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? 😄♥️🙌🌿🍄🌻
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? 🍁♥️
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! 🖤🍂🐿️🍄🟫🍁🖤
Happiest August everyone! 😄♥️🌿 I realized I’m starting a lot of online buddy reads and continuing a few, too! I absolutely LOVE talking about reading 😉 (if you hadn’t noticed before 🤪) and so I thought I’d check in!
1. Dynevor Terrace by Charlotte Mary Yonge – my Victorian reading friends are huge CMY fans and I so enjoyed reading Pillars of the House with them last year. I’m still not a CMY super fan, but the conversation is lovely.
2. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger – I’m so excited to read this fourth book of Enger’s as apart of my Leif Along this year. This a brand new book from my favorite modern author who happens to be a Midwesterner, too! ♥️
3. The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale – sweet , family-ish tale. Excited to read a lighter story for balancing out Kristin Lavransdatter. 😅
Of course, I’m continuing with The Cross and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
I’m also dipping into a lot of home education books for refreshment and encouragement. 🌿♥️😁📚📚📚📚 How about you? Any books you are really looking forward to this month?
Listening… I’m rereading (listening) to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury in anticipation of facilitating discussions in our co op High School Literature class. I’m excited to see what the kids think of this one! 😄♥️🌿
Reading…some Voxer friends and I are beginning the third book in Kristin Lavransdatter tale, an epic Norwegian fictional story following one woman’s life during medieval times. Fascinating, beautifully written, but a torturous story in some respects. It will definitely be a favorite of the year for all the religious and moral questions it raises, the immersive setting, and gorgeous nature passages. The story itself is heartbreaking. 💔 I’m so enjoying reading it with a few other ladies and discussing. I’m also continuing on with my Pilgrim at Tinker Creek reread.
Watching… I’m on a bit of a YouTube detox, but I hope to watch some Booktube soon. I’m especially looking forward to this one! Jenna dives deep into what she reads. FYI: haven’t watched yet so can’t vouch for content! 😂😉
Noticing… the way that light glints off things. Little pockets of beauty everywhere.
What are you listening to, reading, watching, or noticing? 🌿♥️🌿💜🌿♥️🌿
I’ve been thinking, praying, and starting to research/plan for our next formal home-learning year. It’s so fun to pull off treasures from the past…ahem, books my older kids loved and share them with my youngers. We had so much fun listening to this old Jim Weiss retelling of a few of the fables plus there’s a few other stories for another day. ♥️
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? 😄♥️📚
Hello Friends! I trust the new year is easing in kindly for you. ☺️💗☕️📚💌 ❄️🌛It was hard to narrow down my favs, but here they are {not really in any particular order} with a small snippet to celebrate each one! I definitely picked the books and characters I keep thinking 🤔 about. How do you pick your favorites?
~2023~
1. Klara & the Sun ☀️by Kazau Ishiguro ~ 5 🌟 a sympathetic story that considers what makes us human from the viewpoint of Klara, an Artificial Friend (AI) to an ill teenager, Josie. I keep thinking about all the themes and questions brought up in this one. I loved the audiobook! (Possibly my favorite of the year?! 😱)
2. TheSword of Kaigen ⚔️ by M. L. Wang ~ 4 🌟 The set up to this Asian -inspired fantasy world was very (too) slow, but you find yourself gripped by a mother and son trapped in an insular community that is holding onto the old ways. They face danger and questions from within and without. Extremely violent, FYI, check trigger warnings. This is such a beautiful story about standing tall in the face of adversity and self-sacrifice.
3. Wormwood Abbey 🐉by Christina Baehr ~ 4 🌟 This was a cozy, Victorian-time period, family-centric fantasy story. I looooved the main protagonist, Edith Worms. She has a few secrets of her own, not unlike the new abbey her father has inherited. Looking forward to next in series!
4. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 🥔by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows ~ 5🌟 (reread) I adored visiting again with these characters through the letters they exchanged. WWII historical fiction set on the island of Guernsey 🇬🇬. The audiobook was fantastic.
5. Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella 👑 by Megan Morrison ~ 4 🌟 This MG/YA retelling was deeper and more thoughtful than I expected. It felt like the themes of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North & South except with fairies. 😂 There were a few things I didn’t love, but overall, I sooo enjoyed this story of standing up for the suffering people in the world.
6. Evelina by Francis Burney 👗 ~ 4 🌟 Honestly, not a lot really happens in this coming-of-age Regency story. I found the excessive formality hilarious and enjoyed following teenager Evelina as she grows. I listened to this long novel and really enjoyed being along for the ride.
7. Gods, Graves, & Scholars 🗿 by C. W. Ceram~ 4 🌟 I found this nonfiction fascinating about the beginnings of archaeology and I loved how it made my Old Testament reading come alive. A bit dated, but a fascinating read!
8. Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth 👧🏻👨🏼🦳 by Sheila O’Conner ~ 5 🌟 Heartwarming and heart wrenching story about a young girl who befriends an ostracized Quaker on her paper route. Her and her brothers navigate the world of conscientious objectors during the Vietnam 🇻🇳 War.
9. Marilla of Green Gables 🏡 by Sarah McCoy ~ 4 🌟 I keep thinking about this one that my daughter’s friend recommended to me. Fun retelling of sorts for Anne fans, but I wasn’t expecting the historical fiction side about the Canadian Underground Railroad. Fascinating!
10. Ourselves, School Education, both by Charlotte Mason, and Parents are Peacemakers by Essex Cholmondeley 🎭🎨📚 ✏️~ 5 🌟(rereads) This was my cheat, lumping all these nonfiction educational beauties together. Powerful encouragement for raising children- educational philosophy at it’s finest.
11. Unearthing the Secret Garden 🪴 by Marta McDowell ~ 5 🌟 Beautiful and truly lovely look at the 3 gardens created by Frances Hodgson Burnett in her lifetime that definitely shaped her life and writing.
12. Katherine Wentworth 🏴 by D. E Stevenson ~ 5 🌟so gentle, full of peace, hope, nature, and a charming cottage. Second chance story with lovely mother & children. This reminds me slightly of The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, although not quite as quirky!
13. Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer 🏴by Molly Clavering ~ 5 🌟A sweet family tale set in beautiful Scottish scenery. I found out that Clavering and D.E. Stevenson were friends and that this is semi autobiographical.
14. Grapes of Wrath 🍇by John Steinbeck ~ 4 🌟 This is a Great Depression/Dust Bowl era historical fiction. This was gorgeously written, raw, heartfelt, and disturbing. Ma Joad was my favorite! Adult content and language.
15. Everything Sad is Untrue 🇮🇷by Daniel Nayeri ~ 4 🌟 A slow, but heart-wrenching stream-of-conscious nonlinear fictionalized memoir of a young Iranian’s experience as a religious refugee in Oklahoma. It took me a long time to get into this as it had a very unconventional writing style , but then I loved the thought-provoking themes it brought up.
16. Seasons of Your Heart 💖 by Macrina Wiederkehr ~ 5 🌟beautiful poetry and short Christian devotional entries. A bit unorthodox and slightly mystical, but really spoke to my weird, word lover side. My friend gave this to me as a gift and it was such a blessing!
17. The Belton Estate 🎹by Anthony Trollope ~ 5🌟A super interesting story about a Victorian woman who bucks tradition in a situation involving male entailment of property. This had so many interesting themes around marriage of convenience and friendship with a woman of “dubious” character.
18. The Historian 🕌 by Elizabeth Kostova ~ 4 🌟A deep, rich historical thriller with a slight fantastical twist. The atmospheric setting of this was a amazing! Told through multiple timelines and flashbacks, the story of a daughter tracing her father’s discovery of a strange book with connections to Dracula. This has a lot of travel, Balkan culture, history, and so much more.
19. The Last Cuentista 🪐 by Donna Barbara Higuera ~ 4 🌟This was a darker, dystopian, scifi middle grade book and coming of age story. I loved the main character Petra and how she kept hope alive through storytelling.
20. Pat of the Silverbush 🌲 by L.M. Montgomery ~ 4 🌟wow! So beautifully atmospheric! I loved this book for the writing, but overall, this was not a happy book. It felt sad and lonely. However, it was full of interesting, quirky characters that Montgomery does so well. I really enjoyed discussing this book with Chantel Reads All Day YouTube channel.
21. Grace of Wild Things 🧙♀️ by Heather Fawcett ~ 5 🌟This was a charming middle grade fantasy twist on Anne of Green Gables. A young girl has nowhere to go and attempts to apprentice herself to the local, grumpy witch. I loved the found family, adventures, and gorgeous writing style.
22. Dune 🪱 by Frank Herbert ~ 4 🌟I listened to the audiobook of this one and was so pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this political, sci-fi family story. It moved EXTREMELY slowly, but it was just what I needed at the time. I loved thinking of the influence this had on Star Wars. I loved Lady Jessica’s perspective.
23. Julie 🏚️ by Catherine Marshall ~ 4 🌟A buddy read with my penpal via Voxer. This was a wonderful Depression era historical fiction story set in Pennsylvania. I loved the male characters in this book, and Julie and her father’s relationship was such an interesting dynamic. Julie and her family take over a failing newspaper in this coming of age story that brought up so many thought-provoking themes.
A few honorable mentions: The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (ridiculously hilarious),Hinds’ Feet On High Places by Hannah Hurnard (faith-building reread), All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (heartwarming), Two Old Women by Velma Wallis (inspiring), Distilled Genius by Susan Branch (inspiring), and Cottage Fairy Companion by Paola Merrill (inspiring). All the poetry I read was also SO enriching!
2023 was a “Year of Change” for me and I found myself drawn to darker stories that show the protagonist overcoming! I had a wonderful reading year mostly due to narrating, interacting, and discussing what I was reading with so many wonderful friends (Voxer and Zoom for the win!), writing in my journals (here and in the regular paper & ink kind 🤣), and sharing a little on Booktube. Engaging deeply instead of just inhaling mindlessly. Granted I still read my fair share of fluff, 🥰 but my reading life felt more life-giving this year. How about you? How was your reading in 2023? I’d love to chat below!
Winter is just about here, friends! ❄️♥️One of my delights this year has been dipping into a fair amount of poetry. Here are some highlights for you to consider adding to your stack for next year…cozy up, grab a hot drink , and read on ☕️. Enjoy!
Mary Oliver’sDevotions ~ I received this as a Christmas gift a few years ago and have been sipping from it here and there. Oliver has such an eye for life-giving details in nature and she asks us questions that go just a bit deeper. I love that about her. As a modern poet, she is definitely a bit more approachable and easier to ease into than some of your classic poets. Not every one of her poems hits for me, but sometimes one line or a word will meet me right where I’m at in that moment. I’m often surprised by her.
Emily Bronte ~ I was extremely surprised how much I loved this dark and brooding poetry. Just like the all the Bronte sister’s fiction, this was sooo atmospheric and because she talks of death frequently, it actually made me contemplate how I’m living life. I found the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets collection to be a wonderful selection of her poetry and I love the small size of these editions.
William Wordsworth ( and don’t forget Dorothy) ~ I love the poems and writings of this brother and sister duo. William’s beautiful poetry centered in life around The Lake District, Cumbria, England really feeds my soul and my faith. He really grasps the touch of God in nature and it is such a testimony to me. I love his poetic storytelling, too. Dorothy’s journals are so simple, domestic, yet so compelling. They both have that artistic eye. ♥️ I loved sharing Wordsworth with our Charlotte Mason co op homeschool group last term.
Gerald Manly Hopkins ~ Wow. Mr. Hopkin’s use of language and metaphor is so gorgeously layered and rich. I will confess I struggle a bit with his writing richness, but if I have a little patience and read just to enjoy each word, I walk away blessed. His wrestling with faith and art is so relatable and real. He’s one of the hardest poets for me to read, but also one of my favorites.
Robert MacFarlane The Lost Spells ~ I would be remiss to not mention this gorgeously illustrated (Jackie Morris) collection of modern nature poetry. MacFarlane is a lover of Hopkin’s wordsmithing and the homeschool co op and I loved looking at both poets together earlier this year. MacFarlane’s wordsmithing, storytelling, and putting himself into the everyday life of animals and plants is just lovely. He is another poet whose work is perfect for those new to poetry!
Kim Piña ~ this is an online friend that I was blessed to “meet” YEARS ago, through blogging. 💗😍♥️ I love Kim’s word play, almost like a songwriter/compelling poem-rap style, and I love how she asks deeper questions tangled with the daily mundanity of life. Her Instagram account is lovely, too!
Robert Frost, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Sara Teasdale ~ I’m extremely new to these three poets and can’t wait to really sink into their work more in the new year. I was familiar with a few famous poems, but I recently got Mirror of the Heart, a Teasdale collection, Rilke’s Everyman’s Library Pocket Poet collection, and The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Latham, and am so excited for new words to drink up.
I also asked for two new poetry collections for Christmas and can’t wait to dive into these more!
I’m nervous about this one, because I saw it on Instagram, but what I’ve read of his poetry, I found compelling and came away with ideas to consider. I’m mostly excited about this collection as I love Kortney’s work and have always been so inspired by her! ♥️
Lastly, I have two poetry nonfiction books that I’d love to get too, just to keep growing and learning about this life-giving art.
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and What is Poetry? by Michael Rosen ♥️
How about you? Do you read poetry? Who are your favorites? ♥️❄️♥️Happiest Winter Beginnings and Christmas 🎄 to you all, friends!
Hello 👋 Friends! Back here for a favorite 🤩 post to share with you. These are quick snippets of favorite reads from the summer! I was surprised by all the nonfiction, coming-of-age, and Victorian favs. ❣️
Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson – charming story – about a single woman, head of a girl’s school who feels a bit stuck. She finds herself getting involved in one of her student’s lives, helping her through her parents divorce. I especially loved how Charlotte and the student, Tess, help another student and her brother who are in an abusive situation.
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri – slow, but heart-wrenching stream-of-conscious fictionalized memoir of a young Iranian’s experience as a religious refugee in Oklahoma. It took me a long time to get into this as it had a very unconventional writing style , but then I loved the thought-provoking themes it brought up.
Seasons of Your Heart: Prayers & Reflections by Macrina Wiederkehr – beautiful poetry and short Christian devotional entries. A bit unorthodox and slightly mystical, but really spoke to my weird, word lover side.
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope – super interesting story about a Victorian woman who bucks tradition in a situation involving male entailment of property. This had so many interesting themes around marriage of convenience and friendship with a woman of “dubious” character.
The Historian by Elizabeth Koskova – deep, rich historical thriller with slight fantastical twist. The atmospheric setting of this was a amazing! Told through multiple timelines and flashbacks, the story of a daughter tracing her father’s discovery of a strange book with connections to Dracula. This has a lot of travel, Balkan culture, history, and so much more. I’d love to reread someday with the audiobook.
Klara & the Sun by Kazau Ishiguro – I listened to the audiobook of this and I loved being in the head of the AI Klara. The interesting way Ishiguro made you think and view Klara with sympathy. The teens Josie and Rick were interesting characters and this book brought up so many themes and questions on what does it mean to be human, love, technology, loneliness, etc.
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera – this was a darker, dystopian middle grade book coming of age story. I loved the main character Petra and how she kept hope alive through storytelling.
House of Dreams: The Life of L.M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg – I loved this heart wrenching biography on Montgomery.
Three Men in a Boat ( To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome – This was charming story and the travel/ nature writing superb. It had a humorous, arm-chair philosophical twist to it and it was a bit slapstick and so relatable.
The Stokesley Secret by Charlotte Mary Yonge – Christian fiction novella from the Victorian era! This may come across “preachy” to some, but I loved this tale of Miss Fosbrook, a young governess, to a large family. She was compassionate, but just. So charming!
The Cottage Fairy Companion by Paola Merrill – I don’t totally connect with the author’s YouTube channel, but I loved her book. Overall, her watercolors, photos, poetry, and short essays were sweet and inspiring. Her and I don’t totally agree on worldview, but I still think about the gentleness of this title.
Home for Christmas by Susan Branch – a very short memoir of her childhood Christmas’ in a large family. The care that Branch’s mother put into everything was so inspiring.
All-of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor – This was a charming story of a religious Jewish family of 5 girl’s living in New York in the early 20th century. The audiobook was fantastic! I loved the sweet librarian and the mother was lovely!
Pillars of the House Volume 1 by Charlotte Mary Yonge – the first half of a massive family saga surrounding the lives of an orphaned family of 13. An in-depth coming of age story that I’m LOVING reading with a wonderful bunch of Victorian literature lovers. 😄
Distilled Genius by Susan Branch – a charming collection of handwritten and illustrated quotes. Branch and I differ on worldviews a bit, but I really adored this overall.
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis – a short story based on true events of two tribal Alaskan women who get left behind as their band is starving. A tale of survival and forgiveness. My friend recommended this and I loved it!
Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery – wow! So beautifully atmospheric! I loved this book for the writing, but overall, this was not a happy book. It felt sad and lonely. However, it was full of interesting, quirky characters that Montgomery does so well. Another coming of age tale that I listened to via a YouTube recording, as one of the main characters has a heavy Irish accent.
How about you? What were your favorite reads for the summer? Have you read any of these above? Let’s chat! 📚🖤💟☕️🌞🌻✨🥀🍂🌾🍁🍄🌓🔥☀️💨
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 