Weekend Words

From An Alter in the World - Barbara Brown Taylor...

"As important as it is to mark the places where we meet God, I worry about what happens when we build a house for God.  I am speaking no longer of the temple in Jerusalem but of the house of worship on the corner, where people of faith meet to say their prayers, because saying them together reminds them of who they are better than saying them alone.  This is good, and all good things cast shadows.  Do we build God a house so that we can choose when to go see God?  Do we build God a house in lieu of having God stay at ours?  Plus, what happened to the rest of the world when we build four walls - even four gorgeous walls - cap them with a steepled roof, and designate that the House of God?  What happens to the river banks, the mountain tops, the deserts, the trees?  What happens to the people who never show up in our houses of God?" (p9)

"The easiest practice of reverence I know is simply to sit down somewhere outside, preferably near a body of water, and pay attention for at least twenty minutes." (p22)

"How then should I pray?  When I fretted over people I knew who were in trouble, so that my worry for them followed me around all day like a hungry dog, was that prayer?  When I cooked dinner for people who had plenty to eat at home, thinking about them while I chopped the turnip greens and mashed the sweet potatoes, was that prayer?  When I went outside after everyone had gone to bed and moaned at the moon because I could not come up with the right words to say what was in my heart, was that prayer?" (p177)

Weekend Words

Not everyone is able to walk, but most people can, which makes walking one of the most easily available spiritual practices of all.  All it takes is the decision to walk with some awareness, both of who you are and what you are doing.  Where you are going is not as important, however counterintuitive that may seem.  To detach the walking from the destination is in fact one of the best ways to recognize the alters you are passing right by all the time.  Most of us spend so much time thinking about where we have been or where we are supposed to be going that we have a hard time recognizing where we actually are. 

 When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, "Here, I guess, since this is where I am."

(An Alter in the World - Barbara Brown Taylor)

Natasha's photo of a Connecticut walk

Friday on my mind

Almost at the end of another week and the warm weather we are having is keeping me busy in the garden.  Needing to mow once a week now, and always weeds to pull, plants to cut back, and this morning I noticed that my greengage plum tree is blossoming...

With all the garden time I'm putting in, I haven't had much time for knitting or reading. I'm still working my way through  A Fort of Nine Towers.  It is interesting, but the going is slow as it is my bedtime read and most nights I'm lucky if I get through 3 or 4 pages before I start to nod off.  The Willie Nelson autobiography is good.  I read a bit when I have my coffee or lunch.  Such a varied life he's led...

my knitted blanket is sewn together, but I've still to do the crocheted border.  Maybe I'll have a finished photo for you next post

The DVDs are from the library (as are the books).  I've yet to watch The Guernsey Literary... movie, although I did read the book a few years ago.  It will be interesting to see how it stacks up.
I watched Conviction.  What an amazing (true) story!  I was so engrossed in it that I forgot to knit while watching.  Highly recommended!!


And yesterday Marnie and I had a day in Launceston.  I bagged a few bargains at the op shops...

Kent Haruf and Henning Mankell books (favourite authors).

Two DVDs: Reality Bites (an oldie but goodie) and Rudderless (a 'watch again' movie - already borrowed from the library 3 times!)

And a pretty floral springtime dress (yes...I do wear them occasionally!)

All for the grand total of $15

And a couple of pics from my morning walks this week...

soft early morning light

good morning moon!

 morning fog

still and quiet

And beautiful days...

And now some lunch, and then back out to tackle more weeds in the garden.

xx

September Yarn Along

Spring has arrived!! 

Found these hiding in the weeds...

The charity blanket is finished!  I crocheted the squares together this time and am happy with the result so will do that in future instead of sewing.  At least for these charity blankets...

This will be mailed off to Wrap With Love

This is the reverse side with the raised crochet edge...

 and just a couple of border rows of crochet to finish off

Grandson Denver and I tweaked this one and got it as best we could regarding pattern.  Was going to leave it random, but it 'sort of' formed a pattern anyway, so then we needed to balance it a bit...

 partly sewn up

Reading A Fort of Nine Towers (recommended by Lisa), am not very far into it, but I think it will be good.  And looking forward to reading Floundering, a Tasmanian book I bought yesterday.  Short stories from Cradle Mountain...

going well with my sweater/pullover/jumper (depending where you come from)

Here's the Yarn Along link.

And slightly off topic, but Lisa wanted me to share my tomato base recipe I mentioned in a previous post.  It was from a friend (thanks Dan) but I may have altered it a bit...

Fry up chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil.  I also added chopped celery, because I had some here.  Add tomatoes (I used the ones I had in my freezer from the garden). Season with 'whatever'.  Think I added a 'pinch' of salt, pepper, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, dried Italian herbs, a bay leaf.  It really depends what you like and how spicy you want it.  Let it simmer for awhile (an hour?) to cook down a bit and blend flavours.  When it cooled I put it through the blender.  I'd used a mix of tomatoes, some the small cherry ones, so lots of skins.  I then froze in containers to use, and add to, when needed.  Voila!

And while on the subject of food I also made some blueberry and white choc chip muffins...

Want one?

A quote I read this morning...

"The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective.  You don't have control over your situation.  But you have a choice about how you view it."

- Chris Pine (actor)

May the view be sweet!

xx