Lovely Cold and Gray, Wintry Meals, Church

     Just like that, the weather turned to November. It is blustery, gray and cold. I revel in it because I need this cold air. It feels right. I drove past Willie Simmons wood turning shop and he had his wood stove going full blast. Smoke billowed out of the stove pipe and scented the air with sweet wood smoke. The scent was welcoming and cozy. Oh, to sit near a wood stove or fireplace and do noting but daydream would be divine! I'm sure Willie is working in his shop and maybe only daydreaming a little.

     I made a second pot roast this week, smaller than the first one that fed four of us last Sunday. I enjoyed one meal from this second roast and saved the rest for a beef pot pie for when Steve gets back. He and I will have two more meals from that. I never tire of meat pies. I also put together a chicken pot pie and brought it, uncooked, to Eleanor for her freezer. She happily exclaimed, "This is like money in the bank!" when I handed it to her. I can still hear her stressing the words, "Money- In- The- Bank!". Haha!

    Denyse came up to me at church and said she has been praying for someone whose name I wrote in the prayer book. Denyse is elderly in stature but not in spirit. She is quite a force. Age has bent her frame and she is stands to my waist; such that I feel the need to bend down to her when she talks to me. I may be taller, but I feel like I should be looking up to her and not vice versa. I let her know that I was thankful for her prayers. This is how Denyse serves God, now that her body cannot run around any more. She is a prayer warrior. The way I see it, one can ever have too many people praying for them. I have seen too many prayers answered, in many different ways, to ignore the power of prayer. 

      I spend a lot of time at church. Some of the time is doing things, some of the time is attending Mass. A couple of months ago Daughter #1 asked me why I go to church so much. She goes to church too, but it was still a funny question to me. I was speechless for a minute because I couldn't figure out how to answer her. Church is a sanctuary and I am at peace there. It is easy to talk to God in that space, where there are few distractions. It is the same as talking to God in the woods. It just feels like a good place to meet up. : )