Lemon Posset before bedtime...

Last year my dear friend, Ruth, send me scurrying after a book. It was one I've mentioned previously, but which I shall mention again - The Gentle Art of Domesticity, by Jane Brocket. This was my bedtime read for months...just a page or two (or three) each night, enough to savour some glimpse of a gentle art, a new way of looking at old things, a longing come true by learning more of those seemingly lost arts that collaborate once again in the raiment of 'domesticity'. Love it. It still lives by my bed, and I still lose myself in the ease of it's inviting pages.

The other day whilst reading Jane Brocket's blog, she shared how her daughter Phoebe had made Lemon Posset. Well, it looked delightful! I told Blossom, and we ran off to look up the recipe in Jane's other book, Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer (another favourite read). This was just the warm milky bedtime drink we were after.

THE drink...
THE book...

THE smile....
THE utter delight!
So how do you make it?

~~~Lemon Posset~~~

Serves 2-4

600ml full cream milk
1/2 lemon, grated zest only
nutmeg
2-3 teaspooons brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons rum or brandy or sherry (we used rum essence)
1 egg

Warm the milk to just under boiling point.
Remove from heat.
Add the grated zest, and a good amount of nutmeg. Whisk together.
Add sugar and whisk to mix.
Add rum (or brandy or sherry)
Whisk the egg in a cup, then pour slowly into the milk mixture while you whisk.
Pour your posset into cups...
ENJOY.

I slept like a baby, in case you were wondering. :-)

This morning I cut some of the last of my Kardinal Roses, aren't they exquisite?! Not long and the rose bush will be pruned right back for it's winter rest, but for now I am enjoying this last flush of beauty and colour.


Now...are you off to make Posset too?

Hugs
Jenny

His Divine Mercy for those you love....

The image of Christ as the Divine Mercy has always drawn me. In our Church I sit to the right of it each Mass, and I find myself turning to look and meditate upon it quite often.
Almost as much as the Sacred Heart, it moves me to fan the flames of my love for Our Saviour just that bit more, to once more lay aside my sinful mortal tendencies and emulate He who is perfect and merciful. The miracle of Him choosing to love me, to die in my place, to save me...well, it never dulls in it's impact.

I was reading from Fr Groeschel's "The King, Crucified and Risen" this morning and he writes how Christ revealed to St Faustina that He calls all souls at the moment of death and offers them the grace of conversion - just as he offered the thief who hung beside him on the hill of Calvary a place in Paradise.

Those simple words this morning filled me with a renewed hope in the prayers I offer daily for my loved ones who have still not turned from the decaying grasp of this world and embraced the salvation through Christ promised to us in the life to come. Even though I yearn to see them step from sinful denial of the Lord today, this very moment, the truth is that in my lifetime I may not have that privilege...but that does not mean the prayers I pray each day have no value. No! The prayers I pray are prayers of hope and faith, total trust that "Your will be done", not in my time, but in His. I trust Him because He made a way for me to join that thief, a man no more sinful than I, one day in Paradise.

I chose to follow while I still had many years left to me on this earth, when I was still to find a truly God-loving husband and bear more children, but there will be others who only in their last breath will choose the out stretched nail-scarred Hand. And are we, who love Him now, better than they? No. For unlike sinful man Christ died for us while yet we were sinners and separated from God...He loved us first...He chose us before we chose Him.

In the time span of eternity the difference between the sinner who accepts Christ at age 15, and the sinner of 79 who accepts Christ on his death bed is negligible. The thing we who know Jesus now have to remember is to pray for those who have not yet met Him on the road to eternity, pray for those who have been hurt in life and push Him away, pray for those who oppose Christ and His Church, pray that we who know Him now will live and love in a manner that will draw all men to Him through the testimony of our lives.

Last week our priest, Father Marion, asked us this question :
"If you were arrested today for being a Christian, would the Prostecution find enough evidence in your life to convict you?"
Wooooh! What a wake-up call.

What is it about a fellow Christian that compels you to be a more worthy servant of Jesus? What in your life is going to draw others to Him? For myself, I have a long walk to Heaven because every day sees me failing Him. Yet, He never leaves me nor forsakes me! He is constantly there, urging me forward, His outstretched arms waiting to embrace me, to carry me when I fall. And it is no different for the lost who still have not known Him as their glorious King...He is waiting for them. He is waiting with Divine Mercy for those you love, waiting to offer them a ride Home.
So keep praying, keep trusting. Even if you see nothing with your own eyes remember His see clearer, and they will still be watching and waiting when ours have closed in our last sleep.

"For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world"

Jenny

Our autumn garden - herbs and flowers!

It's lovely to have cooler nights where you can snuggle up under the doona and read a book before bed, a cup of warm chamomile tea beside you. It's even nicer during the days.
Though still a lovely and sunny mid-autumn, it's not hot anymore, and that means more time in the garden for us planting in new seedlings and tidying the older plants.
Here are some photos I took this morning, a mix of old and new plants, some just beginning to bloom and others showing signs of revival. My Kardinal Rose surprised me with it's largest flush of blooms after a severe pruning in February - this rose is where I stop and think about St Therese, and her love for Jesus. It is my dearest prayer to love Him as deeply as she.

Please enjoy the snapdragons, allysum, lavender, roses, carnations, verbena, daisies, petunias, sage, basil, rosemary, mint, lemon balm, chives, oregano, violas, sweet williams...and the dwarf, who hides amongst the daisies and brings a smile to my face when he greets me each morning.

We only have a tiny garden, but God has blessed us with the unfathomable beauty of His Creation in abundance!

What is blooming in your garden this month?
Hugs,
Jenny

True Love

I've designed this Resurrection embroidery as a gift to you. May the love of Christ and the wonderful message of His Resurrection bring you abundant joy, not just over Easter, but every day of your life.

You can download the pdf for the pattern here, or if you would like to print it as a colouring page for the children you can simple click on the design above and it will print larger.

For ideas on embroidering the design have a look on my sewing blog for similar ones I have done recently.

God bless you!!
Jenny

He is Risen!!!

