The Life of Mrs. Miles

ORANGE FLOWER ELEMENT

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Just a quick entry today - it's sort of looking like rain outside and I am eager to lay some more shelf paper in my cupboards. I know as soon as the sun shines again I will be propelled out of doors! I've also got some digital painting tutoring lined up for later in the day as well. And... there was a parcel notice in my mailbox... our NEW mailbox today... and I am dying to know what it issssss.... so Miles has been sent along his way to retrieve it from the post office - this means its bigger than about 1 foot x 1 foot... I have'nt ordered anything...

Thanks for all your warm comments of yesterday... and for sending me your links to your blogs to see your 'needs'... I got a good chuckle! I know for sure I read two entries... but I can only put my hand on one... you may get a laugh yourself from reading Leslie's entry on HER BLOG - don't forget to leave her some encouragement of some sort!

THE CLEANING OF THE CEDARS...

Sounds like the title of some Scottish song... the Cleaning of the Cedars... but in actuality it's merely me wanting to do something USEFUL while I soak up our fine Okanagan sun. After consulting with Bonnie I learned the finer points on how one 'cleans' a cedar tree. Up to this point, I've merely accepted them as these pleasant feathery greens which one would add to one's watercolor painting of an elegant house. I'd never considered what would be 'inside' them. I'm sure had I taxed my imagination to this point I may have simply assumed the inside was an inverted copy of what appears on the outside, something green and feathery.

YIKES - EVEN TREES ACCUMULATE TOO MUCH JUNK!

I have been awakened to the reality of what a cedar hides within itself. I shall nver veiw one the same. The inside of the tree is completely dry - almost appearing dead. Like the beetle-killed pine trees we see on our hills, the inside of a cedar is very dry and dusty and filled with needles and various other things. Bonnie showed me how to take a large plastic tarp, and after cutting an opening in it, to slide it underneath the tree (like an oversized Christmas Tree skirt) Then, I opened up all the branches 'round the tree, top to bottom and coaxed out (shovelled out!) all the debris.

THE CEDAR'S LITTLE 'TREASURES'

It was fascinating to find other things inside the tree, including these items - a small birds nest, feathers, wasp nests and a few bugs. It's a little miniature world there inside the trees! We will use the excess needles I cleaned out as 'mulch' to put down on the paths here! I'm very much enjoying all this - each day is something new here at home! It causes me to think of our Lord's gracious love for us... as it too, is new EVERY morning.

I want to encourage you... if you've found my blog for the first time, or if you're a regular here, I just want to give you a hope that no matter what your situation that you're never alone. Our God wants something better for you - don't let this world get you down. Lay your burdens down - let the one who created you carry them for you!

Stay, stay home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are the happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care'
To stay home is best!

Weary and homesick and distressed
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest,
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay home is best.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The world is new each morning - that is God's gift, and a man should believe he is reborn each day.

Lamentations 3:22-24

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

Today in History

1800 - Library of Congress founded.

1865 - Fire Alarm & Police Telegraph system put into operation

1900 - the passing of Andrew Halliday - Cable Car Pioneer.

I'm still reading (in small bits and bites) The Hive - the story of the honeybee and us, by Bee Wilson... and I have to share this small bit of information with you. Did you know that honey was once used as an embalming fluid? Apperently honey is very good at killing bacteria - because it absorbs moisture well. When a body is 'embalmed' in honey, the honey sucks the moisture out of the corpse. As well, when honey comes in contact with animal tissue, it produces hydrogen peroxide, which also inhibits putrification.

Bee's book goes on to describe how some people requested embalming by honey in history. Sounds yummy, no?

BARB'S HANDY TIP #242

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