Scraps of Joy

Rhubarb Cake and Friluftsliv

Posted on July 4, 2021 by Joy / 1 Comment

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein

Hello Friend,

Come in, come in. I’ve just taken the rhubarb cake out of the oven and it smells DELICIOUS!

I have one rhubarb plant, and this year it has flourished in all the rain. It’s the first year I’ve had enough rhubarb to bake a whole cake. You have timed your visit perfectly. It’s not raining, and the crushing heat we’ve experienced recently won’t be a problem in this little corner of our digital world. So, let’s sit out on the patio.

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I learned a new word this week.

Friluftsliv.

I found it in a home design magazine, and its literal translation from Norwegian is “free air life.” Basically, it’s about being active outdoors, connecting with nature, de-stressing.

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“Friluftsliv isn’t about major treks to remote wilderness – it’s about finding moments in nature no matter where you live.”
Veronique Leblanc, Style at Home

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I like the idea of breathing room that friluftsliv implies. I suppose breathing room is different for everybody; for me it’s wide open spaces where I can see forever. And sky. Lots and lots of sky. That’s the prairie girl in me.

However, I have not been Little Girl on the Prairie for several years now, and I can’t often get out to wide open spaces. So, how do I find that breathing room? How do I practice friluftsliv as life gets busier?

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Here in my province, restrictions were fully lifted this week, and I’m sure everyone is anxious to have more breathing room. Not only the breathing room afforded by taking off our masks, but the breathing room that freedom gives. Freedom to go out and do and be, even if you don’t actually go out and do and be. Knowing you have the freedom to do so makes it easier to breathe.

At our house we are entering those final harried weeks pre-wedding. Up until now, all of the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic made our plans flustered and changeable. But suddenly, rock solid plans are in full swing, coming from every-which-where. The usual pre-wedding busy-ness is not usual at all. It’s intensely magnified.

So, I’m repeating the word friluftsliv often, to remind myself that breathing room isn’t only about finding vistas of prairie fields, with far away horizons that separate living skies from lush waving grasses. It’s about “finding moments in nature no matter where you live.” Therefore, I can breathe in the moment of a perfect pink petal in the window boxes of our garden shed.

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Or take a moment to bask in the warm glow of a tiger lily in my garden bed …

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A lily or a rose never pretends, and its beauty is that it is what it is.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Or enjoy rhubarb cake on the patio with a friend, my face lifted to the sun.

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Not only do these chosen moments help one to breathe easier, they bring a vitality to life that is easily depleted when days get so busy.

Vitality: the capacity for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence, the power to live.
Dictionary.com

Ah, power to live. A meaningful existence. Kind of important, wouldn’t you say?

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Thank you so much for your visit today. Here’s a song packed with vitality to listen to as you go. Close your eyes while you listen, feel the breath fill your lungs and the blood pulse through your veins, and be refreshed.

Dear friend, I wish you vitality and breathing room and many moments of friluftsliv in the coming weeks. See you next time, and stay safe out there.

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Land really is the best art.
Andy Warhol

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Featured Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.

Life is so Daily/Tea Time

Savour

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Joy / 3 Comments

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.
Rachel Carson

Hello Friend,

Please come in. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a visit, and I’m so glad you dropped by.

I made a lemon cake today – not from scratch, you know – and topped it with vanilla cream icing. Mmmm, the perfect complement to coffee or tea. I’m serving both! Which would you prefer?

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I’ve been sitting here listening to the happy voices and high-pitched squeals coming from the schoolyard not far away. Here in the western world, we humans seem so bent on multitasking, on producing, that to sit and do nothing other than listen to happy sounds wafting from a nearby schoolyard would be classified as wasting time.

But you see, those schoolyard sounds were silenced these last few weeks, with the new restrictions sending children home for school until after Victoria Day. It’s always been a favourite sound of mine and now that they’re back, I relish it even more.

I wonder if we have lost the art of savouring. To savour: delight in, enjoy.

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To savour is such a discipline of heart and mind, but it brings such rest to the spirit.
Sarah Clarkson

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Even in the midst of these isolating times, I’ve been focused on productivity. Have you? It’s like we can’t give ourselves permission to BE. I find myself going through a mental checklist at the end of the day: I got groceries, returned seven emails, finished the sewing project, practiced ukulele, made soup. It was a productive day.

But, if I get to the end of the day and find that I haven’t accomplished much in the way of productivity, of doing, it seems like a wasted day.

I wonder … what if my end-of-day checklist included the things I consciously delighted in that day?

What if my end-of-day checklist included things like I loved the way the light filtered through the window this morning.

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I love my tulips, as you know, and right now the tulips in my front garden give me joy every day. Meanwhile, the lilacs in the back yard are on the verge of blooming, and even before they’ve fully arrived, their fragrance is filling the yard. Yesterday evening, The Cowboy came in from the back yard to say, “You need to go out to the patio and breathe the air.”

So I did. And as I did, I thanked God for beautiful lilac fragrances and a husband who cares enough to notice something I would love.

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Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
Rachel Carson

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It amazes me how a few moments like that can strengthen me for the rest of the day.

So, I will notice the morning light filtering through my windows. I will take the time to linger near lilacs and listen to children at play.

Unapologetically.

I will savour the moments given to me, because it’s those mere seconds in time that make life sparkle. Wouldn’t you agree?

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Our visit is a little shorter today, I’m afraid. But one of these times remind me to fill you in on the continuing story of Jubal, the adventurous snowman who came to live with us over the winter. He’s gone back to the North Pole now, but it seems he has an anonymous fan, who’s been sending him letters and gifts. It’s all such a mystery. Stay tuned to find out what that’s all about.

Thanks so much for coming, and I hope you enjoyed the lemon cake. I’m sending you off with one of my favourite sounds in the whole world. Anyone from the Canadian prairies will recognize the trill of the Western Meadowlark.

Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
Rachel Carson

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Feature Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – May

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Joy / 15 Comments

Hello Friend,

Here we are in May already! In this little corner of the world, Spring is at last raising her head from her winter’s slumber. We don’t have blossoms yet, but I have seen tiny green buds on the trees, and the crocus has made its appearance too. It’s time. Time for spring!

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The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.
Josiyah Martin

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Please have a seat here in the sun by the window, and help yourself to these whipped shortbread cookies, half-dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. A delectable find at the bakery today. Just looking at them makes me want to serve them with milk. You’re welcome to milk, if you like, but I do have English Breakfast Tea, “produced for the United Kingdom from pure Ceylon Teas packed in Sri Lanka.” There’s a photo of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the tin so it must be the real thing (tea-hee).

Now, won’t you sit back and relax as I share my daybook with you?

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For Today

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Looking out my window …

A breeze moves the smaller branches on the old tree in the middle of the lawn. This tree is usually one of the last ones in the yard to leaf out fully. But there is beauty in her bare branches too. Her bones stand straight and strong, her sturdy limbs clothed in a lacy cloak etched against the sky.

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I am thinking …

About new beginnings, and hoping our world will soon be welcoming new beginnings. New face-to-face meetings with dearest, long-loved friends, being captivated by the way their hands move when they talk, and surprised by the curve of their chin. Those things were always there, but now for some reason they’re important.

I am wearing …

A dress that I bought for my niece’s wedding two years ago. What with this thing called a pandemic and all of the isolation, my dresses were being neglected. So, I’ve decided that once a week I will wear a dress. Today’s is a silky flower print in soft pinks, peaches and sage, with an asymmetrical hemline and three flounces down one side.

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I am creating …

a quilted storybook for the next baby soon to arrive in our extended family.

I am reading …

Lark Rise to Candleford, by Flora Thompson. It paints a finely detailed portrait of rural English life at the turn of the nineteenth century. She describes the countryside and communities of her childhood.

In the eighteen-eighties the hamlet consisted of about thirty cottages, and an inn, not built in rows, but dotted down anywhere within a more or less circular group. A deeply rutted cart track surrounded the whole, and separate houses or groups of houses were connected by a network of pathways. Going from one part of the hamlet to another was called ‘going round the Rise’, and the plural of ‘house’ was not ‘houses’, but ‘housen’.
Flora Thompson
[Lark Rise to Candleford]

Not only is the story captivating, but the book itself is delightful. I don’t usually order hardcover books, but this time I did. What a surprise upon opening the box to discover the book to be only the length and width of my hand! Under the book jacket, the cover is soft blue with tiny flowers and leaves imprinted on it. The pages are almost as thin as those of a Bible, and edged in gold. I can’t tell you why, but I am so delighted with this little book. Every time I look at it I smile.

I am listening to …

Babe’s latest composition, Beginnings.

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I am hoping …

For a bit of a breeze on this laundry day when I get to do one of my favourite things – hang wash on a line.

I am learning …

That there is comfort in routine. My days and weeks during this year of restrictions have fallen into a kind of pattern, and I’ve found that when that pattern is greatly interrupted, or I’ve gone off routine and suddenly at a loss for what to do next, I get anxious. It is a side effect of our current world situation, I expect. And so, my daily and weekly routine is something affirming to come back to.

