Millay’s poetry has been recently touching me deeply. Do you have a current favorite poet? Mine is constantly changing. I’m a lover of words and Beauty of poetry often waylays me! The other morning I stopped with great delight over my steaming coffee and knew that I was hearing the spring peepers on our little pond. It brought me so much joy. I received a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas last year and I’m sooo glad I picked this giant tome of her work. ♥️♥️♥️
My daughter and I admiring the rays we just got to pet! 😍♥️
Hello Friends! New fresh month, no mistakes in it yet! I’m hopping on to share that I’m going to attempt to do a bit of a 100 Day Project here! I’m excited to have a little something to challenge myself with and a place to dump all the beautiful ideas I’m gleaning. I have no format for what I will be sharing, it may be little more than a brain dump some days🤪😅, lists, a photo, a quote, and so on. My hope is that it will encourage and inspire you. What am I doing with the little I’ve been given? That is the question I’m asking myself currently. ☺️♥️🌿
Soooo, what prompted this plan? A couple things! My oldest child, my daughter, is engaged to be married later this year! 😳😭😍♥️Nothing like a family wedding to celebrate and work towards in multiple areas. Secondly, my sister kindly gifted me this book and we are going through it together:
I’m already a pretty established journal-er, but wanted to step it up a notch! By journaling HERE, my poor dark, quiet blog friend, 🤣 and using it as a catalyst for little writing creative projects. I see these as offerings of worship. 💜🌿
My goals and poetry writing notebook. Yes, weird combination, but it’s working currently. 😅💜 I found some fun graphics on Pinterest to color in as I go!
I also love my little to do/gratitude daily journal so will be keeping up with that! Another strange combo that works well for me!
My absolute favorite journaling is my reading journal and I have two buddy reads beginning this month! 😍💜
My reading journal spread where I will paste my April read book covers and short review! 💚🌿New this year has been favorite reads by month! 📚Buddy Read #1 📚♥️Buddy Read #2 📚♥️
I will be using the prompts in The Book of Alchemy and also continuing The Body Revelation questions, both with my sister. ☺️♥️Those are most likely private prayers/entries etc that go into my spiritual journal.
How ‘bout you? How do you ‘begin again’? How do you breathe life into creative or life projects? Having some sort of paper/stickers/glue and pens always motivates me! 🤷🏻♀️😂♥️ I’ll leave you with a quote that I saw that has me thinking deeply!
“…they fear love because it creates a world they can’t control.”
Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years…
…walking in close fellowship with God…
…then one day he disappeared, because God took him…
Excerpts from Genesis 5:22-24, NLT
Thinking on living in close fellowship with God for 300 + years! Then basically walking up to Heaven! What a life! What a prayer. 🙏🏻 May I live and walk in close fellowship with my God.♥️
Trying to move my feet literally and spiritually move my spirit by seeking after my Lord wholeheartedly! Started a fun little walking challenge for myself. Steps-for-Books! For every 15 miles, I can buy a book over $5. I already earned one, but haven’t purchased it yet! I’m really enjoying the Strava app my son got me into for tracking.
My sister and I have been slowly going through The Body Revelation by Alisa Keaton and it is my favorite health book so far that I’ve ever read! I love all the Scripture and focus on the Lord, yet the love and compassion of healing ❤️🩹 inside and out. I’ve been through a lot of learning not to stuff my emotions down, but to lovingly deal with them. My go-to-unhealthy habit has been eating my way through emotional stress or extremes in various areas. I’m facing myself honestly here as I’ve lost and regained so much weight over the years, done so many different things to try to deal with all the feels. Learning to be compassionate with myself by gently working through things instead of stuffing them with excessive food, books, entertainment is so hard but good. I’m learning to just having patience and be consistently obedient to the inner work that needs doing.
How is your New Year starting off? I know it’s cliche to talk about health in January, but it’s something I’m determined to prayerfully, patiently surrender to this year. I’m looking forward to being apart of the February World Peace Poem project again! I think this is my 5th? year participating! Sending out about a poem a day to others. ♥️ Do you have any fun projects on the horizon?