~~~~CHRIST IS RISEN~~~~



~~~~~CHRIST IS INDEED RISEN!!~~~~~

May the glorious truth of the Resurrection fill you with increased hope and appreciation today and in the year ahead!
Blessings,
Jenny

His death.....

John 19:14-25

	Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"
	They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
	Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
	So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha.
	There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
	Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
	Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
	The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, "Do not write, `The King of the Jews,' but, `This man said, I am King of the Jews.'"
	Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
	When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom;
	so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfil the scripture, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."
	So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Mag'dalene.

Sunday arvo round our way...

With low tide predicted for 2pm our family set off for Cape Le Grande National Park, driving the 70 klms there by road, but planning to drive home the shorter way, on the beach! It's a mere 30 klms by the shore but a much nicer trip.

Once we arrived at Cape Le Grande we discovered our favourite beach, Hellfire Bay, had changed after the bushfires earlier this year - you can see the burnt out areas above the beach.

Hubby used the GPS on his new mobile phone to see where we were and discovered it was being tracked by seven satellites!

This little dragonfly was still battling for breath after being washed to the shore. The sand at Hellfire Bay is like crushed quartz, and when you walk on it you hear that chalk on the blackboard sound...right up your spine!!


Next we drove over to Rossiter Bay, but it was not as nice as last time - lots of green slime and froth coming in with the tide.
Hubby checked once again with his GPS and the same seven satellites were tracking it. Boys and their toys! ;-)

Driving back towards Cape Le Grande we went past Lucky Bay, voted the whitest beach in Australia. It has a camping area, very popular with locals and tourists.

Next stop was the beach at Cape Le Grande itself...from here you can see right across the bay to Esperance, our home. That was our next destination, a whole bay and a huge rock before us!

I zoomed in for a close-up. If you look in the background you can see little bits sticking out from the horizon. Those are the pine trees near our house.
Blossom LOVES the beach, and spends time walking on the quiet one near our house every day, but out here it is even more deserted than at home.

After biscuits and water we drove back home along the shoreline, the sand was very firm as it was low tide so we made good time in hubby's 4WD. About 25 klms along the beach we come to a huge rock, known locally as "the Rock", which we must drive over and down to another beach in order to finish the trip home.

This is where we came from in the background (now we were atop the Rock)...

...and this is where we're going to after we drive down.


It's a very steep and bumpy drive down and Blossom never enjoys it. Can you see the tiny blue car down on the beach below us?

Once down and after driving the last 5 klms along the beach we stop at Bandy Creek Harbour, this is where our local fishing fleet moor their vessels and where the annual Blessing of the Fleet happens.
We have to stop here so hubby can pump the tyres up again, ready to drive the last little bit on the road home.

Blossom and dad have fun while the tyres re-inflate...

...he always makes me smile!

While waiting for the tyres to be ready I noticed the last little bit of wattle blooming...

...and the seeds ready to drop for next season.

It's lovely here in our area at this time of year. No tourists until next weekend, so we thought we'd make the most of today.
Once back in town we bought hot chips for tea, the cook got the night off. ;-)

I hope you enjoyed this little picture view of our family's Sunday arvo.

God bless!
Jenny

One year ago today...

...I was received into the Church I love. Wow.

Mass this morning was so personal. I didn't tell anyone about my one year birthday, just wanted Jesus and I to hold that close between us.

Have some cake with me, and share a prayer of thanksgiving?

God bless you,
Jenny

Forgiveness...God's example

I've been chatting to a few loved ones lately about forgiveness.
Some find it hard to forgive those who have hurt them deeply, others find it hard to forgive themselves. I've fallen into both categories through my life, but I recently read something so beautiful, so profound, that my way of understanding God's forgiveness has completely changed for the better.

Many years ago I just could not let go of my self-loathing. I would confess my sins, trust that God had forgiven me for the next day or so, but then I would revisit the guilt/shame and go through the cycle of repentance, confession/forgiveness all over again. I just couldn't grasp the truth of when God says "You are forgiven, the slate has been wiped clean, I no longer remember your sin", that He actually MEANS it!

Then two things happened. The first was a reading from 2 Corinthians 10:5 -
~~casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ~~
As I read those words one morning it hit me like a lightning strike - every time I brought my forgiven sins before God again I was saying that I did not believe His promise to forgive, I was exalting my own faulty beliefs above the perfect knowledge of God! Wow - that totally floored me. Then later that week the second thing happened to rock my understanding.
