I just finished In This House of Brede with an online group - an excellent story! So many characters, so many personalities and lots going on. I remember Diana Rigg being in the film version but don't think I've watched it, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll keep my expectations low, since I can't imagine the whole story fitting into a two-hour or less movie.
I discovered a mostly-done skirt in my fabric stash - it's an olive cotton knit, made up just like my gray knit skirt, and only needed an elastic for the waist. I finished it off, and it's waiting to be ironed. I tried taking a photo, but the right color is so hard to get!
I've started looking at my gardening books, even though the snow on the ground is still a few inches deep. There was some rain today, which will melt things a little faster. I'm also looking at all the books I own with a critical eye - do I really need you? I have a cookbook with recipes for many pantry type foods, and I noticed a recipe for chocolate yogurt. I bought a gallon of the only pasteurized milk at the store (as opposed to ultra-pasteurized) and made some. It calls for very little sugar, but I have it with a bit of honey. As I was ladling it into the jars, I noticed it looked more chocolate-y at the end than the top. I was stirring it well the whole time, but milky things often stick to the bottom of the pot, and when they do, you don't want to scrape it when you stir in case it may turn up solids which aren't going to dissolve. So I stirred frequently but carefully,and more of the chocolate stayed near the bottom.
It's Lent.
"To take the ashes is to confess kinship with this world of dust, to declare our readiness to abdicate pretensions to omnipotence. Standing before God in this way, I profess that I am not God. I admit the chasm that separates me from him. I accept the uncomfortable otherness of God. He is what I am not, yet my being bears his mark. I crave a completion no created thing can give. I walk this earth as yearning incarnate. I am at home, yet a stranger, homesick for a homeland I recall but have not seen."
- Bishop Erik Varden, from Magnificat, February 2026
May this Lent bring you closer to your heart's homeland.
ReplyDeleteAnd you, Gretchen. Thank you! xo
DeleteI am looking at a lot of things, including books, with a critical eye. I am trying not to think too much about gardening just yet, but it keeps creeping in...
ReplyDeleteI recently heard if you ask yourself what you'd replace, if you had a fire or whatever, and that clarified things for me. All of a sudden, I know exactly what I'd replace and what I wouldn't.
DeleteIt's a blessed time 💜
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteHow nice to find a new skirt that didn't need a lot of work to do on it and didn't cost much, if anything! I usually have heaps of mending to do and use that as a Lenten task but there's nothing to mend which really surprises me. I will now have to think of something just as useful and just as unappealing to do instead. I am trying to avoid going through all my books and will only do that as a very last resort!
ReplyDeleteHave a very blessed Lent <3
Poor Clare! :D So, you've conquered your bad mending habits, only to find that it leaves you scrambling around for Lent! :D How about scrubbing the floor? I did that today; but I suppose your floor doesn't need a scrubbing.
DeleteWhat an apposite suggestion! I have been having difficulty scrubbing my floors recently. The mop is good but can't get into all the corners. My knees will no longer allow me to kneel for more than a minute so I looked around for a long-handled scrubbing brush and found just what I needed last week. It has three detachable heads; a scrubbing brush, a sponge and a polishing and drying head. It is fairly narrow and can get behind the wash-hand basin pedestal and it also has a triangular end to it so I can clean right into the corners. I spent a couple of days scrubbing away at all the tiles and vinyl flooring and I am so pleased with it. I can also use it for windows!! Not exactly a penance now is it!? What I am doing which is very difficult and a bit boring is preparing for a course on safeguarding for church. I have been at it almost all day and still haven't got it done.
ReplyDelete