Golden gone Gathered glimmers Wood whispers Weathered whirls Feathering flew Flickering fire Unveiling ushered Ugly uniqueness Jay of blue jabber Juxtaposition joy Solemn still Stalk slithers Miraculous moment Marvelous million Soliloquy of stick, stone Smoke sneaking Pine prayers Peace paupers Caw cemetery Crunch crackle Heart honey-honed. Heart hollowed heavenward.
I sometimes think the worst thing a young person can feel is when you can find no answer to the question of what you are supposed to do with this life you’ve been given. At moments you’re aware of it balanced on your tongue, but not what comes next. Something like that. I can now say that another version of that happens in old age, when it occurs to you that since you’ve lived this long you must have learned something, so you open your eyes before dawn and think: What is it that I’ve learned, what is it I want to say?
…let your compassion come to us quickly, for we have become very weak.
Excerpt from Psalm 79:8, CSB
Sunday evening bonfires…
I love finding random journaling prompts on Pinterest and really enjoy looking back at lists I’ve made!
Currently: 🍂
Reading…
My main focus this month is dipping into my massive stack of Victorian literature (one Victorian inspired in that stack!)for an online event called Victober! Community reading of literature published in the UK during Queen Victoria’s reign {1837-1901}. I set aside many other things to be apart of this lovely reading focus. It’s honestly become a highlight of my year for the last few years! I’m reading poetry from Tennyson, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, and George MacDonald. I’ve dipped into Queen Victoria’s childhood diaries a teeny bit, too. I’m slowly rereading Our Mutual Friend. My favorites have been the drama in Charlotte Mary Yonge’s The Three Brides (Kindle) about three newlywed SIL’s thrown together under their new invalid widowed MIL, Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, and Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy with the audiobook read by Alan Rickman.
I’m supposed to be reading Niall Williams’ This Is Happiness with my IRL friends, but got distracted by the Victorians! 🤣
I’m also dipping into various things for study and to keep up the homeschooling co op classes I’m facilitating, mom’s group, a writing commitment and our own homeschool. The opening chapter of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis was fascinating and so lovely.
A little book haul from a HUGE, fabulous used bookstore that I had only 30 minutes to peruse. 😉
Watching…
I’m on a bit of a social media purge so missing my Booktube watching, 🤣 but I did watch“Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone” with two of my older kids. It’s the only one of the movies I truly love.
Playing…
I honestly love my journaling. They bring me SO much joy. 🤩
Trying…
I’m ‘trying’ to find balance?! with all our outside activities, homeschooling, cultivation of relationships, and taking care of myself. It’s not working well 😅🥲, but one has to have something to keep aiming for even if they miss continually. 🙃
Nature walk to examine a “shaggy bark” hickory tree. ♥️
Looking forward to…
Continuing Victober and hopefully watching the BBC miniseries of “Our Mutual Friend” this month?! and next probably. It’s long!
Dreading…
Hmmm, deadlines are necessary evils, but they can be stressful for me. Leadership is stretching for me. Unfinished household projects. The great clothing change-out. The usual. 😅
Obsessing Over…
All things Victorian! I made these recently! It was difficult, but so fun! I’ve loved noticing one of my favorite autumn things…glancing in the rear view mirror and seeing the leaves swirl up, dance, come ‘alive’!
Learning…
So much through facilitating our co op highschoolers through The Divine Comedy and realizing that worry can be pride, I’m saying I know more than God. 😬🫣😅🙏🏻
Drinking…
I’ve been making half pumpkin spice flavored coffee with regular dark blend and it’s so great! I drink it black and it’s just a hint of pumpkin flavor. I don’t loooove flavored coffees, but this is gooood. 🎃
Loving…
My hubby and I took a 4 day trip north in celebration of our 23rd anniversary which was in September. We enjoyed history and nature together!
Hating (or rather Broken Up About)…
All the relational tensions, loved ones going through illnesses, marital pain, financial stress and just the general feeling of the absence of love 💕 permeating the air. 😞🙏🏻♥️Oh, Lord, come!
