.png)
Go to the Archives Index if you wish to check for an older article from 2020. Otherwise, watch for announcements of new e-books that I expect to produce that will share the best of the older issues. At the moment there are 905 issues of the RoseBouquet that was published as blog posts, as an xml file (for Feed Readers), and as an ezine emailed to my subscribers.
Your best move, if you are afraid of forgetting to come back here every week, just subscribe to the RoseBouquet, and it will come to you by email. Sure. Why not? It's Free and painless!
______________________________________
<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>
RoseBouquet - About and FOR Friends of
Ruthe's Secret Roses. (Ezine edition)
________________________________________
<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>
Most of my subscribers are Canadians, so you likely were celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday as well. The Canadian Thanksgiving falls in about mid-October, while Americans celebrate their Thanksgiving Day in November.
But there are many ways to celebrate Thanksgiving. Do you ALWAYS celebrate it with a house full of people and a tremendous feast spread on the table?
On the other hand, if you are the chief Chef, and you find all that kitchen work utterly exhausting, you may be the one who persuades all the rest of the family or the whole clan that you want meet at a restaurant and celebrate with a meal that others have cooked and brought to the table.
During the years I cared for my parents, the Chef role fell to me mostly. Unless my sister Elsie was there too, and it was a given that she was a far better cook than I, since she had trained to be in charge of hospital kitchens, so she had no problem planning a menu for over 30 people at a time, and pulling it all off quite easily.
I had no problem serving as her flunky, running to fetch whatever she asked for, or clearing up after and doing the dishes alone . . . . quite often.
Then, when I moved into this tiny house all by myself, I thought and prayed about it, and decided, since I did know how to cook a turkey and all the vegetables and so forth, even a decent dessert I should be looking out for other seniors who lived alone and might thing it was too much bother to prepare a big thanksgiving meal just for one, and invited them over to join me and we could all pretend we were one happy family.
At least the 5-6 people I invited over would not have to warm up left-overs and eat a TV dinner in front of their TV - if they had one. (I didn't.) That has worked out quite nicely for the 17 years I've lived here now. But some of these friends are now bedridden in a nursing home; some have died, and I've grown tired if I work in the kitchen on my feet for more than an hour. In recent years I have made the effort for the sake of others.
However, this year I thought it through very carefully. I wasn't sure how many would come, and I would really rather have a prayer retreat with the LORD, (skip the big meal) and work on my to-do lists.
I have to-do lists for different parts of my life; business, client work, personal projects I'd like to do, and so on. Lately, I'd begun to feel crowded and really wanted to talk over my lists with the Lord, and see if He would make suggestions to tidy up my lists and make them more manageable.
So I did not invite anyone to come for Thanksgiving supper yesterday. I had some chicken breasts and put two of them into the crockpot with some potatoes and other veggies, so that if someone just showed up at my door, I could invite that one in, and share my supper with that person.
But mainly I would just have my feet up, my lists in hand, and ask some questions - and listen for answers.
I had my usual morning prayer time but found my mind running off in little tangents, so it took longer than I'd thought. I had a muffin for brunch, and then got myself comfortable in the recliner - (probably not the best idea as I got sleepy there). After a while I realized that I'd make better progress at the computer, asking questions, and really thinking things through.
Sure enough by supper time I had revised my lists, and moved some things to a different list, and made up a new list of the priority some of these things should have, and I began to see that it was all "doable" after all.
My chicken and baked potato tasted great, and after doing dishes I got to work on completing the end-of- summer Garden Photo Tour, something I had not been able to get for several weeks.
Hopefully that will be ready to mail out next week.
___________________________________________
The RoseBouquet is a weekly Ezine of
Ruthes-SecretRoses.com
You can also get The RoseBouquet as an RSS feed in your news Reader.
Just paste in this link;
Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RoseBouquet.xml
Better still: subscribe to the Ezine here:
https://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/rb/Subscribe-to-RoseBouquet.shtml
_______________________________________________
Have you discovered the power of Lists? Perhaps you've seen someone making or checking off things on a list - and you've said to yourself, "Whoa! That person doesn't trust their memory at all!"
Maybe that's true. But if they have lots of things to do in various categories as I do, it is easy to get absorbed in this or that project, and suddenly realize, that you had meant to do this and that little project in the time that has just disappeared.
Especially if you live alone and don't have another person handy to remind you that this or that job needs doing or is not finished yet, then you may face the fact that you do need a system of lists, and some ways to check them as often as possible to make sure you getting all your works done at the right time.
What's more, there is a clear sense of relief when you can cross off something as completed, and you can ignore that item from now on. Besides, that proves you got something done today! Allow yourself a bit of celebration! Especially if there's no one handy to clap you on the back to praise you!
Each small victory makes you glad and ready to tackle another to-do thing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a distinct advantage to listening to certain radio stations on the internet. My favourite radio station on the net which I have on all day long, bbn1.BBNradio.org/ They have a unique feature; that if I miss a certain program (generally applying to serials) I can catch it later by going to their "On Demand" page, click on the date, (say, Tuesday) then a popup window allows me to click the start arrow and I can listen to the 15 min. program called, "Christian Classics" that I missed earlier.
Lynn Brooks is a talented woman who can read the parts for all the characters in a good book, and make it come alive! She reads only well-known classics and often the chapters take her through a whole month.
It often happens that I've read the current book years ago, but I enjoy how Lynn can make a 15 min. read come alive.
Sometimes I do have to turn the volume down and I miss the regular reading of the day's chapter at 10:15 am or at 8 pm, but I know that as soon as I'm free I can catch up and hear the day's chapter after all. If I was away the previous day, I can catch up on that chapter first. Then today's.
Earlier this morning I realized that I'd just missed the 15 min. program with Elizabeth Elliott. She often reads a book too, or tells a story from her missionary years. It occurred to me that I had never noticed whether her program was also available 'On Demand.' I checked on that page, and sure enough, I could hear yesterday's 15 min segment, and then also today's. (Currently she is reading a Butler's book from the 1800s about how to be extra courteous and thoughtful. Lovely tips!)
Go to bbn1.BBNradio.org/english/listen-now/ They broadcast 24/7 in 8 languages, so you can choose the one you prefer. Click on "Listen on Demand" to choose from about 19 specfic programs, such Christian Classics, and Gateway to Joy.
Privacy Promises ~~
Sitemap
Ruthe's Secret Roses (official site)
©2001-2023 Ruth Marlene Friesen
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
