.
Browse. Maybe buy something. Take photos for this post.
Didn’t happen. (Although today was quietly fun 🙂 )
So, I will meander through some photos from this month, taken on a whim, but finding nowhere on this blog to land…
Shaking its leaves off to greet the sun…
Here’s another.
I couldn’t capture quite the right shade of…lavender?
I have a tray in my art room where I arrange rocks and miscellaneous trinkets into pleasing compositions.
…that could, perhaps, do with more dusting.
I’ve had some early mornings that have caught the sunrise…
…as the moon retires in the other direction.
Sometimes the mist obscures the sun, and the birds populate a handy branch or two.
An early start can be improved by coffee in an inviting atmosphere.
With plants cheering in the morning –
And a mirror that resembles a watercolour.
Comfy! (but time to go…)
Different things catch my eye.
Flowers. Light catching on random items. Curves and lines and angles – natural, or human made.
Like a boxed-in flight of stairs.
Or the curls on a gate.
All the things there are to see, if you look around –
life can be endlessly fascinating! 🙂
❤
At least, that was the plan.
Here is my morning coffee.
Lovely.
And much appreciated.
I was recommended for a sleep study recently, just to check some things.
I’d never had one before and as far as I knew they were done in a clinic where you stayed overnight, wired up and monitored.
These are the days of outsourcing – in other words – home testing! Yay!
I picked up a kit with leads, sticky dot things, and devices to read and store the data. Also – a manual to explain how to work everything.
I was on a Zoom call last night.
The whole rigmarole had to be set up and running for at least eight hours, and I thought I would have tons of time after the call to put it all together.
The call ran way past time…
I turned my camera off, pulled the headphones out so I could still hear the call, and attached wires to my face. No mirror to help the process, so I just had to “feel” where to attach it all.
Not impressed.
There are leads you can’t see. And I somehow managed to stick down more hair than I’d planned, which made the de-sticking this morning a bit more painful than I’d anticipated.
I slept surprisingly well.
Not at any length.
And of undetermined quality.
But I was more comfortable than I expected to be, and didn’t notice it too much.
Still – it’s done, and everything’s returned. I will get the results in a few weeks, apparently.
Until then, I will feel renewed appreciation for my disconnection from the Borg collective, and enjoy unencumbered sleep.
Had a waltz around town today, which is not my usual Friday.
We just wanted to get out of the house.
First – coffee. And tea 🙂
And another shadow snapshot to enjoy ❤
A bit of (thrift) shopping – added to my winter wardrobe.
A saunter around the shopping centre for some bits and pieces.
And a biscoff cronut for tomorrow!
I have been trialling gluten again, just to see how I go.
I haven’t shrivelled up in a corner, moaning…
but I do think it’s probably best (for me) to eat less gluten.
It’s just that bread (and cakes. and pastries) taste so good!
So my cronut is a bit of a last hurrah.
Except I didn’t realise it was “free cinnamon doughnut” day.
Hot – just cooked!
We had to have it straight away, half each, in the food court. Fresh, and sugary/cinnamony, and nearly too hot to hold.
Yum!
We got some fruit and veg on the way home.
It’s all about balance. 😀
Home, then, to books, and washing, and tidying away summer.
My garden seems to be handling the colder weather.
The rosemary is lovely.
And the succulents seem happy.
It’s a good day, really, when it includes coffee, books, and a random free doughnut.
🙂
This post might be a bit grumbly.
Here’s a tiny duck to bring some cheer 🙂
I have been quite tired lately. Getting out and about – just wearing out more quickly.
It’s very annoying.
I’ve also had…too much phone.
Messages. Emails.
All good.
I might have to think through the answer until it’s just right.
But – doable.
I hate talking on the phone.
If it’s an expected call, especially one I have a vague “script” for, I can do it.
If I know the person, and/or the call is likely to be short, then I can manage.
(If you’ve called me and I haven’t answered, it’s most likely I haven’t heard the phone ring. But also possible that I’m staring at it like it’s a snake ready to strike, waiting for it to stop…and the caller to leave a message 😆 )
I am partly deaf, which makes it harder to handle a call. Not so much the actual hearing part, although I “hear” much better when I can see the person’s face. I find that I generally hear the sound clearly over the phone, but without visual context, I find it harder to comprehend the words – at least, quickly enough to hold an easy conversation.
