Shrove Tuesday

Hi there,

Apologies. Despite it being Half Term, I've been busy doing house things. Despite this, the house is still rather messy! We've got some things organised though.

On Tuesday, we made a trip up to London to Chiswick to look at sofas, which I mentioned in my last post. On the way back, we went to CBC's Brother's flat for Shrove Tuesday.

When we arrived, we found that his brother and partner had decided to make a whole pancake meal out of it! And they were having a competition with the mains!

Up first was this Japanese pancake which incorporated onions, sweetcorn, mushrooms (yuck) and sausage into the batter.  It was topped with this sauce which was a combination of Soy, Mayonnaise and Lee and Perrins.

 The next course was another savoury one. Pancakes with spinach, feta, shallots and dill.

 This one was super tasty! 

 We also had some salad with it.

 At this point, we went onto the Sweet pancakes and my favourite- the classic Lemon and sugar- you can't beat it!

 Alas, we shared this  one between 5 of us and then another and that was the extent of my lemon and sugar this year...

This one was toasted hazelnuts, chocolate nibs and sugar and was very hilariously described as "Cereal without the milk in a pancake".  

Alas, at this point, we had to rush off to get home because there are irritating engineering works in the evenings on our line home meaning there are no direct trains after 9.42 from Stratford.  It is highly vexing since there are also engineering works EVERY weekend meaning a journey takes over double the time it should.  That's the reason that we had a deficit of lemon and sugar pancakes. After we went, apparently, pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries and jam etc and fruit were consumed! 

It was a lovely evening and a very different approach and I was so grateful for the effort of our wonderful hosts but if I am honest, I'll just take a stack of Lemon and sugar please!

How did you spend your Shrove Tuesday?

xx

A pause for Lent: Be still

I picked up this beautiful colouring in Calendar from the Bible Society which they had a pile of at church.  Probably for children but since they were sitting there and it was the start of March, I decided to take one.

My opinion generally on the Adult colouring in book craze is that yes, I love colouring in, but generally, I prefer to be colouring in my own drawings.  I started one of the colouring books which I picked up in Poundland, but failed to gain any urge to return to it.

This afternoon, however, after using my watercolour pencils to colour in a card for my Mum's forthcoming birthday, I saw the calendar and thought I'd have a go at colouring in April's quote whilst I sat in the garden.

And how appropriate it was!

"Be still and know that I am God,"

Stopping, knowing that God is who he says he is and marvelling, delighting and being grateful of that fact is very important and something that we all need. 

It's when we stop, that the answers, healing, contentment come.

One of my favourite songs is 'Be still for the presence of the Lord'.

When I was a new adult Christian, I started writing my own worship song called 'Be still.'  Somehow, I have never finished the accompaniment for it, or shared it with anyone though I wrote the words and melody for 3 verses.  Perhaps, this is something to look for and complete this Easter tide?

xx

This is my Pause for Lent with Ang and co.

A pause for Lent 2013 #5

Hello there!  My focus for this post is the two following fasts:

Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that strengthens.


Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity

I have had an extraordinarily difficult week emotionally and mentally. Not on the scale of difficulties that others experience but for me, it has been very hard and emotional and I have felt sorrow and anxiety. 

When I first encountered difficulties this week, my first reaction was utter misery and despair, I literally felt overwhelmed by panic and misery.  I didn't do what the above suggest- I instantly gave into the problems without resting on God and trusting in him and praying.  I couldn't pray, I felt like I couldn't, but I should have. I felt the sorrow and didn't choose to rest and try to be peaceful.  And it consequently led to my having an incredibly difficult time, not being able to think, speak, comprehend and hear.  Finally, I was able to and rest peacefully and not be overwhelmed and was consequently able to think and speak rationally..  It's a lesson I must relearn over and over again, and now is the time to be mature and remember that.

Rest first, pray intelligently and then wait in peace

Take time to rest first on God and think then you can pray intelligently and then hopefully wait in peace/serenity.

God bless you all this Sunday!xx

A pause for Lent 1: positivity

 

Hey!  Greetings from a happy Kezzie, though rather tired, huddled round a warm laptop, trying to imagine a roaring fire!

I decided to take part in Floss's A pause for Lent.   I really enjoyed the Advent one so I thought it would be lovely to have a go again.  She mentioned a series of things you could fast from including the following:

Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.


Fast from anger; Feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.

Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.

Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.

All of these are things that anyone, Christian or not, would understand and feel it would be fruitful to fast from- or at least try to work on.  One of the things I decided I wanted to do for Lent is to focus on the positives and actually try to have a fast from moaning if I could.  I used to rarely moan (well, less so) until I became a teacher and somehow I end up having a big moan-fest when I've had a difficult class. Does it help?  Well, apart from being slightly cathartic and making me feel like others understand, well no, not really.  I ALWAYS feel negative about myself and regret moaning, I am aware in retrospect, what a bore I sound and somehow, I find it so easy to get sucked into the moan! In general, I am a positive and bouncy-person, I do try to be the ebullient one, because I know that this is important- my Father tells me to be joyful in all things, but in teaching, it is hard.  Thus, I really do want to try and work on that this Lent.  I have not been totally successful so far- I was a right misery-guts on Saturday, not enough sleep made me irrationally gloomy but we really managed to dispell the gloom by playing music- CBC and I played through a variety of music on flute, cello and keyboard and I felt that cloud rising.  I mentioned this before, but I do believe that God gave me the skills, love and appreciation of music- to glorify him yes, but also because he loves to give us good things that bring us joy and playing music really does that for me!

We went swing-dancing tonight at the 100 club in London and had an absolutely smashing time, I laughed and smiled and CBC's having-to-go-into-school-at-half-term blues were dispelled.  So I am grateful for that!

Here are some other things I am grateful for:
1. My dear sisters and their patience and time today.
2. Knowing what I love
3. Knowing and acknowledging my skills and not hiding them.
4. Having my own bed to return to after staying away at family.
5. The joy of dance!