Read My Shelf – A.M. Pine – Hearth Ridge Reflections

Favorite First Quarter Reads: 📚2026📚 {Day 7}

April 7, 2026 amyofhearthridge3 Comments

🍃Just remembering here my favorite reads of January, February, and March. I love looking back and also sharing in hopes you might find one you love!🍃

•The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy, translated by Joyce Marshall ~ Canadian writer connects four stories loosely on mother and daughter relationships, growing older, time, and deep longing all cloaked in gorgeous, sparse writing.

•The Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw ~ a wonderful quest fantasy story surrounding Aedan and his friends. This has amazing friendship, leadership, and character growth.

•This is Happiness by Niall Williams ~ A small Irish village on the cusp of change. You grow to love and care for the characters and see yourself in them. This is such a human story and the author understands small village life! This was so beautiful at times it makes you ache.

•The Will of Many by James Islington ~ I absolutely loved the main character, Vis, and how much he values the memory and lessons of his father. The battle between doing what’s right and surviving in a system built on greed and corruption. So many wonderful characters and ideas to consider in this epic fantasy.

•Through Rushing Water by Catherine Richmond ~ Gorgeous historical fiction about an ex-Russian nobility immigrant who gets sent to the American West as a school teacher to a Native tribe. This will pull at your heart strings. Richmond did a fantastic job of not sugar coating this time period.

•The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson ~ This had a slow start, but a wonderful blended family story set in Michigan on the cusp of WWII. I loved the literature threads, the conversation about Indigenous mixed-race tensions, and the gentle faith themes woven throughout. Solid middle grade read!

•Followed by Frost by Charlie N. Holmberg ~ This feels a bit Disney-Frozen-ish , but don’t let that stop you from this quiet, deceptively deeper story. Slow start and very creepy villain, but what a wonderful story of selflessness and how servanthood ultimately defeats loneliness.

•The Secret of Honeycake by Kimberly Newton Fusco ~ This is such a heartfelt story around two sisters dealing with death and chronic illness. This is a slow-as-molasses middle grade story, but I ate up every delicious word. So beautifully written with friendships, growth, domestic details, and LIFE.

•Persuasion by Jane Austen ~ I’ve read this so many times but have to mention it here because I was so delighted all over again. The humanity and magnifying glass that Austen does is so perfect. I especially loved Mrs. Smith of Westgate Buildings 😅 this time through.

•The Robe by LloydC. Douglas ~ A wonderful historical fiction set around the time of Christ. I posted a bit more about it here! Highly recommend!

•The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo ~ This was so sweet and lovely! It follows little Marta around the hotel where her mother works as a maid after the disappearance of her father. This is full of the lovely noticing, longing, thoughts on life, memories, parents, and meaning from a child’s perspective. The illustrations made this absolutely shine!

Sophie helping me pick my next read! 😂♥️

📚🌷How about you? Any stand out reads at the beginning of the year? I’d love to hear! 🌷📚

“…something more vital than friendly concern…” {Day 3}

April 3, 2026 amyofhearthridge2 Comments

“The face of the enigmatic Jew seemed weighted with an almost insupportable burden of anxiety. The eyes, narrowed as if in resigned acceptance of some inevitable catastrophe, stared straight ahead toward Jerusalem. Perhaps the man, intent upon larger responsibilities far removed from this pitiable little coronation farce, wasn’t really hearing the racket at all.

So deeply absorbed had Demetrius become, in his wide-eyed study of the young Jew’s face, that he too was beginning to be unmindful of the general clamor and confusion. He moved along with inching steps, slanting his body against the weight of the pressing crowd, so close now to the preoccupied rider that with one stride he could have touched him.

Now there was a temporary blocking of the way, and the noisy procession came to a complete stop. The man on the white donkey straightened, as if roused from a reverie, drew a deep sigh, and slowly turned his head. Demetrius watched, with parted lips and a pounding heat.

