The simple path

“After all,” Anne had said to Marilla once, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
― L.M. Montgomery

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace”

― Mother Teresa

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(a simple lovely breakfast / Julie Cook/ 2015)

5 readily available ingredients. . .
eggs, simmered 6 minutes–preferably as fresh and organic as they come, hence an orange yolk
1 slice of bread, lightly toasted–preferably a nice little rustic slice
butter, a light unctuous spread of the real deal
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
and there, my friend is a meal fit for both king or pauper.

Simple, unadulterated, humble fare.

And please excuse that sound of retching in the background because when my aunt sees this picture,
she will begin to throw up as she does not like eggs–not the sight, sound, smell or taste
but we shan’t allow that to stop this particular thread of thought this morning, she’ll quickly scroll past the picture.

Now, back to where we were. . .

Simple fare.
Nothing frufru,
nothing fancy smancy
A soul satisfying plate of bare bones simple.
As in less is more.

As human beings we have grown greatly accustomed to making more from less
We think more, bigger, extravagant equates to better, perhaps even best.
We want to top this with that.
We vie to go beyond.
Often not knowing when to leave things be.
We perfect and perfect some more.
We build upon what was there striving to make it all so much more special, more grand.
Stopping is not an option let alone failing. . .
We examine, expand, explore. . .always being ready to fix and to add
We pile on while always going beyond.

Satisfaction is fleeting
Settling unheard of
Resting on laurels passe

Yet it is when we scale back
Strip things bare
Pare down
Slow down
Detox
Declutter
Downsize
Clean out
Throw out
Simplify

Life becomes sweet, savory, pleasant, peaceful, complete.

So on this new morning to this new week, as life prepares to offer you a myriad of paths throughout a busy and most likely chaotic week, don’t be afraid or deterred when choosing your path– make the conscious decision to choose the simpler path. . .you just may be surprised that the choice of the simple and the less, in the end, is delightfully more satisfying.

Twilight

Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.
Lucy Maud Montgomery

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(a lone evening star caught in a southern sky / Julie Cook / 2014)

Stillness magically, thankfully, blessedly now covers the land.
Gone is the endless din of noise from the day’s chaos known simply as Life
With November’s chill slowly wrapping her arms around everything she sees, our pace gently slows.
Shadows have grown long as day’s light is now limited.
The time of reflection is at hand.

Timid and oh so slowly, one by one, the tiny late season jewels of the evening sky make their debut.
At first it is but a single star in the deep azure and magenta swarth of sky, which silently commands rather than begs the curious to gaze skyward.
Guiding, luring, beckoning as if by some primordial drive, we are drawn to this single brilliant light.

2000 years ago, God put His finger to the sky, and in so doing, He pierced the night with a tiny ray of light. A pinpoint of celestial brilliance shone down upon humanity’s darkness. A single directional beam called humankind to its side.

The season of expectation is at hand, as our thoughts return skyward.
We continue to cast our gaze heavenly.
We continue looking, waiting and watching.
Will Hope call for us again?
Will we recognize it for what it is?
Will we feel its pull, its draw, its offer of redemption?

Twilight, when silence descends and Hope appears
When the light of a single star dares to shine
and humankind is once again made whole

Golden light

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery

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A leaf suspended by the single thread of a spider’s web—brilliantly reflects the light of a bright October sun / Troup Co, Ga / Julie Cook / 2014)

The human soul is slow to discover the real excellence of things given to us by a bountiful Creator, and not until the shadows of death begin to gather around the object that we love, do we see its worth and beauty. Autumn is the dim shadow that clusters about the sweet, precious things that God has created in the realm of nature. While it robs them of life, it tears away the veil and reveals the golden gem of beauty and sweetness. Beauty lurks in all the dim old aisles of nature, and we discover it at last.
Northern Advocate

little pleasures

“After all,” Anne had said to Marilla once, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

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(beautiful roses at my son’s new home / Julie Cook / 2014)

This is my small gift to you this new morning of this new day, of this new week, of this new month–these beautiful roses.
May these roses bring you some small sense of joy–
Happy Day!!!

What do you mean “freeze warning?!”

“That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs.”
― L.M. Montgomery
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(new tiny blooms in Julie’s yard / Julie Cook / 2014)

Oh the fickle ways of Mother Nature.
Just when we thought it safe to settle into our increasingly warmer days of Spring, being wooed by the sights of the myriad flowering plants greeting us at every home improvement store from Atlanta to Dallas, sadly and ominously something wicked this way comes.

Oh say it ain’t so Al Roker!
Save us Willard Scott!!
News Flash:
Freeze warning tonight.
Predicted low. . . 30 dreaded degrees.
Henny Penny the sky is indeed falling and so is my mood.

“Cover those tender plants” is the new mantra of all Southern weathermen.
Are you freaking kidding me?!
Cover an entire walkway?
Cover planters, containers, entire gardens????
Well yes.
Yes we shall.
We simply have no choice.

No we’ve not lost our minds nor given ourselves over to some new eco-fad. We simply take our tender Spring vegetation and blooms quite seriously. We’ll cover every new sprout, tender blade of grass, bud, bloom and blossom by George.

Be gone Winter, be gone we say!!
This is our rally cry, this is our song.
As God is my witness, we will have blooming tomatoes in just another month!!!

And just so you know, if you happen to be from out of town and find yourself driving around in north Georgia tomorrow morning. . .don’t panic if you see a landscape eerily veiled in sheets, plastic and tarps. I’m not taking a little ol garbage bag plastic—I’m talking rolls of the stuff. And did you know there has even been mention of the “S” word for Tennessee and North Carolina!!

Katy bar the door, ’cause now,
all fingers and toes are tightly crossed!
I’ve got to run, for there’s plastic to be ‘a spreading

Ode to a fleeting Summer

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(photograph: butterfly in flight, Troup County, GA/ Julie cook/ 2013)


“All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.”

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams