Living the Moment/The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – September

Posted on by Joy / 12 Comments

There is a clarity about September. On clear days , the sun seems brighter, the sky more blue, the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; the moon is a wonderful apparition, rising gold, cooling to silver; and the stars are so big…

There’s a promise that what September starts, October will carry on, catching the torch flung into her hand.

Faith Baldwin

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Hello Friend,

Here we are, well into September, and once again I find myself wondering where summer went. How about you? Are you ready for the routine and rhythms of September?

I’m ready to begin new routines and rhythms in this new life in this new home. It’s time for fresh beginnings, with some tried and true old habits thrown in for good measure.

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Image by Maria from Pixabay 

That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air … Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.

Wallace Stegner

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Another turned page …

Welcome to my September Daybook, where I follow a few prompts to share little glimpses into my day. Please help yourself to some plain old-fashioned tea. Sugar and cream available there, on the little table, if you like. Honey too. And here’s something new for me – maple syrup, as I just found out it’s a happy indulgence for one of my good friends.

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Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Tea time is a chance to slow down, pull back and appreciate our surroundings.

Letitia Baldrige

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For Today

Image from unsplash

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Looking out my window …

The air is hazy, making it seem like I’m looking at a retro photograph from the 1970’s, framed by my window. At any rate, it’s the smoke that has wafted over from the Chetamon Wildfire in Jasper National Park, I would guess. The report is that the fire was started when lightning struck “on a steep and inaccessible mountain slope…” We’ve had a lot of thunder and lightning storms around here this summer.

I am thankful …

For The Cowboy, who, having grown up on a farm, knows how to fix what goes wrong on an acreage. And if he doesn’t know immediately, he manages to come up with something that works. He’s really quite amazing.

One of my favourite things …

Grandma did the needlework many many years ago, and when it came into Mom’s possession she made it into a cushion. I love having it in my library on the couch across from my desk where I see it all the time. A little connection to the generations before me.

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I have been creating …

Spaces in which to create. Putting together the library, arranging the books on the shelves, placing my desk just so with dictionaries and reference books to hand, and then organizing a sewing space in the room has all taken quite a LOT of time to accomplish. But it has been so worth the work, and now when I look around the library I’m filled with a feeling of okay now, let’s go! Let the creating begin.

I am wearing …

Black leggings, lacy top, long burnt-orange cardigan rolled at the sleeves, lip colour called Saffron.

I am reading …

I’m amazed that with the crazy busy summer we had, I still managed to read all of these:

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I am listening to …

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I am hoping …

To go for a bike ride with The Cowboy later today.

In my kitchen …

We are loving the two dishwashers we decided to put in. With all of the guests we get to have, it’s a time- and clutter-saver. We named them Bonnie and Clyde so nobody gets confused as to which one is clean and which one we’re still loading.

In my garden …

Not much of a garden yet since our attention has gone to moving in and landscaping, although I did plant zinnias in the rock garden at the corner. A neighbour who was moving away offered us her homemade raised garden boxes, and brought them over one by one with her skid steer loader. Seven of them. Some were already planted with a few things. We will have potatoes …

A moment from my day earlier this week, before the smoke arrived …

Zinnias in September

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Post Script …

The Simple Woman

Shared Quote …

Prepare a place, then step back and let the place itself be the welcome, the embrace, the conversation.

Christie Purifoy [Place Maker]

That is our wish for our home – The Cleft – built for us, with others in mind.

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Closing Notes …

Thank you for your visit today, I hope you will come again. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

Joy

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Feature Image by Melanie from Pixabay 

Living the Moment

From Where I Sit

Posted on by Joy / 1 Comment

Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land. And the little moments, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.

Julia A. Carney 1853

Hello Friend,

I’m so glad you found me! Please come in and have a look around our new home.

We’ve settled in, for the most part. There are still some boxes to unpack, as you can see, and little piles of paraphernalia to go through, item by item. But we are in! And loving our home in the country.

Come have a seat in our bright and airy kitchen. I have rhubarb cake fresh from the oven, and a new tea that was gifted to us as a housewarming gift: Organic South African Honeybush. I think you’ll like it. I still like a bit of cream with mine. How would you like yours?

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A simple cup of tea is far from a simple matter.

Mary Lou Heiss

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One of my favourite things about our new home is how much light pours in from every direction. And, almost anywhere we stand, we have a view of the outdoors. My library faces northeast and has three large windows. Mornings there are glorious, and the rest of the day is pretty special too, whether you’re gazing out the window or perusing the books on the shelves.

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A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.

Thomas Carlyle
from a speech in support of the London Library. 1840

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Our motto for this home has been: Built for us, with others in mind. Yes, this is our home, but our desire is for it to be a place of sanctuary for all who enter. And we hope many will enter, and find welcome and safety for a brief moment in their journeys.

I had looked forward to welcoming others into our home – once everything was in place. We’ve been working hard to get the house and the guest rooms prepared, but I’ve come to realize that the place doesn’t need to be perfect before they come. And so we’ve already broken in our guest rooms, several times over, and had friends for coffee too. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for perfectionist me. I want my guests to be the most comfortable they can be and that means making sure everything is flawless for them, doesn’t it? Perhaps not.

Taking time for people, even in the midst of my own disorder, is precious and fleeting. I once heard it said that the only things we take with us into eternity are the people we’ve touched along the way. That puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? Maybe this home will always be a work in progress, so why wait?

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Image by Mariya from Pixabay

If we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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Real life is messy and marvelous, blissful and boring, allegretto and andante.

When the world calms down; when gas prices decrease; when the pandemic is really over … when my house is clean. In my mind, these seem like legitimate reasons to put off doing one thing or another. But as a very wise and inspiring young woman said recently,

You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.

Nightbirde

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Thanks for the visit today, I’m so glad you came. I wish you joy and peace as you go on with your day. See you next time, and stay safe out there.

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Feature Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Living the Moment/Tea Time

Wonderings While Packing

Posted on by Joy / 1 Comment

Hello Friend,

Thank you so much for stopping in. Please excuse the bit of chaos. You’ll have to navigate a moving-box obstacle course, some packed and ready to go, others waiting to be filled.

Let me shove these ones aside so we have this little space to sit in the bay window. No fresh baking today, but I have tea a-plenty, and a couple of just-bought chocolate chip cookies. Help yourself.

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Rondell Melling of Pixabay

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I’m taking artwork and portraits off the walls today, as you can see. The house slowly loses more of itself with every piece that comes down. Perhaps it’s truer to say that it loses more of us, of our personality and identity. I wonder to myself how the new owners will make it their own. What part of themselves will hang on these walls? Dear house, you have been so good to us.

The other day Little Munch, age four, asked me why we don’t like our house anymore. It brought me up short. Do we not like our house? I concluded in the split second way of thoughts that we do indeed like our house. The simplest in-the-moment-four-year-old-understandable answer was that we want to move back to the country. And so I explained to Munch. He was satisfied. (But the more in depth answer is here if you’re interested.)

We have settled on a moving date, and while The Cowboy continues to work out at The Cleft to have it ready for us, I have three weeks to finish packing. I’ve done a lot of packing in my lifetime. I actually enjoy it when I have the luxury to take my time with it, and it seems I need more time nowadays than when I was younger.

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Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

Franz Kafka

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Will you have more tea? I would have liked to serve you cake fresh from the oven, but at the last minute I realized that we’d packed the vanilla. And also, all of the cake pans. Well, one can’t fore-think everything I suppose.

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silviarita of Pixabay

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When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice

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All except a few of the books in my library have been packed and carted out to The Cleft. Interestingly, the books left behind are mostly poetry, as though somewhere in my innermost self I knew I’d need the grounding of profound words in this time of upheaval.

Having a library of my own was always a dream of mine, and so I have consciously built it over the years. However, I never consciously built up a collection of art. “Consciously” being the key word here.

