Tag Archives: mittonmusings

NEW

Posted on by
Reply

new

/no͞o/

adjective

1.not existing before; made, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time. example: “new crop varieties”

2.already existing but seen, experienced, or acquired recently or now for the first time. example: “her new bike”

3.just beginning or beginning anew and regarded as better than what went before. example: “starting a new life”

    OXford Dictionary

    New. New outfit. New Beginning. New month, new season, new house, new experiences. Everyone knows what it is like to experience something new. Anticipation mixed with a little anxiety. Perhaps it’s a thing you’ve always waited for. A dream come true. Perhaps it’s a thing you wish wasn’t happening. A new life lived without someone special. A diagnoses or news you didn’t want to know about. “Already existing but seen for the first time.” The spring season is upon us and I am excited for all the “new” around here.

    Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com

    I dug around in my flower garden for a bit yesterday. I have daffodils! We were not here last spring so I have no idea what may pop up. There is lots of new growth happening. I also cut back a bunch of old growth so a few new things can happen. It’s going to be work, work and more work. I think it will be worth it though. I’m excited about the possibilities (and much to the hubby’s chagrin, I have plans). A new couple has arrived in our cedar hedges: a pair of mourning doves. I am thrilled. I love their haunting cries! I hope they nest somewhere close by. Traditionally, spring is a time for “new life” and babies arrive! We’ll see what happens around here. Chicks have been ordered…. We celebrated Easter at the farm this year instead of in the city, with new traditions and family bonds. Things are different as we age. Kids grow up. Parents get older and new aches and pains arrive. Technology is ever creeping forward (sometimes quickly!) and everything seems new. We must adapt and change and keep up. Even if we don’t want to.

    I used to say I hated change. I wanted things to stay the same. I wanted things to stay within my comfort zone; in a place where I had control over them and I could feel safe about this or that. The familiar was a good thing and I didn’t want it to mutate away from what I knew. Now, however, as I grow older, I recognize that things must change. Without it there will be no progress. They say our brains get better as we go through new experiences. Our brain health improves when we learn new things and try and change and adapt. It makes our neurons fire and our brain matter grow. Just think about all those “littles” who soak up new information constantly: their brains develop at a crazy pace.

    Easter weekend had me musing about a few things, one of which was this idea of a new way of life… especially for the disciples. We got talking about Jewish traditions and the new movement of “Christianity” among the early church. Can you imagine the scene where the world as you know it gets turned upside down because of some radical who was crucified and now has been raised from the dead? Can you imagine if they had social media back then? Taylor Swift or Kate Middleton wouldn’t even be on the radar. Jesus would be all the talk.

    Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com

    Yet, Christ followers would have to adapt to a whole new way of life after the events of Easter. Three years of radical existence climaxes into political upheaval, arrests, scattering and thoughts of “what now?!” Do you default to what you know? Go back to the old way of life? Do you trudge forward, taking on the risks that may lie ahead? Do you hide and wait it out, hoping things will settle down and go away? I suppose all the options were available and each one did, as we would, their own thing.

    I’m not sure there is a “right or wrong” outcome to all things new. There is no real way to approach it. Time brings change and there is nothing we can do to avoid it. Let’s embrace it, together, shall we? Join us each week here and keep up with all the crazies of our new country abode and all the changes we take on! I’m on all the social media, too, because it is important to learn new things. Like blogging, and reels, and writing, and social media. Blessings, beloveds.

    Want to see how my writing has changed? Take a journey back to the early days of mittonmusings. Here is a good one about new things!

    Burdens and Birdhouses

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Welcome back. As I sit here, the wind is howling all around me, and our old house is creaking and complaining at the disturbance to its peaceful existence in the world. So many times I wonder why things have to change. I wonder why do we have to grow old, and why does the world not appreciate age for its wisdom and value it for its shear survival? I suppose change is good in some ways. Technology has moved us forward. We live longer. Without change there would be no seasons. No progression, I suppose. I muse, but I know better. We’ve been designed to have our moment, and then it’s over.

    Many of you know I am a thrifter. I love a good second hand store. Partially, because of the simple fact I am “frugal” and refuse to pay retail. I suppose the environmental impact influences me as well. Recycle, reuse. Rednecks recycle because they’re cheap though! 🙂 I love a good find… especially if the store doesn’t know the item’s value and it’s reflected in the price tag. Other times I wonder where on earth the staff pulled their number from. I’ve yet to be a “professional” though. I wait for the day that I walk out with a piece that I can envision on one of those road side antique stores where diamond rings are encrusted into the back of some obscure framed piece of cats drinking tea. Turns out it was painted by some turn of the century artist who died tragically, mauled by his tea drinking cats, and his works are now worth millions. Never happens to me.

    Nevertheless, sometimes a thing just strikes my fancy and I want it. The hubby often laughs, because occasionally I pick weird stuff. Old “junk” that I hope will be used and transformed into something beautiful. (Like an old century farmhouse in the middle of no where… just teasing!) This was the hope at a recent thrift visit. I found an old wooden bird house on the shelf. The wood was well weathered. The paint irrefutably peeling and well worn. It was five bucks. I hummed and hawed. I walked around the shelves some more. As I placed it on the check-out counter, I asked the cashier if she would consider a lower price. It was clearly some redneck farmer’s excuse for firewood. She could not negotiate, she says. Five bucks. It came home with me.

    Was it worth the $5??

    I can clean it up and fix it, right? Old farmhouse deserves a weathered old birdhouse, right? It was crusty — but the back was held on by a secret hatch — I pulled out all the remnants of a past inhabitant and scrubbed and sanded and dumped all the dirt and debris. My craft room lacks descent lighting, but after it was all dry I hiked upstairs to give it a fresh coat of paint. I wanted to keep it “rustic”, so it isn’t perfect. I thought I might add flowers or something to brighten it up, but old wooden snowflakes worked better… so it’s going to turn in to a winter ice palace for the birds!

