I’ve always chosen a topic to photograph and write about when planning my blogs. Yet the blogs I follow and most enjoy are about daily life and journalling. I like stepping into other people’s worlds, knowing what the weather is like up in the Chilcotin Mountains when I read the Wilderness Dweller blog. I love the fact that it’s Fall and Winter in Australia when it’s Spring & Summer here. It means I can keep the warm and cozy feelings of Hygge all year when I visit Down To Earth Blog.
Today is Saturday. We slept in until 10am. I woke to Salem our cat using my forearm as a pillow as he stretched out, back paws pressing against Seth. He thinks the bed is his. I ordered eggs and sausages with a waffle on the side for breakfast. Seth had chicken and waffles with a shot of Bailey’s in his coffee. The weather’s cooled down after the couple of heatwaves we’ve had. We noticed the winds change last night as we stood out on the balcony looking at the moon, orange from the forest fire smoke in the air. It’s only mid August but the slow shift from Summer to Fall is becoming noticeable. I felt a tinge of excitement in my chest. Fall is my favourite time of the year.
Back home after breakfast, I puttered around the house doing mundane chores; cleaning the litter boxes, wiping down the kitchen, changing the bedding and starting the laundry. 3 very sad bananas where sitting in the fruit bowl so I decided to make a quick banana loaf. I don’t consider myself a baker so as simple as this recipe may seem, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it turned out. As I type this, I’m enjoying a warm slice with butter and a decaf.
Easy Banana Loaf Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix 8 Tblsp Softened Butter with 1 Cup of Sugar. Stir in 2 beaten eggs and 3 mashed bananas. Slowly mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of baking soda. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 1/4 cup of All Purpose Flour.
Pour mixture into a greased pan and bake for 50 minutes. It came out perfect. Next time I’ll buy some chocolate chips for it.
It’s the simplest things that bring enjoyment to life.
This morning I read a wonderful article by Richard Branson. He shared his view on Happiness, a view I believe in and have followed for many years and that is that happiness is a choice. We choose to be happy (or not) every day. Happiness is a state of mind, a habit, a decision. Waiting to achieve something outside of ourselves will prolong unhappiness. We’re taught at a young age that if something doesn’t go well or if something is happening that is painful or difficult that we should be unhappy during those times. So we grow up thinking that if we dare feel happiness when we “should” be sad, that we’re selfish. We grow up thinking that once things are perfect only then we’ll find happiness. It was a great read to start the day with. I’ll leave the link here if you’d like to read it https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/how-be-happy
We have a couple of very busy weeks coming up so its nice to have an entire weekend to not have more to do than cook nice meals, watch movies and go for walks. We watched the movie Coco last night and I even got around to replanting some plants that had outgrown their containers so I’m feeling accomplished. I’m almost through reading Hocus Pocus and the all New Sequel. It’s been a while that I’ve had time to read a book cover to cover.
We visit Cultus Lake every year with Seth’s family. Once the children are in bed in the evening the games (and drinks) come out. Annual events like these are something nice to look forward to. We will be going to Mexico the week after we get back from Cultus. I’ve never been to Mexico. Wonder what recipes I’ll come home with. When we get home we’ll be 1 week away from the first day of Fall. I’ll host my Mabon Feast and the pace will slow again as the season changes.
I wish that you are all enjoying your weekend.
Until next time.
Love,
Jennifer