Blessings in Disguise...

I have been struggling most of the morning trying, once again, to pull my thoughts together so I can put into reality, or in this case, on paper what I imagine in my mind. I am trying to put together a recipe mini album that will hopefully prove more useful than the ones I have created in the past. I have in my possession a poem that I cross stitched onto aida cloth a very long time ago. Every time I start a new recipe book album I have to hunt that little piece of cloth all over the place! And, when I finally locate it, I put it, I think, where I will know exactly where to find it the next time I need it! LOL!!! I have come across it several times over the past month while looking for other treasures, but where is it now?! LOL!
Any way, I thought I would be clever and do a search on the internet to try and find the poem by using a sentence from it that I can partially remember. Instead, after a few failed attempts i did come across this beautiful poem by a lady whose days were in fact maybe more times than not just like the day I am having today!
   An article from the Washington Daily News, August 17, 1951 described her like this. 
Mrs. Way, she is best described as a woman who has never thrown away a thing.  From childhood days and grandparents, too, buttons and shoes, pictures and baskets, spinning wheels and ivory ear spoons--all of these and thousands of others adorn her walls, fill her shelves, even fill her life--so rich and warm, with human kindness, and all for you. A housewife, snakekiller, curator, trapper, dramatic actress, philosopher, and preserver of all the riches of mankind, inadequately describe the most fascinating person you can imagine. Her home is a real piece of art, filled with an amazing array of items, ranging all the way from a trillion buttons down to the finest china, and all is properly cared for, carefully labeled and displayed for the thousands of her eager visitors. Her feeling, humor, and grace when she reads poetry would put to shame some of the finest Broadway actors and actresses. Take a tip from me--get a hobby.  Find some vitamins to live with.  Hobbies are wonderful cures for all ills. In the Way home sits a plate by the register in which voluntary contributions are placed.  These contributions go to the Red Cross, to the Salvation Army, the Crippled Children's Fund, and to other worthwhile organizations.
So, in short, she was a well meaning, good hearted woman just like most of us are, but the poem she wrote that follows helps me relate to her even so much more. There was a list of some of her poems, but I want to share this one with you.

Miss Eva's Poem:

Kitchen Philosophy

I like to happy,
I like to be gay,
But how can I be that
In the kitchen all day?
I like to write letters,
I like to read a good book,
But how can I do it
When I'm just an old cook?
The pots and the pans
And the dishes, too,
Are always waiting
For the old cook to do.
There are times when this cook,
With a scowl and a frown,
Wishes for a kitchen
Like the cooks have in town.
But when I think
Of the flowers and trees
I can see from my window--
My heart is at ease.
For the cooks in town
Have to look out on walls
Or listen to autos
Screaming cat calls.
When thoughts upset me
And things go wrong,
I turn on the radio
To get music and song.
And my heart, like the heart
Of the wild savage beast
Is soothed, and contentment
Is soon released.
So thanks, dear Lord,
For being a cook
With memories enough
To fill many a book.
Of children, of servants,
Of stories and fun,
That crowd out resentment
Of the work to be done.

What is left but to say, "Amen."
Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!
xooxxo
Julie
p.s. I "will" find that poem! later....