When that call is long, and/or the person is speaking fast, I get stressed and end up a bit weepy…
It’s similar to the way I feel in a space with background noise and many people talking. I cope for a bit, then feel like running.
This week has had more involuntary phone participation than I’m used to. Some has been necessary. Some, I feel, would have been better in an email, if that had been an option 😀
Most people seem to have no problem with phone calls, so I feel like a whiny baby sometimes.
But what’s the point of messaging and email technology if you insist on actually talking to me?? 😆
Oh well.
Whinge over.
We went out for coffee yesterday. That was nice.
I had a strawberry buttercream and vanilla mini cake.
And enjoyed the shadows cast by the greenery.
With added blue phone light!
At this time of night, the world is quiet again.
Time to sleep.
❤
It’s been a good day.
No, I wasn’t up at the rising of the sun 😀
And I didn’t actually see it setting…
But – the day was light and cheerful, if a bit tiring.
Got a bit further on the organisation of something that will be fun.
Randomly crossed paths with friends, one of whom we haven’t seen in a while.
And got to the bakery early enough to get a lemongrass chicken roll!
As winter spreads tendrils into the atmosphere, the skies showcase the sun more deeply.
Mornings glow on our wooden floor…
And light up the windows!
We were out the other day, a bit later in the afternoon than usual.
You can almost see the chill.
And smell the wood fires and dinners cooking (somewhere, there was shepherd’s pie…)
Light hits differently in winter.
Musing on all this brought to mind a song – one which I’ve posted before, but bears listening to again.
“Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.” –
Psalm 113:2-3 NKJV
❤
The cold snap seems to have hit, more or less. It’s still a bit up and down, but I can see winter on the horizon.
And the sunsets are…colder.
More pink! 🙂
I have been feeling better, although still getting tired sooner than I’d like.
But I now have a glass cabinet! Yay!
It’s not the same as the cabinets I already have, but this one is for teacups and pots/plates, so it doesn’t matter so much.
The empty space is for the other type of glass cabinet, when we get around to finding one.
My Babe and Sweet Bean went out in the rain last weekend to get this one for me, and also to pick up some Pop Vinyls the seller had as well.
Wonder Woman, because…why not?
Mrs Potts and Chip, from Beauty and the Beast. A cute addition to my real teapots and cups! 😀
But the one I really wanted was Charlie (Bradbury, from Supernatural)! My favourite character, but hugely expensive – $100 or more online. I told the seller she could get more on Ebay, but she very nicely let me have it for around $3.50 🙂
You never know what you’ll find on Facebook Marketplace…
*********************************
Just a little addendum, as I heard today that another of my favourite actors has died – Michael Keating, who played Vila Restal on Blakes 7 (and went on to play many more roles).
Here he is, quipping his way through dystopia…
Not the rainbow!
There’s always a place for those. 😀
I haven’t been doing too great the last few days.
Enjoying the cold and the rain, though!
I had my Covid/flu shots on Tuesday, and expected that to be that, with perhaps a bit of an ache here and there…
What I got was a painful arm (only the Covid side) that hurt when I even thought of moving it, nausea and vomiting, and high temperatures (although not quite ambulance/brain-melting levels. That’s a plus.).
Wednesday was a bit of a blur. And I couldn’t even manage to hold a book, let alone read!!
Still not quite there, arm still painful, and temperature fluctuating, but much better overall 🙂
So, perhaps that’s a reason to not get the vaccinations, I hear you say?
I wouldn’t say so…
I haven’t kept up with my Covid vaccinations, and have never had the flu one, but it seemed like the right time to get them. I didn’t react at all before, so all this has been unexpected.
And having had time to stop and think, I remember sitting on the plane on my way to England in 1994. I’d had the recommended basic travel vaccinations (can’t remember which ones), and my arm from shoulder to elbow was hot, swollen and red.
Seems like my immune system just likes to throw a tantrum now and then.
(Somewhere in the back of my brain I see it sneaking up behind me, waggling eyebrows, twirling a moustache, and saying, “A ha!”)
It’s possible that my temperature hasn’t quite gone down far enough…
Well, I still have books to read.
Possibly even sleep to have.
And here is a little heat pack I saw the other day (I didn’t buy it), just to leave on a cheerful note.
🙂
a bit of creativity, a bit of eco consciousness, a bit of inspiration.... hopefully not a lot of pompousness and blathering :D
i'm not entirely sure what's going on here... let's travel along and see...
1000 Fields of Roses 