Sunday Afternoon Tea - Basking in the lovely things of life

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope you have a blessed day and for my friends who did not give birth to children, I am certain there are many who consider you a warm and lovely motherly type.  Even if they have fur and paws.  It was not easy for me to become a mother, so I never take for granted my two children here and my first child who went to Heaven soon after his birth.

I love being a mother, even during the preschool years when one is always exhausted. I loved walking along the beach of Lake Michigan, hiking trails, dozens upon dozens of Saturday morning breakfasts at favorite restaurants, watching their Church programs, listening to my daughter's solos, and admiring my son's science skills.

Often in the midst of our conversations, unless we were dealing with misbehavior, our God given beautiful world was pointed out... whether it was a dandelion (which my husband does not consider beautiful), rock collections, or rows upon rows of colorful tulips during Tulip Time in Michigan.

We have chatted about the beauty of language and of books and of various films. One child homeschooled and the other child learned at home when out of school. We have shared a love for good food and beautifully set tables.  We have cooked together and baked together and tried to recreate favorite restaurant meals at home.

My children share a love of travel, which they inherited from their father.  Although I have been on the receiving end of images from Paris, Rome, England, Ireland, and other countries.  However, my favorite photo was of Benny the Bull who, I think, lives next to a rental cottage in the Lake District?

There were many good days in the midst of many not so good days but that is what makes up life.  Someday we will know Perfection but until then, there are times we have to look for the lovely and much like finding what is beautiful in a flower my husband sees as a dreadful weed... we have to look past the deep roots and appreciate the flower.

After a week of cool rain off and on, a thunderstorm rolled in and remained most of the night.  The rain continued so heavy this morning that our satellite TV has been flickering in and out.  I finished making chicken stock yesterday and part of it will become soup today, which will be good on such a raw, chilly day.  The rest of it will go to the deep freeze for another time.

On Friday evening, I was reclining on the Living Room sofa as sounds of a White Sox baseball game came from the Family Room.  The sunset was a lovely glow above the horizon through the window and the chandelier light over the dining table in that part of the house had been lowered with the dimmer switch.

I had been listening to music on YouTube with the Amazon Fire tablet and I noticed a recommendation from a jazz band I had never heard of before.  Probably because they were singing in French and I do not speak that language.  However, I had been listening to Bobby Darrin sing Beyond the Sea (one of my favorite songs) so I was curious about their French version.

As I listened, magic filled the room.  Narnia magic without the snow.  It was the most beautiful rendition of the song that I had ever heard.  I realized that I loved French jazz bands, at least this one.  Although based in Brooklyn, their lead singer moved to the States from Paris.  I shut my eyes and listened to more of their music that took me to another world.

I think all of us can use some Narnia magic in our lives after the past year. If a world wide pandemic taught us nothing else, we had to learn to be adaptable.  I have long written about filling our homes with thrifted Beauty but I never thought of French music.  God did.  He knew I'd like it, too.

As many of us make our way out of our homes and gently find our way back to the outside world, some of us are doing so with a bit of trepidation.  What will the future hold?  Well, I do not know that but I do know Who holds the future.  He has promised to be with us no matter what we have to go through.

I have learned that no matter how dark the world looks, there are many ways to keep our eyes on the lovely.  Most importantly, we need to ask for His wisdom and His discernment that comes from the Word of God.  Then we look toward that day when evil will be no more and only the lovely will remain.  

Mentioned in this Blog Post

La Mer (Beyond the Sea) by Tatiana Eva Marie and The Avalon Jazz Band... here.

A complete album of their music is on YouTube... here.

Image:  The scene from my deck many years ago.