The meditative eyes, drifting about over the excited multitude, seemed to carry a sort of wistful compassion for these helpless victims of an aggression for which they thought he had a remedy. Everyone was shouting, shouting-all but the Corinthian slave, whose throat was so dry he couldn’t have shouted, who had no inclination to shout, who wished they would all be quiet, quiet! It wasn’t the time or place for shouting. Quiet! This man wasn’t the sort of person one shouted at, or shouted for. Quiet! That was what this moment called for-Quiet!

Gradually the brooding eyes moved over the crowd until they came to rest on the strained, bewildered face of Demetrius. Perhaps, he wondered, the man’s gaze halted there because he alone-in all this welter of hysteria-refrained from shouting. His silence singled him out. The eyes calmly appraised Demetrius. They neither widened or smiled; but, in some indefinable manner, they held Demetrius’s a grip so firm it was almost a physical compulsion. The message they communicated was something other than sympathy, something more vital than friendly concern; a sort of stabilizing power that swept away all such negations as slavery, poverty, or any other afflicting circumstance. Demetrius was suffused with the glow of this curious kinship. Blind with sudden tears, he elbows through the throng and reached the roadside.”

The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas, p. 73-74

Happy Good Friday, my friends. A horrible, yet beautiful day I remember as a Christ-follower. I recently was privileged to read with three friends a stirring historical fiction centered around Marcellus, a Roman soldier and his slave, Demetrius. We follow Marcellus as he crucifies Jesus and wins his homespun robe in a gambling match. Douglas seeps us in the rich, historical setting of first century Rome and ultimately, we walk away with a profound sense of wonder. We who touch the presence of Jesus are never the same.

I was deeply moved by this novel and it made me rethink how I live day to day. How would my life look if I actively acknowledged His real presence right in and around me? I highly recommend this book! ♥️

A beautiful hymn we are singing in our homeschool co op has been hanging around in my heart as I think of what my Lord’s death and Resurrection mean to me. I used to love Christmas the most, but slowly as I’ve lived more life, the hope, spring-freshness, and LIFE to Easter have become a most meaningful time for me.

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die…”

John 11:25-26a, NLT

“I am waylaid by Beauty.” {Day 2}

April 2, 2026 amyofhearthridge6 Comments

Assault

I had forgotten how the frogs must sound

After a year of silence, else I think

I should not so have ventured forth alone

At dusk upon this unfrequented road.

I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk

Between me and the crying of the frogs?

Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,

That am a timid woman, on her way

From one house to another!

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay~

Millay’s poetry has been recently touching me deeply. Do you have a current favorite poet? Mine is constantly changing. I’m a lover of words and Beauty of poetry often waylays me! The other morning I stopped with great delight over my steaming coffee and knew that I was hearing the spring peepers on our little pond. It brought me so much joy. I received a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas last year and I’m sooo glad I picked this giant tome of her work. ♥️♥️♥️

What beauty touched you recently?

Quote to Remember 🩵

October 16, 2025 amyofhearthridge1 Comment

I sometimes think the worst thing a young person can feel is when you can find no answer to the question of what you are supposed to do with this life you’ve been given. At moments you’re aware of it balanced on your tongue, but not what comes next. Something like that. I can now say that another version of that happens in old age, when it occurs to you that since you’ve lived this long you must have learned something, so you open your eyes before dawn and think: What is it that I’ve learned, what is it I want to say?

Niall Williams, This Is Happiness, p. 13-14

Currently 🍂🍂🍂

October 10, 2025 amyofhearthridge4 Comments

…let your compassion come to us quickly, for we have become very weak.

Excerpt from Psalm 79:8, CSB

I love finding random journaling prompts on Pinterest and really enjoy looking back at lists I’ve made!

