Blogger's Embedded Comments Feature

Recently the feature 'Embedded Comments' has been made available for all Blogger users.

This allows users to reply from the post, and what I especially like about this is its 'threading' ability. That is to say, if someone leaves a comment, you can reply directly to that comment right underneath, so the conversation on a particular comment stays together... it keep the like-conversation connected.

It's a simple process to put in place:

1.  Go to your Settings.
2.  Select Posts and Comments.
3.  Under Comments Location*, choose EMBEDDED
4.  Ensure the Allow Blog Feed is set to FULL.

*Note: If you click on the wee question mark beside Comments Location, the following comment comes up:  "Embedded will allow users to reply from the post; Full page and Popup window will take them to a new page. Note: Selecting Hide does not delete existing comments. You can show them at any time by selecting another option."

Hope that works for you.  For more info on this, you can check out the the link to Ask the Blogster.

Happy Blogging,

Brenda

Not Yet The End

 "Everything is going to turn out all right in the end,

so if it is not all right, it is not yet the end."

 

I just saw the trailer of the newly released British comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With two favourite actresses in the cast -- Maggie Smith and Judi Dench -- already I have a very good feeling about a movie I haven't seen yet, but now want to.

The movie is based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, and is about...

"...a group of British retirees who are enticed by advertisements to travel to India to stay at the Marigold Hotel, which has been restored as a retirement home by a young Indian man with the best of intentions.

However, when they arrive, they find the living accommodations aren't quite as luxurious as portrayed in the brochure. Despite having to cope with broken furniture, phones that don't work and food they can't pronounce, they share a number of unconventional but hilarious experiences that bring them closer together." (excerpt from online synopsis)

One scene that already has a defining moment for me comes when one of these retirees demands that she be moved to the hotel that's in the brochure to which she's pointing (not this ramshackle of a lobby she was standing in). The young Indian man -- restorer of the establishment -- calmly responds that in India they have a saying:

"Everything is going to turn out all right in the end, so if it is not all right, it is not yet the end."

Mmm... for someone who believes with all her heart that God knows the beginning from the end, and for someone who is ever amazed at His ability for turning ashes into beauty, she is reminded once again of a time when she felt discouraged by so little movement in response to her prayer. And when she had asked Him about, He whispered deep into her heart, "I see the end and it is good."

Now, after all this time, somewhere in the middle of a British movie, is an echo of that moment. And it arrives just at a time when it seems I need its fortifying under-girding again.

Have you had such an experience.... where an answer or perfect word comes to you through a line or scene in a movie or book, through a song, or even the message on an advertising billboard?

If the place where you are at or that thing you've been working on is not all right, may I dare remind you that you, m'dear, are not yet at the end of your story either.  So discouraged do not be!

Now here's wishing you

glimpses of heaven in unexpected places!

Brenda
xox

  Photo source:  Vintage Catnip.com

Start The Week Right

"Loving Creator, help me

 reawaken my childlike sense of wonder

at the delights of Your world!"

 ~ Marilyn Morgan Helleberg

There are days when events and situations in and around our lives seem hell-bent on 'taking the joy right out of living' (as my mom used to say).

Although I am not having such day at present  -- I am quite smitten with the gifts Spring has been offering this May -- I was still thrilled to come across the quote above. What a wonderful little reminder not to let trials of any sort, shape or size dull our heart's response to the beauty that surrounds us if we will but stop and look.

So... here's wishing you your own renewed sense of wonder and delight in the gifts that come your way.  Today ... w-h-i-s-p ... we're blowing glimpses of heaven your way.  Reach out and catch them!

Hugs,

Brenda

xox

Photo source:  glittergraphics.com

The Wonder and Weapon of Rest

In this era when we rush around and do so many things in a hurry, trying to shove more and more into our available awake time, sometimes we need to remind ourselves there is way more to life than running around as if everything is important and urgent -- for it's just not so!

We probably all know the wisdom of 'everything in moderation' -- for too much work makes us workaholics and too much rest makes us lazy.  We need both, but it's finding the balance of moderation that keeps us sweet of spirit, hale of strength, and sharp of mind. 

That's why I was so pleased to come across this little bit o' wisdom as once told by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Although she lived in another time, another century, it seems some things tend not to change -- every generation needs its own reminder.

“Vices are simply overworked virtues, anyway. Economy and frugality are to be commended but follow them on in an increasing ratio and what do we find at the other end? A miser! If we overdo the using of spare moments we may find an invalid at the end, while perhaps if we allowed ourselves more idle time we would conserve our nervous strength and health to more than the value the work we could accomplish by emulating at all times the little busy bee.

I once knew a woman, not very strong, who to the wonder of her friends went through a time of extraordinary hard work without any ill effects.

I asked her for her secret and she told me that she was able to keep her health, under the strain, because she took 20 minutes, of each day in which to absolutely relax both mind and body. She did not even 'set and think'. She lay at full length, every muscle and nerve relaxed and her mind as quiet as her body. This always relieved the strain and renewed her strength." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

That woman found something that works. Even that sweet kitty-cat above has figured it out. Now I guess the challenge for you and me is to decide before we click away from this posting if we believe these words enough to make a choice to create that bit of space in our lives to do this every day. 

It's not about wishing it were possible. I really believe if we are to survive and live through these troubled times, we need it.

Consider this your own secret weapon against the tirades of terror and pressure.  The issues of the day wind our world -- and our stomachs --tighter and tighter. We can resist it as we find ways to bring our being back into a place of stress-less rest and peace.

  Wishing you glimpses of heaven in unexpected places...
Brenda
xox

Happy Mother's Day!

MOTHER,
the ribbons of your love
are woven around my heart.
~ Author Unknown

Thank you for that wondrous gift of your love for me!
 

With so much love,

Brenda

xoxoxo

They Catch My Breath

 Apple blossoms in last year's garden - not that far along yet this year

There I was waiting mindlessly for my turn at the drive-through window, when I found myself in the midst of an apple blossom blizzard.

Living in Alberta and well used to freak spring snow storms, for half a second I thought it was snowing. But no, it was apple petals adrift on the morning breeze...falling everywhere, even inside my car. That's when I felt a joy bubble bursting up from my heart! What fun! What beauty!

We all know how elusive soap bubbles are...light, frothy, and then poof they're gone. It seems joy bubbles are like that; they’re the tiniest of gifts that float by, that when we do stop and receive them, they turn an ordinary or even a fractious moment into one of Grace. Loveliness. Rest.

I call them 'joy bubbles' because usually when I experience this feeling, I actually feel it bubble up from deep on the inside, and the joy almost catches my breath as the sweetness and beauty of the moment washes over me.  C.S. Lewis calls it being 'surprised by joy'. 

It's the unexpectedness of these moments out of nowhere that causes the joy, I think. So often we're just minding our own business, getting on with things, and then, like a gift from heaven, it whams our hearts and nourishes it, turning our world right-side-up.

So simple these pleasures are sometimes -- often in fact -- yet these tiny treasures give me the greatest joy bubbles. Here are five from the last day or so:

1. The curtains catching the gentle breeze and making them billow and waft;
2. Hearing the first sleepy notes of our robins as we leave for work in the morning;
3. The glorious shades of Spring greens bursting out all over this week;
4. Going to sleep last night in my spring-cleaned bedroom -- that's bliss!
5. Finally finding just the right word and then being able to press 'publish'.

So, Dear Ones, I'm wishing you your own glimpses of heaven today...
Hugs,
Brenda
xox

Tea For Two

"In an age when everyone is constantly busy and short of time,

 

what could be more enjoyable than

 

taking time to indulge in what was once part of everyday life,

 

but has now become a luxury -- afternoon tea."

As quoted by Lesley Mackley in
The Book of Afternoon Tea

Some china and lace set out, a Russian blue teapot refilled several times, a tier of tasty sandwiches, sweets, and strawberries, set the scene for a most enjoyable afternoon in the company of a very special lady ~ a pearl of a friend. In fact we were having so much fun, we almost forgot to take proper photos for the blog. But you get the idea.

Here's to the simple pleasures of friendship and tea time in the afternoon. May we always have time for both, no matter how busy we get!

Wishing you glimpses of heaven...

Brenda

xox

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did You Laugh Today?

Microsoft Images

"The most wasted day of all is that
in which we have not laughed."

~ Chamfort

Did you laugh today? Did you giggle, chortle, snort, titter, twitter, bust right out? This laughing scene from the movie Mary Poppins has always been a favourite of mine for the sheer silliness and fun of it all. I'm always tempted to join in the fun and laugh along with Bert and Uncle Albert, Jane and Michael Banks. How about you?

Why not have a go and just LOL! It's good for you... and who knows you might end up on the ceiling for tea!

Holding my sides,
Brenda
xox