I am thankful …

That I found my dress for the wedding. Unlike Sweetie’s and Peaches’ weddings, I’m having a dress made to order this time.

The hardest decision about the dress was whether to order in cocoa or cafe, but I’m excited about it. I may even wear a fascinator in my hair. It’s the last daughter to get married, and I’m going out in style.

In my kitchen …

A new mini vacuum hangs on the wall, ready to sweep up any crumbs that dare touch the floor.

In my garden …

Two little tulips, striped yellow and red, are flowering in the backyard flowerbed. Every year I watch for the tiny shoots to first appear, and then it’s a daily check for the bright flowers. It’s always a joy to discover them.

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Shared Quote …

Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.
Anita Krizzan

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Closing Notes …

I’m so glad you stopped by today. I wish you joy and new beginnings in the weeks ahead. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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Feature Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Life is so Daily/Tea Time

Light on Snow, and Yesterday

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Joy / 4 Comments

It is not balance you need but adaptability.
Erwin Raphael McManus

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Hello Friend,

Thanks for stopping in. Isn’t it wonderful to be walking on clear sidewalks?

We’re trying a new tea today. Persimmon Peach Ginger is what it’s called but it has all manner of things in it: apple pieces, candied papaya, red currants, rose petals … I’m not completely sold on it, especially in combination with the chocolate chip cookies I’ve baked, but it is interesting. Let me know what you think.

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Days ago, when there was much more snow on the ground, I was up while it was still dark outside. I looked out the window, over our backyard fence, over the alley, to the neighbour’s back yard. I often look out that window in the night or early morning, when the call of nature wakes me up. And sometimes, I linger there.

The window is always slightly open – even in winter – and no matter the season, the night sounds soothe me. Sometimes leaves gently whisper in the trees. In other seasons, slippery snow scuds across the shingles. Even the intermittent hum of the highway has its soothing effect at that hour. In those tranquil moments it seems as though nothing is wrong with the world, and maybe that’s why I stay there a little longer.

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I’ve come to learn, over countless nights like this, that our neighbours-over-the-alley are early risers. Except on Sundays, their home lights are on by 5:30 am. One early morning I was even looking out the window when 5:29 flipped to 5:30, and just at that moment an upstairs light went on.

Over other early morning window gazings, I’ve come to expect the light to be shining from the kitchen window by 6 am. I’ve never visited that home, but in my imagination it is the window over the kitchen sink.

Such was the case that early morning when I looked out. But this time, instead of fixing on the lights coming on in the house, my eyes were drawn to the square of warm light cast on the snow below the kitchen window. It glowed and I felt welcomed into it, as though invited to sit by a fire and rest. It was … completion, perfection.

A pinprick of a moment in eternal time that served to fill my soul.

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Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
R.S. Thomas

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There has been a lot of hype recently about it being a year since the first lockdown. I remember exactly where I was when we heard that the lockdown was imminent. The Cowboy and I were traveling home from having spent two weeks with family; a week with each set of grandkids. Shortly before that we’d enjoyed a two week vacation in the Caribbean. As we drove to our home province that day, I remember reflecting on the wonderful grace we’d been allowed: to have had our vacation and been able to see our beloved family before the world changed.

Now, I have become accustomed to waiting at the end of an aisle for another shopper to leave it before I enter. It has become the norm to cross the street to distance ourselves from our neighbours when walking, or to step away from someone when they come near. Do we even remember how to shake hands as we once did?

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They say a storm in summer clears the air and leaves the world peaceful. But there are some storms that can stir the world so about that when they have passed, things can never be set back quite as they were.
Laura Timmins
(Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson)

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Spring is just around the corner; another spring in pandemic. We made it through the winter. I’d say that’s an accomplishment. Well done!

It’s hard to know … how much longer. Though I don’t like it, I’ve become familiar with uncertainty. You too? Meanwhile, I’ve made new routines. I’ve learned things about myself: how I handle crisis, how I deal with time that’s been given me, how I appreciate the ones I love.

We can grieve over the things we lost in 2020 and wistfully remember what life was like pre-pandemic, but as Will Rogers once said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”

Just like all the tomorrows of my yesterdays, I can never be absolutely certain what they will hold. What I do have is today. And I can take something from each today to strengthen my tomorrow.

Like warm light cast from a kitchen window in the dark of night.

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Thanks again for coming. As you listen to this gentle melody – An Early Sunrise by Randy Edelman – perhaps you will hear in it hope for your tomorrow.

See you next time, and stay safe out there.

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Feature Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

Scraps of Joy

Rhubarb Cake and Friluftsliv

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Savour

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The Simple Woman’s Daybook – May

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Light on Snow, and Yesterday

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