Feather your Nest Friday, 23rd February, 2024.

I have no notes to go by this week but I did take photos,  thank goodness.   It is a month since Andy died.  I have been a mixture.. doing well some days and doing dreadfully some nights.  I have appreciated every prayer,  message, card, email....  thank you so much.

I am continuing operating with a list system and doing what is in my hands.   This week pears are what are in my hands.  With help from our friend we picked two full trees.  This is the smaller tree but it had more fruit than the big one.

We filled bags and bags...

I already gave away several buckets full.   I will take some to the swap tables.    The rest are now on a padded mat on the lounge room floor.

They are set to be dehydrated,  stewed, made into baby puree, cakes... 

And then the apples will come in. 

These will turn bright pink yet.  But they are on their way and there is a huge tree loaded with them.    Plus they are a good fresh eating apple.    I also have road side apples to pick, potentially. 

I made Mum a tray of scones.

At Mums I picked a heap of Bay Leaves.  Most of these are a donation to a fund raiser.

I sewed two tea towels and cut out several others.  One of Andys desks is now my cutting out table.   The other is still Andys desk.

In town I  went to the thrift store and found 1.5 m of cotton fabric and lovely Christmas cards and tags.

Good cotton fabric is so expensive now.  This is lovely quality and was $1.50.

The cotton table napkins (from last week) were dyed to go with my table and chairs.

Next week I am going to try and keep sewing even if it is something small every day.

I have been going through photos, albums,  ordering unprinted photos,  digging through cards, letters and more.   Andy kept every card and letter I ever wrote him and I kept his.    Andy also had a lot of Bible study notes  which I have been going through.   

Amongst old photos I found embroidered baby blankets I had made years ago and also hand towels and wash cloths.... even though they are faded I am inspired to maybe start embroidering again.

There were lovely things I could share, treasured memories,  a big teddy bear I gave to Tom and things to donate.  

I found a man to come and clean the gutters ready for Autumn.  It is a little early but I've found if you find someone willing to do a job just take the opportunity.  

We had a couple of hot days but a cool change has come in now.   The next ten days look reasonable... this takes us into Autumn.  It has not been a hot summer,  it was just the summer from hell in other ways.

My mind has been on the power of words.  In the process of cross examining my words and actions I found something that I was not aware of and suddenly it helped.   I had never said anything terrible or awful to regret to Andy.   If I had I don't think I would survive now.    When Dad was at school a teacher told him he was dumb.  This teacher told Dad he would only ever be a street sweeper.   These words remained with Dad all his life.   In part they motivated him to prove the teacher wrong but in part they wounded him all his life.   So we were brought up to NEVER call anyone dumb and never to judge anyone by their appearance etc.  I also became aware that once some things are said you can't unsay them.  You can apologise but that can remain in someones heart and mind forever.  Words matter.  Dad also said if you don't have anything nice to say then keep quiet!  

Knowing we were heading to Adelaide I made up several dinners.... one for myself Wednesday night,  a large family meal for Chloe just to heat up tonight after the day travelling... and the same for myself.   Boy am I glad of a meal to shove in the oven.  

There is rice under there and it is a marinated chicken dish.    It was delicious Wednesday night so it will be good tonight.   Planning ahead is a good thing.  Cooking when you are exhausted is just hard.   On the other hand sitting down to a decent meal when you are exhausted is very uplifting and comforting. 

I got quite a bit of crochet done on the car trip.  If I can just concentrate I find crochet helps calm me down.

How did you build your home, pantry or garden this week?   I hope opportunities came your way... just do something good with what you have in your hands right now.xxx