welcome to my blog. Sharing God's goodness with you in a wide and wonderful world.. so glad you are here.

Monday, 30 December 2013

From Us To You...

I hope you had a good Christmas. I loved having everyone home and happy!
Nice to have a break in regular routine and just be.
                                                 


                        a collage of memory made moments.....                                                                                 




             Family photos are a study, and require just the right amount of planning and spontaneity for the atmosphere...my daughter's fiance took this for us on Christmas eve.
Sharing it with you as I wish you a happy and healthy 2014...




                                   


Thank you for stopping by my little blog...much love and blessings...Lucy~


                                 
thank you for listening to the song....
                                          




Monday, 23 December 2013

Convoluted Christmas

a few reminiscings' of yesterdays ice storm here...
                                               
  That morning we woke up to darkness. Dark cold that seeps into your bones. The world outside was distorted and devastated. Broken and shattered, bowed down.



I stand here at the window looking at a traumatized, ice covered world outside. 
I am sad for the loss of our beautiful trees. For the shade and ambiance so ruthlessly destroyed. 


                                  hubby checking out the demise 
Then I remember they are just trees. We have a home, we have all we need.
But I still mourn a little. After all it is Christmas and this does not seem like a very appropriate  scene.
Then I ponder the alternative,  what actually could be more fitting then destruction?
When did the world need Christmas more than now? When did it ever need the Light of Christmas more than now?


                                  enshrouded evergreens

I trudge outside with my camera wanting to somehow capture the scene around me.
I know it's impossible to fully describe  the quietness of the land.
 The stark beauty in the devastation.
Here a reminder so strong how we need the Hope that Christmas brings.
The believing in the magnitude of something greater than our own understanding.

The new tree  I planted in the fall is bowed right down low.
Bowed over with bated breath, heavy, waiting and full; expecting a miracle.

                                          

Feeling thankful here tonight. After a busy day, happy to host some friends who were "in the dark still." Knowing there is still many waiting....


              the candle here in the middle of my table keeps on flickering.....


                                Merry Christmas!
                                    to you.....
                                  love, Lucy~

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Twas The Week Before Christmas Everywhere

  a few pictures from around here...
               It's a winter wonderland out here...
                                                a menagerie of sorts...

Here is a cookie recipe for you...(homework happening also:)
              Sunshine Tear Drops (or Bird Seed  Cookies to some...)
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds (also I put in ground flax seeds  because they're healthy)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey ( I used half molasses)
1 cup coconut or nuts
1/2 cup cocoa or carob powder
vanilla
Mix well. Roll in balls and roll in coconut. Let sit to chill and either eat, freeze or refrigerate.
                                            molasses cookies..
                     thumb print cookies with currant jam and peanut butter balls


our tree would not ever be featured on the cover of a magazine but it is full of sentiment,and many hand made decorations.
                   




I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, may all the moments; ideal and not so perfect,
blend to bring you a Christmas that is full....full of joy...full of gratitude...full of peace.


                                            
please listen...
                                   

























Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Reasonable Angst

There are two things that evoke a measure of anxiety that range in close proximity with one another. One is getting my hair colored (or highlighted in my case), the other is paint. 
Standing at the paint counter and sitting in that chair and realising there is no turning back. This is it baby.
Both require trust in the abilities of somebody else who I do not really know, and who really knows very little about me.

It's funny really because I generally have a pretty clear picture in my head of what I am after. Why is it then, or is it because of this, that I could regale you with at least a few instances of my complete and utter shock at how my hair or my room turned out.
Are we idealists our own worst enemies? Do we create our quandaries or do they create us?

On to painting my room last week. Finally after agonising over which colour to paint this large, rectangle of a rec room in our basement. 
Don't get me wrong I am glad for the space! But let's just say it has some rather weird  unique features. One cinder block, two mirrors inserted into them, and three a lot of colour happening with stencilling and fireplace plunked in the centre.
My usually creative painter side of me was feeling uninspired about a colour.
 I ended up asking someone who works in the field as she was conveniently here one day to pick up her children. She advised me on a colour that everyone loves and looks great everywhere.

         before... it was green... for almost twelve years! time for a change...


 Finally with a vision in front of me my paintbrush got pep. I rolled and brushed confidant that the stark white of this colour would somehow transform into a soothing hue.(it really was a beautiful colour on the sample, but for some reason on my wall it vanished:)
                            
After  a day's labour and verdicts from my family that weren't helping to boost my waning enthusiasm. I decided this shade was not working at all, figuring I had nothing to lose I took matters into my own hands and began dumping some brown and some turquoise into the can. Eventually I had a colour I felt I could live with and I tackled my project anew, which included scraping the paint off of the mirrors which I had covered up. ( I discovered I rather like the quirkiness  of them and the way they add sparkle.)

As I was doing all this painting I had a lot of time to think and ponder and I couldn't help but rejoice in the fact that unlike we humans who second guess ourselves and continually mess up our lives with the wrong colour. 
our God has a plan for us from the beginning. He created us and knows us better than we know ourselves and even though we don't always get the colour right,  His grace reaches us there and He is not offended at our admitting of our mistake.
When we acknowledge that His design of our lives is always right we can live, embracing the color around us.
He knows we are like that wall; which is likely to get another colour someday.
That continual work in progress, that continual striving of finding the right shade.
                                 after...a bluish gray I think...



 Some walls take longer and are a lot more work than others but when the paint brush is  put away, we can admire the way the colours compliment each other, and look forward to a potentially clean slate.
 We can move forward knowing that as long as we are here on this temporal abode; paint and hair colour are never permanent.



Thursday, 5 December 2013

Fluttering Along Post Cards

the other day as I was meandering around the thrift store looking for treasures that could be useful, beautiful or both, I spied this little vintage tin filled with post cards.
They haven't been used and i can't seem to find a date anywhere but I am sure they must be OLD! either way I think they're quite neat...
I simply need to decide the BEST way to utilize them....

                                I am open to ideas and suggestions...
                                         here is the tin they are in...    

and all the designs...


a little did you know.. I heard this definition first last year..and found it interesting although I have to say I still don't like the idea of saying"Xmas versus Christmas"


I also found this picture..
I realize the scale isn't 'quite right' but I like the colours....

Well, I am off to finish a painting job and run errands and feed my chickens and well you get the idea:)
what have you been up to?


Monday, 2 December 2013

A Wreath In Time For You...


      This morning after a busy weekend,I sat down in a quiet house  and I made this wreath.....It was so easy,  and I am happy with the way it turned out....
                                                       

            here is what I did.... wrapped a wooden wreath in burlap, then cut the lengths for the bows.
                                                    yes, it's a bit messy.
                      then I simply tied them on....while watching this... (.coincidence I think not!:)

     
        here it is....I cut the green pom pom flowers from the shirt I was wearing to embellish it a little.....
                                                                bottom right..:)
             
                                       I hope you try it, it was good Monday therapy. 



              Then I added a few touches to the outdoors ...
                                                           come in...
                       
                                    I picked up this adorable paper mache owl at Target recently.....
                             

as I finished this post I looked outside and saw this reflection on the post so I had to share it with you...


May your  week be full of reflecting beauty and grace....
love, Lucy.