    I’m sorry to say the project isn’t completely finished yet, so I can’t show you a “before” and “after” only a “before” and “work in progress”. Perhaps it will draw you back to visit us again… I have several bird feeders and houses around the property. Some were here, some I brought with me, some we’ve purchased. Others we thrifted. I’m hoping all the birds will come to my yard. A pair of mourning doves have been hanging around. I haven’t seen them before, so I am thrilled. I hope spring brings some nests! And baby birds to share with you!

    “Work in Progress”

    Are you a bird watcher? I miss my big picture window of the old house. I still can see the birds and squirrels here, but I have to go from spot to spot to catch them all. Warmer days will find us on the front porch where we have a better view. Not that the birds need my help. I marvel time and time again how teeny tiny little fragile bodies survive our harsh Canadian winters. Bird bones are fragile. Bird bodies are full of air. You can literally crush them with your hand. And I worry about my bunnies under the heaters all winter.

    Oh my beloveds, may these thoughts be encouragements to you this week. Things change. Things get old and are different, yet there is still value in the change. We must embrace it, encourage it, with a splash of new paint and wishes for more time to be used by God. Maybe things are not the same as they were, and we creak and moan with the annoying wind, but we stand firm. We are sheltered by His hands from the harsh realities of life. We appear fragile and worthless. Easily crushed. And yet all our needs seem somehow provided for.

    Sometimes we get a little help from others. And that’s okay. We are a community and we must look out for one another. The wind is gonna be fierce some days. Perhaps you need to just hunker down for a bit and wait it out. Perhaps you need to seek shelter or be the one who creates it for someone else. I don’t know where you’re at today, but I’m thinking about you. May you sparkle like my new (old?) ice palace birdhouse!

    Playing Possum

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Welcome back, beloveds! I trust you had a good week off. We enjoyed our family day weekend away, despite some glitches – but those are stories for another day. I am home again and working on this post after being outside cleaning up the bunnies. It is a beautiful day… warmer than most spring days and it’s still February! Last year this time, the hubby was complaining about the freezing wind and walking the dog in two feet of snow! We are certainly seeing the effects of global warming here.

    Speaking of global warming, a new creature has been making its way north and is being spotted more and more in southern Ontario: The Virginia Possum. Technically “opossum” (possum is the nickname for the Australian marsupial cousins). And if you saw my stories a little while ago, you’ll know that one of then has been frequenting our yard!! At first, there were strange tracks about. I was calling it a fat squirrel… but they didn’t hop like a squirrel, and no, not a bunny either. These tracks had big feet/claws like a raccoon, but not spaced that big. A mystery. Then the dogs (Reese and our furry “granddog”) noticed it in the treeline. Not an escape bunny… but the visiting possum! After being terrorized by two nosy doggies, and a collection of curious onlookers trying to get a picture of it in the dark, I heard it wandered off into our woods. So far, it is yet to be seen again, but I am hoping the nocturnal creature is sneaking snacks from our bird feeders at dusk and dawn.

    Mystery Tracks

    Why, do you ask, do I want this ugly little guy hanging around when it is very apt to eat my impending chicks? Well, apparently they are the clean up crew and eat all kinds of other junk too! Ticks and nasty bugs for one. Lyme disease producing ticks can be eliminated by one opossum at a rate of 4000 a week! Bring it on! Apparently, they are a very low rabies risk and will kill venomous snakes too! They will eat just about anything, including bones, and apparently are less destructive than raccoons, so our little visitor can hang out in the woods near our house as a welcomed guest. Just stay out of the hen house, okay?

    Still, these little creatures haven’t totally adapted to our Canadian winters quite yet. Their little toes and tails are naked, and therefore prone to frostbite. We had a sickly one in the city, living under our shed, and it was a sad looking thing. Ugly as sin. Rodents of unusual size, indeed. (Even though they are marsupials not rodents!) And so I muse….

    How good are you at adapting? Are you feeling shunned because you’re not as “cute” as others, even though you have plenty to offer? Do you play dead when approached or threatened? As an introvert trying to blend in to a new environment, I’m feeling quite possum-ish these days. Sharing our faith is intimidating. Building community and walking alongside others takes some confidence. We can’t “play dead” like the opossum when threatened by views that counter our own. Jesus didn’t back down from a fight. He was immune to the venomous culture infiltrating His neighbourhood, and chose to fight back and confront, taking on the disease producing pests of His day. Do we do the same?

    Possums look threatening. All teeth and claws and naked, ratty tails. Yet, they stay in the shadows most of the time cleaning up the garbage. They are not destructive either; they don’t chew and prefer already dug dens versus your attic or garage. They try and live at peace with others and just go about their business quietly. A lesson we can also take. How many times have we tried to chew a hole in someone else’s argument, when the simplest way to be welcomed is when space becomes available? Our good looks may not get us anywhere. Peaceful discussion may be the key to building lasting and rewarding friendships.

    Life is hard, isn’t it? No one told us it was supposed to be easy. Often we are vulnerable and naked, out standing in the harsh elements getting frostbitten. Yet, with God’s help, we can adapt and play vital roles in even new environments! We can take advantage of what’s been offered to us, and peacefully approach life, doing good and cleaning up the bad. Even when threatened, we can still “play possum” and wait for the opportunity to escape unscathed. Good looks and flashy appearances aren’t always the ticket. Sometimes we just have to hang around in the shadows and be part of the clean up crew.