I had a dream. I was standing by the shores of a great lake, and in a bucket beside me were my sins. As I took a sin from the bucket I would confess it, repent of it, and throw it into the lake hoping God had taken it and it was no more. When the bucket was empty I bent over and picked up a fishing rod. Casting this out into the depths of the wide expanse of the lake (God's forgiveness) I would hook the forgiven sins, and one by one reel them in and place them back in the bucket. When the bucket was full I would start all over again.
I knew when I awoke that God was showing me the only person not forgiving me, was me.

Those two revelations (about 8 years ago) completely changed my heart and I have never doubted God's forgiveness since. But many people still do. I used to want God to punish me, to make me physically pay for what I'd done against Him - I was a victim of domestic violence for much of my life as a child and in the 10 years of my previous marriage, so I accepted physical punishment as a norm.
My second husband (of 17 years) is the most gentle man and has never lifted a finger against me, but it took me so many years to understand that violence was not the answer to wrongdoing - and yesterday I read something beautiful from St Maximus the Confessor that explained God's forgiveness in a profoundly comforting and life-giving manner:

Again, he told of how that Father, who is goodness itself, was moved with pity for his profligate son who returned and made amends by repentance; how he embraced him, dressed him once more in the fine garments that befitted his own dignity, and did not reproach him for any of his sins.

So too, when he found wandering in the mountains and hills the one sheep that had strayed from God’s flock of a hundred, he brought it back to the fold, but he did not exhaust it by driving it ahead of him. Instead, he placed it on his own shoulders and so, compassionately, he restored it safely to the flock.

(Saint Maximus wrote this reflection around the year 650AD - you can read the entire letter here )

Is that not truly beautiful!! The Good Shepherd did not drive the lost sheep ahead of Him with anger or rebuke - His compassion is such that he lifted it and carried it safely and lovingly back to the sanctuary of the sheepfold.

Truly, our God has many lessons to teach us, and we will need another lifetime to learn even a small portion, but when we make our mistakes He is waiting to forgive, waiting to embrace, waiting to restore - EVERY time.

Are you like God when you forgive? Am I? Or do you/I like to make the culprit feel our pain, over and over?

If you are like I was I hope these few words help you to unburden yourself of incorrect thinking and allow you to experience for real the 'easy yoke' our Lord promises. I understand better, too, the Scripture where Paul exhorts fathers not to exasperate their children - how easy it is to go on and on at our children when they fall short of doing what is right. Yet, when we continue to wave their sins in front of them it is we who now sin, we who have chosen to exalt ourselves higher than God. It is important for our own souls that when we forgive, we TRULY forgive...it is the least we can do after the enormity of sin Jesus carried of ours and took the blows and death for.

To forgive is life-giving to the one at fault, but also to us. To forgive self is to allow the new day to dawn bright and hopeful, the slate clean and fresh. Yes, forgiveness in all it's examples is LIFE.

Bless you!

Jenny

Middle of March already?!

Can you believe we're already half way through March? I can't. I still remember Christmas as though it were just passed. I guess that's part of growing older...time goes so much faster and you wish it would stop for a bit so you could catch up and take a breather.

My garden has felt the effects of a very hot and dry summer, so today I started pulling the weary basil plants, now at the end of their season, as well as cucumbers and snow peas, and various annual summer flowers that are looking well past their use by date. The garden has lost it's verve and vitality, it's ready to be made over for autumn/winter.

The chrysanthemums, daisies, rosemary and parsley will stay, but the last of the basil is gone and the petunias won't last much longer. All the pots of carnations have been planted down in the soil now so I'll show you pics of them in a week or two when they've revived and looking perky again.

The heirloom tomatoes have been abundant, but they are winding down production - I'll leave them in another week or two but then I need to store the soil up and fertilize it ready for some vibrant winter colour. I've gotten a lot of mini chocolate capsicums from my one plant, so I think I'll grow them again next year.

I emptied my wheelbarrow garden and added new soil, a coleus (I think that's what it's called), and some pretty viola seedlings. In a few weeks this should be lovely again.

Slicer sat and pulled all the remaining leaves from the uprooted basil plants so I could make pesto, but he found a visitor....
A little grub spinning his cocoon.

This afternoon I made the pesto,

used the last of the plums for two jars of plum & cinnamon jam,

picked all the ripe mini chocolate capsicums,

and set lots of green tigerella tomatoes on the bench to ripen. The pesto, capsicums and tomatoes will make a lovely Italian dinner tomorrow night. Many of the tigerellas are ripe now, they go a little yellow and they're ready. Most of the tomatoes I've grown are not red ones, they are green, brown or yellow varieties, but they are so tasty!!
I finished off the day with a freshly baked Peach Cobbler and yummy vanilla custard.
Tomorrow after Mass I plan to pull out all my cooking magazines and cut out the recipes I want to keep, hopefully building a stock of new autumn/winter recipes in a lovely binder I inted to decorate. Blossom wants to be more hands on in the kitchen so a kitchen binder may help with menu planning, shopping etc.

What have you done this weekend?

Jenny

Treasures

The most important things in your home are people.

~Barbara Johnson~

I read this quote on Ruthanne's blog and it stuck with me the rest of the day.

Lately I've placed a lot of importance on decluttering, re-organising, and re-decorating my home to make it a more relaxed and welcoming place for the family to be. I've been sewing up a storm with furnishings, trying to please both the male and female factions of our home, striving to not be too feminine with my choices, but also to bring a prettiness to the place - somewhere my girly self can thrive. A lot is changing, and it's lovely, but it has been quite time consuming.

It's easy to change the house. Out with the old, in with the new, the mood of the season displayed in course until once again you feel the need to alter the arrangement.

But not so with people. If the people in my life are wearing on me I cannot toss them in a box and deposit them at the local charity store - I cannot swap them for new versions, nor can they do so to me.

Without my loved ones my house would not be a home, regardless of the beautiful things displayed therein. Without the constant rub of personalities to keep me on my toes I would not be made aware of opinions, dreams and struggles other than my own. My life would be a shell, and my heart a closed casket.

So I love the family God gave to share my life and I try to remember that their place and personality in my home is where my true decoration is displayed. They can be polished with my care or tarnished with my neglect. It's all about what I give importance to.

Jesus taught us that the true treasures in our hearts will be displayed by our lives - I pray I never see things becoming more important to me than people, than family. Sometimes though, I just need a little reminder.

Hugs,

Jenny

Yuk....

Meet my new best friends, Milo, and Nature's Cuppa.
They are not coffee. They do not make me smile. Hubby used to like Milo but now he runs from me everytime I ask if he'd like a cup. And the Nature's Cuppa? He sneers. I agree with him but I'm hoping if we drink it often enough and long enough it will grow on us and we'll smile at the thought of a hot cup to greet the morning.
But for now, we frown. :-(


These pretty flowers from my garden make me smile, so I'll let my last thought for today rest with them. :-)
Praise God for the flowers.

The good thing about this all is that we truly are sacrificing for Lent. It's hurting, but not the way He hurt, and that's the point of it all - to enter into His own sacrifice even if it's just coffee we're laying aside.

God bless your own efforts to sacrifice this Lent,
Hugs,
Jenny

Lenten living

" A generous spirit is itself great wealth. There can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed." St Leo the Great

These words adhered to my soul as I read them this morning after praying through the Liturgy of the Hours, a beautiful gift from my dear friend Pam for my last birthday. There is a section at the back with the Office of Readings, and this one is a Lenten sermon from St Leo the Great (Slicer's patron saint).
In this sermon he is teaching on giving - the virtue of charity. It's a beautiful message, urging us all to remember that giving is itself a gift, a reminder that He multiplies all that is given and returns to us more than we could imagine - because it is Christ who feeds (we are only giving what He has given us), and Christ who is being fed (when you give a glass of water to a stranger you are giving it to Christ).

But St Leo the Great may not have realised that many centuries later a woman who has been struggling with trials and sufferings en masse in latter months would translate his words into something deeper, something that would require her to pull up every last scrap of courage in order to answer and respond to the revealed calling of God's Holy Spirit.

"The Virtue of Charity", that is the title of this sermon. To give because He asks us to, the receive because it is His joy. Indeed, there have been many charitable needs attended to of late due to the devastation and loss our country has witnessed, but today I heard Christ calling me to a charitable deed that would hurt me. Forgiveness.

I easily open my arms to those in need, whether they be bushfire victims or someone who needs a lift to church, but to open my arms to those who have deeply wounded me...that is not the easy act of charity. And yet, when I see my Lord upon His Cross I see His arms wide open, opened for those in need, you and I...the ultimate act of charity. His forgiveness won for us in our worthless sinful state was won with 'arms wide open'.

As that picture bore itself upon my heart today I knew that this Lent was (for me) to be a time of total forgiveness, to open my arms wide and embrace those who have hurt me, mindful of the Everlasting Arms that took me when I was the one doing the hurting. Easy it is not, but those Open Arms watch me from the Crucifix on our wall and I realise dying to self is worth it to honour my Jesus.