Currently: 🍂

Reading…

My main focus this month is dipping into my massive stack of Victorian literature (one Victorian inspired in that stack!)for an online event called Victober! Community reading of literature published in the UK during Queen Victoria’s reign {1837-1901}. I set aside many other things to be apart of this lovely reading focus. It’s honestly become a highlight of my year for the last few years! I’m reading poetry from Tennyson, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, and George MacDonald. I’ve dipped into Queen Victoria’s childhood diaries a teeny bit, too. I’m slowly rereading Our Mutual Friend. My favorites have been the drama in Charlotte Mary Yonge’s The Three Brides (Kindle) about three newlywed SIL’s thrown together under their new invalid widowed MIL, Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, and Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy with the audiobook read by Alan Rickman.

I’m supposed to be reading Niall Williams’ This Is Happiness with my IRL friends, but got distracted by the Victorians! 🤣

I’m also dipping into various things for study and to keep up the homeschooling co op classes I’m facilitating, mom’s group, a writing commitment and our own homeschool. The opening chapter of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis was fascinating and so lovely.

A little book haul from a HUGE, fabulous used bookstore that I had only 30 minutes to peruse. 😉

Watching…

I’m on a bit of a social media purge so missing my Booktube watching, 🤣 but I did watch “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone” with two of my older kids. It’s the only one of the movies I truly love.

Playing…

I honestly love my journaling. They bring me SO much joy. 🤩

Trying…

I’m ‘trying’ to find balance?! with all our outside activities, homeschooling, cultivation of relationships, and taking care of myself. It’s not working well 😅🥲, but one has to have something to keep aiming for even if they miss continually. 🙃

Nature walk to examine a “shaggy bark” hickory tree. ♥️

Looking forward to…

Continuing Victober and hopefully watching the BBC miniseries of “Our Mutual Friend” this month?! and next probably. It’s long!

Dreading…

Hmmm, deadlines are necessary evils, but they can be stressful for me. Leadership is stretching for me. Unfinished household projects. The great clothing change-out. The usual. 😅

Obsessing Over…

All things Victorian! I made these recently! It was difficult, but so fun! I’ve loved noticing one of my favorite autumn things…glancing in the rear view mirror and seeing the leaves swirl up, dance, come ‘alive’!

Learning…

So much through facilitating our co op highschoolers through The Divine Comedy and realizing that worry can be pride, I’m saying I know more than God. 😬🫣😅🙏🏻

Drinking…

I’ve been making half pumpkin spice flavored coffee with regular dark blend and it’s so great! I drink it black and it’s just a hint of pumpkin flavor. I don’t loooove flavored coffees, but this is gooood. 🎃

Loving…

My hubby and I took a 4 day trip north in celebration of our 23rd anniversary which was in September. We enjoyed history and nature together!

Hating (or rather Broken Up About)…

All the relational tensions, loved ones going through illnesses, marital pain, financial stress and just the general feeling of the absence of love 💕 permeating the air. 😞🙏🏻♥️Oh, Lord, come!

Starting…

Revamping my prayer time again! Needed something fresh! Journaling and alternating spots I’m reading in the Bible. Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms. Currently added a Proverbs of the Day! Love finding the one that matches the day of the month! ❤️🙏🏻

Thinking…

About our life’s work?! and about the resurrection of my poetry scribblings and collage art, what I need to sacrifice to make it happen. Thinking about the movie “ Dead Poets Society”, which I watched for the first time a couple months ago. 🥲

Feeling…

Not sure. 🤔 Overwhelmed a bit 😵‍💫😉😬😅, but also inspired by the gorgeous autumn weather and all the lovely knowledge and life ripe for the picking. It’s right here for the taking.☺️♥️

Praying for…

My heart to be knit closer than ever to my Jesus and a listening heart to be wide open for others and for all the beauty here and now in this moment. For all the suffering near to me and far from me. 😞♥️🙏🏻

How about you? What’s currently beating in your heart? Let me know your answers to these! ♥️🍂Happiest October! 🎃 🦇 🕷️ 🕸️ 🍁

Consider: Second Chances 🌿

April 2, 2025 amyofhearthridge4 Comments

If the old earth could wash herself and begin again so often and so humbly, why could not a man do the same?

