Category Archives: relationships

On Being Relaxed.

at home, cooking, relationships, tips for gracious living, , , , , , , ,

Earlier this week, I got the inspiration to bake.  The impetus was Best Friend mentioning one evening that he “sure can go for a piece of cake right now,” and that lead me to thinking, “Hey, I haven’t baked a cake since late last summer.”

I wound up baking “Two Egg Cake,” which is a no-fuss recipe for a basic white cake.  I used the recipe from the 1957 edition of Cakes and Tortes by the Staff Home Economists of the Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago, Illinois.  Then I whipped up a cream cheese lemon frosting with chopped walnuts from scratch.  (I cannot stand ready-made frostings.)

Was I done?  Well—

I went ahead and baked three batches of miniature scones (cranberry-walnut; raisin-apple; and cinnamon raison).  They are packed well in the freezer, waiting to thaw on the mornings that Best Friend and I have a couple with our morning coffee either in the courtyard or at the dinette table.  It is a pleasant way to gently start our day.

As I write this essay, my thoughts go to a serene life, a life without all the craziness of Go! Go! Go!, unceasing technology, and harmful egotism.  As I mixed the batters, the world around me became peaceful and unhurried.  As I waited for the cake and scones to bake, I hand washed the utensils and bowls and remembered how therapeutic the simple tasks of kitchen clean-up are for me.  Sure, modern appliances are time savers, yet what is it that we use those extra minutes for?  Check social media?  Watch a mindless television program?  Eat a bag of potato chips?  Do nothing at all?

I cook and bake from scratch as much as possible.  I find no real time saved using a box of cake mix, for example.  Making a cake from scratch might use up maybe an extra four minutes than using a boxed cake mix.  Cooking a meal of chicken piccata, rice, and fresh vegetables might take a little longer to make than microwaving a salty, preservative-filled TV dinner.  But it is healthier to cook from scratch.  And less expensive than buying prepared foods.

So what about those extra found minutes?

I ponder my thoughts.  I pray.  I formulate story outlines for my new books.  I converse with Best Friend.  I think about my day.  I revel in the unhurriedness.  I relax.

Would it be splendid if all parts of our lives were toned down – even just a little?

Not only would our lives be more relaxed, but life would also be healthier for us, physically, mentally, and religiously.

As ever,

Lady Susan Marie Molloy 

✿●▬▬▬●✿ ©2023 The Oasis at Four Queen Palms ✿●▬▬▬●✿

Darkest Before the Awakening?

books, comportment, current events, essay, etiquette, grooming, opinion, relationships, respect, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A few nights ago, I watched a performance straight out of Washington, DC that brought me to think once again about how much the world has changed.

There was, once upon a time, a world where people created beauty, and everyone saw that beauty around them, to be celebrated and enjoyed by everyone who appreciated such things.  This beauty came in the form of decorated buildings, attractive fashion, respectful language, comprehensible music, well-made everyday items, and the like.

Yet lately, the world is quite the opposite.  To see beauty, one must search as an archeologist on a dig.

Earlier this week, the Grammys presented a show that featured a quite plump man dressed as a devil in red, bellowing, “Unholy!  Unholy!”  Around him danced more red devils.  Up around him flew pyrotechnics.

Last fall, Jokey the Prez read a gravely malicious speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, complete with red lighting on either side of him and he himself shadowed in near total darkness.  His State of the Union Speech this week was steeped in lie after lie, and his twisted, creepy smiles had a luciferian charm about them.

Out in the world, I rarely see people that present themselves well.  I barely see anyone with combed hair, or dressed in anything other than workout clothes or ripped up clothes.

I hear vulgar language everywhere.  I hear it in passing in public.  People I meet feel free to pepper in expletives with nary a second thought.  Sadly, that kind of tasteless language is also prevalent in print.

This isn’t to say that there was nothing ugly about the world before these currently strange times.  Yes, it was there, but the beauty, light, and respect were more prevalent then than today.

I now observe something about people that is really disconcerting:  It appears that people want to be intentionally ugly – slovenly, repulsive, and foul – and thereby to blend in with the intentionally ugly world, to become one with the ugliness enveloped in the darkness of hate, self-loathing, and nihility is to become nothing themselves.

In the current fad of eschewing Our Creator, so many, many people are attempting to take on the role of God.  They fall into idol worship:  They medically and surgically change their sex; they attempt to control climate; they embrace abortion.  They go on to celebrate sexual perversions, and they break up the family unit even further.  They call names, lie to your face, and spew hatred, and if you don’t go along with them, there’s something wrong with you.

They laugh in the face of God.

I read that people believe that we are now in the End Times.  Perhaps we are.  And perhaps we are on our way to the next Great Awakening.

We can only hope and have faith.

As ever,

Lady Susan Marie Molloy

✿●▬▬▬●✿ ©2023 The Oasis at Four Queen Palms ✿●▬▬▬●✿

Cool Nights, Warm Hearts.

at home, books, essay, festivity, gardening, holidays, relationships, spring, winter, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Winter here at The Oasis at Four Queen Palms has been chilly longer than I remember.  Usually, the cold weather lasts about a month – a period of time where jeans and a warm jacket or heavy sweater are part of the fashion.  Not so this year, yet I did manage to wear shorts yesterday.  So, it might finally be warming up.