I love Hawk Weed?! 🧡🧡🧡
Starting…
Revamping my prayer time again! Needed something fresh! Journaling and alternating spots I’m reading in the Bible. Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms. Currently added a Proverbs of the Day! Love finding the one that matches the day of the month! ❤️🙏🏻
Thinking…
About our life’s work?! and about the resurrection of my poetry scribblings and collage art, what I need to sacrifice to make it happen. Thinking about the movie “ Dead Poets Society”, which I watched for the first time a couple months ago. 🥲
Feeling…
Not sure. 🤔 Overwhelmed a bit 😵💫😉😬😅, but also inspired by the gorgeous autumn weather and all the lovely knowledge and life ripe for the picking. It’s right here for the taking.☺️♥️
Praying for…
My heart to be knit closer than ever to my Jesus and a listening heart to be wide open for others and for all the beauty here and now in this moment. For all the suffering near to me and far from me. 😞♥️🙏🏻
How about you? What’s currently beating in your heart? Let me know your answers to these! ♥️🍂Happiest October! 🎃 🦇 🕷️ 🕸️ 🍁
It’s a strange feeling to be glad for their wings, but sad that my older children’s faces aren’t peering at me as I read aloud. Bittersweet. Three down, four to savor! 🥲
Our year has begun well, kind of on “a wing and a prayer sort of way”, but with a gentle hopefulness.🌾
I think one of our favorite moments so far have been continuing a reread through the Little House Series (we are waiting on the audiobook for These Happy Golden Years), puzzles, and traveling to the site of Little House in the Big Woods for a Laura Ingalls Wilder Festival. A bit touristy, but lovely all the same. Now we’ve been getting into the tv series from the public library and it’s bringing back my childhood nostalgia of rushing home from my little private school for an episode with snack. 🥹♥️
My 4 remaining students…
We’ve also enjoyed jumping into our Charlotte Mason co op with both feet and just soaking in all the riches the other mothers have prepared for us! Shakespeare (King Henry V), folk song/hymn, Composer (John Williams!), Picture Study (Camille Pissarro!), Clay Modeling, Swedish Drill, Microbiology, and my favorite, Nature Study (we are using a lovely book called Sundial on the Seasons by Hal Borland). I’m helping with Highschool Literature (The Divine Comedy! – stretching me, let me tell you!), Poetry (Alfred Lord Tennyson), and the younger students Geography co leading with another mom.
What richness! What a gift!
Our Nature Study mom recommended this book! Camille and Sophie 🐈Puzzles and audiobooks! Swoon. So much beauty all around us! 🤎
My personal goals and projects were going SO well in June & July, but I fell off the habit wagon 😅 in August after SO many family things. I’m struggling to keep up on health, writing, pen pals, crafting goals & stuff. Anyone else? I have some outside obligations that I’m prioritizing (maybe TOO many?) and I’m struggling with very little mojo to keep up my personal things. I end up reading 📖 😅ALOT and watching people talk about reading. 🙃I ❤️🔥 Booktube! Any help on how to tackle getting back into these life giving things WHILE homeschooling? 🤪🫣😵💫😍
We’ve been doing a lot of nature hikes and they are SO wonderful! We will switch more to library visits when the cold hits. I really want to try more cold weather jaunts this year because I have no little babies anymore. 😆♥️Interesting economics book I previewed!
What did you love about your toe-dipping into the ‘25-‘26 home educational year? We have sooo many lovely books and things on the docket and I’m struck by the immense blessings at me and my children’s fingertips. Who knows what will be in all the pages, behind the door to the natural world, and in the relationships we will form? ❤️🔥🌿I wait prayerfully and with great anticipation. ♥️🌿
My four boys randomly in age order, right to left 😍
Dear Friends ~
I’m sure you feel like me, scrambling to soak the last few rays of sunshine and squeeze out all the remaining summer juiciness. Autumn activities are fast approaching {just 18 days till our homeschool co op begins…eeek!} so I thought I’d attempt to finish my thoughts I started weeks ago 😆 and in Part 1 of this post. I love the chatty bits of social media, the longer form things, that slow me to a snail’s pace so I can reflect and practice gratitude. This has got me seriously considering my online haunts and which are serving and encouraging me or stressing me?! Still considering that.
