Driving Over Athenian Oranges

Two little orange trees hiding behind trellis on left

Hello dear friend,

Thank you for stopping by today. I thought I would share an aspect of Athens that you may not be aware of: the orange trees that line suburban streets.

Munching breakfast toast and marmalade, the tangy flavour set the wheels of my mind spinning backwards towards my beloved #Athens, where my street was lined with little orange trees – whose fruit was as bitter as a Seville and just as tasty when boiled up with sugar.  

Over the years I watched these trees grow from as tall as me to the height of two men upon each other’s shoulders.  They made their presence felt in a number of ways. In the seasonal sequence I remember that it went this way:

In springtime, the strong sweet fragrance of their waxy white blossoms filled the air. And for me – no allergy sufferer – it was a welcome scent as I walked to the seashore or shops. Often, I would don thick gloves and take secateurs to cut myself a bunch. And once the thorny twigs were safely in vases of water they graced my home for days.  

The trees were thus decked out for weeks, then dark green globes the size of a walnut would appear – but you wouldn’t notice this unless you peered because they were camouflaged against glossy leaves.  For the next couple of months, as the days got hotter and hotter, the fruit would be ripening until even the most oblivious could see the small bright oranges.  

When these fruits fully ripened the trees really made their presence felt. As they released their crop the oranges piled up around them on the pavement or rolled pell-mell into gutters and over the roads. When parking the car it was impossible not to run your tyres over them and the aroma of freshly squashed oranges was mouth-watering as you alighted.

But the trees had one further trick up their green sleeves which I discovered one night… Just falling asleep I heard a loud: thump, thump, thump. The unexpected noise drew me abruptly back from the Land of Nod, out of bed and onto the balcony. As I peered around tall potted plants scouring the empty street the thump, thump, thump came again. Aha. I saw what was happening and it made me chuckle. The nearby big metal wheelie bin was under an orange tree and gusts of wind were cannoning fruit onto its arched top, which magnified the sound in the still night. I went back to bed and quickly fell asleep to the lullaby of thud, thud, thud, thud.

The photo, top left, is the corner of my balcony and behind the trellis you can just about see two of said orange trees. Top right is balcony with plants. Ah, what happy memories…

I read the other day that currently marmalade is losing its popularity in Britain. Market analysts at #Kantar Worldpanel maintain that the nation is favouring other breakfast spreads such as honey, jam and peanut butter instead.  Ah well, sheep dot the adjacent hills of my home but I am not one of them, so…pass the marmalade please. Mmm, scrummy!

Guest Blog

Guest Blogger is my dear friend, Kelly who lives in Lancashire and was kind enough to share her recipe for: 

Leek and Potato Soup

Hello,

Very straightforward way to get a fan-dabbi-dozi pot of leek and potato soup.

Place 4 pints of water and two veg stock cubes in a large pan

·    slice 5 med size potatoes into chunky pieces

·    slice 1 large leek into quarter inch chunks

·    dice 4 carrots into smallish pieces

·    cut one (or two if you prefer) med onions into quarters

Add all the prepared veg and a single teaspoon of salt if you wish at this stage

Bring to the boil and then immediately turn down to low simmer. Simmer for at least one and a half hours

Enjoy

love

Kelly

Comment from Teresa

Thank you again Kelly, can’t wait to try this. It sounds simply delicious! 

One Minute Meditation on Thankfulness

Take a deep breath and close your eyes for a minute and flood your mind with thankfulness. Then say, “Dear Lord I am thankful for:”…and list your personal reasons.

For myself, I am so very happy that the snow has gone! The stark contrast of sunshine on green hills causes me to say:

Dear Lord,

I am thankful for the gift of this day

I am thankful that I can wear far fewer layers of clothing

I am thankful that, if I want to, I can just jump into my car and go wherever I please

I am thankful that, though I have laid the fire in the wood burner, I don’t need to light it until this evening

I am thankful that I took delivery of more logs yesterday -which was a huge relief! []

* Guest Blogger: If you have a few words of encouragement or a veggie recipe you would like to share please contact me on: http://www.teresa@teresaodriscoll.co.uk

I welcome your comments on the above.

Coming next: Guest blog: +Pauline Lewis, ACW member, founder of +Ready Writers in Wales, author and teacher tells us about +Bible Explorer, a course for children aged 10 & 11 which she presents at four primary schools.

Vegan recipe: Leek, Potato & Cannellini Bean Stew. 

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity  

Pet Turkey Memoir Beside Spicy Lentil Sweet Potato Soup

Hello friend,

Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year! We are already a couple of weeks into 2013 and I don’t know about you but I am still making great efforts to implement my New Year’s Resolutions. I admit to already having a bit of slippage on a couple – walk at least four times weekly (did great the first week but nothing since, and now I am snowed in, ooh er); and in tandem with that eat low GI / GL (also have a sweet tooth and been finishing up Christmas goodies).  But, I have prepared and sent out a Newsletter – so I’ve kept that resolution. And here I am writing a blog post – another Resolution kept (so far).

I prayed for a way to keep on track with blog posts and I now plan to invite * Guest Bloggers! I hope that you will enjoy the variety of content on this blog and keep checking back for new posts. The essence of this blog is: +Christian Living and Writing – body, mind and spirit.  Expect encouraging info and articles covering a lot of ground including: Creative Writing, Beauty, Health & Fitness, and Personal & Spiritual Development.

And so, dear friend, if you have something to contribute that will fit into that broad framework please do get in touch…

Having been a vegetarian for many years I have enjoyed experimenting with recipes – adapting, dabbling, and mixing things up. I am a great lover of Greek food - the Mediterranean diet is famous for its health-giving ingredients – which I now concoct from ingredients found in Wales.  Over the coming posts I will be sharing these with you. They are tasty, quick and easy recipes either vegetarian or vegan which I hope you will enjoy. As I am now experimenting with cooking on my wood burning stove I will offer two cooking methods for many – classic and wood burner. See my first offering – Vegan Red Lentil and Sweet Potato soup – smooth, lightly spiced and colourful - below

Guest Blog.

Guest Blog

Guest Blogger is Lisa Barrow, author and labyrinth expert who lives on Long Island, New York

Snaggle the Turkey Was My Beloved Pet

By Lisa Barrow

When we think of Turkeys we think of holidays and turkey soup.  Or, we hear about how "stupid" turkeys are.  I have heard on several occasions, "Turkeys are so dumb, that they tilt up their heads and open their mouths when it rains, and then they drown..."   True or not....my Snaggle would never do something as strange as that.

Snaggle was the head fowl on our property, overseeing the chickens, roosters, his beautiful white feathered wife, and my young child. His head, usually a pale sky blue, would turn purple with annoyance or anger if we were going against the farm "rules". 

Upon my rising early in the morning, and venturing downstairs to the kitchen to start another day, outside the glass sliding doors, there would be Snaggle, resting on his chest, feet tucked under, awaiting my son who was five years old at the time, to come out to play in the yard.  As soon as Jordon would be dressed, and allowed outside, Snaggle would be in loyal pursuit, following in his footsteps as I did the regular household chores. If I heard excessive gobbling, I'd go outside, only to witness Jordon climbing on a big mound of soil that was dug by the back hoe, or into other mischief.  Snaggle let me know if any mishap could happen.

If my mother would come by to take Jordon for the day...Snaggle and his white feathered bride, and the guinea hens, would jump on the car, and chase it down the dirt road.....as one of their 'flock' was being apprehended.

When evening would fall, Snaggle would spread his wings, and moving them to and fro, would herd the chickens into their coop for the night, and then turn his attention to us, herding our family into the home, as he knew it to be our "coop". To humor him, we would obediently retreat.

Snaggle eventually died, ironically on Thanksgiving Day.  Not by hatchet, or other means of turkey kill, but from defending our homestead from a large neighborhood dog, protecting his wife, and our chickens while we were away for the day.  Footprints of dog and fowl told the tale of the battle, and Snaggle's beautiful bride laid still and deceased in the side yard.  His steps were traced to the coop, where he dragged himself, up onto his shelf. He breathing was shallow and he was dying.  And die, he did.  The loss was unthinkable. Our family's heart was broken.

After burying Snaggle, I picked up his feathers that were strewn from his tail around the crime scene.

I keep them to this day, passing them out over the years to my son whenever bravery was needed in school, or other settings.  And I still do use them. 

Asking myself...am I as brave, diligent, loyal, and loving as this turkey?  Snaggle never called in sick, he never took a day and said..."Oh I think I need some time away or time off", and he didn't run in the face of a life-challenge.  He never hid his true feelings or emotions.  He cared about what was truly important, and protected what he felt was truly precious.  Still today, I have a glass containing still some of Snaggle's feathers, and ten years ago wove one of his feathers into a house charm that hangs on my wall in my kitchen.

So much, I wish I had been home that day to help my dear companion.  His memory, and what he taught me will be with me for the rest of my life.

I want to live up to what HE was.  And I fall short. My love goes with you, Snaggle, and I know my family felt the same way.  I love you still. []

Lisa Barrrow, a.k.a. +Lisa Acor Laurel is a contributing monthly writer for The Spiritual-Renewal Center, and author of Love in the Gardens of Macantar; A Spiritual Journey of Healing from Codependency and Relationship Addiction. She builds labyrinths and teaches labyrinth workshops, and owns Sacred Spaces Organic Gardening, living on Long Island, New York, with her son and two dogs. Google her at: www.addictedtorelationships.com.

Comment from Teresa

Thank you Lisa for this thought-provoking tale that clearly reveals the nature of a turkey which most of us can identify with – if we choose to…

For a tasty recipe without cruelty please read on… 

Vegan recipe: Spicy Red Lentil and Sweet Potato

1 large white onion – roughly chopped

1 large sweet potato – peeled and diced

1 litre (1¾ pt) vegetable stock (fresh or made with 4 stock cubes)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

500 g (18 oz) red lentils

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cayenne pepper to taste

Paprika

Method

Steam fry onion over a medium heat until soft in a little stock or water - stir continually and add extra liquid to prevent sticking

Stir in cumin and turmeric and mix in well

Put lentils, sweet potatoes and stock into a saucepan. Add the onions and simmer for about 30 minutes until lentils tender. (If cooking on wood burner cover with tight fitting lid and slow cook until lentils tender - could take hours depending on amount of fuel used, etc.)

Allow to cool slightly then add lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper and blend until smooth. Before serving, lightly sprinkle bowls of steaming soup with paprika. Enjoy with crusty bread and a green side salad for a wholesome and filling winter-warming meal.

Invitation to be my next * Guest Blogger: If you have an idea for a post that fits into the broad scope outlined above please contact me on: teresa@teresaodriscoll.co.uk

I welcome your comments on the above.

Coming next: Coronation Street will be moved to the new time-slot of…6 am!

Vegan recipe: Leek, Potato & Cannellini Bean Stew.

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity  

PS Don't forget to take a look at my other blog:  https://creativelivingforthebestyou.blogspot.com/

Also, for further inspiration check out my website:  http://www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk 

PPS Don't forget to check out my book: 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life - which is a practical guide to joyful living!   You can see the book trailer by clicking on this link:  http://youtu.be/154luv8KMns

Buy the book from any good bookshop or online bookstore. Click here to buy the e-book on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Days-Heaven-Make-Everlasting-Meaning-ebook/dp/B00AIR8CSC

Mary's Meals Deliver Food and Hope

Hello dear friend,

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you are well and staying safe from Covid! Please find below an article on Mary's Meals that I wrote some years ago. The great news is that until 30th January 22 your donations - up to £1.6 million - will be matched by generous donators. So it's a great time to help feed hungry children around the world as they get an education. God bless. 

At Christmas, traditionally a time for giving, many people like to donate to a charitable cause, so I thought you may be interested in #Mary’s Meals – a brilliant organisation based in Scotland and operating worldwide, that, though new to me (and maybe to you too), began operating two decades ago, and now, as part of their workload, feeds over 600,000 impoverished children school meals daily.

When a volunteer visited our church recently the details about Mary’s Meals that grabbed my attention were:

* An impressive 93p of each £1 donated goes to charitable activities (1p is spent on governance and 6p goes on fund raising)

* Learning that £7 - £10.70 will feed one child daily for a whole school year means you know roughly how many kids you are helping with your donation.  

Beginnings of Mary’s Meals

During 1992 two brothers, Magnus and +Fergus MacFarlane-Barrow from Scotland, watched the TV news from the Bosnian conflict with increasing horror. They were so moved that they decided to organise an appeal for food and blankets.

They quickly gathered a jeep load, joined one of the convoys leaving the UK, and delivered the aid to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a place of international pilgrimage which they had visited with their family years previously. Believing their good deed done, they returned to their home in Argyll expecting to resume their jobs as fish farmers. However they came home to discover that public donations had continued to flood in, filling their parents’ shed with goods. (They are still operating out of this shed to keep costs low.)

Magnus decided to give up his job for a year to drive the aid out to Bosnia for as long as the public kept donating. The public did not stop and it soon became necessary to set up a registered charity, Scottish International Relief (SIR). The charity soon expanded and began to work in Romania, building homes for abandoned children, and in Liberia, helping returning refugees by setting up mobile clinics, while continuing to deliver material aid to Croatia and Bosnia, and funding additional projects.

In 2002, SIR was operating a simple famine relief project in Malawi when Magnus met a family that led to a whole new area of work. The mother was dying of AIDS and lying on the floor of her hut surrounded by her six young children. She said that all that was left for her was to pray for her children, that someone might look after them after she had died.

When Magnus asked the mother’s oldest son what he hoped for in life, his stark reply, “To have enough food to eat and to go to school one day,” was not easily forgotten.

This was a key part of the inspiration that led to the Mary’s Meals campaign, which aims to provide chronically hungry children with one meal every school day. In this way the children are encouraged to gain the education that can lift them out of poverty in later life.

This simple but effective idea has gathered momentum and today provides meals to impoverished children in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and South America.

In 2012, Scottish International Relief officially changed its registered charity name to Mary’s Meals. Today they provide daily life-changing meals to over 600,000 hungry children.

Facts at a glance

*   Total number of children receiving a daily meal in school = 702,465
*   Average global cost of Mary’s Meals per child, per year = £10.70 / €12.40 / $16.80
*   Cost of Mary’s Meals per child, per year in Malawi = £7 / €8.15 / $11
*   Worldwide average cost per meal = 6 pence / 7 cents (Euros) and 9 cents (US)
*   Cost per meal in Malawi = 4 pence / 5 cents (Euros) and 6 cents (US)
*   Number of chronically hungry children in the world = 300 million. Around 67 million of these children are out of school.

For more info and to donate please visit the website of Mary’s Meals: http://marysmeals.org.uk

Wishing you a happy and holy Christmas and wonderful 2013!

Love and light

Teresa x

(Photo above copied from Wikipedia)

I welcome your comments on the above and please feel free to post links to your favourite charities too.

Coming next: New Year Fresh Start – embrace personal growth

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity  

2 Sundays of Advent to Christmas (5 days for posting cards second-class)

Georges de La Tour ca. 1644

Hello dear friend,

With two more weekends to go in Advent there is still time to increase the bliss-factor of your Christmas with a little extra spiritual preparation. Yes, there are Christmas cards to be sent (list, buy, write, address, post - gulp! stamps are sooooo expensive in multiples) and presents to be dealt with in like manner too. Then, there are menus to plan, cleaning to be done, decorations to be put up, Nativity plays to attend and office lunches and parties, and, oh so many other things to do before the Big Day. 

But please Stop!

Take a deep breath, and remind yourself what this is all about: physical preparations are only a part of the equation.

First, let’s consider what Advent is

Advent, first season of the Church year (includes the four Sundays leading up to Christmas) comes from the Latin word, adventus meaning arrival, and is a time of spiritual preparation before we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Traditionally, it is also known as “little Lent” and is best marked by increased prayer, fasting (not pre-Christmas greed as the telly ads showing people guzzling tins of chocs would have us believe!), and good works. All this focuses the mind and heart on the “reason for the season”, so it follows that: the deeper your spiritual preparation the more joyous your Christmas can be!  

Being a great advocate of simplicity for maximum effect I would like to share something that could assist your spiritual goal:

Advent meditation

Put aside a minimum of 5 minutes for this meditation. (If you use public transport to get to work you could do this on a bus or train.)

Slowly read over the Bible passage below using all of your powers of imagination to bring the scene to life by picturing yourself there in the presence of Mary and the angel Gabriel.

To help you do this you could ask yourself:

* What do the two look like? 

* What time of day is it?

* What is the temperature like?

* What expression is on Mary’s face - does she, for instance, look scared when the angel arrives and joyful when he leaves?  

* And so on…

Then, try putting yourself into Mary’s shoes for a few moments and ask yourself how you would have reacted. Would you, do you think, have had the courage to agree to become the mother of the Son of God?

Bible reading

…God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel said to her, “Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour.  You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must call Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord will give Him the throne of His ancestor David and He will rule over the House of Jacob forever; His reign will have no end. Mary said, “You see before you the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said.” Luke 1.26-38

After the meditation

Let the vivid images of the Annunciation flood through your whole being until you feel at one with God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and also with Mary who said “Yes” to God. 

In the coming days try to recapture this scene and feeling often, even for a few seconds as you go about your business and physical preparations for Jesus’ 2012^th birthday.

God bless  

Teresa x

FYI Last posting days for Christmas cards

Tue 18^th Dec 2^nd class (standard cost 50p)

Thu 20^th Dec 1^st class (standard cost 60p)

For fuller info please see: http://www.royalmail.com/greetings?campaignid=lastposting-pers

Picture above copied from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus_in_art

Coming next: Christmas charity giving – have you heard of +Mary’s Meals?

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

I'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback on this post.

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity