release your hold,
your icy grip off of
Saint Valentine’s wrist,
Janus, you selfish giant you,
you two-faced, greedy,
grasper, holding at
arms length from us
your children, the hint
of green, your snowy
finger still extending
over the land, but your
days are numbered
white witch melt
warmth will rule
once more
A.M. Pine, originally for Peace Poem Project 2023. Drawing from this well.
I cracked the Montana mug
I lost the swallow earring
flea market finds from my man
is this all marriage is
feeling cracked & lost?
but that’s how hope crawls in
through the cracks & crevices
in small corner light is found
loneliness is lumped & kneaded out
not unlike what that
potter did with the clay
back in Montana
turning something
rough into a little something
different one day
the beader who set
my earring soaring
didn’t see a marriage
celebrated as her
dangling art pierced through
my earlobe
the cracked & loss
a little more whole
A.M. Pine, originally written for Peace Poem Project 2023
-drawing from this well ♥️
I confess that I’ve had to internally fight to keep my heart calm ♥️ and in the moment this Advent season. This past year has been a good struggle for me. This coming to the end of my strength, coming to the end of self, I find of course, Jesus calmly standing beside me, loving me. ♥️♥️♥️ I picked the words “anticipation & expectation” for 2022 and wow 😯 that didn’t play out how I thought it would. 😎😂 But slowly reflecting in this Advent season, I’m seeing what a gift this year has been. I didn’t realize that what I was anticipating and expecting was something very different than what needed working, kneading in, and cutting away from my heart. 🥹♥️ God is SO faithful.
How are you? How are you holding up? What are some things you’ve been thinking on, learning from 2022? ♥️ I still not perfectly clear on what I’m to pull away from my struggles this year, but some things have bubbled to the surface and I’m slowly working on acknowledging them, trying to reorder affections that are wonky, and really focus on what is important in my life. I’m praying about my words for 2023 and what things I need to focus on through good habits, focused attention, and quiet listening. Listening to the still, small voice of Jesus and deep, attentive listening to the people in my life. And listening to the whisper of words on the wind, wrangling them into inky encouragement on paper.
My personality and lifestyle needs a healthy balance of habits & structure with a good dose of freedom and openness. It makes for an uniquely delicate dance, keeping a rhythm flowing, yet being open to being human, room for life, creativity, and laughter. Do you struggle finding the right pace for the journey of life, too? Praying for clarity and for faithfulness as we cross over into the new year.
May you have a blessed last few Advent moments and a wonderful Christmastime! 🎄 May God give you fresh vision as you look to the new year! Happiest Christmas! ♥️♥️♥️ Love, Amy
🍂🍃Dear Friends,
What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!🍃🍂
I’m grateful today for…
🌿this quote🌿
“…Love watches, and sleeping slumbers not; weary, is not tired; straitened, is not constrained; frightened, is not disturbed; but, like a living flame and a burning torch, it bursts forth upwards and safely over-passes all.” ~Thomas A Kempis
||Psalms 143|| delicious words swirling around me|| first homeschool co-op of the new school year, seeing friends and “meeting” new ones in the musicians, artists, and writers we will be enjoying together||my baby sister’s 30th birthday ||daughter’s excitement over hairdo change and getting ears pierced||celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary||
||golden-tinged September🍂🍂🍂||son’s excitement about helping friend work in Colorado||beginning Christmas planning|| The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange – enchanting!||P.G. Wodehouse audio books, hilariously ridiculous || “Honey in the Rock” by Brooke Ligertwood|| “Find Me in the River” by Delirious||an Oswald Chamber quote texted to me from my sister||
||Jesse Ahmann’s instrumental cello on YouTube ||foggy pauses||cool, crisp early morning air, with a hint of autumn||laundry snapping on the line||hubby finding a praying mantis on lawn||hard but good conversations||duvet put back on bed, cool and soft||Amish woodsmoke on the wind||bits of red-tipped sumac peeking around bends in the road||Bull thistle fluff blowing in the air, sunset blazing through it||
||Middle-Earth mornings ||harvest moon shining on my face as I awake from sleep||new tea, cardamom cinnamon coming in the post||letter writing to friends in Canada||homeschool mom chat||autumn stationary perusing||journaling saving my sanity||listing gratitudes helping rightly order my heart||purr of Ghibli, our adore orange tabby kitten||piles of books to try and soak in||
How about you? Anything just really bringing you joy currently? Watching anything good? Reading? Creating? I’d love to hear. Happy End of Summer, friends. May you get the chance to soak in the remaining warmth and light of the year! 🍃🍂🍃 Peace & love, Amy 🍎🍏🌾🍂📚🍂🌿🍃📬🖤💌☕️🫖🌾🍎🍃🍏🍂♥️🖤🌿✍️📬💌🖤
I’ve been thinking about my blog here and what {exactly} it is I love about it. It has grown into an offering to God🙏 more than anything…gratitude for the generous giving of other’s words written, a whispered prayer of thanksgiving through photography {a photo often says something words cannot}. It’s a tangible witness of the sheer love for the gifts of nature, poetry, writing, art ~all from the world’s well of inspiration. To us, from them, to them, from us. So you could say gratitude + blogger = gratilogger? 🌿♥️🌿♥️🌿♥️🌿 How ‘bout you? Do you ever feel this way also? Do you feel like bursting with all the beauty given to us? Why create? Why give in these ways? From the bottom of my heart, THANK goodness YOU create and give. I need it like air. 😄♥️💜♥️ That’s all, Happy Saturday!