~~~~~~~~~

On the physical relinquishing side of Lent we have given up tea and coffee. This little block below, from a favourite quilt, tells you one of my favourite parts of the day...



....but the two adults of our home belatedly decided yesterday that we would remove this (and tea as well!) from our home completely. The rubbish bin for the first time ever is a place we wander by for the aroma at the moment. ;-) We both are well and truly hooked on our caffeine so this is not easy, we both have pounding headaches and are drinking more lemonade than ever before, but we're committed.

I am finding new uses for our tea party pieces. May I present a teapot....

....a milk jug....

...and another milk jug! More to be filled in the days ahead.

Oh, and not be left out - ta da! The bowl of tomatoes wanted to have its portrait taken as well.


God bless you and yours this Lent.
Hugs,
Jenny

Ashes

From Fr John Speekman :

Firstly, this ash will be placed on your forehead at your request. No one will force you to come up to receive it; it will be purely voluntary. You will be saying ‘Give me this ash as a symbol of the destruction I wish to have happen within me this Lent; the destruction of my evil passions, the clearing of all the undergrowth in my life that is hindering my journey towards God, the destruction of all my empty attachments. I want it all cleared so that I may be free to travel more safely and more quickly.’

Go read the whole post.

May your Lenten time be one where you grow out of the old ways and see how freeing it is to be without them,
Jenny

50 down - 50 to go?

Not that I'm really wondering if I'll make it to 100, but 50 seems so old and yet in light of a century it's pretty young with a looooong way to go!

The boys will not be photographed for my blog, so they played around on the other side of the camera.
They stopped to eat cake though.

May your own life be one of joy and blessing!
Jenny

PS: I'm having a Debbie Mumm fabric giveaway on my sewing blog, Elefantz. If you'd like to be in the draw just go over and leave a comment on the Giveaway post.