My Mother's Day Thought

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

" ...be sure that I will never let you go, though

the whole world should turn from you. "

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

I always knew that my mom loved her kids, but I never felt it so clearly for myself until that day, many years ago now, when my little trembling heart and I got a call at work to please come down to the boss's office. Yikes! I had an immediate knot in my stomach. I could not even fathom what I might have done wrong that would warrant a call to the 'principal's office', but it must be something, who gets a call for something good?

To be honest, I was a little in awe of my boss. Even though she had always been good to me, I had lurking fears that started during school days—the fear of being caught out a dummy and not measuring up to the teacher's standards—and it created a similar angst that my bosses would find out I was not as smart or knowledgeable as they had been led to believe when they hired me, and now that they'd found out, they'd have to let me go. Sounds quirky, but there it is....

So on that day, down the staircase, from the fifth floor to the third, I went slowly so as to compose myself. Wracking my brain and whispering a prayer for help, the thought came to me: If I have done something terrible to warrant reprimand, what's the worst thing they could do to me? In my mind, the worst thing was to be fired. In acknowledging that, strangely enough, I felt a sense of peacefulness wash over me. For in that split second, I knew even if I got fired my mom still loved me, and she'd be right there to help me pick up the pieces.  

Bolstered in my heart, I arrived at my boss's door. I was invited to come in and sit down. I waited. My boss was writing something on a slip of paper. She pushed it across the desk towards me, smiling as she did so. There was no word of reprimand. No, no. The slip of paper held the figure of my adjusted salary—I was getting a raise.

I left the office a relieved and happy young woman. Not just for the good news but, more importantly, because I saw so clearly that day no matter what, MY MOM would always be there for me. I never worried about getting fired ever again -- the fear of it was gone, gone, gone. And in its place was the rock solid knowledge of my mom's unconditional fierce 'mother bear' love for me....for all her kids.

* * *

Now, that's my story; not everyone has or had a mom like that. But without belabouring the point, it is my wish and hopeful desire that there is at least one person in your life who loves you like that.

I have lived confidently in that beautiful love for sixty three years now, and for that I. AM. SO. GRATEFUL. My heart is full on this strange Mother's Day of 2020—it's the first time we won't be able to celebrate this special day in person.

♥

Dearest Mom,
The ribbons from your heart of love

have woven a haven around my heart.
Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!

With all my heart,

Brenda

xox 

♥

Mary Berry: Recipe For Life

" Cakes are healthy too,

you just eat a small slice. "

MARY BERRY

Some of you have mentioned you find yourselves, at this time, unable to read anything too deep or heavy. I am finding that myself and have been reaching for books I can wrap around me like a comfy sweater. If you came to my house, you'd be most welcome to browse my bookshelves while the tea brewed. Since that's not possible, especially now, I'm dipping into my book collection with you in mind—looking for books I think you might enjoy and then sharing excerpts with you. Pressing my books into service is my small online contribution to helping create community in isolation.

Mary Berry's autobiography Recipe for Life is a wonderful read. Affectionately known by many as the Queen of Tarts, Mary co-starred the popular Great British Bake-Off series—a show I and millions others loved to watch.

From the opening line in the book 'In the words of my father, my birth caused no end of trouble', I was hooked. I read the stories and pored over the photos. The book became my bedtime reading for a season. It was a lovely way to relax, although I often had the urge to get up and bake something yummy after reading Mary's recipes. Her warmth and humour shine through as she gives us a peek into her her life, her family, and her career as a food writer. I especially enjoyed the glimpse of her British life and the landscape of growing up during the Second World War and coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s.

I loved these two little stories....

Mary recalls the time she and a good friend of hers went skiing in Switzerland one winter. They were young, single, and between jobs. One day on the ski lift, they met film star David Niven and ended up skiing with him for the day. According to Mary, 'he was just as handsome and charming as you would expect, a complete gentleman and an excellent skier as well'.

Mary also tells of the time she was invited to luncheon with Her Majesty the Queen. The call came from Buckingham Palace, and Mary thought her brother was playing a joke on her. But soon the invitation arrived in the mail to confirm it was not a joke. Mary, along with ten other guests, were taken into a dining room set with sparkling crystal and beautiful bouquets of flowers. Mary was seated next to Prince Philip, and though the Prince had never watched the Great Bake Off, he entertained her with his own BBQing experiences with game and stuffing it with haggis. The Queen's corgis remained in the dining room during lunch, and whenever they got too rambunctious, the Queen told them to be quiet.

A lovely book about a lovely woman. 

* * *

"I have a pair of Spanx rolled up in a drawer

for the day I eat one biscuit too many."

MARY BERRY

* * *

Wishing you a beautiful day.

Heart Hugs,

Brenda

xox

Singin' in the Rain

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

" It helps beyond words to plant bulbs

in the dark of winter. "

ANNE LAMOTT

What a gleeful moment to find the tulips sparkling with raindrops after that lovely rain we had yesterday. I ran for my camera. I could not keep something like this to myself—I had to share yet another tulip moment with you. The neighbours must be wondering already why I keep running outside for another look, another photo. But who cares, my eyes are having a feast! 

I think I have a tiny sense of how Vincent Van Gogh must have felt that day he looked out his window, sitting in his cheap little room in London as he wrote to his beloved brother in Holland. Brenda Ueland, in her book If You Want to Write, describes the moment: "He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lamp post, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: It is so beautiful I must show you how it looks. And then on his cheap ruled notepaper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it."

Yes, that is exactly how I feel. They are so beautiful I must show you how they look. These tulips we planted in pots last fall have been such a gift this year. Who was to know that we would need them? I have never been so smitten with tulips as I have this Spring. My heart bursts with gratitude to the One who made spring and tulips. These tulips.

Enjoy the feast....

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

" Daffodils blossom and tulips jostle to the front of the

stage in April. I love these early perennials: they may be

more modest but they nearly all have that one special quality

that a plant needs to transform your affections from

admiration to affection — charm. "

MONTY DON

* * *

Sending love and heart hugs,

Brenda

xox

♥

The Simple Woman's Daybook: May Edition

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life, Spring 2019
Still waiting for them to bloom this year

"I love early mornings when it feels like the rest
of the world is still fast asleep and you're the only one
who's awake and everything feels like it isn't really real
and you kind of forget about all your problems because for
now it's just you, the world and the sunrise. "

UNKNOWN

It's eight weeks since our corner of the world went into isolation. I woke up the other morning and, though my head told me it was Saturday, I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact. It didn't feel like a Saturday. I don't know what day it felt like, every day runs into the next one now. At least I do know that it's a new month which means it's time for the May edition of The Simple Woman's Daybook.

I'm sure glad you stopped by, and I hope you enjoy your visit today.

FOR TODAY

" She followed her heart

and was happy "

Outside my window... There are predictions of rain this week. Yes, please, we'll take some. A good soaking rain would wash away the last of winter and properly wake up everything. The tulips in the garden are now up so we'll have a second wave of colour in a couple of weeks. And just yesterday, the shrubs and trees started budding out.

I am thinking... about these words by American teacher, poet, author Lucy Larcom (1824 - 1893): "God be thanked for the thinkers of good and noble thoughts! It wakes up all the best in ourselves, to come into close contact with others greater and better in every way than we are." So true!

I am thankful... for the good things that are coming out of this Covid-19 business. There are horrid things for many people, and for that I'm terribly sorry and sad. But in the midst, the goodness of people is also very present, with kindness breaking out in waves across the planet. It makes my heart glad.

One of my favourite things (today)... enjoying the deliciousness of a toasted tomato, mayo and fresh basil sandwich on sesame seed brown bread.

I am wearing... jean capris, long-sleeved t-shirt (so I can open my window), and black slippers. And yes, I do get dressed with lipstick every morning. I'm not a jammies-through-the-day kinda girl. I'm all for comfort, but for me, getting dressed sets the tone for my day.

I consider myself a lucky girl to have been at the hair salon just days before the self isolation instructions came down. So, if I do say so myself, I'm still looking pretty decent in that department, even if there's nowhere to go right now.

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

I am creating... a pleasure spot on my desk. It happened quite accidentally. One day a few weeks ago, I set these rolls of ribbons on the edge of my desk to be used momentarily. Sitting there ever since, they've shown up in a few photo shoots. I'm now loathe to put them away for I delight in this little vignette—there's a feeling of anticipation, as if a package waits to be wrapped for some special person. I love presents, don't you?

I am watching... the Portrait Artist of the Year series on YouTube. A contest for British portrait artists, my friend Joy mentioned she likes watching an episode when she's folding laundry. We've been enjoying an episode when we have tea in the afternoon. It's so inspiring to see such talent and creativity.