I realize, as I’ve taken pictures and artwork off the walls and carefully wrapped them, that we have built up a small collection of art after all. Pieces that we love. Pieces picked up here and there, over the years, as they captured our attention and we could afford them. Quite remarkable really. I find myself pleasantly surprised about it all. But I also find myself wondering whether I missed out on something special by not making a plan to build a collection and actively searching out just the right pieces. Would I have chosen differently? Would we have a more cohesive collection? Is there such a thing?

Oh how the mind wanders in wonders while packing.

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Couleur of Pixabay

One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.

Morgan Harper Nichols

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I really don’t want to cut our visit short, it was so wonderful to have you drop in. I hope you come again. Maybe your next visit will be to The Cleft, where you will always be welcome.

See you next time, and stay safe out there.

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All photos courtesy of Pixabay.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – March

Posted on by Joy / 6 Comments

Hello Friend,

Here we are at March already! Snow has been sifting down for a few days now, returning the tired and dingy outdoors to pristine white. It’s so pretty!

I’ve been rather silent here, due to preparations for moving to our new home, and selling the present one. The Cowboy and I have been working HARD and my aching body proves it. Now we are living in a staged home, without personality. Realtors suggest that a home should be staged in order to show it off to best advantage, which, to my understanding, means lots of blank space. People want to see how much room there is, I guess. Well, I hope that as people listen to their footsteps echo off these empty walls, they will think this home cavernous, and convert from viewers to buyers, and quickly.

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Ylanite from Pixabay

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Thanks for dropping in to share the March edition of my Simple Woman’s Daybook. Let me pour you a cup of coffee. Sugar and my favourite flavoured cream are just there if you want it. And please, help yourself to a cookie!

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For Today

the simple woman

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Looking out my window …

Was a delight to add to my Book of Delights this morning. Skies were clear and the glowing sunrise transformed the pale yellow walls of my little study into a golden glory.

I am thinking …

So many things. Heartbreaking things, tiresome things, annoying things, house-moving things… beautiful things. All so overwhelming.

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.

Frederick Buechner

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I am wearing …

Jeans, white long sleeve T with grey flecks, and gold earrings.

I am thankful …

For delicious afternoon naps. The kind that sink you deep into soft blankets to rest on a cloud, and from which you wake gently, breathing deeply.

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Photo by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

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I am creating …

Photo books. Remember I mentioned the cupboard with all the photos? Well, I have tackled it at last. The cupboard is cleared out. All physical photos and albums are packed and ready to move. Now I’m dealing with all the photos on my phone. Recently, Peaches transferred all of her digital photos to photo books, created online, one for each year. A brilliant idea that I am working on – backwards. That is, I’m starting with 2021. As always, the hardest part is deciding which ones to keep in and which ones to let go.

I have been reading …

Garden Maker by Christie Purifoy. Christie’s words always encourage and uplift me, and this book is no different. Lately, in my world of clutter and packing boxes, to stop for a few moments and immerse myself in the beautiful words and breathtaking photos of this book has been a sanity-saver. And it is making me so excited to plant flower gardens out at our new home, The Cleft.

Growing flowers is a way of giving and receiving love. This means that successful gardeners are successful not because they know what they’re doing but because their garden making is inspired by love. They yearn for beauty, and the price exacted by a thorn seems a very small price to pay.”

Christie Purifoy

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I’m still watching …

Miss Marple episodes on BritBox. There is something about a little English village that is so comforting.

The world is changing, and we must change with it.

Miss Marple

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I am listening to …

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In my kitchen …

Most of my utensils are packed away. I tried to leave out just the things I would absolutely need for the next six weeks or so, but twice already I’ve gone searching for a spaghetti server and couldn’t find it.

In my garden …

All is resting under a blanket of snow. The wonderful tulips will come up, but I won’t be planting anything at all in this yard this year. Instead, I’m dreaming about growing flowers at The Cleft.

Shared Quote …

Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush alive with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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A moment from my day …

I keep this photo of Little Man near me when I’m writing, to remind me to never lose my wonder. It’s wonder that thrills to the trill of a chickadee or notices how the sunrise turns a room to gold. I never want to lose that, no matter what is going on in the world around me.

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Closing Notes …

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I hope you will find wonder in your own big little world this week. Stay safe out there, and see you next time.

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Featured Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay