Weekend Words

Shifting Sand

I love my early morning, hour long walk on the beach.  I go whatever the weather (except in heavy rain) and I think the times I like best are when the sky is grey and overcast and the sea is rough.

Normally I walk on firm sand, but this morning, the tide was very high and I had to walk on the soft sand.  

It was hard going.

Every so often I would hit a firmer patch and I could stride out again, only to suddenly put my foot down into a soft patch of sand and it was back to plodding and struggling along.  I only had a narrow strip of sand to walk on, and tree branches, that had been washed up by the sea, to step over.  High sand dunes on one side of me and the crashing waves on the other.

And as I plodded along I got to thinking about life.  

We all have a road to walk - sometimes it is littered with obstacles (like the tree branches), sometimes we feel like we are sinking (like walking on soft, shifting sand) and then at other times we are able to walk unhindered and enjoy the journey (the firm sand).

I thought about the narrow strip of sand I had to walk on (the narrow road?), and  those things and situations that come alongside us on our walk - the crashing sea (those difficult people perhaps?), and the high sandhills (problems looming?) and we feel we are getting squeezed in on all sides.  

Sometimes the walk gets too hard and I think I'll turn back.  Then I look out to sea, and on the horizon see a gap in the grey clouds, and the silver rays of sunlight beaming through onto the grey sea.  My feet hit some firm sand, the sandhills are opening out to grass areas, and the tide is going out.  

So I keep walking, thinking, I'll never take that firm sand I usually walk on for granted again.  I get to my turning point and head back along the beach (by this time the tide has receded enough that I can walk the whole way on firm sand).  I look up and see big patches of blue sky, the sun streaming down, and the sea sparkling and dancing in the sunlight.

Life gets hard sometimes.  We feel like giving up the struggle...turning back.  It all just gets too hard.

But God is there with us.  He gives us the firm sand and the rays of sunshine.  Do you see them?  Or are you focused on the obstacles?  

God and His Word is our firm foundation (2 Timothy 2:19), underneath our soft, shifting sand (Matthew 7:26).  He will not let our foot slip (Psalm 121:3).  And underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27).

(Lynda Helen Kay 2010)

(written during the time I was living at Stanley)

This week...

My green granny is finished!!  I also finished reading Homespun, and have started Gathering of Sisters...

 both books are very interesting and entertaining (real life stories, not fiction)

(FYI - although I don't like all the advertising on the Amazon links, I use them because they give you the option to read excerpts of the book - click on book cover on the left of the Amazon page)

Now I need to finish this baby blanket off (just needs the cream edging)…

for Jefferson and Anushka's baby due in about 3 weeks!!

Made more jam...

 I remove the seeds before cooking, but you can leave them in and skim off as the jam cooks if you want.  I prefer to do it this way so I don't have to stand over the boiling jam and 'catch the pips'

That's it for the plum jam...

the rest of the plums can go in the freezer for later, I'm a bit over jam making for now

Made tabbouli, to go with my fish (trevalla)...

 Wednesday is fresh fish day (the local butcher gets fish in every Wednesday!)

The weather is cooling down a bit, so I worked on tidying up a garden bed in the front of my house...

And getting another one started at the side of the house...

Made some cards to go with my pen pal letters...

 now all I have to do is get the letters written!!

A trip to the Op shop saw me coming home with these bargains…

a denim skirt, some Maeve Binchy books (although I read most of them many years ago, they will make nice, light, winter reading), and a Denby pottery coffee pot (minus the lid).  All for the grand total of $14!!

When I opened my kitchen blinds at 6.30 this morning, this is what greeted me...

for a few minutes the sky was this brilliant colour!

Hope you've had a productive and 'colourful' week!

xx

Weekend Words

The Duck.

Standing at my kitchen sink looking out the window at the cattle on
the hill and the sun sparkling on the flowing creek, I am watching a
little duck on the creek paddling upstream against the flow, and
thinking that's what life feels like sometimes.

The impression I get from this little duck is not that he is
paddling fast, hard and furious, but that he is enjoying the journey
even though he is going against the tide. He appears to be looking
around (despite the fact that under the water his little feet are
probably going 'ten to the dozen'). He's not making for a straight
line, but crossing from one side of the creek to the other....perhaps
he knows the path of least resistance? 

It got me to thinking about our Christian walk. Life takes us on
detours sometimes (some good, some bad) - we can feel like we are paddling upstream and not getting very far. Sometimes we are knocked back by the fast flowing current of life and have to take a
little rest in a sheltered spot near the bank to regain our strength...like the little duck does.

But we need to remember there is joy in the journey even amongst the
trials, and we should take a lesson from that little duck and look
around at the beauty that surrounds us despite the problems we may be
in the midst of. Take a little rest on the bank if we need to, but
don't forget to get back in the creek. We know that we aren't
paddling alone (Jesus is with us!) and that the destination (heaven)
will be worth all the trials we may have had to endure here on
earth. 

Even in the hard times, there are blessings to be found if we
look for them!

(Lynda Helen Kay - 2008)

FYI - the poems and prose I post for my Weekend Words over the next few weeks were written when I was married to The Farmer, and lived (and worked) on the farm.  I am no writer, so all credit for the ability to write them goes to God, although maybe He'd rather not be credited with the results :))

Days of jam and bread

Made up a batch of greengage plum jam...

still more plums from my tree in the freezer waiting to be 'jammed'

it's delicious!

Then I took a coffee break and browsed my stash of Grass Roots magazines...

Baked a banana, date and walnut loaf...

Here's the basic recipe...

...which (of course)...I changed :)

Didn't have any self-raising wholemeal flour, so used a cup of white self-raising flour, 1/3 cup buckwheat flour, 1/3 cup spelt flour, 1/3 cup almond meal (to make it up to the 2 cups).

Instead of a teaspoon of cinnamon, I added a combination of cinnamon, mixed spice, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves (go easy with the cloves and nutmeg as the flavours are quite strong).

I added some chopped walnuts and chopped dates.  I soaked the dates in the milk to soften a bit while I was preparing the other ingredients.

And before putting in the oven I sprinkled the top of the loaf with some brown sugar and cinnamon.

Easy Peasy!

Enjoy!!

Picked up these potted plants from a country roadside/farm gate stall yesterday..

 two English lavender, one jasmine and one sage

Reading Homespun (from my bookshelf)…

just finishing off the edging and sewing in a few ends on my 'green granny'

And picked up these ones from the library...

all true stories relating to WW2 experiences

Loving these busy days, the cooler weather, and no (literal) headaches!!

xx

Weekend Words

Morning Stillness.

Early morning stillness.

Autumn smoke hangs in the air
From farmhouse chimneys as households stir.

The sound of birds calling overhead,
And in the distance a rooster crows.
A dog barks,
As cows in milking sheds are urged to move on through.

The stillness.
The quietness.
Peace.
Waiting.

The sun breaks the horizon.
The first stirrings of the breeze,
And the moment is broken.

The day and life move on,
As stillness gives way to activity.

And that first peaceful newness of the day is gone.

(Lynda Helen Kay 2009)

Moon and Cow - Alex Colville

February Yarn Along

Linking in to Yarn Along

Still sewing together my 56 green grannies...

Finished these two baby blankets for charity...

 to go to a special care nursery in Victoria

Also finished reading the Trapp Family Singers book and now reading this one by the eldest von Trapp daughter Agathe...

both books true stories and very interesting and informative about life in another time and place

Also watched Leave No Trace DVD...

Refreshingly different.  I like different!  And I liked this movie...

On another note...

I had a birthday on Tuesday, so another year older, but thankfully, not deeper in debt :)

 received cards and handmade goodies from family and friends, as well as phone calls, txt messages, video calls...

This came in the mail all the way from Charlevoix Pure Laine in Quebec City (via Connecticut)!  Beautiful natural knitting yarn and a warm woolly poncho (which I love)…

thanks my 'Connecticut family' :))

And what birthday would be complete without a new book: Tea and Threads...

a beautiful book... from me to me

And also arrived in the mail this Blurb book Natasha put together of their family trip to Vietnam in 2014...

underneath is one she did of their trip to Stanley (when I was living there) in 2011

And if that wasn't enough, when I got home from taking my car in for its annual service to Launceston on Monday, the workers were here...

Turning the ugly, messy, decommissioned, garden strip down my driveway from this...

To this (the cement was still wet in the photo but has now dried to blend in more)...

thanks Marnie and Phil...a very welcome and practical birthday gift!

Are you exhausted yet?  I am!!  So here's your calming nature pic...

We are having some lovely summer rain, so this morning it was a walk with my umbrella...

And that's more than enough from me...

Coffee time!

xx

Weekend Words

From the sublime, to the (maybe not so) ridiculous??

The 23rd Channel

The TV is my shepherd, I shall want.
It makes me lie down on the sofa.
It leads me away from the Scriptures.
It destroys my soul.
It leads me in the path of sex and violence, for the sponsor's sake.
Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities.
There will be no interruption, For the TV is with me.
It's cable and remote, they control me.
It prepares a commercial before me In the presence of worldliness;
It anoints my head with Humanism, My coveting runneth over.
Surely laziness and ignorance shall Follow me all days of my life:
And I shall dwell in the house watching TV forever.
Author Unknown