Endless rain

Yes, we are like this and have been since November with some intervals, but now we haven't them for more than a month, just rain and rain.

Sometimes the sun shows himself  for some minutes, hours, if we are lucky, but he goes away again.

Everyday we have rain and what a rain we have, night and day, strong and noisy.

The fields are drenched and can't hold well the trees that fall down when a strong wind comes.

We are living as in a film, an apocaliptic one, as many people in some parts of the country have not a house anymore because the wing took the tiles off.

Not here, in my town we lost so, so many trees, but that's all. And walls, because the trees fell on them.

It's too much. We can't wash the clothes as most of us dries them in the line to catch the good scent that the sun gives to the line dried clothes. Not now. There is no sun to dry the clothes. So we dry them inside, in enclosed balconies.

Even the people with driers don't use them much because the electricity prices went too high.

Anyway, for the will of God we live in these times of the end and we will endure it.

But one of these days the sun will come back and I will be happy with it, me who was always happy when it rained. But now we had enough. We really need some dry, sunny days.

Candlemas

 

And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.

2 February - The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple

And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons:

And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said:
Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace;

 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:

 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him.

And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted;

And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel.

And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth.

It's cold outside

 

So the storm came and went away but left a trail of destruction everywhere. Not like it happens in America, the houses are all standing but even so, for our standards it was quite a storm with destruction and casualties.

Here what we have the most is trees uprooted everywhere, several in the same street, in very many streets, branches fallen and trees cut by the firemen so people and cars can pass, people arriving late to work and school because so many streets are cut and even on foot people can't go there. No place to park the cars, infinite trafic lines, etc.

It was quite a night! The wind and rain on the windows made such a noise that people woke up in fear. In the morning everything was quiet but what a vision! I can't imagine the number of trees that we lost.

Anyway, let's give thanks to God for sparing us, not everybody in this country can say that the problem they had was only a fright, delays of every kind and trees broken. There are people facing serious situations.

I hope we will not have such a storm again so soon.

Now we have rain and cold and a lot of snow in the North (a lot for our standards) but we are in peace.

            

 

Restart

I read at the Afternoon Coffe and Evening Tea a sentence that I agree the most and that I will remember as it is so inspiring:

The beginning is always today

That reminds me what Flylady says:

What's wrong with now?

and

Jump in where you are

Those two last sentences have been helping me for ages and now I will add the first one that says that the beginning is today. Always.

Truly we need to not beat ourselves each time we fall off the wagon because, as Flylady says, there is no wagon, you just jump in where you are.

And I keep doing that, jumping in. Restarting.

Maybe someone who reads this is thinking about times that it happened to her. Maybe it happens often. Never mind, never give up on you. Get up, trust, life is not a reaching point, it's a way of traveling, sometimes we are better, sometimes not so good but after each fall, rise up.

As for me I'm having the intention of getting better in many things and I will do what I can to be like that, even if some days are not so sucessful, there are other that are better.

And one of the things that I want to do is to take Flylady more serious again, even if I do it my way.

Her teachings are not the Sacred Scriptures, we can disagree in some things and want to do differently, but in the whole, it's a good system that I discovered in 2001.

So, what are you waiting for? Just start.

Partying at

Talking about it Tuesday at Slices of Life

I am a resistant

I'm not a person inclined to trends, to fashion, on my clothes and the house - and mentality!

I am a resistant. 

I never try to please or I am afraid to displease. Reading this you may think I am a difficult person, intransigent and unpleasent. Well, I will tell you that it depends on the tastes of the people around me and I know some like me.

I am classic, conservative and I follow my lead, my tastes and I look for and get together, in person or online, with likeminded people.

In that note I will say that I never care about what is the trend in anything, so I dress in a classical way, with some clothes that could have been worn in the fourties and fifties and the begining of the sixties.

 

                   

    

Pensil skirts, pleated or softly circled. Sweters, pullovers, cardigans with round or v-necks. With scarves. Or blouses inside. Never trousers, only inside the home when it's cold. Reasonable lent shorts when it's hot. But never outside.

If it's not summer I wear tights, always, transparent or opaque.

My shoes are like these:

  

never pointed, never square, always round, black, blue or it can be of a pastel colour

 

Always flat or low heels for the health of my column.

And the house.

I like this kind of kitchen.

And everything that evokes that feeling.

            

        

And I always hang our clothes on the line.

It's a way of living and I'm not alone in that.

Partying at

TFT Blog Hop at Katherines Corner

Talking about it Tuesday at Slices of Life

Identity

I just can't find the will to change my blog header because it shows so well what I truly am, what I like. 

This painting reminds me my childhood when my grandmother, the one who knew how to do everything and did it so well, would seat at the sewing machine, in front of the window, which had plants on the windowsill, and made all sorts of sewing, from just simple repairs to clothes to very elaborated and difficult dresses and all kind of things.

Not that we hadn't shop bought clothes, my parents quite often traveled abroad and my mother bought ready made dresses and all kind of clothes, but the ones made by my grandmother were rather special.

I have, from my grandmother, the liking of working with the sewing machine but not her ability but I'm decided to try hard to increase my work at the machine by quantity and quality so I will be more able to make nice things. I  know I will never, ever reach her level, not at all, but I truly want to be better in that.

To be better was the idea I had in my mind in the  begining of last year and in this one I have it again in the sense of going the extra mile.

Not to be better as to be a good person, or a better one, I mean to be better as to have more quality in those things that I know how to do it and how to be it, to be even better than I am. So with this I'm not saying that I am not good, just that I want to be even better - and really much better.

So, if someone is reading this, please remind yourself that you are good enough in many things, don't put yourserlf down, because for sure you are good in many things but you may and you should, if you want, to be even better.

On the header of my blog, if someone remembers, the one before the present one, I used to have lavender in it because it's a kind of flag to me, a symbol of me, as I am traditional, I like the old ways, I have an inclination for things past and I relate lavender with all that, in true elegance, simple and sober, in me and in the house and in mentality.

“So strong is Tradition that later generations will dream of what they have never seen.”

 G.K. Chesterton

Even the name of my blog means that: Alfazema = Lavender.

It's what I am.

Partying at

Talking about it Tuesday at Slices of Life

The delight of past eras - II

I could have lived in past eras as I like it so much.

I think the downfall happened in the middle of the 60', with some intervals. I remember some pretty things in the end of the 80' (some, I said 😀), as in the 90' and so on, but most clothes are not as elegant as before. We are lucky when we can find some quite decent.

But it's not just the clothes, life in every aspect was better and nicer before. Now we have some progress in the health department and we have the glorious internet, mobile phones and such, but taking that off some improvements, we are not better.

But never mind, we can always hope and wait for better times.

Now we will see some elegance and nice living from the 50s and the begining of the 60s.

Then we stop. 😄

The 50s

The 60s

That's all.

 Read also The delight of past eras - I