Let's Just Stay Home

 All schools including colleges and universities are closed today in hopes that people 'just stay home'!

It's much safer for those trying to keep roads clear if there is less traffic skidding about!

Let’s just stay home

The wild wind wails

and flails its tears like broken glass

Let’s stoke the embers into flame

and make Cozy;

this too shall pass

Let’s snuggle beneath fuzzy shawls

while Nature decks its halls with B-r-r-r

Let’s bake a cake (or muffins)

to celebrate

Time’s creaky gait toward summer-r-r!

 Let’s count the ways we love thee, home

Thy warm welcome

never wears thin

How sweet the tempo of thy poem

How dear the laugh-lines

of thy grin

How beloved thy roof and walls

They gather us closer a bit

And shelter us from brutish brawls

while Old Man Winter throws a fit

...and heaven drops its hints of joy

in cheery kettle-tune and such

In happiness of girl and boy

at ease near mother's gentle touch 

Let's picnic by the fireplace

Let's just ignore the roaring clock

No, let's look time straight in its face

and savor every tick and tock

Let's live life slow;

let's be ourselves

Ah, never mind what others think

Family-arity fills shelves

with photos, books and poet’s ink

that authors within wood and stone

the solace of love’s humble prayer

while we work fingers to the bone

lest home-sweet-home becomes threadbare

So, not without meek, thankful thrill

do we utter this sacred Tome

while wild the gale exerts its will  

glad, glad we say;

let’s just stay home

© Janet Martin

and then the irony; while writing this poem Matt, after hearing his school is closed went straight to work. "I'm not sitting around here all day!" he said to his anxious mother😊

I got a text from a neighbour asking if its okay if she comes over today.

(I guess she's not feeling the 'let's just stay home' thing either😁)

Victoria on the other hand told me she's so glad to be home today 

because she didn't sleep very well last night due to the fact 

that she kept dreaming there was a crow in her room that constantly flew at her head😂

Happy February!

Because of schedules that keep me housebound more than I would choose if life was like that,

I feel like I didn’t quite get my fill of January’s thrills but better that way than the opposite, right?

Hopefully we live each day as if we didn't get quite enough of live-laugh-love,

always eager for a little more in the morning. 

A prayer of Dedication

Make me thankful for the moment

For the gift of now and here

Let me live as if the Present

Was about to disappear

Make me hungry for the hour

Tasting it with diligence

Counting blessings like the miser

Counts his dollars and his cents

Make me useful, careful, prayerful

Make me humble, helpful, kind

For with moment-measure’s sparkle

Soon a life is left behind

Amen 

© Janet Martin

 Remember your Creator
    in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
    and the years approach when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them”—

Eccles.12:1

 Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

Eccles.12:13-14

Here's Hoping!

 Last night Jim said (while we were watching the All-star Game being played in San Jose, 

while adding logs to the fire to ward of the deep chill from the north)
that he wishes we could move to San Jose and leave this bitter cold behind for good.
 I replied if he moves that would be very sad indeed because
 I am so glad to live in a climate that grants four true seasons, 

so he would be moving all by himself.😀

(no more just chillin' side-by side like two old love-birds)

Then Judy's post this morning added perfect YES-seasoning to

some tids and bits simmering in my poem-pot...

Here's hoping we love each season for what it lends,

because everything in life is but a season!

Here’s hoping we learn to accept what life sends

And love every season for beauty it lends

And never let longing give leave to destroy

With want’s inward pining, today’s would-be joy

Here’s hoping the orchard in winter’s white tress

Rings with sparkling echoes of spent happiness

While wild, the wind whistles up one street then down

Where trees like stark thistles shape harvest’s ghost-town

Here’s hoping we treasure Time’s measure of sand

Aware that whatever we hold in our hand

Is but for a season, like the flowers that bloom

While we cherish, not worship, what none can exhume

Spring; heaven for dreamers with restless bare feet

Summer; like a song of long days, toil sun-sweet

Autumn; awed awareness of Time tender truce

Winter; slows the dreamer once young and footloose

Here’s hoping we learn to let go when we must

To live for far more than Time’s loaned dust-to-dust

To look for the good in each day that God sends

And love every season for Beauty it lends

© Janet Martin

 To every thing there is a season, 

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Eccles.3:1

Prayer for Perseverance, Pardon and Peace

 Before Christmas Grandson loved looking at all the brightly coloured flyers filled with

toy-delights.

On Friday as he paged through each flyer I heard him say "toys? toys?" in a disappointed voice.

Thankfully AG Dealer saved the day and he had something to look at after all!

He reminded me a little of us sometimes as we leaf through distractions looking for 'toys, toys?'

Thankfully God's Word/love saves the day!

Angel at our shoulder

Army ‘round about

Peace to all who trust Thee

Lord, why do we doubt

Soul-sweet satisfaction

Thou art ever near

Goodness without ration

Lord, why do we fear

Well of Living Water

For a world sin-cursed

Free to every nation

Lord, why do we thirst

Buffets of distraction

First tempt, then mislead

Lord, remind Want’s hunger

You are all we need

Nothing can persuade Thee

To forsake our side

Lord, guard and protect us

From thought’s foolish pride

Make our hearts an altar

Holding nothing back

For You will not falter

Lord, what do we lack

Lord, forgive our folly

When sin leads astray

Then Lord, guide, bless, keep us

In Jesus' name I pray

© Janet Martin

 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!…

Psalm 34:7-8

With What We Have...

Do you ever get tired of the same cook-and bake-scenery, wishing for fresh ideas to shake things up? 

Does it seem like, in spite of a rainbow of choices we end up with 'faithful spud' thudding our cooking pot (partly because no one ever says 'ew! what's this?!:) to a potato?

Well, dear cook in the kitchen of life,

welcome to a meander through an orchard of delicious possibilities and nostalgia!

Meet Rose, who makes everyone feel at home in her corner of the world

 as she shares recipes, reflections, and snap-shots of nostalgia! 

This is my attempt at Blueberry-lemon Muffins from her latest post.

Because I didn't have muffin liners mine look a little different from hers. 

I topped them with cinnamon sugar instead of the butter and sugar-dip suggested in the recipe, 

 so they could cool a little more before removing them from the pan. 

 Enjoy your choices today!

We may not always be able to choose the 'ingredients' we are handed in life

but we always choose how we use them!

With what I have, Lord make me glad

And not inclined to pine

Because of something someone had

That I wish would be mine

With what we have, Lord, make us fit

To touch the charge You grant

And never sit and pout a bit

In hopeless pits of ‘can’t’

With who we are, Lord, make us brave

Because of who You are

Lest we miss out on what we have

While wishing on a star

With what we have, Lord, help us choose

To serve its purpose well

Before the dimming of gold-blues

Where twilight’s shadow fell

© Janet Martin