A beautiful day

 Erev tov!

  It looks like it might rain tonight - I hope so! Because I thought it would rain last night and I didn't water the food garden - and it didn't!

    Everything is still and grey as HaShem rolls away the light and brings on the darkness - I love this time of the day, so peaceful - except for the Hadidahs that are coming home to roost (on my roof). I am  honestly beginning to wonder if they are actually scared of heights, as they only make that loud sound when they're flying!

    The geese down at the river have been making lots of noise lately. I hope it isn't because they are being bothered by predators - we have water monitors here - sometimes they even come inside! Eeek!

    My day is far from over, but I have a quiet hour now as one of my students cancelled class for this week, so I thought it would be good to take stock of my waking hours so far - I'm usually too tired when it's time to head to bed.

    As usual, I fell asleep listening to a teaching on the Torah portion last night and woke up at about 6am to pray the Modah Ani and wash my hands and say the early morning blessings. I sat down with a cup of coffee and read the daily aliyah. I have been fascinated by the word עֵקֶב this week. So many shades of understanding. My Wednesday morning student was just as captivated as I. She was writing furiously as I shared my insights. We both had such a beautiful time together.

    Straight after that was Shacharit. I didn't even have time to make another cup of coffee or eat anything. How wonderful to be so engrossed in activities for the sake of Heaven! I did, however, snack on a few of the homemade salt & pepper potato chips I had made yesterday while my prayer partner and I chatted for a few minutes before prayer in an effort to stop the sound of my tummy rumbling!

    I was looking forward to a visit from my eldest daughter at 1pm, but unfortunately she couldn't make it. Not wanting to waste a precious minute, I prepared the red onions I had bought earlier - Wednesdays is pensioners' day; a 10% discount is not to be sneezed at! - and fermented them. My 5 bottles of green bean & tomato ferment that I made in May are now only 2, so I thought I should replenish my supply of fermented food - red onions was the quickest and easiest. I now have two 750ml bottles of lacto-fermented red onions, which will be ready in about 2 weeks. They are so yummy.

    I had a lovely surprise from my youngest twin daughter, who phoned me regarding her application to university. We spent about an hour going over things on Microsoft Teams - it was such a blessing to me to be able to talk to her for such a length of time.

    The most surprising surprise, though, was when my landlady sent me a WhatsApp message asking if I could help her with information on Judaism because her daughter is doing a project on it! I live such a quiet life, I really wasn't sure anyone knew I was practising Messianic Judaism in my life! I was so blessed to know that at least some people have noticed! May I bring honour to the Name of the LORD by my life! It's a bit daunting to realise that people are watching you - even when you think they're not! I offered to write the names of the Moedim in Hebrew for her daughter and she gratefully accepted. So now the language of Creation is entering that house - may it soften hearts toward the LORD!

    We prayed Mincha at 3pm and I did a few things in the house - mainly dishes and washing - and finished watching the teaching that I fell asleep during last night.

    My 2nd-last can (bottle) of homemade Roasted Italian Tomato Soup is warming on the stove. I will shortly eat it with my small homemade loaf of Sesame seed bread. I love making my food from scratch. I love growing my own organic food too, but I have had a couple of crop failures lately. My potatoes have not been successful and my garlic was ridden over by a big vehicle (someone visiting the main house) and they have only partially recovered. My cucumbers and red onions have also failed. However, I will be repotting my Swiss Chard seedlings before Shabbat this week. As my friend said, just gotta keep trying!

    Thereafter, I will chat and pray with my grandson, watch a movie about the Holocaust with a friend, read some Jerusalem Talmud and lastly, attend an online webinar about making cheese! That should take us to midnight or so. Then, rinse and repeat the falling asleep watching a teaching!

    I love my life! Thank you HaShem!