A City On A Hill | Matthew 5:14 You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden."

hodgy-podgy-hullabaloo!

Posted on 03 March 2012 :: 8 Comments

Like the title? Eh, I know… me too.

So, as I sit here with Louie sitting on part of my skirt, because he’s such a pampered pup that he has to have something to sit on other than the floor, I decided to do a little bit of a post here that wasn’t all flowery words and pretty photos. Yes, I admit what you’re all thinking: my blog has become sort of boring with all those ‘ridiculous blogger who has nothing important to post about’ with the blog posts I have been posting. Don’t worry; I feel it as keenly as you all do.

Well, truth is, I am not a jack-of-all-trade and I cannot come up with a large variety of posts anymore. Frankly, because, I have done nothing lately that is worth noting and I can’t write and post about it to all those faithful readers of mine who have been with me for years. After almost six years [was it the 16th or the 18th? I can't remember!] this month that I began to blog, I am finally out of ideas. :) I have enjoyed blogging; immensely enjoyed it. I have met people I never would had had I not gotten a blog, and I know I would never have attempted any sort of writing if I had not been thus pushed into the world of writing blog posts. So, I thank you, Momma, for getting us each a blog as a school project for writing. :)

So, this’ll be a hodge-podge post of random things that are floating around in my brain… I give you leave to drop off at any moment you like and click that little red X button there on the tab or window; I won’t be utterly offended. [I won't even know, so how can I be?!] Besides: most of the people who read my blog don’t comment anyhow, so don’t feel the need to if you don’t want to. I do like receiving and reading comments left to me by dearies and gents, but if you don’t comment, dearies and gents, I’ll live. ;)

Firstly, our dog had squeakers. Oh goodness, there I go again, getting puppies mixed up with squeakers! Just like with the cookies and Kitty, I mean Cookie and kitties. But there are six of them leetle squeaker thangs. Oops, I mean puppies. The dog who had them would be Rifka too; remember her? I’ll bugger about photos sometime this week, when I want to take some, ‘edit’ them and post them for your personal enjoyment. Oh, and she had the same amount of boys and girls as Lizzie did when she had puppies: 2 girls and 4 boys. I thought that interesting. :)

Secondly, my sis is selling some authentic Costa Rican wares on her etsy store if you ever wanted to get something from another country that will be useful. Such as: a Tico coffee maker. primitive, think ye? No, I LOVE ours and we use it all the time. It was a necessity to get one when our electric coffee maker blew and we were using a coffee filter in a big strainer to make our coffee. I love ours to pieces. It’s got a palm tree on it, and says Costa Rica on it, but it isn’t exactly as pretty as this one:

Isn’t it pretty?! :)

The other thing she has on there is these two extra pretty salad or pasta tongs:

I really think they are pretty. I love the butterflies, and if you know anything about Costa Rica, then you will know about the huge butterflies and moths they have here. We saw one that looked like the size of a small bat one time; it was surprising to find it a moth! All of the items I’ve seen for Costa Rica on etsy have some sort of butterfly on them, usually blue. But aren’t those pretty!

Thirdly, I have been reading a little bit more in the past few days/weeks. Of course, fiction goes faster than any sort of ‘learning’ books, even though I do enjoy reading such books. I finished reading “Under The Lilacs” and “Eight Cousins”, both by Louisa May Alcott. I have one more book by her, which a friend sent to me: “Jack & Jill”. Anyone ever read any of those? :) A friend, actually, the one who sent me the books, gave me a link to read “Rose In Bloom”, which is the sequel to “Eight Cousins” online, since I don’t have that one. I will be reading that one in the near future, because I want to find out how Rose’s story ends. I quite liked “Eight Cousins”, and I enjoyed all of the characters immensely. I love it when authors do that; it’s like you can get into their world and see it as they do. At least, that is how I see it. :) I’m not sure about the rest of you chaps.

I have also been reading an old High School English [book two] that Mom gave me to read. I find it quite interesting, and I am sure it will help me a great deal, as I have heard my grammar to be incorrect. In addition to that book, I’ve been reading over “Baldwin’s Reader: Sixth Edition” which is a very old book; I think we may have gotten it from my aunt, but I am not sure. I’ve also been browsing over two books on essential oils, and I have had such a fun time reading what the different oils are used for. I think it would be great fun to take a few courses in essential oils. A friend of mine is doing something like that, and she is liking it quite a bit. That is how I want my stories to be; so well written that it is like you were in the book and in the characters’ lives and was seeing everything just as they would.

Fourthly, I have been craving bananas, lettuce and avocados. Yep. You heard me. I have been freezing bananas and mashing them up to put into plain or flavoured yogurt, which I then put into the freezer for awhile. I like to eat yogurt of any kind like that: partially frozen. I have been opting for strawberry yogurt and banana the past couple of days over the peach and bananan

I have been craving salads immensely lately, and there never seems to be enough lettuce around here. What I would really love on a salad is some cottage cheese, sunflower seeds [although flaxseeds are a good substitute once in awhile for those], dried cranberries, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, banana peppers, and ranch dressing or a vinaigrette to top it off. Doesn’t that sound delightfully scrumptious?!

As for the avocados: I have this thing where I am trying to eat them with anything now. On salads, with eggs and potatoes, on toasted bread, with a spoon, on a wrap. Oh, what else have I eaten it with? Well, I am sure there are a few more things I’ve eaten it with, but that’s all I can think of for now. Now, every time Dad comes home from the grocery store, I ask him if has gotten any more avocados. I’m sure he shakes his head at how many of those delicious little tear-drop shaped things we can eat!

I’ve not really taken any photos lately; I have not been very inspired to do so. I’ve really photographed all there is to photograph around here, I think. I was happy with the last shots I got of the little purple flowers I posted a couple of days ago. Being uninspired the past few months, I haven’t been in the mood to take photos. It isn’t as if I were a photographer and I got paid to take photos of things; it is for my enjoyment, and at the moment, I am finding no enjoyment in it. If you know what I mean.

You know something? I thought that Pinterest was supposed to be inspiring, as I have often heard people say it inspired them. But I don’t find it inspiring very much; I find it like Etsy: a place to collect photos of things I’ll never have or do. Not that I don’t like looking at Pinterest things, or even repinning things; no, I do like to do that. Sometimes, I sit there and think to myself, “What is the point of this? Seriously? What am I going to do with all of these photos and links? Is this a waste of time?” Frankly, I don’t know if it is a waste of time or not; it is like etsy, tumblr, and any other site that you are just on to try to amuse yourself with. Anybody who loves pretty things can find them to their heart’s content on these sites, as I have. Did that make any sense at all?

A link was passed around on Facebook that I thought to be interesting: 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself. I read through them, and have to say there are some good ones on there, such as “#2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.”

Anyhow, well, I think if you got to the end of this post, you’re a very nice person. Yes, you read through this whole thing. :) hehe. I’ll try to post in the next week or so, but I am not making any promises… All right, I’ll make one: I’ll post photos of the puppies for all of you to see them. :) Better?

But other than that, I am taking it slow and easy with writing. I hope this post will tide you over until the next one comes. ;) oh and one more thing: I did a little search on the ‘tide you over’ phrase, to see if that was correct, and I found that a lot of people who use the phrase put ‘tie you over’ instead of ‘tide’. I thought it humourous. Ok, I’m done. :)

as ever,
Ra’chel

the softness of the setting sun

Posted on 29 February 2012 :: 4 Comments

the sun sets each evening,
sinking down behind the trees
in the backyard.
I can’t see it go down past the horizon
like I did at home,
but all the same, there is still that
mellow, soft light
gently touching everything.

I can look up at the branches
above all the rooftops
and see that beautiful light,
touching leaf and wood.
the sky behind them turns colours:
orange, yellow, pink, purple.

click for large view.

it’s all a beauty makes me stand still,
gazing at all the wondrous colours
I see. I can’t help but feeling
a little more blessed by being able
to see those things.
there is a certain joy,
and it’s found in the softness
of the setting sun.

as ever,
-Ra’chel

over the white picket fence

Posted on 27 February 2012 :: 2 Comments

…or not.
Yeah, try a barbed wire fence instead!
But they are so pretty, aren’t they?
Especially in the late afternoon sun!

They deserve to be on the other side
of a white picket fence,
don’t you think?

All I can do is look at them
through the fir-trees
over the barbed wire fence.

I had forgotten I had written this post when I didn’t have to photos done to post:

they look so pretty in sweet sunlight.
sitting there all nice and neat.
since they are in the neighbour’s yard,
I have to peek at them over the fence.

but they are so pretty.
I know they don’t look it,
but the little patch these are is just
a three foot border that runs along the
little walk in their small backyard.

they remind me of lavender,
and lavender reminds me of
old-fashioned grace and elegance.
don’t they?!

I suppose either of them would work. :)

as ever,
-Ra’chel

they ain’t so small no more

Posted on 26 February 2012 :: 4 Comments

Nope. Them cookies that Kitty had are growing up fast. Oh, I mean the kitties that Cookie had are growing up fast. Hehe, yes, they are getting pretty big. With the exception of the Mini-Cookie, who died the same day as Cookie did, the Three Nutcracker Kitties [I'll explain that in a minute.] are all active and happy with each other.

Not so happy when Louie, of course, comes barging in to tackle them all while trying to bite their heads off. He does love them kitties. He thinks they are the bomb of the Feline World. Nah, he just likes a lot of little playmates. :) They like him too, because one of them, ‘my’ kitty, Frosty, enjoys biting him back when he bites her. It is quite a funny sight to see them go at each other.

I can’t remember who that is; it’s either Frosty or Angel, Hannah’s kitty. Frosty has the longest hair of them all and she’s got a little white tip on the end of her tail; Angel’s hair is like a regular cat’s; Black Cherry, which is Samo’s favourite, has a really fluffy gray striped tail and she’s the ‘baby’ of the litter. I call them the Nutcracker Kitties because all of their chins are white. It is really funn to me, actually; they all have it.

They are getting bigger and it is fun to have three little Nutcracker Kitties running around the porch, house and yard. I love kitties and they are sweet little things.

as ever,
-Ra’chel