Novelist Katherine Anne Porter wrote, “Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist-the only thing he’s good for- is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.”
“There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But-and this is the point-who gets excited by a mere penny?”
“It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won’t stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is simple. What you see is what you get.”
~Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 17, emphasis mine
What pennies are lying around just waiting for us to pick up? ☀️💕🥰☕️🌿🍄
Heartache comes in spoonfuls all day long. You get used to heartache, I suppose, because you know there just might be a hallelujah around the next bend.
I was so inspired Chantel’s DIY Literature Degree that I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate something similar. I’ve been feeling the pull (again) to be purposeful about certain areas of my life. I need some home education, spiritual, and life inspiration! I put together a stack of books to pull from, resources, and habits to especially focus on this summer. I’m sure this will extend far beyond 3 months 😉, but I love sharing in case it encourages/inspires someone else and as a bit of accountability for me. Firstly, here are some of the books. I am going to be dipping into these, and/or finishing, or rereading. My Bible and Fire Bible notes are a biggie as well plus various devotionals I dip into!
~ Formation of Character by Mason (life/ home learning)
~ Learning All the Time by Holt (home learning)
~ Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge ✔️
~ Women by Edith Stein ( spiritual/creativity/life)
~ The Cloud of Witness by various (ongoing)
~Slowing Time and Motherprayer by Mahany (spiritual/life)
~ poetry from different poets (spiritual/life)
~Know and Tell by Glass (home learning) ✔️
~ Real Learning Revisited by Foss (life/home learning) ✔️
~Pilgrim at Tinker Creekby Dillard (nature/life) ✔️
~Jane & Dorothy by Marean Veevers
Some of these are on my Summer ABC list too, which works well!
Our last co op Picture Study artist! Fascinating!
The next area is my health. I’ve been floundering a bit in the program I was in and have gained a lot of weight back. I prayed about it and talked with a few close people and made some modifications. I’ve started back in and am feeling hopeful. I am prioritizing getting outside/walks, drinking water, trying to sleep, journaling, healthy food, and a biggie is limiting social media. I also have to have margin around our busy summer schedule. The key to these things is just a little bit everyday. I know it sounds like a lot, but I’m keeping it VERY simple to set myself up for success. 🙏🏻❤️🔥
Multiplication with Beans
Lastly, I really want to focus on real life relationships. I have a lot of people here at home and around me that I want to pray for and keep in touch with. Soooo, I’m focusing on s-l-o-w media…like penpals, this blog (it takes me a lot of work to post as I’m working from my phone), and an occasional reading wrap up on Booktube (super slow because it’s a lot of work to film and edit)! This means I won’t be around Instagram this summer, and limiting how much Booktube I watch! I have plans to connect with church and local homeschool moms this summer and I’m excited and a good nervous. 😅 I’ve been seeing that I need to break some covid-era dependency on online friends. Not that I’ll forget them entirely, my Victorian Reading friends through Kate Howe’s Patreon are dear to me! 😍 I’m really focusing on reading aloud to my younger kids and dates with my hubby, too.
Recent library picture books that we loved! 🥰
How ‘bout you? How is your summer shaping up? If you could create a DIY degree for yourself, what would it be? I’d love to hear! Chat below! 😍♥️🏡🌿🍄📝📚
Hi 👋 friends! One of my little projects this summer will be to read/reread from my shelves! I also have a learning project that I will post about later, but for now, these are ones I’d love to pick up sooner than later! I’ll come back and cross off as I finish and hopefully I can chat a bit about the ones that really spoke to me. Even if it takes me the rest of the year that’s ok, too. Do you have projects like this for yourself? 😍♥️📚
A – Apple Bough by Noel Streatfield ✔️
B – Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
C – ICheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger ✔️
D – Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl (with my kids)
E – The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding
F – The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (reread)
G – A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
H – Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (reread)
I – Martha’s Vineyard : Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch (reread)
J – Jane & Dorothy by Marian Veevers and/or Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery (reread, with my kids) ✔️or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (reread)✔️
K – Kristin Lavransdatter1:The Wreath, ✔️2:The Wife, ✔️3: The Cross by Sigurd Undset (online buddy read group) ✔️
L – Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell ✔️
M – Barbara Mahany titles and/or Memories of Childhood Marcel Pagnols
N – Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens and North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell ✔️ (reread)
O – Orion & the Starborn by K. B. Hoyle (with my kids)
P – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard ( reread, buddy read with my friend Kim! 😁♥️🌿)✔️
Q –
R- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (buddy read with Deea, Penny, and Sandy ✔️
S – Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson ✔️
T – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
U – Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington ✔️
V – Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge (reread, with my kids)
W – Essays on Woman by Edith Stein
X –Ox Cart Man by Barbara Cooney ✔️
Y –
Z – Oz books by L. Frank Baum (some rereads, with my kids) and/or Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury.
What are excited to be learning, reading, doing this summer? 😄♥️📚
The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense, the artist (male or female) should be like Mary who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command. Obedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, “Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.”
The world is bursting with wonder, and yet it’s the rare productivity guru who seems to have considered the possibility that the ultimate point of all our frenetic doing might be to experience more of that wonder.
Oliver Burkeman
The Professor never really seemed to care whether we figured out the right answer to a problem. He preferred our wild, desperate guesses to silence, and he was even more delighted when those guesses led to new problems that took us beyond the original one. He had a special feeling for what he called the “correct miscalculation,” for he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers.
Yoko Ogawa
These two very different books have converged in my heart recently. I’m not finished with Four Thousand Weeks, but the sense I’m getting from both books is THIS moment you are in is what you have. Be grateful. Relish it. Wallow in it. Enjoy. I absolutely adored the audiobook of The Housekeeper and The Professor. How would you live if you had 80 minutes of memory before it starts over? What really matters in a person’s life? What is happiness? Do we need more, more, more of anything? Just bursting with gratitude for THIS moment.
What’s on your heart today? I’d love to hear! ♥️🌿🌸🪺🪴🌷
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 