Hello Friend,
My goodness it is chilly out there! – 24 with the windchill (that’s – 11 for my American friends). Come in, come in!
Did you get the mini blizzards we got this week? Yes, March really did go out like a lion, in more ways than one! Come sit by my front window. We can enjoy the sun glittering on fresh snow from here. One thing about new snow – it makes the whole world clean and bright.
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Do you see the snow piled up around our little cedars by the fence? Last fall I planted dozens of tulip bulbs there. I can’t even remember what colour now, but probably pink or yellow, knowing myself. And the anticipation is keeping me impatient. Ah, but everything in its time.
And now it’s time for tea. Or would you prefer hot chocolate?
That seems appropriate for a day like today. I have both, and either tea or hot chocolate will go with our delectable treat: cinnamon buns!
I’ve put my old bread maker into service, and it cuts down on the work of making cinnamon buns. Their cinnamon-y goodness smelled so delicious that the Cowboy and I already had one. Couldn’t resist.
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Are you and yours still keeping well? The Cowboy, as you know, is working from home. Lots of change and adapting and future-planning in the grocery business these days. It’s a stressful time for these essential businesses.
Babe’s hours have been cut back but she’s still going out into the world to work. Her place of business is now offering curb-side service only, and online shopping of course. The upside to her job cutback is that she is able to spend more time composing and recording. Something for which her talent, training, and skill have prepared her.
So on a “new-normal” day when all of us are home, I’m up here in my study writing and working, the Cowboy is in the sunroom-cum-office strategizing and doing his calls, and Babe is either in her room or the basement/recording studio making music. It’s a great set-up really.
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This morning I read an article put out by a well-known Canadian airline, and one line in the last paragraph caught and held me: This last month has changed everything. No kidding. Even in our own home, an innocent cough stops everyone in their tracks, sending eyebrows rising and hearts jumping until … “just a piece of pepper caught in my throat”, spoken by the offender, calms everything down.
This worldwide threat is a thick layer of gauze draped over daily life. Sometimes it is sodden and heavy, sticking to me like a spider web. And sometimes it’s just there, barely noticed, because of Hope …
Hope is a thing of extraordinary power. It feeds the soul.
Jennifer Worth – Call the Midwife
It’s interesting to me how quickly perspectives and habits change. Now, a simple handshake shown on any random TV show makes me uneasy and I feel the need to go wash my hands right away. Are you experiencing the same kind of shift in your thinking?
I wonder … after all this is over, what part of life will be permanently changed and what will go back to the way things always were. And, is there something in our brains that has now shifted and will never go back? We’re learning so much about brain science nowadays, how new paths and branches get made in our grey matter. What new paths is this experience forming inside our brains?
Thoughts are real, physical things that occupy mental real estate. Moment by moment, every day, you are changing the structure of your brain through your thinking. When we hope, it is an activity of the mind that changes the structure of our brain in a positive and normal direction.
Dr. Caroline Leaf – Switch on Your Brain
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Is hope an elusive thing? I suppose that depends on where you place it. For me, because of the One in whom I put it, hope is the anchor that snags that spiderweb of gauze, freeing me from its entangling shroud. It changes everything.
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I see it has started to snow again. Thanks so much for stopping in today. As you head back out there, please take this hopeful music with you.
See you next time.
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“Hope” is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
Emily Dickinson
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Featured image of sunny lemon teapot and pitcher of flowers by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
Most enjoyable read. And your cinnamon bun looked delicious. No wonder you and hubby tucked right in. Nothing like warm from the oven.
Of all the lovely things you shared, and I enjoyed very much, this line touches me most: “For me, because of the One in whom I put it, hope is the anchor that snags that spiderweb of gauze, freeing me from its entangling shroud. It changes everything.”
It changes everything. Yes, indeed, it does.
Thank you, Joy!
Brenda xox
In these strange times we need more hope than ever, and it really does make all the difference, doesn’t it? Thanks for the visit!