Pleasantries

Good Morning,

Regarding today's title, I just remembered that my maternal Grandmother's name was Pleasie, and her grandfather's name was Pleasant Tackitt.  Those names were familiar in the 1800's but not any longer.

Here are a few pictures from Pinterest that transfer pleasantry. 

As a matter of fact, most anything orderly, beautiful and organized is peaceful!  That is an  important clue in settling the mind, and I know how good it is  to wake up to pleasant sights. How would you like to go spend a morning outside in front of these two beautiful places!

Everyone I know  decluttering and also  wisely taking time out to enjoy some leisure, in the outdoors. That seems to be the two things occupying people's minds. The shelves in stores are empty and bare of all storage boxes and cleaning materials and we are awaiting the next shipment.  Dollar Tree is out of the mops and mop buckets and other things. It is nice and dry here and everyone wants to clean and declutter.

 I like this painting, which I assume is by Vladimer Volegov, of the lady with a book in the garden. Do you remember doing that as a child? If you do not remember, maybe it is time to create the memory. Take a grandchild by the hand and settle down under a tree or on a bench in the garden.

painting by Joseph Farquharson, Scotland, 1846-1945

Here are some fabrics by Rachael Ashwell. I'm not sure where they are sold, but aren't they soft and soothing!

And now, here are some of my own morning pictures from around here. They are not exactly Pinterest-worthy, but I'm getting closer to making these scenes into something I like waking up to.

 No, this is not a real slice of cake, but it looks like a vanilla slice.

It is a piece of chalk rock from the hillside up in the high desert, and I have been keeping it on the tea table and enjoying people picking it up and thinking it really is a slice of cake. It looks like Salted Caramel Vanilla Crunch Cake that is served in tea rooms around here. The recipe is impossible to get. A slice costs $8.00, so most ladies order one slice and share it.

If I could have that recipe...

Once my MIL ate a delicious salad at a restaurant. She wrote and asked for the recipe, and they gladly sent it to her with a bill for $50.00!!! I never heard if she actually paid it.  

 We are still using my MIL's furniture, which was old when she first got it,  and now I am covering it by draping it with her chenille bedspreads, which are better off being used than getting musty in an old box.  I found that laundering them and then leaving them on the line to get all that nice sun-starch, makes them perfectly sturdy for furniture covers.  I add a drop of lavender scent to the wash and rinse. I actually wash them in cleaning vinegar. The sun also bleaches this cotton fabric and makes everything so fresh and new and kind of exciting.

I will be looking for new furniture as this will not last much longer, and I'm considering patio furniture because of the humidity here. It is also more reasonably priced than other types of furniture.

These are those $3.88 outdoor waterproof cushions from Walmart. There are some other prints available there now that were not out when the sale first began, so if the price goes down I will get a couple more.  I like them because they are not delicate, and I don't have to feel sensitive about them being ruined. 

Dried eucalyptus is a great way to make my  house naturally fresh. I have some in every room and I'm fixin' to get some more.

I have collected a couple of pictures of patio furniture. For as little time as people spend sitting on couches and chairs these days, I do not see much point in having huge, heavy, over-stuffed furniture that I cannot move by myself to sweep under, and that also overwhelms a tiny living room.  Patio furniture sets are usually a fraction of the price of "real" furniture and seem to be just as comfortable, and in fact I believe it lasts a lot longer than conventional living room furniture.

 My wicker and my vinyl wicker has outlasted several sets of traditional living room furniture and is far more versatile, as it can be used in other rooms, even the kitchen and bedrooms.  I have to laugh when I think how difficult it is to get rid of the old broken down living room couch, and how people will put it on their front porch sometimes.

 Unlike upholstered furniture that wears out, patio furniture looks great even when abandoned to the yard. Usually, no one is in my living room, as they are all visiting in the kitchen, or people go to their own rooms where there are also chairs, desks, and lamps. So, for the living room replacement set, I may be getting patio furniture. I have seen drastically reduced (under $50 sometimes for a couch) in local shopping areas when summer begins to fade.

I know most people would not think of using this in the house, but consider that it is waterproof, including the cushions, and that air circulates better around such furniture, entailing easier housekeeping, and that it is washable and resistant to spills and stains. It is also usually steel framed, and impervious to hard wear and tear.   In humid climates, this is the ideal furniture, as there is no cloth on it to attract moisture, and the air freely circulates around and through the furniture, incurring less mildew or musty scent.

I was listening to the the Bible being read on YouTube, and this phrase caught my ear. I wish I had studied and practiced this at age 16! How much better it would have been for me than some of the empty learning of the time. I will have to practice it quickly, so I can make up for lost time.


" Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,^c encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

First Thessalonians 5:12-24.