We were working in our yard yesterday with the usual late winter clean up.  The sun was shining brightly, and in the trees, birds were singing happily.  It was quiet otherwise, except for Turban, a neighbor living nearby with The Wild One.  She was yakking on her phone, but not wearing her trademark turban.  Earlier that morning, The Wild One went somewhere on his motorcycle – vroom! vroom! vroom!  They are a story for another essay.  Maybe.

I noticed that some of our more tender plants died from the heavy frosts in December.  I cut back many of them to about two or three inches because I could see they are still viable.  Over the next few days, I will be researching replacement plants and making a list for a trip to the nursery.  I have some ideas, but I need to research to make sure my ideas will work in the specific bare spots.  The azaleas have buds, and one already popped open her red blooms.

The evenings now are warmer, but still cool.  A snuggle next to the burning fireplace is a warm experience – add a cup of hot tea and a good old book, and there’s a night to enjoy!

Saint Valentine’s Day is only a few weeks away.  I am planning something, but I am not sure of the “what” yet, except that it will be tailored to us.  Oh, that reminds me:  it’s time to address and send out a few Valentines to those I and/or we care about.  I usually add a short note to update the recipients on what we’ve been up to since the Holidays.  It’s a nice gesture to keep in touch with people and it goes both ways with the more caring and interested people.

I remember when I was in grade school, one of the art projects we did was to cover a shoe box with festive – and hopefully Valentine-y themed – wrapping paper.  Mom or Dad would cut a small slit in the top, and these decorative shoe boxes were ready for the Valentine’s Day card exchange in the classroom.  It was so much fun to see who gave us a card, and they were so much prettier than today’s cards.  They usually were a single piece, covered in silver glitter, and with a fun sentiment so appropriate for youngsters.  They came in a box of twenty or so, complete with white envelopes.

Though the evenings might be cool here at The Oasis at Four Queen Palms, warm hearts still prevail.

As ever,

Lady Susan Marie Molloy

✿●▬▬▬●✿ ©2023 The Oasis at Four Queen Palms ✿●▬▬▬●✿

FIREPLACE WHITE

Words Matter – Hack and Steal.

books, etiquette, relationships, , ,

The other day, my thoughts went along the lines of new definitions and those word “fads” so prevalent today.  A “word fad” is current slang used mindlessly without an understanding of its definition, and one that will mostly likely will be replaced when a new fad arises.

One of those words that is abused is “hack.”  There are hair hacks, cooking hacks, security hacks, and you name it.  You see it everywhere.  Yet, one definition of the word hack is “to gaining unauthorized access.”  Another definition is “to cut with heavy blows.”

Therefore, instead of using the word “tips,” for passing along information – hair tips, security tips, cooking tips – we hack, hack, hack.  Take unauthorized access.  Grab and run.  Rip off.  Steal.

Another misused phrase I hear quite often is “I’m going to steal that idea!”

Most often when I hear that statement, it is when someone likes another person’s skills, décor, style, recipe, or what-have-you.  Whatever happened to complimenting the person on their décor, style, recipe, or whatnot?  And – horrors! – what about asking that person if it’s alright to borrow or use what is admired?

No, that would be too courteous.  Instead, it’s always steal, take, swipe, hack, or something just as underhanded and despicable.

Yet, it is the way of the world these days.

✿●▬▬▬● ©2023 The Oasis at Four Queen Palms ●▬▬▬●✿

On Death.

relationships, , , ,

When I read the news, I nearly gasped, and my stomach did some sort of weird flip with a fleeting feeling of a flock of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

My hometown church was finally and forever closing, and the property was sold to the village’s police department for their new headquarters.

This put the final death knell on my home parish.  The parochial school closed about a decade ago.  In fact, about twenty years ago, the name of the school changed, and a new order of nuns took over, and it was that reincarnation that closed a decade ago.  But no matter.  The school is gone, as well as the church.

This is something that one really never expects to see in one’s lifetime.  Yes, things do change, places come and go, but that is supposed to happen many decades down the road when we are long gone.

And then I thought about death.  Nearly everything on Earth dies.  Civilizations come and go.  Countries that once existed are no longer.  The same with languages, cults, fads, and buildings.  And sure, some buildings still remain – take the Egyptian pyramids, for example – but they are not used for their original purpose, are they?

Last year ended with the tiniest bit of hope for the mending and renewing of certain relationships, but as the lid closed on 2022 and a bright new 2023 began, that hope is fading – and quickly.  It is time to realize that some connections die off.  In truth, most never really began.

Time marches on, they say.  I just don’t like that some pieces of my parade are gone.

As ever,

Lady Susan Marie Molloy

✿●▬▬▬● ©2023 The Oasis at Four Queen Palms ●▬▬▬●✿