The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Simple Woman Daybook 

For Today...

February 29, 2016

it is 8:45am and   53 degrees....  I think   we may have turned a corner in the weather

Outside my window...
  a  broken sky of clouds with the sun shining through

I am thinking...

I am sort of dreading the  hour of allergy testing  I have scheduled later this morning..  Hope I get to to actually see the ENT because I still have  a few issues  since the last time i saw him.

I am thankful...

 for the saving  knowledge of Christ and    His  love and provision    in my life....  Sometimes  things  can  get  rattled and out of sorts, and then I  really wonder...  how do  folks with no faith  endure the  uncertainty of life... praise   God...  His mercies are new every morning!

I am wearing...

as usual... my pj's and  terry robe all day....  it is my  winter  retirement garb!!!!  Well,  I haven't had breakfast yet!

HEHEE   somethings never change!!

I am creating...
sorry to say my creative  gene is asleep  this morning... 

I am going...

  along with  my best friends to take    one of our  sista's   to her birthday lunch   this week...  to the Inn at  Sunnybrook

I am wondering...

how much longer hubs and I are going to feel rotten...  my allergies and sinus  crud and  he thinks  his cold has developed into strep throat...  bleh!  

I am reading...

Acts 9
Bible Study   by  James MacDonald... I Want to Change my Attitude

just for fun.. my new Lynn Kurland  novel, Stars in your Eyes


I am hoping...

 that  tomorrow  primary in our state  will  go  well....  my deep concerns for this upcoming election   is in part    probably  a reason  for  our malaise... Lord, have mercy on our nation!!!
May I take a moment and  add,  it is imperative that  everyone  get out and vote not only in your  primary  but esp for this election...  We must take our nation back!!!

I am learning...
  to be content  with   my circumstances and  life.   We have been blessed and  I  really  want to  downsize and    enjoy living  on less.... we  certainly have all that we need... and  more... 

In my garden...

  Hydrangea paniculata

Now even though  I  just  spoke on contentment.. haha,,  I must  add  though that I do want  to get  this   shrub... and toward that end I  have been  seeking a good source... I need more perennial color in my  garden!

In my kitchen...

I have no immediately plans for anything special....

A favorite quote/scripture for today...

 

Praise  the lord for His  mercy and loving kindness

      A peek into one of my days... today

Well, I just got back from my  ENT  appt for allergy testing and I am allergic to 21/28  allergens...  yikes  so I will be  starting sublingual immunotherapy  because I am not a candidate for  allergy shots...I just fixed lunch and  now I am    preparing to take hubs  to the doctor  to check his throat for strep...  while we are out I will  stop at the market for a few things   and pick up my  prescription  and come home and have left overs  for supper.... ...

I sure hope he doesn't have strep...    when he is sick,  I    feel  out of sorts....

   One of my favorite things...

looking forward to spring...  beyond  pollen time..heheheh

The colors of spring are  so  delightful and uplifting

This next  photo was  last year....  This year  there will many more tulips and  daffodils...  lovely! 

The flowering shrubs   bloom profusely  next door...   is it coveting to  want one, too...  yikes!

Early morning fogs.....

Red buds in all their glory!


Flowering dogwoods      create  an other worldly   fairyland,,,,,  time to  bring out  my  fairy    house  and  really get into the  spring  mood!!!

From the board room...

As we  begin a new month  I  introduce  Sweet Blessings.....Shannon offers  monthly   scripture  writing  tasks  that I have utilized and  they really bless me...  I  learn  through writing.. and  this  helps to cement scripture into my heart!!! The March  listing is up!

Post Script
So today is Leap Year,  the  29th of February...  Since  hubby is  under the weather seems like a  good afternoon to  watch the movie Leap Year again;...  I never get tired of it...

YOU remember that     Matthew Goode   is  Mary  Crawley's  new husband!!! If you're a Downton fan.

this film takes me right back to Ireland.... 