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

I am reading... a really wonderful book by Christie Purifoy: Placemaker, Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace. Her writing is poetic, and I find myself lingering, often rereading passages, like this one on page 22:

"We live in particular places, but we also live in particular times . . . I have come to understand that no place on earth is insignificant, and no shelter is truly anonymous. Beauty can be found almost anywhere . . .

The rushing world has convinced us that beauty is something extra, not the thing itself. I would never have guessed . . . that the hand that compels us to stop and stare at something as insignificant as a beautiful tree in flower, might be the hand of God. Rarely do we know what is at stake when beauty surprises us into stillness and we pause to listen, even for a moment, to creation's song. "

I am listening to... Giovanni Marradi playing Just For You, a lovely three-minute piece of piano music with nature doing its spring dance on video. In our upside down world, some things are still beautiful, and this music reminds us to 'trip out in joy' over it.

In the garden... The pots of tulips are still sending out their brilliant vibes. These orange-red-yellow blooms have now opened to the size of small dinner plates.

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

I am learning... something I should know. I finally looked up the word 'fitfully' because I could never remember whether it meant 'always' or 'sporadically'. According to dictionary.com, fitfully is an adjective: coming, appearing, acting, etc., in fits or by spells; recurring irregularly.

Now when a person says, 'She slept fitfully last night', I finally know it means she slept in fits or by spells, intermittently, which actually means she'll probably wake up grumpy in the morning....haha.   

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

In the kitchen... I made a lemon loaf on the weekend. After mixing the batter and putting the loaf into the oven, I realized I'd completely forgotten to add the lemon zest. It was still sitting in the grater. A lemon loaf without lemon? But by then it was too late to add, so I made a glaze, mixed in the forgotten zest, and when the loaf came out of the oven, drizzled it over top while still warm. Not quite as lemony, but still delicious. The recipe is HERE.

Shared quote... "I regard a love for poetry as one of the most needful and helpful elements in the life-outfit of a human being. It was the greatest of blessings to me, in the long days of toil to which I was shut in . . . that the poetry I held in my memory breathed its enchanted atmosphere through me and around me, and touched even dull drudgery with its sunshine." —LUCY LARCOM

A moment from my day... 

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

" Incorporate a one-flower meditation

into your daily rituals. "

ALEXANDRA STODDARD

* * *

Wishing you the darling buds of May.

Hugs,

Brenda

xox

Five On Friday: Quiet Days, Simple Pleasures

Image by Andrian Valeanu from Unsplash

" The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seems possible in May. "
EDWIN WAY TEALE

It's early Friday morning, the end of a week and the beginning of a new month. The air is cool and blows through the open window. I tug the fleece blanket closer, for the robins are singing and the chickadees are whistling, I cannot close the window.

I've been awake since the wee quiet hours. I've written in my journal. I've worked on an upcoming guest post that's not due until September but the inspiration for it was right there. Now I'm thinking about today's post.

By now, the world outside my window is fully alive. Finches have joined the chorus. There is the palest of pink on the horizon and skies are cloudless.

At our house, it's been a quiet week and our pleasures have been simple. Today I offer five gifts from this week....with open hands and heart.  

* * *

ONE

The waxing crescent of the moon, bright and buttery, was
shining through our bedroom window when I woke at three.
Did you happen to be awake too and see it?
Oh my....bliss.
  

* * *

TWO

I came into my study. The robins were warbling.
At three in the morning. Talk about early birds.
I was thrilled.

* * *

THREE

I'm anticipating homemade cinnamon buns

with coffee this morning.

When a certain sleepyhead wakes up.

Can't wait.

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

* * *

FOUR

"Thirty-nine years of my life had passed before
I understood that clouds were not my enemy; that they were
beautiful, and that I needed them. I suppose this, for me, marked
the beginning of wisdom. Life is short."
IIMANI DAVID


I took this sky photo yesterday morning just outside my front
door. I love how it turned out. Grey really is beautiful. I think an artist would
have fun painting those shades. Along with the author of the
quotation above, I have come to truly appreciate cloudy, overcast skies.
They are a gift not to be cast off.

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

* * *

FIVE

"Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy.
And cooking done with care is an act of love."
CRAIG CLAIBORNE


Homemade pasta sauce really is one of life's good gifts to human noses.
Can there be anything as satisfyingly fragrant as garlic hitting
the hot oil and tomatoes starting to simmer?

* * *

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you a beautiful weekend.
I hope there's something in it that makes you glad to be alive.

Heart Hugs,

Brenda

xox