Continuing my Lenten List of Gratitude ~
11. Mr. Kleon’s work has been opening my mind to possibly lately. And that’s a good thing.
12. Thinking on this quote I read with my 17 yo the other day, “A picture or poem, or the story of a noble deed, ‘finds’ us, we say. We, too, think that thought or live in that action, and, immediately, we are elevated and sustained. This is the sympathy we owe to our fellows, near and far off. If we have anything good to give, let us give it, knowing with certainty that they will respond. If we fail to give this Sympathy, if we regard the people about us as thinly small, unworthy thoughts, doing mean, unworthy actions, and incapable of better things, we reap our reward. We are really, though we are not aware it, giving Sympathy to all that is base in others, and thus strengthening and increasing their baseness: at the same time we are shutting ourselves into habits of hard and narrow thinking and living.” ~ Charlotte Mason, Ourselves
12. Thinking about creativity and how sometimes it’s hard to grasp that elusive ‘thing’ that’s haunting you and waiting to be born. How birth is beautiful and miraculous, yet it’s earthy, natural, and an everyday occurrence all over the world. These lyrics speak to that and here’s the music video which has stunning imagery about this tension. {click CC button, top right corner of video for English subtitles}
13. The flames, smell, colors, warmth, ritual of filling our indoor woodburner. I’ve been finding in the midst of the hard work of it and constantness of it, a beauty. Hmmm, this sounds like writing practice. 😬😩😂
14. Margin. Modern life is a snowball. I’m thankful when I remember to stop it and live counterculture for a bit. Run counterclockwise, Amy. One part of this can’t really change though. Relationships. Those you need to keep your toe dipped into.
15. This zany, high energy podcast. An encouraging online friend, Adrienne, recommended me to this resource!
16. Starting enjoying a new Shakespeare play, composer, and especially enjoying this unique artist with my children. So thankful for the moms in my homeschool group for sharing these riches.
17. For this this poem and animation. So peaceful!
18. For photography- snippets of light for dispelling darkness
19. Warmth: fires, slippers, hot showers, hot tea, steamy coffee, and comfy thrifted purple Scotland sweatshirts.
20. Changes of perspective to help me get outside of myself. For coming back to my mountain to climb with newness and freshness, or at least a deep breath. ♥️🌿
What’s fueling you? 🌿♥️🌿 Lots of love from the Ridge, Amy 💜🌿💜
I’m Thinking… about anticipating all the meaningful moments ✨ to be gathered up into my jar of memories , all the wonderful books 📚 waiting to be enjoyed, and about how much I love the seasons ❄️💦🌿🍂, the different beauty each one brings.
I’m Thankful for… my fun reading journal setup this year, reading challenges, and writing ✍️ plans.
One of My Favorite Things… Booktube! I’m in a couple of different reading challenges over there, at Oceana’s, Chantel’s, and I’m loving Emma’s account, sooo much, too! I’m also excited about this blogger’s challenge which I attempted a few times in past. You can also join me there on Booktube, but be forewarned I have a big learning curve with technology and editing ahead of me. 😂♥️😄
I’m Wearing… a lot of layers, slippers socks, and comfy core, as someone called it on Instagram!😂😃
I’m Watching… reading journal ideas and Booktube!
I’m Reading… SO many wonderful things I’ve started. I’m surprisingly enjoying my reread of Out of the Silent Planet by Lewis more than I thought I would.
I’m Listening… to soundtracks and Salt of the Sound!
I’m Hoping… to continue our slower, deeper dive into our books we started back this week. It’s been sooo great, the conversations swirling around. It’s tempting to do allllll the things, but faithfully and steadily doing a few less things works better for us. I’m all about deeper dives this year.
I’m Learning…to pace myself, trust and rest with Jesus, and to be in Anticipation & Expectation of Him being with me this year! In fact, those are my words of 2022.
In the Homeschool Room… we are just getting back at it this week and it’s been exhausting, but oh, so good. Giving myself the permission to tweak as needed for all of our sanity and for rest. ❄️❄️❄️
Shared Quote…
“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.”
Lemony Snicket
Just some last parting shots of some of my reading journal set up pages! So fun and relaxing! How is your new year shaping up? May the Lord bless you and keep you! ♥️🌿♥️ Love from Hearth Ridge, Amy
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
~ Arthur O’Shaughnessy, from Ode, here is the full poem and it’s just so lovely.
♥️I’ve been musing on how art begets art. It’s like really and truly being SEEN by someone and seeing a bit of them, too, connection that knows no boundaries, an amazing gift, when my heart beats with a story, art, music, or a film. ♥️ How about you? What do feel when something someone created reaches out to you?
Hello Lovely Friends,
Warmest Greetings to September ~I’ve been slowly attempting to just stop with the {home} school prep. At some point, you have to just run with it and tweak as you go, right? I haven’t been reading as much, in sort of a period where I’m just dipping in and out of things and dreaming a bit. Honestly, I’m approaching this year of {home} school with a healthy dose of respect and finding myself on shaky knees of prayer. Summer loveliness hasn’t quite faded away yet, but my heart is turning slowly towards the anticipation of the richness of autumn and all it brings. I’ve been thinking and meditating much on the turning of the seasons, literally, but also more so figuratively. It’s got me pulling books off my shelves that lend to that lingering feeling of change in the air. So many books evoke feelings of excitement and delight as one burrows in or bursts out depending on our seasons or circumstances. I thought it would be fun to intersperse and share some favorites from my home library throughout this post and for the next while as whim and spirit moves.
Looking out my window...has got me swooning with soft, dreamy purple sun rises and the rich, gold-drenched sunsets. We’ve had some scorching days and some severe thunderstorms, but for the most part, WONDER-filled weather.
I’m thinking…about habits and the idea that how you spend your days is how you spend your life, Annie Dilliard, thankyouverymuch. See below for full quote.
I’m thankful for… my new art & idea journal and for all my books and for Jesus loving me at my lowest, my family bearing with me, for lovely writing ideas swirling and spinning, themes and threads, and how life-giving journaling has been for me, as of late. My trip to Minnesota to meet up with my health support ladies for prayer and relaxation was a God-send.
One of my favorite things… has been listening to Studio Ghibli instrumental soundtracks – you can find them everywhere, on Youtube, Spotify…just so inspiring, cheerful, and dreamy. We’ve been working on a couple puzzles recently and just got a new one ~ Japanese Tea Garden~ {I can’t find it on Amazon anymore?} that looks lovely to tie into our upcoming Japan focus for geography and some history. I’ve been loving short walks w/my two little guys in the afternoon or picking bouquets together.
I am wearing… casual has been my mainstay for the last couple of weeks, as it has been just a touch cooler – jean, black, or olive green pants, took a break from my beloved skirts. T-shirts with a cardigan or a button-down with my pearl or sand dollar earrings from the Gulf of Mexico have been my go-tos. I’ve been wearing my brown sandals nonstop. I got myself a little back to {home}school gift that I can’t wait to wear! EEEK! 🙂 I mean it had my name on it. 😉
I am creating…my art/idea journal, school plans, and slowly prepping my offerings for our Charlotte Mason community group, gathering handicraft supplies, and chemistry experiment stuff. Whew. I also have a sweet little cross stitch project I began on my trip with my friends that I’m super excited to work on. I have a short children’s story I’m working on for my online writing group next week, poetry knocking at the door of my brain, wanting OUT, and lots of words/themes/visions/ideas to put to pen.
I am watching…short art journal videos on Youtube, booktubers, and I’ve watched the movie Totoro a few times with my children. It’s so peaceful.
I am reading…as I said before, I’m not really reading anything super specific, more just dipping my toes into lots of things. I’m most excited about the nonfiction, Heaven’s Ditch by Jack Kelly, Toilers of the Sea (possibly?! it’s BIG) by Victor Hugo (honestly, I most drawn to this book because of the delightful woodcut art), and I’m going to keep choosing a few favorite light reads off my shelves for comfort as we begin school. Maybe Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge? or more Wendell Berry poetry which has been SO lifegiving lately. I did recently finish Agatha Christie’s The Secret of the Chimneys and it was a five-star read for me! So humorous and mysterious. Sigh.
I’m listening... as I already mentioned Studio Ghibli and also Salt of the Sound.
I am hoping…to canoe down a local stretch of river soon with my family and also write more about journaling.
In the garden...we’ve pulled out some sunflowers, tomatoes, zinnias, and our watermelons are coming along any day now ~grapes and apples, too.
I am learning…that I go ALOT slower these days~ I can’t read, do, or be as fast as I used to, and you know what, that’s ok. I need to eat well, nap when I can, and get outside. But I also have to work faithfully at my TO-DO list, at times it’s the best thing for me, meaningful work.
In the kitchen… we’ve been making a lot of veggie, meat, and brown rice concoctions of sorts ~ I added black beans to my browned beef, too, the other night to make it stretch and it was delish.
In the homeschool room… eeek. It’s coming, my friends. Easing in next week. I need to stop by the thrift store this weekend to let the children pick out old frames for our handicraft project and we are slowly purging the homeschool/game/craft closet. It’s positively frightening…the closet, that is. Not school starting. 😉
Shared Quote:
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.
Annie Dillard
Some moments from my day {month}...
What are some books that evoke the change of seasons, literally or figuratively for you? How are you doing? Excited for autumn or holding on just a wee bit longer to summer? 🙂
It was so nice to chat. Until next time, lots of love ~ Amy
Dear Friends,
Happy August Eve!
Can you believe it’s the end of balmy July? Our weather here has been wonderful, albeit cooler than usual for summer. The garden and fields may wish for a little hotter temps, but I’m not complaining, it has been just delicious! I’ve been thinking about a lot and hope to write more on a couple themes that I actually jotted down some notes on (HURRAY for actually writing!) and can’t wait to flesh them out in the next week or so. Meanwhile, thanks for reading along here and for us being in this strange {online} community of sorts. It’s so lovely.
July 2021
–Looking out my window… as I said above we’ve had some wonderous weather. July was filled with our last two family birthdays of the year, traveling, and family get-togethers. We just returned from a lovely visit with my Uncle and Aunt at their lakeside home. What richness a lake brings to one’s life. The haunting morning cry of the loons, peaceful-like floating of the lily pads, the heavenly smell of pine and gooey lake-y muck. I live for the summer sunrises and sunsets, roadside bouquets of wildflowers and weeds, and the brilliant, warmth from light and all of the G-R-E-E-N. We’ve had some dry spells relieved by crashing thunderstorms and cooling rain. Sigh. I’m really coming to appreciate summer.
I am thinking…still soaking a bit in a couple of things I was blessed to listen to at the Living Education Retreat early July. Here is one of the recordings if you are interested. Grab something to drink and a pen & paper! It’s THAT good. I’ve been thinking about this story A LOT and it’s implications to my life. I’m also thinking about how hunger {physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually} can actually be a GOOD thing. Of course, not starvation, but turning this idea over a bit in my mind and heart. I’m thinking about a beautiful poem by William Wordsworth that a friend sent me. I’m thinking on a poem I’ve started for a Zoom writing group. And let’s not forget the many books I’m dipping in and out off, egads. Such wealth! Authors, thanks for pouring your hearts out.
