Category: Autumn

Wednesday Wonders {Day 32} 🍂🎃🖤

amyofhearthridge8 Comments

Listening…

We’ve been enjoying Josh Garrels ‘Rise’ and Andrew Peterson’s ‘Sowers Song’ together as a family. Our homeschool hymn and folk song are current favorites, too!

Reading…

I’m deep into my Victorian selections which I’ve been talking about a lot, 🤣 but I have plenty of light things to try/reread in between my tomes! Have you read any of this stack? 🤓🤓🤓

Watching…

I’m so enjoying Chantel’s beautiful lifestyle vlogs, especially her reflections on life and nature footage. I’m also so excited to continue watching this channel and I got via Kindle her debut novel!

Noticing…

I absolutely love driving down the road with leaves falling on my van and then glancing into the rear view mirror for the swirl up and around of the leaves as we drive through them. Sigh. 😌 🍁🍂🍃 We have gone on a few nature rambles and plan on a couple of more soon with friends.

How about you? What are you listening to, reading, watching, and noticing? 🖤🍂🍁🍃💀👀♥️🍄🌕

Michael Hague {Day 31}

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My 5 yo and I have been so enjoying the illustrations of Michael Hague. He is an intriguing artist as his drawings are so charming yet have an element of mystery and creepy deliciousness to them. We are slowly collecting books illustrated by him. Does your family have a favorite illustrator? We have SO many, but I’m diving deep into a few this year with my younger two children. It’s such a delight! ♥️Happy October, Friends!

Victober Eve ~ 2024 Pile of Possibilities Bookish Chat {Day 30} 🖤🐦‍⬛🪶🍂🕷️🍁🐈‍⬛🕸️🧡

amyofhearthridge5 Comments
The Marble Faun is American, but the right time period. It was a recommendation from Jennifer Brooks, a favorite Booktuber that unexpectedly passed away this year. 😞 I’m reading a Christina Rossetti poem each day and buddy reading on Voxer Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell. I found a Librivox audio version which has different readers for each chapter (not my favorite), but there is difficult colloquial language that the readers are better at than me. Deerbrook is being put on hold so I can buddy read it with an online friend later this year. I have so many Trollope books to choose from, but I’d love to pick up Barchester Towers sooner than later.
This is the group read and I have it on my kindle…I didn’t love-love Lady Audley’s Secret, but I liked it enough to give another Braddon a try.
Nicholas Nickleby by Mr. Dickens I started in September and I’m listening while following along. It’s hilarious in the midst of Dickensian misery. 😂 I’m really enjoying it!
Creepy tales from Mrs. Gaskell that I’ve wanted to try! I have these in my Kindle.
Chantry House by Charlotte Mary Yonge I started in September and I’m really enjoying it. I read Dynevor Terrace by Yonge this summer and didn’t love some of the characters portrayal, BUT overall, liked it.

A Victorian play is one of the prompts for Victober and I found an audio version of ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’ and his famous ‘Pygmalion’. I’m going to give them a try!
I just recently heard of The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade. I’ve never heard of this Victorian author.
The Coral Island sounds like a fun adventure story.
My son’s Sherlock mug! ☕️ ♥️

Just a ‘few’ of the Victorian items I’m trying or considering reading…it’s part of Victober fun to way overestimate how much one can get to during October! 😂😂😂 I’m planning on continuing during November and December, too! The “BER” months are perfect for classics. 😁🖤🐦‍⬛ I have piles of lighter, easier reads for inbetween the dense reads. Here are a few more Victorian things I’m considering…

  1. ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw
  2. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins audiobook
  3. Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
  4. My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell
  5. A Dark Night’s Work by Elizabeth Gaskell
  6. Children of the New Forest by Frederick Merryat
  7. Treasure Island by RLS (reread, possibly listen with my children?)
  8. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (my children and I are listening to this currently)
  9. Victorian Fairy Tales edited by Michael Newton ( I read a few of these last year! I may read ‘The King of the Golden River” and “The Golden Key” with my children.
  10. One of the prompts is a Sherlock Holmes story, but I’m just planning on watching a Jeremy Brett episode with my 17 yo son. Brett is a fantastic Sherlock!

What sounds good here? What should I prioritize? This is SO fun! 🤩😂 Let me know what you are reading that feels fallish! 🧡🖤🧡

{book cover images/interior illustrations are from Google}

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Gaskell 🖤 {Day 29}

amyofhearthridge4 Comments

Elizabeth Gaskell is (so far) hands down my favorite 🤩 Victorian author! I know I have her book Ruth somewhere, too. Have you read her books? Who is your favorite Victorian writer? There’s A LOT to explore.😄♥️

A Mom’s Commonplace {Day 28}

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Is there anything more cozy then journaling and journals? 😄♥️ It’s no secret that I’m a journal fanatic! We are trying something different this year in our home learning of combining our multiple journals into one. I’ve had the opportunity to journal alongside my children and it has been such an enriching experience. I don’t often share my children’s work, as that’s their own, but don’t mind sharing what I’ve been recording myself. 😆 So much richness! 😍I’m learning every day right along with my children. I have music lyrics, quotes, drawings, etc in here already! I treasure it. Do you journal?

What you learning or diving deep into? Isn’t life grand? 😄♥️🙌🌿🍄🌻

Wednesday Wonders {Day 27}

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Listening…Great Pumpkin and Harry Potter Ambient Music. I’m also enjoying Nicholas Nickleby audiobook while I follow along in the book.

Reading…I’ve begun a lot of my Victorian TBR, Dickens, Gaskell, and Yonge. but I’ve been enjoying light, cozy stories inbetween. Kiki’s Delivery Service, Thimble Summer, and The Language of Spells.

Watching…I’m back to watching YouTube/or going on Instagram only on Saturdays. It really helps my focus and sanity during the week. A new favorite YouTuber that I can’t wait to watch more of is CleoPatrick.

Noticing…the main thing I’ve noticed lately is that our Barn Swallows are gone. 🥲♥️ We’ve been seeing a few butterflies still and our temperatures are fluctuating a lot. My son saw a “V” of geese on Sunday. We’ve been trying to get outdoors more because we know the cold, snowy is coming.

How about you? What have you been reading, listening to, watching, or noticing? 🍁♥️

Cozy Week…🍁🎃🌲🖤🧡💛💚🤎✨🌾🍄🌞🌻🍂 {Day 25}

amyofhearthridge5 Comments
Book Mail 📬💌

Happy Autumn, 🍂 my dear Friends!

I’m hoping this week to hunker down into a bit of coziness. Nothing like the end of September, early October, easing into gratitude November, to foster a sense of richness and comfort. These are truly some of my favorite months. My family and I had a wonderful time with our annual apple 🍎 orchard visit, as well as our first bonfire 🔥 🪵🍄‍🟫🍂🍁. Sigh. 😌 So much to be grateful for! So curl up with a hot cup of tea 🫖 or coffee ☕️ and come chat with me.

We were looking 👀 for the Great Pumpkin 🎃 together! 🌞🍂🍁🐿️😁♥️
Pumpkins are SO delightful, comfy, and cheerful to me! 🎃🎃🎃
Chili with cheese 🧀 ♥️🦔🐾🪶
Let Victober reading commence! Victorian literature + October = Victober. Lots of info about this event on Booktube or Instagram. I just informally follow prompts etc. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

“I am a child of the Earth and heavens. I find myself at once skipping like a schoolgirl full of wonder, and hushed in awe, something like the monks whose vespers follow the unfolding of the holy hours, and the turning of the globe, away from, then toward the sun.

I am humbled by this call to take in the autumnal majesty. To sit beneath the wind-blown boughs, to listen to the acorns plonking on the roof above my head.”

~ Barbara Mahany, from Slowing Time, p.152

I hope you’ll join me in your homes, journals, or own online places enjoying the season’s gifts! 🖤🍂🐿️🍄‍🟫🍁🖤

What’s bringing me joy lately… {Day 24}

amyofhearthridge2 Comments
Sunlight through Pampus Grass ✨
My moccasin shoes and crunchy acorns 🍂🍁
Late summer sunrises 🌅
Photography, seeking the light ✨♥️
New copies of old favorites 🌿
Gorgeous new stamps!!! I have a few penpals to catch up on! 😍✨♥️💌📬🖋️💕
Healthy, easy meals 🙌♥️
Always the stacks patiently waiting 😍♥️📚
Just the lovely, jolly, friendly pumpkins 🎃, so many seasonal ‘friends’ appearing
Unexpected delightful moments alone – HP #1 book and movie are my favorite of the whole lot. 🪄🧙‍♂️
Homeschooling 🥰💕♥️ aka lakeschooling – I’m so grateful for spending time with my kids
Oak leaves, the smell, shape, colors, crunchiness…♥️

I could go on! God’s gifts are never-ending. How about you? Anything bringing you joy recently?

🍂♥️📬🎃📚🌿💌🌅💕🍁🕸️🕷️

Monday Ponderings {Day 23}

amyofhearthridge2 Comments

Save me, God,

for the water has risen to my neck.

I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing;

I have come into deep water,

and a flood sweeps over me.

But as for me, LORD,

my prayer to you is for a time of favor.

In your abundant, faithful love, God,

answer me with your sure salvation.

~Psalm 69:1-2, 13 CSB

“Ease your whiskers, rest your paws,

Pies and puddings fill the stores.

Sweetly dream the night away,

Till sunshine brings another day.”

~ Jill Barklem

♥️📚🌿☕️✨🍂🍁🍄🌝🦉🕷️🕸️🎃

Saturday Examen + Homeschool Snapshots week 2 {Day 22}

amyofhearthridge6 Comments

Prayer for the coming week…

“The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me, his word was on my tongue.”

King David, from 2 Samuel 23:2

Hello, Friends! ♥️☕️🌻I realize I’ve been a bit scarce as we dive into our new home educating year, I hope to get back to my 180 Day Project soon. Here’s a few shots from our week…

How was your week? Ours was good, albeit looong! 😁♥️☕️🌻🌿

Tuesday Tidbit {Day 21}

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Beware of any hesitation to abandon to God. It is the meanest characteristics of our personality that are at work whenever we hesitate, there is some element of self-interest that won’t submit to God.

🌿🍂Oswald Chambers🍂🌿