February 3rd continued....

Making granola before I start a batch of cookies. Chuck has been waiting a few weeks as he enjoys it for breakfast. I’ve been slow in getting to it. I have been making my own granola for many years. As I was putting in the ingredients I noticed how pretty they all ended up in the mixing bowl so had to take a photo before adding a half a cup of oil and half a cup of honey that I had heated together. The honey I used was a Christmas gift from my daughter’s neighbor. They have a few bee hives.

Chuck is out sho0veling snow this morning. Our neighbors next door arrived over the weekend. We’re in a condo. They are Canadian and live here a few months out of the year, in winter and late summer. It was 26 degrees earlier this morning, it’s 32 now. While Chuck was out shoveling snow away from the front door and the walk way, he spoke with them. They said it’s 20 below where they are from and it feels like spring here to them.

recently I’ve been viewing my news on Substack and Bluesky. It is difficult and frightening to get through the day with what’s happening in the new administration. I find I definitely need more news than fb or some of the other regular news outlets I had been following are offering. I read an article by Emily Amick, on Substack that was encouraging earlier this morning. Insightful in terms of not feeling alone with what’s going on inside of me right now. The author states the obvious, however when anxiety drowns it out of me I start to “look for the helpers” which is a habit as you may now know I’ve done since I was a child. I just didn’t know it until Mr. Roger’s reminded me. This article seemed to be helpful. Here’s a quote from a portion of the article, “When you engage with purpose rather than rage, when you choose action over cynicism, you start to weave yourself back into the fabric of your community. You discover that while you can't control everything happening in the political sphere, you absolutely can control how you show up in your own corner of the world.” Anyway, if you have any thoughts from reading the article, please do share. "Feeling Helpless? That’s Exactly What They Want." Viktor Frankl found purpose in the darkest times, his lesson is more urgent than ever, by Emily Amick

Here is the link:

https://emilyinyourphone.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web

I made a delicious pot of lentil soup using vegetables that we had grown in our community garden plot this summer, and had put in the freezer. Did you know you can freeze whole tomatoes? Just pop one or two in your soup making process and they cook up and blend in all on their own like magic! I added in chard, parsley and Italian roma beans from our garden that I froze as well. I had never grown the Roma beans, but my garden neighbor shared two starts with me and we got tons of beans from the two plants. Making the soup from our garden veggies felt really rewarding and nurturing!

Finally, here is an uplifting quote from Viktor Frankl that I’ve hung onto for sometime.

“ Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Photo taken 2/3/25