I am thankful… for my Gratitude Journal that I’m on Day 12 of challenging myself to list out what I’m thankful for 100 days straight. You can join me at my Instagram home, if you are interested in reading my lists. I included Day 1 below in the photo. This 100 Days of Keeping was inspired by a book I read by Laurie Bestvater called, Studying to Be Quiet, a couple of years ago. I’ve always made gratitude lists and I thought this would be such a wonderful journal to apply the regularity too. I bought the beautiful art & quote journal from a favorite online shop, Sweet Sequels, just for this purpose. I’ve also been pretty faithfully working in my combo Commonplace & Nature Journal for this summer. This is mainly my prereading Commonplace for things I’m considering for my kids for school, learning myself, and am trying to be a bit more prepared for narrations. I’ve also been doing my nature sketches/painting it it, also, around the quotes. I’m LOVING it. I just got this wave pattern journal with watercolor paper on Amazon.
One of my favorite things… has been dipping into all my old homeschooling encouragement books. Oh my. It’s like being with a gaggle of lady goose friends again. They are all cackling and honking at me and oh my, the memories of when I had just begin and now that I’m in the middle-ish and graduated my BABY. Sob. Some favorites are: Home Education by Charlotte Mason, A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, and For the Children’s Sake by Susan Scaeffer Macaulay.
I am wearing… I’ve been wearing a lot of comfy skirts, my jean-colored blouse a lot, and my new Living Education Retreat t-shirt which says READ – MARK – LEARN – DIGEST on the back and it was SUCH a blessing to learn more about what Charlotte Mason took away from this bit in the Book of Common Prayer. The above recorded talk I linked mentions this more. I must say, a man at Walmart probably regrets asking me what my t-shirt meant as I blasted him with tons of impassioned sharing about it. Ha. 😉 Pearl earrings and my brown slip on sandals have been summer staples.
I am creating… well, I’ve been journal-brained as of late. Despite the two journals above, I’m also keeping up on my Prayer/Scripture journal and my regular Commonplace, which I just got a beautiful new one at a thrift store! My mom saw it and she grabbed it for me! A Vera Bradley and the paisley print is PERFECT. I’ve been writing a bit more but more creative nonfic and hopefully, a poem. No work on my fiction currently as I’ve chosen to set it aside as I pray about it more. I’ve been hoping to get to a quilt fabric shop soon, too. I’m working on a pretty “Brain” for my school plan, too. This is my master list of ideas/books/etc that I transfer to my log book each day during our school year.
I am watching… I’ve really been enjoying Chantel’s booktube and loved this one from Jeri Lander’s at Hopalong Hollow. Jeri has many that I’d like to watch. So LOVELY!
I’m reading… I have stacks everywhere and many books on the go, {yes, there is steam pouring out of my ears} but just binge-read Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, wonderful historical fiction. Lila by Marilynne Robinson made me think. I didn’t engage well with her Gilead and so I was hesitant, but I gobbled Lila up. I loved Urchin of the Riding Stars by M.I. McAllister, a Middle Grade, that my 12 year old daughter really wanted me to read.
I am listening to … this song here has been on my heart this week! A VERY nerdy podcast I’ve been enjoying when I wash dishes is Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells talking about VERY random things.
I am hoping… I hoping to continue moving forward for everything for my daughter’s graduation party. I’m hoping to finish some books on my stack, continue faithfully journaling, and get some words in! I’m hoping to really be conscious about choosing joy and to enjoy August fully before our school year begins again. Just stay in THIS moment, Amy. I’m hoping to call it quits/finish planning and rest in what I have on paper. It will tweak itself naturally when I actually walk my plan out. 🙂 Just want to trust and rest.
In the garden… my Giant Sunflowers tipped over in a huge thunderstorm we had this week! 😦 So today, I tried to stake them up. I have other flowers doing well and tomatoes and watermelons coming along. Not sure if it’s been hot enough for all these beauties, but it’s ok. It’s the journey, not the finish line, that is lifegiving and joyful. I’ve enjoyed doing my little bits here and there. I tied strings for my Morning Glories to climb and they are happy.
I am learning… how defensive and quick to judge I can be. *GULP* I’m learning to take people at face value, just believe what they are saying straight up. Not trying to psychoanalyze or figure out any angles. Sigh. Relationships are HARD. A good, yet sort of ugly thing. Worth it, though.
In the kitchen… I actually LOVE zucchini season. None of my plants made it, but I know there has to be some floating around somewhere. 😉 Honestly, I struggle in the kitchen in summer. I’ve been still doing stir-fries, lots of sandwiches, and chicken salad. I’m just not a cook, folks. But I’m trying. Any SUPER easy ideas for 9 people? 😉 No sugar and no flour would be a HUGE plus.