Harbingers of Spring

 Last week  we celebrated the coming of  March  with  a  bit of   Springtime brunch...but today a week later,  I  chanced to  glance into the dining room and  saw to my amazement  the tulips are still  celebrating..  showing off  their colors  bold and    bright!

A closer look and  I could  almost hear them singing out  songs of jubilation..  spring will be here soon!!!

 Trumpets  resounding the melody  and  tempo..  come spring come!!!!

These  scarlet  harbingers were surely holding court over the table...   

 even the shamrocks  were standing at attention  to  their  glory!

 The coming days  will pass  in a flurry  of activity as  we  zoom forward toward the approaching   season...  gardening books,  stops at  the nurseries,  cleaning  garden refuse..  turning the clock forward  in a little over a week...  and  then  at last the 20th will  arrive  and   the whole of  nature will join the tulips chorus!

Enjoy this lovely ode to the  Beauty of Nature   I found online!

Amaze Me Monday Pink Saturday Make It Pretty  Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party

Dainty Green Filigree

Tomorrow's forecast  shows    an almost  completely green state of Virginia...    and with  a forecast of  up to 3 inches of  rain  on top of already  satuarated ground,, the next  48 hours   could be
treacherous, to say the least.
Of course,  we're praying for   God's best for all  connected with this  storm...  and  for possible flooding to  be  minimal.
On a happier note,  all that  green   really gets me to thinking spring..  and new life!!! 
A pot of  red tulips  certainly ushers in   the life of spring  almost like none other!!!
How fitting they should preside  over  a spring tea!

My cup for  today is  shows off her  dainty  green beautifully.. 

Any Country Rose pattern  indeed  expresses  the  perfect  essence of spring! 

 How about a little  green inspired   teatime    sweet..
 recipe  found here!

Friends Sharing Tea 
Teacup Tuesday

  Grace at Home

 Thursday Favorite Things
No Place Like Home
 Home and Garden Thursday  

Garden Dreamin'

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party

 I  am  always  so  delighted to share  on Berndeen's  blog party...  she is  a real inspiration,  especially  now, how she can pack  up her household to move and blog at the same time!  Whew!!!

 I've been  dreaming a lot lately  about  the coming spring  and    days like  these

  I have definitely decided that we need more   hydrangeas,  so  I am putting in my order  for these

These are both  paniculata   type...and I  want to plant them  agaisnt the fence row ... 

I can hardly wait   for the  clippings!!!!!

The Simple Woman Daybook

The Simple Woman Daybook 

For Today...

February 22, 2016

48 degrees  here  at 7am....  and  threat of rain later today!

Outside my window...

Through the  sunroom screen....  looks sort of dreary today.. but  the bird are singing...

I am thinking...

Ok,  as I  erased last week's    response to this I   remembered how I got the sewing machine out to  sew  on a few projects...  unfortunately,  the machine was locked up... and  I  became rather  exasperated with it.. I just had it in  the shop   last year and paid  enough to get it  working... it was my mom's  and   pretty old, although when it worked it worked well... anyway,,,  we took it to the  salvtion army  .. maybe someone can get it back into  shape.. but it wont be me.  Back to the drawing board... I did find a  cute one   on Amazon

on sale for $99.00....   time to make  an order this week!

I am thankful...

 for the saving  knowledge of Christ and    His  love and provision    in my life....  Sometimes  things  can  get  rattled and out of sorts, and then I  really wonder...  how do  folks with no faith  endure the  uncertainty of life... praise   God...  His mercies are new every morning!

I am wearing...

as usual... my pj's and  terry robe all day....  it is my  winter  retirement garb!!!!  Well,  I havent had breakfast yet!

I am creating...

My  St Patrick's  tribute to Ireland  around the house!
first,  the sideboard in the dining room   hosts  my  Belleek  collection...   on the wall  behind it    hangs  my  etchings  depicting the  quaint town of Adare and  the Gap of Dunloe.

 This  arrangement gives a shout out to  one of Ireland's  most  prolific   shrubs... the   gorse  that  grows everywhere in the spring!

A bit of green transfer ware!

An Irish tablescape

 and  blessing!

