Category: Gratitude Lists

✏️Heartfelt Home Education 📚|| Check-In September 2025 (among other things) 🧮🦋

amyofhearthridge6 Comments
Brush Drawing class in our Charlotte Mason co op!

September begins and now already ends…🙃🤪

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. ♥️🌿

~

Marvelous Monday🌻 || Reading and Beauty Chasing ~Life Check-In, Part 1

amyofhearthridge9 Comments
Cosmos

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 of Secrets 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? 🩷🌸🪴

What I’ve Been Up To… {Day 61} •journals and books•♥️❄️☕️

amyofhearthridge11 Comments

Hello, Friends! ☕️♥️

I’ve really been leaning into my phrase ‘expectant attention’ during this beginning space of the year. How are you doing? I’ve been soooo enjoying trying new reads, mainly from the library, on my Kindle especially, and pulling a few things off my shelves. I have finished a few Winter ❄️ list items, but I’m not stressing it. The reality of the online book world is that it’s easy to rush or feel F.O.M.O. and it’s so refreshing to buck all trends, lists, etc UNLESS these things are bringing me joy. The truth is *whispers* that most of this isn’t that important in the grand scheme of life. I can let it go at any time and pick it up again.

My new spiritual journal. It was a bit pricey, (Take a Note Brand) BUT I’m excited to change up the way I process my prayer/Bible/spiritual journey. This journal is much more structured than what I’ve used in the past! I LOVE the horizontal, two-page, one week lay out.

I got my journal a bit later in January, so my opening pages are a bit empty, but it was so fun to put in a few things the Lord has been showing me through all the inspiration I’ve been seeing and trying to deeply pay attention to!

I also began my 2025 Daily Pocket Moleskine! Sigh. It brings me so much joy. ♥️❄️☕️🥰 Not pictured is my reading journal which I adore scribbling and glueing in! Books stacks everywhere are getting a bit of a pruning today, but I’m so grateful for my stuffed home library and my public library. I’ve been freely quitting books that aren’t for me, EXCEPT my poetry selections and spiritual devotions. I definitely put more effort into those. Here are a few snaps of bookish loveliness. 🥰♥️

Trying these out…
These are formulaic and predictable. 😆 But I love the domestic coziness. The female characters are sweet and helpless. The love interests are a bit insufferable 😬😂, but I enjoy them occasionally. They are squeaky ‘clean’, too. Do you have any reads like this?
More try-a-chapter stacks…

That’s all, folks. 😅♥️ I’ve been just plugging along at all our homeschool responsibilities and trying to keep ahead of dishes and keep enough food on the table for these giant kids (read: mainly the 19 & 17 yo boys 🤣)!! I have some writing due soon and poems for my February poem postcard challenge. It’s freakishly cold 🥶 here and yet, I’m doing ok. God is faithful to send us little flashes of beauty and wonder in the midst of the mundanity. ♥️🥰

Light reflected✨

How are you? Reading or creating anything? Anything specific bringing you joy? 🥰 Bless each and every one of you. Happy Saturday! ♥️☕️📬💌📚✒️📝♥️❄️✨

Advent Diaries ~::🎄❄️♥️Pages 16-21♥️❄️🎄::~ CANDLELIGHT through SCRIPTURE ~ {Day 57}

amyofhearthridge3 Comments
Happy First Day of Winter! ❄️ Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here is a favorite read this time of year.

Dear Friends, hello again! I thought I’d catch up on my prompts by using them for more introspection and planning. Most of these areas, besides the marriage-focused ones, I will be including my children as we learn together. You are invited to join me in spirit or in your own planning…read on, if interested. ♥️❄️🎄

In the New Year ~2025~ I’d like too…

Light Candlelight in my marriage relationship and invest in my friendships deeply:

• planning dates, trips, times of prayer together with my husband, I’d love to jot down memories from these times and print off photos etc as a memorial of gratitude for God’s faithfulness.

•I’d like to reprioritize pen pal notes of encouragement, coffee dates with family and other friends, texting people who come to mind in prayer, local, and church women’s groups I’m in. We need one another more than ever.

The color of Green reminds me of hope, health, and creativity! It’s my favorite color 🍏🌿🌲🌱🍃🪴

•I’m planning on a few set creative challenges, especially using Bella Grace and Conscious Creativity for ideas.

•Figuring out a healthy way of living tailored to my needs and season of life and then being faithful to it.

•visiting my creative “heart homes”, if I can, occasionally or at least once next year. A special coffee shop, cabin, specific nature spots, and yes, Barnes & Noble. 😂 I love dreaming and planning at these places and it gives me something to look forward to! Yes, my major heart homes are the Lake District, Cumbria, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and P.E.I., Canada, 🇨🇦 but no plans soon for returning there. 😉🥰😍😂

My Reading life is a life-giving to me. I’m intentionally keeping it simple this year with two challenges and open-ended possibilities.

•my first challenge is to start reading all Kate Howe’s current Victorian Literature Favorites as a project for myself. I actually haven’t finished or read many of these and thought it would be fun to challenge myself with some deeper reading.

• I absolutely love Chantel’s open-ended word categories this year, so hoping to plug in what I read there. I may not do them in the months assigned, but will look at them throughout the year.

• I was so inspired by this video talking about ideas for this gal’s reading journal. I don’t pre set up most of my journal pages except in the opening, preferring to work on them as the year progresses. I’m hoping to tweak some of her ideas to work for my journal.

•I want to tie on my Apron of home keeping and hospitality in a new, fresh way this year. Sometimes this means making a meal for a new mom or dropping off a bouquet of sunflowers you grew. It can mean more than hosting in your home. I have an older house with one small bathroom. How can I use it to bless my hubby, children, and those around me? This isn’t an easy area for me, so I want to grow. I’d like to put some effort in helping my husband fix a few things and focus on a small, container flower garden on my older deck, as a way of extending our home this summer. I’d like to host bonfires in fine weather, as we have a lot of outdoor space. Praying for the Lord’s leading. I’m setting up my little to-do planner/memory book in anticipation! I feel like I’m being asked to focus on ‘Taking Heed/Paying Attention” as my phrase for the year. I found a quote by Charlotte Mason, my educational philosophy heroine, that uses the phrase “expectant attention” and it hit me like a lightening bolt. I want to pay attention to the Lord’s still small voice in expectancy for all the glorious Truth and Love He has for me.

Amy Carmichael quote for my phrase of the year! “Expectant Attention”
Little paper doors that open with goals and ideas! 🥹😍
Charlotte Mason quote
Scripture Truth

•I’d love to take to the Forest and field more. Nature walks and returning over and over again to numerous nearby favorites has blessed us immensely over the years on rotation. We truly strengthen our relationships with each other and walk away with little bits of beauty that keep on giving. These usually just cost me a bit of planning, a lunch thrown in a bag, and a little gas for an unmeasurable amount of Joy.

•Lastly, I want to really revamp and dive into my Scriptures this year. The Holy Bible is my life map and I honestly, adore it. I don’t understand it and it’s hard to read at times, but by faith, it will not return void in my life. I’d like to try a bit more focused journaling around it and I was so inspired by Doris’ journal here. She’s not using it for prayer and Scripture items, but I feel I could adapt some of it.

How ‘bout you? Do you have a focus or goals for 2025? I’d love to hear! 🥰😍

May your book be good and your drink hot! 😍🥰🎄❄️♥️

Advent Diaries ~::🎄❄️♥️Page 6♥️❄️🎄::~ TWINS~ {Day 52}

amyofhearthridge4 Comments

Hi 👋 Friends,

I’m getting a bit ‘behind’ on my sharing, but it’s ok. I’m not going to rush. Trying to still my heart. Anyway, here’s some inspiration for you! Good things come in twos, right? I’m so grateful for the day of small things to rejoice in.

~ my new Moleskine Daily Pocket Journal, decorating it for the new year. This is my little to-do list, line-a-day, small-slice-of-creativity journal all combined in one. I loved this practice this past year. Gratitude, prayer, check lists! Small enough to be doable daily. Do you keep any sort of daily journal? It’s life giving for me!

~Two books that have been so impactful and important to me this year by John Eldredge. Resilient and Get Your Life Back. Just a covid-cobweb-clear-out for me and a beautiful clarion call to focus on Jesus. What books are challenging you in your faith?

~Two of my favorite films that inspire me creatively! The Ben Stiller version of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and Studio Ghibli’s ‘Whisper of the Heart’! 💟❣️💟❣️💟 Do you have any films that get your inspiration flowing?

~I’ve been thinking a lot of home and what I can do to bless those here by being a bit more focused home keeper. Home keeping is something I have to work at and am always learning in. Gladys Taber’s books always come to mind. She was a beautiful writer of domestic memoirs in 1930’s and on. I borrowed again a favorite book from the library called Farmhouse Revival not only because I love a lot of the style in it, but it features Gladys’ home, Stillmeadow. Trying to resurrect some little things I can do to make our home one of joy and comfort. If you are on Instagram, I recommend Shanda’s little slice of life, as she is so inspiring to me in many areas, but especially home keeping!

~ Two bits of music for your enjoyment! First a peaceful, immersive, ASMR-type Christmas instrumental choice and second, a fun song to dance with your kids to!

“I’ll try to give satisfaction, madam,” said Jill as they shook hands, and then she slipped unobtrusively away into the shadows, opening and closing the door so softly that Nadine was hardly aware that she had gone until she found herself alone. “I’ll try to give satisfaction.” It was years since Nadine had heard that old-fashioned remark. Because she had not heard it for so long it struck her as being rather a wonderful phrase. Satisfied. No one ever was. The whole world was crying out with hunger of some sort, physical or spiritual. To try to satisfy. Jill was right. That was all one could do.

Elizabeth Goudge

The Pilgrim’s Inn, p. 55

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lewis! {Day 45}

amyofhearthridge4 Comments

I hope to reread Till We Have Faces in the coming year! I have a lot of Lewis’ stuff to read as he is very cerebral for me and it takes some work to read his nonfiction. My current favorite is The Great Divorce. Have you read a lot of his work? What are your favorites? The Magician’s Nephew is my current Narnia fav.

Happy Almost-Advent! 🎄♥️

Senior in the Wild {Day 43}

amyofhearthridge1 Comment

My current 12th grader. 😭♥️ Through all the messes and mayhem, I’m so thankful for home education. I’ve loved spending time with each of these people, it’s been the hardest and the best thing I’ve done. Counting my blessings.

♥️🌿🌲

Winter Inspiration Possibilities ~ Advent, Reading, & Stretching Myself Creatively {Day 41} ❄️🌲♥️❄️🌲♥️❄️🌲♥️❄️

amyofhearthridge8 Comments
‘Watch for the Light’ is my choice for Advent readings. All my children and I will be using some of Elizabeth Foss’ Advent reading plan/activities/recipes in ‘Real Learning Revisited’. My two older children will also be dipping into Biola University’s Advent posts.
Foss uses a lot of Tomie dePaola‘s books! Excited to read these.
I’m especially excited about this collection for dipping into a few times a week.

Remember how I said I wouldn’t overload my Winter DIY Woman’s Degree?! 😂🤷🏻‍♀️🤪🙄♥️❄️☃️ Never mind that! Here’s some of my reading ideas. I tried to categorize them here so it is easier for you to go to one that may interest you. I’m going to try crossing off/checking these off as I go. Some of these are planned possibilities and I also have my mood reading genres that I’m interested in currently. Quite a few of these are rereads, which I absolutely love doing. I realize this is excessive nerd overkill 🤓 and very detailed but I find it fun! It’s something to aim at and look forward too with the cold. I hold it super loosely and that’s why I call these ‘possibilities’. I didn’t include my Bible reading, Christian devotionals, or poetry because those three are always on the go.

Dec ‘24 – Jan ‘25 – Feb ‘25 Reading List:

Buddy Reads:

December 2024

Christmas Mummers by Charlotte Mary Yonge, online buddy read ✔️

Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope

(online group buddy read) short story✔️

Last Christmas in Paris by Webb & Gaynor ✔️

(online buddy read with Elizabeth B.)

January 2025

So Big by Edna Ferber ✔️

(online group buddy read)

The Man They Called Thursday by Chesterton

(preread with local friend for our HS Lit Class in our Charlotte Mason co op)

Books I’d Love to Read to my Kids this Winter:

Finish By the Shores of Silver Lake ✔️and begin The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Continue/Finish The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Read Story Girl and The Golden Road by LM Montgomery

Start the Narnia Series by CLS

Read The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery

Continuing listening to Penderwicks when we can get audiobooks from library ✔️✔️

Personal Study Challenge:

Start The Illiad (journal through it) Long introduction and 24 parts, I think? One a week over 3 months? Seems doable?

Possible joining of a few BookLoveJenna’s 2025 online book club – I’m interested in Praying with Jane Eyre, The Love Letters, and Letters of a Portuguese Nun in the winter selections. I’m very slow with nonfiction, so this group may help me finish? This is a very big maybe. I did too many buddy reads/challenges this year andI’m not going to put as much pressure on myself.

Till We Have Faces and Miracles by CS Lewis

Read a memoir: Merry Hall by Beverly Nichols and Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch

Fantasy:

I’d love to continue reading ‘The Stormlight Archives’ by Brandon Sanderson- I’m in the middle of Words of Radiance. My older kids are so excited for our preordered 5th book in this cycle. I think technically there’s some short stories/lore to be read inbetween the 5 massive books out. I enjoy his work, but they are a bit more intricate and political than I usually like so these are a loose goal mostly to be reading something with my young adults.

Reread The Fellowship of the Ring by JRRT

Ember Blade by Chris Wooding

Continue Dune Series with Dune Messiah

Reread Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Reread The Night Circus

Continue Byzantium by Stephan Lawhead

Victorian Things/Cozy Reads & Rereads:

Finish Nicholas Nickelby ✔️

Finish Woman in White

Finish Deerbrooke ✔️

Reread Anne Series

Reread Emily Series

Finish Moominvalley in November

The Enchanted Sonata by Dixon ✔️

Skating Shoes by Streitfeild

Start Elizabeth Goudge Reread/Complete 2 Yr Project with Pilgrim’s Inn, Gentian Hill, and Towers in the Mist

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

Start Romola by George Eliot

Current Reading Moods:

Classic/cozy mystery/spy

Cozy domestic & holiday

Dips into creativity/writing nonfiction shelf

Cozy fantasy

Deep middle grade/children’s literature, classic or with classic feel

Victorian Lit

This above is a CRAZY unrealistic🤪, but fun “bucket” list for this winter! Haha! 😆 What are some things on your list? I haven’t made many home keeping, home educating, or health goals yet. I’m still thinking on that. I think I have my focus phrase for the coming year, so maybe I’ll share that eventually. I’d like to update here on the blog as a fun way of checking in and narrating/processing what I’m learning or enjoying. We’ll see. Holding it all loosely, remember, Amy?! 🤣

Teeny, gorgeous snowflakes.

How about you? Do you plan things out a bit? Or fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants? I really love making seasonal lists! Chat with me in comments, please! I’d love to hear your thoughts! ❄️🌲♥️❄️🌲♥️

Ray, Anne, & Madeleine Nuggets {Day 39}

amyofhearthridge4 Comments
“I wanna be human, ‘Fore I do some art” ~ RM

Be certain of this: When honest love speaks, when true admiration begins, when excitement rises, when hate curls like smoke, you never need doubt that creativity will stay with you for a lifetime.

~Ray Bradbury, p. 46, Zen in the Art of Writing

Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground-you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip.

~Anne Lamott, p.28, Bird by Bird

What a teacher or librarian or parent can do, in working with children, is to give the flame enough oxygen so that it can burn. As far as I’m concerned, this providing of oxygen is one of the noblest of all vocations.

~Madeleine L’Engle, p.46, A Circle of Quiet

Thinking on these bits today! Happy Wednesday! ♥️

p.s. – I’m officially closing out my two reading projects from this summer! I’m still dipping into some picks, but hoping to make a new few goals for myself during the quiet, winter season. Overall, I am pleased with what I read. I probably will be less 😏 ambitious in my next goal.

Word Salad {Day 36}

amyofhearthridge7 Comments

Hello, my old friends, I’ve {finally} come to talk with you all again! 😄🖤

These last few weeks have been a mash up of glorious warm, leaf crunching, rattle-and-rolling weather with a side of gorgeous rain. November is definitely here in all her glory. The clouds and sky have been spectacular!

I’ve been hunkered down a bit with family, homeschool, and church responsibilities, so my online fun 😅 has had to be kept to a minimum. I’ve still been reading, and it’s been a lovely respite to our full and busy days. A few of our outside responsibilities are lighter during the last part of November and December so that will be nice to catch my breath.

Half a moon! 😌

I’ve been struggling a bit to get the jumble up here *taps brain* to down here *taps blank page* and all I’ve got is my ‘word salads’ as I call them. I’ve been dumping impressions, ideas, words, what’s going on in the moment, etc etc etc into my ‘dump/empty’ brain journal. It’s kinda all I got currently. I see a few phrases in these riots of ramblings that I might want to use/explore later so it’s a start, right?! Ray Bradbury loved his lists and worked on stories from them YEARS later. I’m counting on this Bradbury Magic to transfer to me. 😂 Of course, Mr. Bradbury wrote a 1,000 + words everyday no matter what. ☺️😍🥰

I’ve been thinking a lot about mirrors after revisiting The Mirror Visitor Series, how Ophelia can only travel through them when she sees her true self in the mirror, no disguises or wishing for something different. It’s been tying into the opening chapters of my reread of A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle. She’s speaking on creativity/writing here:

If I thought I had to say it better than anybody else, I’d never start. Better or worse is immaterial. The thing is that it has to be said; by me, ontologically. We each have to say it, to say it our own way. Not of our own will, but as it comes out through us. Good or bad, great or little: that isn’t what human creation is about. It is that we have to try; to put it down in pigment, or words, or musical notations, or we die. ~ L’Engle, p. 28, A Circle of Quiet

Commonplace journal. 📓 A beautiful, new-to-me, song!
Sophie 🥰🥰🥰

How ‘bout you? How are you doing? Any creative threads to follow lately? I’ll leave with a few more photos and a wish and prayer that your week is full of true Joy no matter our circumstances. ♥️🖤♥️

Highly recommend!
Beautiful 🤩
“Exit, pursued by a bear.” 😂
A favorite spot for prayer and contemplation. 🖤😌🙏🏻 So many friends and family in heavy circumstances.
We make our own fun here. 😂
I want to read this whole book! A friend is reading bits at our Charlotte Mason co op and it’s gorgeous.

Happy Monday, my friends. A new week, with no mistakes in it yet. ♥️

“And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Mark 9:24

Old favorites…{Day 35}

amyofhearthridge8 Comments
Sunrise and Honeysuckle

Do you find yourself returning to old favorites and habits in times of stress and upheaval? Sometimes, for me, this isn’t a good thing, because I have to work very hard to make good choices in a few areas where I’m prone to excess. However, books, music, and nature or domestic detail photography all have their place in a kind of “on-the-spot therapy” for me. I am definitely a rereader especially if a book encapsulates a certain ‘feeling’ I’m after or setting I love.

Poetry that I return to again and again!

Wild, windy days and whipping yellow

I recently pulled off my shelf a favorite reread series that’s so interesting that I got immediately sucked in all over again. I was reminded how much I love rereading, because so much more can be caught and different things highlighted. The Mirror Visitor Series isn’t perfect, but it has so many interesting characters and so many ideas to think on, I just love it. I was again reminded that it’s not always good for me to rush reading or be trying to keep up with all the new stuff. One big downside to Bookstagram and Booktube. Poetry, too, is something I absolutely have favorites of, I’m so rewarded and surprised as I cracked open the pages and take a deep drink all over again.

I don’t own a PB copy of the last book, The Storm of Echoes yet, can’t wait to collect it for the gorgeous cover alone. My favorites are the first two, by far, but they are all so immersive.
Josh Garrels oldie, but goodie

I’m very eclectic in my reading, listening, and watching tastes. I like quirky, kind of off-the-beaten-track things with a side of classic. I’ve noticed a shift lately back to my old Josh Garrels listening, instrumental BTS (my one and ever only K-pop fandom), a craving for films like Sound of Music, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Babette’s Feast. I watched a few episodes of Over the Garden Wall with my kids the other day. It’s a bit toooo creepy for us, but some of it is interesting and has such a gorgeous atmosphere. How about you? What do you gravitate towards when life is feeling weighty?

Two reread favorites 🥹♥️

Tree gazing and listening to…what are they whispering?

Hello light, my old friend.

How ‘bout you? What are some healthy ways you refresh yourself? Do you need something new and different? Or do you return to your comfortable, hole-y sweater of inspiration? It goes without saying, that the Holy Bible is super comforting to me because it shows that there is nothing new under the sun. We are all so flawed. I need deep gulps of Jesus.♥️ I definitely occasionally need a ‘Tookish’ adventure to get me out of a funk, but generally, returning to my old Baggins favorites and home comforts blesses me immensely. What richness we’ve been given! ☺️♥️🕸️🕷️🌿🍂🍁🍄🌾

~I remember the days of old;

I mediate on all you have done;

I reflect on the work of your hands.

I spread out my hands to you;

I am like parched land before you.

Selah

Psalm 143: 5-6 CSB

Wednesday Wonders {Day 27}

amyofhearthridge3 Comments

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? 🍁♥️