In the homeschool room… I have now spent June & July pulling my hair out…err, planning for school. Ha. I’m getting to the point where I’m being realistic and getting into a groove of what I really want. I’ve been so inspired by some reading I’ve been doing about the Bendectines and I’ve thought the areas of prayer/meditation, learning, and work/service are good places to anchor our rhythm and routine in. I’m culling all my lists and starting to make some purchases. I heard from my Charlotte Mason group that we will be doing Hamlet in autumn, so yay! I’m excited about that and will start to look for copies of the play. I like the Folger editions.
Shared Quote
Poets who give us ‘snatches of music, rather than complete songs’ bring us something important. Pause – take time – do not fill up all the spaces.
Esther de Waal
Some moments from my day {month}...
“One can pour something divine into every situation.”
Frank C. Laubach
Hello Dear Hearts,
Happy Saturday to you! I decided to do a little different post this month for my Gratitude & Glories post – combining a multitude of lovely things, The Simple Woman’s Daybook, with the things I’ve read so far this year that are sticking with me like molasses. I may touch on what I’m currently reading and other little rambling tidbits, but I want to stay close to the wonderful words that have been gifted to me through these past few months.
Looking out my window ~ I’ve been basking in the glorious wind-waving landscape and warmth on my face. Part of my enjoyment is the words that whisper right alongside as I contemplate the expansiveness that warm weather brings. It’s truly a seasonal addition to one’s homeplace. My friend Heather lent me the lovely book The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp and I’ve been just diving into it in small dips because I don’t want it to end. This is my first by him and it won’t be my last! Do you enjoy naturalist type memoirs? One of my favorite genres. Another book that I’ve had to really focus on, but finding rewarding if I’m patient is Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness by Esther de Waal.
I am Thinking and I am Thankful ~ I’m in love with Hollyhocks and am constantly staring at them and so thankful for them. A little watering and extra TLC in the beginning and the second year they come all friendly-like in their glory. I’ve been thinking a lot about many things, but mostly about stillness and faithfulness and love. I recently finished Kohila: The Shaping of an Indian Nurse by Amy Carmichael. One of the most beautiful, convicting reads for my faith and my mission as a wife, mother, homeschooler, writer, woman, and friend. It’s a bit ramble-ly, but richly rewarding if you put a little fortitude and focus into it. I took pages of quotes into my Commonplace. Along the same vein, I finished Letters by a Modern Mystic by Frank C. Laubach and it was wonderful and unique and so thought-provoking. Living moment by moment, habitually turning one’s thoughts and heart to the Lord. June is my birthday month and I received This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Break into our Darkness by Sarah Clarkson and I’m only a few chapters in and I am LOVING it. I may purchase a few copies as Christmas gifts for dear women that I love.
One of my Favorite things, what I’m Wearing, and Creating ~ I reread Wendell Berry’s The Mad Farmer Poems this month and man, I love them SO much. I highly recommend them! I’m looking for a copy to purchase soon. They are a favorite. I’ve been loving skirts and dresses and I can’t tell you the satisfaction I get from the wind whipping them about my ankles as I walk barefoot or with my lovely, new sandals to get the post. I inked some words last week on my fiction and I finally organized a whole mess of notes and things for the fiction projects I’m working on. I know deeply that I just need to write and I’ve been reading James Scott Bell’s book Just Write: Creating Unforgettable Fiction and a Rewarding Writing Life and it’s telling me the same thing. I still slowly working on here and there my prereading and nature journal and that is bringing me lots of joy.
I am Watching, Reading, and Listening ~ I watched my two birthday gifts with some of my children, my favorite version of Little Women (I did not care for the new one 😦 ) and Whispers of the Heart, about creativity. I’m slowly reading Jordan B. Peterson’s book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life and I like it more than the first, if that’s possible. So thought-provoking! I may not see eye-to-eye on him with everything, but I love how he makes me think. I’m almost half way through Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens and slowly moving forward with my oldest two on Great Expectations. Next up will be David Copperfield. I was so happy to find thrifting a book I’ve been wanting to read called Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and it opened out so well and interesting. I’ve been loving receiving handwritten magazine from a lovely friend in Tennessee about mothering and life and bookishness. It’s a highlight to my month. I’ve been listening mainly to Japanese Instrumental Music and Native Flutes and they have been so peaceful and lovely, paring so well with the weather and languid days of summer.
I’m Hoping, In the Garden, and I’m Learning ~ I’m hoping to find a delightfully deep and detailed fiction read yet this summer. Any suggestions? I like a bit of romance, domesticity, details, spiritual themes, family, mystery, and nature, and I prefer clean, which takes out a lot of modern titles. I’ve tried quite a few and haven’t found any that I REALLY love yet this year. And I’ve read a lot! Surprisingly, this has been, so far, the year of good non-fiction for me. The garden is producing little surprises here and there and I’m especially excited for the sunflowers and other small things. Days of small things are big, indeed. I was excited to see a Raven recently when my husband and I traveled to a funeral (yes, sort of deliciously creepy, I know) because I haven’t ever identified one near our home. We have American Crows, but not Ravens regularly. I’m still learning to continually reorder my affections back into the proper order of Truth & Love. Habits and rhythms that keep me sane and focused help my scatterbrained self. It’s hard, but so worth it. I’m rereading Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free by Susan Pierce Thompson with friends and it’s so interesting and helpful. I’m loving Zechariah and Romans right now in The Holy Bible.
For the eternal substance of a thing never lies in the thing itself, but in the quality of our reaction towards it.
Amy Carmichael
You can’t sit around thinking. You have to sit around writing.
David Long
Dear Saturday and all my friends,
How are you? Just thought I’d check in and share some heart whispers…
“I’m not sure I can write. The well feels dry. I have nothing to say,” I whine.
“You just have to sit down and start. I feel the same way when starting a sermon sometimes. But once I start, the things I need to say start coming,” he encouraged.
My husband shared this with me recently and it’s one of those things I know, but don’t know. He has been longsuffering as he listens to my lamenting. The official homeschool books have been shut with a slightly dusty bang for a few weeks now, but our learning goes ever on in other ways. My little bit of a green thumb has been poking and prodding in the soil, seeds in and watered, the local lake has had a dip of toes or oar once or twice, and the hammock never lacks for company. Hay fields smell richly fragrant, that warm, freshly baked, right out of the oven smell breathed deeply in, drifting through our open Prius windows as we zip around, errands and farm part pickups with above said hubby. Sigh, ’tis a blessed country life. We’ve gotten piles of treasure from our local library, delicious gems for our hearts and minds, I’ve been enjoying the time to dip into my stacks, curled in the hammock or big, chocolate, fluffy new-to-us arm chair. I especially am loving Letters by a Modern Mystic by Frank C. Laubach, which is challenging my prayer and thought life.
My homeschool planning has begun in earnest, to have a more realistic look as I prayerfully peruse and pick, starting with our home library, books for next autumn. All privileges’ I love to do for the lovely people I’m parenting. I start with massive ideas and book lists and weed it down to a workable plan as the summer burns down to a simmer. I hope to have a rough sketch before I head on a lovely homeschool retreat with my sister next month. I’m finding mornings crucial to my heart aim for each day – to set the day and needs of all who I love at the foot of a Cross, a bath of love flowing over it all. A constant reworking and reordering of a woman’s heart and affections each morning…it’s so easy to feel weight. Weight of our world and my work, as a wife, mother, and follower of The Way. Jesus, The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
My writing has been frozen – not sure why the pause has been pushed, recently, although I’m starting to suspect. My health is so much better now after making changes a year and a half ago, my sleep is a bit better, and I’m getting down time in, with plenty of reading, nature, and inspiration. My suspicion is this: my Baggins self is snuggled down deep into its lazy, second breakfast self and is continuingly stuffing the Tookish voice whispering of tales and adventure to be had at the end of my quill, writing my heart out as I journey alongside all you other pilgrims. Journeying is hard work, but oh, the rewards! How do you find yourself currently? As the summer sun sunkisses our hearts and souls, I know I’m storing that warmth to bring out in February, and I’m trying to kick myself into a gratitude posture. One that shares all the abundance I’ve been given. Because that’s what art is to me, a gift to myself and to others, if I’m willing to put in the heart and ink work. How are your summer starts? In home, garden, heart, or creative digging deep? How is this deeply rich and satisfying season of growth, warmth, and light shining light on your life? I’d love to continue this conversation with YOU. ❤ Please share what book you’ve loved recently, or project, or ANYTHING below!
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 