I am going...

out to luncheon with  a  group  of girl friends.... we call ourselves  the Cracked Pots....   and  we  go  out to eat  a couple of times a year.. this week  we are  going to Annie Moore's  Pub

It really  does  look like an authentic  Irish  establish...

I am wondering...

what time Amanda will call  to say, " It's time to do Face Time together""  I live  for these  times...  to see  my precious girls!

I am reading...

Acts 9
Bible Study   by  James Macdonald... I Want to Change my Attitude

I am hoping...

 that  since  today I took my last prednisone  pill  that    I am finally  putting this    allergy/sinus/virus/  cold.. whatever it has been..behind me!!

I am learning...

to  try to make the most of each  realm of my  existence each day..
  physical...  mental...  spiritual!

In my garden...

  I    am thinking about  the spring spruce up around here  a lot... I  want to  get a couple of new  hydrangeas...  I found these on amazon..

Pillow Talk TM Hardy Hydrangea - 4" Pot - Hydrangea paniculata

Fire Light TM Hydrangea paniculata - 4" pot - Proven Winners

In my kitchen...

I have no immedaitely plans for anything special....

A favorite quote/scripture for today...

 This precious   description of   our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Isaiah 53New International Version (NIV)

53 Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

                               A peek into one of my days... 
These are  my  special and best   gal pals...   the prayer team  ...  we  have been together  now for   about  7 years...  we got together    to  crate a prayer mnistry  for our pastor...  and we have met  hundreds of times  both at church and in our homes to  pray and plan  events..  we  now  have launched  a community prayer  group  called Christians United to Pray  that has met  bimonthly  around our  city for the last  3 and half years. 

We have forged  a    great  friendshhip..  actually a sisterhood...  together  we have  shared our inner most  struggles,  confessions,, praises...  prayed for and blessed one another    and  we are  strong because  of the prayers of one another in our lives!
We  enjoy  celebrating  each other's  birthdays and next week  we  will  take Colleen  for  her  birthday dinner  to the Sunnybrook Inn...

    

One of my favorite things...

is genealogy.  I  spent  weeks  working on several  family lines a few years ago and took  the  families back as far  as  I could go...  Saturday, while hubs was watching his race on tv, I  just  started  looking up a bit more on the Higgins line.. and  to my  huge  pleasure and surprise,  I was  able to  take  the line back  6 more generations...  due mainly, Im sure, to the huge interest in genealogy over the last  years  and   capabilities through the online services...  anyway, I was  truly hoping to discover  where  the Higginses orginiated f rom  in Ireland...  but I didnt  get that  definitive answer...  but I did find out  some great  scoop... My earliest  Higgins  ancestor who actually came to America  was  Richard Higgins, born  1613 in Worcestor, England  and was  a taylor.  At the  age of 19 he  booked passage to the new world and landed in Plymouth  in 1632  where  he eventually bought a house   for 7 bushels of corn  and married  a Miss Lydia Chandler..  There was scads of information about him... thankfully,  all quite  complimentary...  thankfully, he wasnt a scoundrel...  far from it!!!
Other reports I did find  about the Higginses  did  allude to the fact  that  they  were definitely  formerly of Irish descent and   most probably  hailed from the  Belfast or Donegal  area of Northern Ireland, especially if they  were of a protestant persuasion. I can not help but wonder about this, because  last spring  as we  drove through Donegal I felt a hugely  close connection to the terrain....  especially  around the Fintown  area..

My question is...  was there  an ancestral  drawing  to me   to return to my roots!!!   I'd  love to!!!!!!

From the board room...

If you love everything  British... you  will so enjoy Ramblings from an English Garden.

Barbara shares  her travels and exploits so deliciously!!!

Post Script
This is where  we and our friends  Bill and  Linda  dined  while in Donegal...

The Blueberry Tea Room
Castle Street, The Diamond , Donegal TownCo Donegal 

Trip advisor lists it  4th  best  of  many   places in Donegal..
 friendly service and great  food at a reasonable price....