We squeezed in a last few summer-y things and hosted my 3rd homeschool graduates party in the last few weeks. Whew. I’m thankful for a few weeks of quiet {ish} home time to spruce things up and finalize my homeschool plans. Just off the top of my head, here are a few things I’m focusing on, looking forward to, and challenging myself in for these next few weeks…
‘25-‘26 Willow Tree Academy Vision Board
Home Education Inspiration ~ Jen over at heavenstobetty had a wonderful, inspiring post about her DIY Mother Summer Conference. I was particularly inspired by her vision board. I collaged one for myself while listening to my audiobook of Physik by Angie Sage. I’m focusing on seasonal rhythms, simplicity, home, books, and 1 Thess. 4:11. I’m praying and meditating on the direction, images, hopes for this coming school year. Asking the Lord for a humble heart stayed on Him. ♥️
One of the many reading stacks…and a beautiful, encouraging card from a church friend…
Habit Cultivation ~ I’m working on really cementing some habits that I worked on this summer, little things that add up with my home, health, and my heart…
Walking after my prayer time, cleaning up after each meal as much as I can, and taking extended breaks from media…
Sophie isn’t super excited by her origami hat . 😅
Faithfulness to the Small ~ The Lord is faithful to take our pitiful offerings and steps of obedience, blessing us with growth, direction, and His loving Presence. 🌿 There’s a lot swirling in my heart and mind, but I’m still prayerfully trying to trust that the Lord is untangling all my knots. I’m hoping to finish cleaning a few things, finish my lessons for our co op, and drink in all the beauty right around me each day. I hoping to resurrect my fledgling poetry writing. So thankful for all the summer bounty, the hard, the beautiful, tangible and intangible, alike.
Prettiest books I was gifted this year! 🌸
What a bountiful, beautiful summer ~ Till next time, bless you, friends!
Happy Monday, friends. Thought I would do a late-ish mid-year check in of sorts. It’s always helpful for me to reflect on a few areas in my life periodically. This is a part 1, probably…stay tuned for more. 🍄
Reading…💜
Best book(s), so far:
-Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (our perspective in life/living a life of gratitude)
– So Big by Edna Ferber (day of small things/ our perspective in life)
– Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (gorgeous & lush/disturbing & sobering)
– A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz (sweet & atmospheric/ Persuasion-like)
– Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (convicting character under microscope- reread)
Fanny spoke her feelings. ‘Here’s harmony! said she, ‘Here’s repose! Here’s what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe. Here’s what may tranquilllise every care, and lift every heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene.’
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Best Sequel(s), so far:
– Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (family survival at its finest- Pa Ingalls shines)
–Henrietta’s House by Elizabeth Goudge (not quite finished, but completely charming story featuring characters from A City of Bells)
– Books 4-9 in White House Chef Mysteries (very unique setting and amateur sleuth)
– reread of The Chamber ofSecrets by JK Rowling (audiobook was fantastic- I love young Harry, Ron, and Hermione)
Anticipated New Release I’m Excited About:
Laura Frantz – A Fierce Devotion (Historical Fiction)
Joanna Ruth Meyer – While Darkness Remains (Fantasy)
Emily Hayse – The Dogs of War (Science Fiction)
New-to-Me Authors I want to Read More From:
Edna Ferber (Modern American classics), Brittany Fichter (Fantasy, Fairy-Tale retellings) and Chris Wooding (Fantasy)
A few reading goals beginning in August will be reading from my shelves/piles/Kindle hoard here. Less public library! I want to focus on finishing my mother schooling choices that I’ve been reading this summer.
How about you? How has your reading been so far…I’ll chat more soon on reading. My favorite hobby!
Beauty Chasing…
-walks down our nearby gravel lane
– collaging & writing for small, independent letter/zine
– keeping up regularly on my journals
– planning a state park visit/picnic, late family cherry 🍒 picking trip, bonfires, and thinking on thoughtful Christmas gift plans
-container gardening
Hello Kindle, my old friend…
What have you loved reading and chasing so far this year? 🩷🌸🪴
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 