A City of Bells, Elizabeth Goudge

What are motherhood, art, our very life but second chances, beginning again, over and over? ‘Second-chance’ is a term that the book industry labels romances that have the same couple making another attempt at a relationship. This is a very narrow definition. We take second-go-arounds at multiple things DAILY. Our faith walk, being kind, loving on those tough to love, and asking forgiveness over and over again. There are so many wonderful stories and art that when you dig deep, focus on a chance to begin again. I want to focus my attention on a few of these with an expectant heart for what truth the Lord wants to show me. I’m not sure how this will play out as I have so much swirling in my heart. A couple of stories that really jump out to me are Marilla, Matthew, and Anne’s from Anne of Green Gables, Valency from The Blue Castle, Jocelyn from A City of Bells, and Mary from The Scent of Water. All these people have been given a chance to start again or at least begin to truly live. I actually made a huge list of stories from books and films that mean a do-over and fresh mercies to me. I was so surprised by how many of my favorites fall into that category!

2nd ~

my hundredth and one
second chance,
leaves curl into bud
faithfully once again

A.M.Pine 🌲♥️

Happy April Eve! 🌿✨

March 31, 2025 amyofhearthridge6 Comments

Hello, Friends! 🌷🌷🌷Happy Spring!

I’m excited to start a new little ‘something something’ here. Just as we celebrate National Poetry Month, Letter Writing Month, (thanks for telling me, Kim!), Easter, and soak in the earth coming alive. A month to celebrate newness, resurrection, and the wheel of seasons turning again. I have a few things I’m simmering, so I hope you are as encouraged and inspired as I am about a freshness blowing through the windows…

How ‘bout you? Anything brewing in your heart? 🌿🌷✨

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

January 25, 2025 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. 🥰♥️

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?

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. ♥️🥰

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}

December 21, 2024December 21, 2024 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! 🥹😍

•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 8♥️❄️🎄::~ POETRY ~ {Day 54}

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 amyofhearthridge7 Comments

I adore Nativity sets. This is my Haitian set. 💟

What is your jam or ‘poetry of life’ currently? A little something bringing you joy and a pause during this can-be-hectic time of year?

~Magazine dates with myself. I take a little cash and go buy a magazine and usually sit by a nature spot (in my car currently 🥶, of course! ) to peruse it. I love the quiet, the pause, and the new freshness of something to look forward to. It’s a wonderful time of contemplation and prayer! 🙏🏻

~Scriptures/poetry/prayer/journaling…my morning routine is such a lovely time to contemplate and set myself on Jesus for the day. A few words of poetry or devotionals plus Scripture under a cozy blanket, mug of coffee, and fairy lights are crucial as I love on/survive 😅the relationships in my life. I journal my way through it all. My favorite poetry currently is Ted Hughes’ Seasons Songs and my friend, Kim’s poetry, not to mention her photography is pure poetry, too. ❣️I have a few new collections I want for Christmas.

Can you spot the kitty cat? 🐈 😂✨New Christmas mug I found for $3! Yay! 😀

~ Reading is always my jam! 💗 Here is a list of some of my autumn reading favorites (September-October-November) with a little snippet to snap review. These are all perfect for curling up with this winter. Something for everyone. I wasn’t able to film a YouTube recap, so I’m wrapping it up here!

Witches by Roald Dahl (sweet, grotesquely funny story of little boy and grandmother who battle evil together!)
Apple Bough by Noel Streatfield (delightful story of the oldest daughter in an extremely artistic family who is finding her place. This was beautiful and deep!)
Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kandano (sweet, comforting, cozy coming of age fantasy story.)
The Language of Spells by Garrit Weyr (deep story following a family and a dragon through both World Wars – so lovely and thoughtful.)
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (gorgeous farm family story with beautiful writing!)
The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell (short, atmospheric story. Ending was a bit rushed, but accessible Victorian literature at its best.)
The Chantry House by Charlotte Mary Yonge (longer Victorian literature with a side of ghost. I really enjoyed this one!)
The Lost Heiress by Roseann’s M. White (lovely, clean historical romance that had a mysterious twist to it. I really enjoyed this one!)
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson (amazingly written, gorgeous atmospheric fantasy story with deep themes of the emptiness of immortality and more. Romance wasn’t for me, but overall, I loved this.)
Honey for a Women’s Heart by Gladys M. Hunt (a favorite nonfiction reread that was just what I needed to inspire my reading and my home educating!)
Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell (gloriously written, heartfelt, heart wrenching story set in an English coastal, whaling village. I’ll read anything Gaskell wrote! She’s my favorite Victorian writer.)
The Mirror Visitor Series by Christelle Dabos (translated from French – fantasy reread that I love for its beautiful, intriguing setting and main character, Ophelia’s revelations about how we see ourselves. The first two books are my favorites.)
Conscious Creativity by Philippe Stanton (a gorgeous photographer’s art philosophy, prompts, inspiration, and ramblings. So inspiring!)
Amish Quilt Shop Series by Isabella Alan (simple and cozy mysteries. When I’m exhausted and need of something light, I enjoy a few cozy, clean mystery authors.)
Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson (Police Detective fiction. This was unique in that Ann, the main investigator was very introverted. A little unrealistic, but I really identified with a lot of her internal processing.)
Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery (I’ve read this multiple times, but this reread was with my four younger children and we all had such a lovely time together. Even my 5 yo listened pretty well!)
Maisie Dobbs Series by Jacqueline Winspear (#4 & #5 in this long series of a female private English investigator in the interwar period. I disliked #3 , so was so glad to enjoy these two! Highly recommend the series!)
Chalice by Robin McKinley (lovely, elemental magic fantasy that enchanted me. Can’t really explain why. A bit darker fantasy, fyi.)
Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau (this was an online buddy read and had some convoluted parts and unloveable characters. However, the philosophical parts were intriguing and the nature writing was amazing. The conversations with my friends made it an interesting read!)

~ Walking and nature drives are so wonderful when I take the time. It’s a bit cold for me, but I’m always so rewarded. My hubby is very willing to take back roads and I’m so grateful we live in a beautiful area.

How about you? What makes you ‘sing’

currently? ❣️✨💟💜🌲📚☕️🪶🌝❄️🎄❣️

Advent Diaries ~::🎄❄️♥️Page 4♥️❄️🎄::~ HERB ~ {Day 50}

December 5, 2024 amyofhearthridge4 Comments

Soul Soup

•what does

your soul soup need?

what was

cooking, bubbling, freed?

•on the piping hot

cookery range of life

a heart not fraught?

a pinch of healing, less strife?

•are you set too low?

stagnant, add some salt

tweak the recipe, nice & slow

tears simmering wrought

•a delicious mass, savory

turn it up hot

your soup not ordinary

it’s changing and sought

•taste it and see

not a bland hand, but good

what more sprinkling needs be?

stir it, oh spoon, wonderful wood

•be patient, soak herbs in

spice, vegetables, whole lot

perfectly poured, bowl to brim

sweet soul soup served hot

•what does

your soul soup need?

what was

cooking, bubbling, freed?

A. M. Pine 🌲 ♥️

Thrift book haul from last week. See anything interesting? I already have Family Under the Bridge but replacing our PB copy with this hard back. 😌♥️

But Sally did not want to be set free for anything, for it was living itself that she enjoyed. She liked lighting a real fire of logs and fir cones, and toasting bread on an old-fashioned toaster. And she liked the lovely curve of an old staircase and the fun of running up and down it. And she vastly preferred writing a letter and walking with it to the post than using the telephone and hearing with horror her voice committing itself to to things she would never have dreamed of doing if she’d had the time to think. “It’s my stupid brain,” she said to herself. “I like the leisurely things, and taking my time about them. That’s partly why I like children so much, I think. They’re never in a hurry to get on to something else.”

Elizabeth Goudge

The Pilgrim’s Inn , p. 12

♥️How is your week? What things in your life need stirring creatively or spiritually? I’m going to be thinking on these things awhile…

~ Blessings!

Advent Diaries ~ ::🎄❄️♥️Page 1♥️❄️🎄:: ~ JOURNAL ~ {Day 47}

December 1, 2024 amyofhearthridge5 Comments

My Advent journey begins this year by way of a journal. I love and thrive with journals and I’ve decided to journal {paper journal AND here, my online corner) my way through a beloved book, The Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge, as part of my contemplation and slowing down this season. As a way of intro, let me give you a little background into this favorite Christmastime reread. I’m thrilled to be returning and revisiting well-loved friends in Sally, Hilary, the Eliot children, Jill, and others. It centers around the increasingly frail widowed grandmother matriarch of the Eliot family, Lucilla. Both World Wars have exacted a heavy price on the generations of her family and she is especially concerned for her son, George, and his 5 children. She’s made it her mission to convince her daughter-in-law, the sly, exhausted, beautiful Nadine to move back to the country near her and the family seat, Damerosehay, the faded home that has survived.

Nadine is facing her own demons and an unrequited love affair that almost happened with Lucilla’s grandson while her and her husband were separated, who happens to be Nadine’s great nephew! (I think! It’s been a long time since reading the first book in this trilogy) Lucilla’s grandson, David, is haunted by what he experienced in WWII as a RAF pilot, his father having died in WWI, and now he is now trying to resurrect his London stage acting career. Into these family dynamics, enters a multitude of other characters, especially the wonderful, sweet Sally Adair, with her father, too. We delve deep into the 5 Eliot children’s hearts, especially the oldest, sensitive, beauty seeking Ben. This story displays Goudge’s writing at its best, beautiful and with a sharp-edged mirror inviting the reader to examine their own heart and life. I’m slowly savoring every word and so grateful for the truths straight to my heart.

I plan to share a few quotes and things I’m drawing from this deep, rich well throughout December as an Advent practice.

I’ve created some prompts (listed below) if you want to join in any way in your own journals, blogs, or anywhere. These are fully open to your own special twist or interpretation.

They are words I pulled from my memory of this story and ones tugging at my heart currently.

Journaling is a favorite tactile way to reflect, pray, and process through life. I prefer ink and paper, but slow, quiet online forms of journaling are lovely too, as long as I can balance the scrolling siren call. I’m so grateful for this cozy, lovely way to be creative, record God’s continuous faithfulness, jot down memories , and keep quotes for perusing.

A darling Advent card from my local friend! 🥰

As I write out my thoughts on this book, as well as just general coziness and seasonal delights, I thought I’d bring you along with me to share joy in the mundane.

For some added inspiration, here are a few places to dig into for loveliness. If you enjoy Instagram, I highly recommend perusing CozyKimmi! The blog that I love, currently is Tea & Paper, for lovely poetry.

Here’s the prompts!

Use all of them, some, one, or make your own!

Journal
Light
Pilgrim
Herb
River
Twins
Paint
Poetry
Red
Children
Tea
Secret
Chapel
Grace
Feast
Candlelight
Green
Read
Apron
Forest
Scripture
Vows
Letter
Music

Little bits of Christmas slowly trickling out…next Christmas mugs and books this week…

…she suddenly abandoned herself to joy like bird to the wind, leaped from her bed, her tall body in it’s yellow pajamas like a sword of gold in the sun, flashed into the adjoining bathroom, banged the door, stripped, sprang into the bath, turned on the shower, and broke into a loud uproarious song. ♥️

pg. 3, The Pilgrim’s Inn

Come let us anticipate His coming together and offer our creative hearts as worship!

Blessed Advent beginnings, friends. ♥️🎄❄️