My son is here!

Hello friends - at last!

Blogger would not let me post this week :-(

I was thinking I might have to move to Wordpress like others have been doing.

Anyway...it working again now, thank goodness.

I hope you are all well today and feeling blessed.

 I am having a wonderful time with my eldest son who is here for a short visit.

It's been 18 months since we last saw him, and we are making the most of every  minute that we have together!

Family is so precious!

And time goes by so fast..much too fast when you only have a limited amount to spend with someone.

But it's such a joy to have our little family together again this week!

I am very thankful and praising the Lord for this beautiful grace.

Especially for the gift of having him here next Sunday which is our wedding anniversary :-)

This year it will be an extra happy one!

While he's here I will probably make his favourite meal for him.

It's nothing very flash - just plain family cooking.

Mashed potatoes, spinach, sausages and gravy.

That's it!

Both our boys settled on that as their favourite dinner when they were small, and they love the memories it brings back when I cook it for them nowdays.

Do you have special family dishes that have become a tradition in your home?

It's intriguing how food connects with emotion.

It doesn't need to be elaborate or gourmet to make a lasting impression.

In fact, the most ordinary and mundane meals are often the ones that have the strongest emotional connections in our lives.

We remember them affectionately because they represent the rhythm of daily family life.

You know how it is..

Some folks eat a certain meal on the same day each week, and everyone knows what's on the menu for that night.

Perhaps a little boredom creeps in with such regularity, but it's amazing to see how even that can be recalled with humour in later years.

A little predictability in life is a good thing and helps to foster a sense of stability and peace.

You know what to expect at a particular event and can feel quite 'put out' if the pattern suddenly changes!

As we are now in the liturgical season of Lent, there will be special foods that either will or will not appear on the table in many homes.

Some families fast from meat, dairy, sweet or rich foods during this time of introspection and reflection on the Passion of our Lord.

Come Easter Sunday..they break their fast with special celebratory food and this cycle repeats year after year.

Passover and indeed all the biblical feasts of the Jewish people have their connection with pertinent food dishes to be consumed in very particular ways to mark the occasion.

It all serves to cement the event in one's mind.

In our home, mashed potatoes and spinach with sausages and gravy have become iconic of the simple but very happy days of our sons' childhood.

And although they are both young men now they still love it, and I look forward to sharing it with them for a long time to come and (God-willing) eventually with their children too!