These are a few of my favorite things…

~lilacs ~eucalyptus~coffee~Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry and The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir, both by Katrina Kenison ~ Gladys Taber ~ Amy Carmichael ~ L.M.Montgomery ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Jane Austen, specifically Persuasion ~ chocolate~ donuts ~ country walks in spring and autumn ~ tulips ~ roses~ grilled chicken ~ spicy food~ babies and two year olds ~ sunrises and sunsets ~ moon and stars~ floral prints ~England ~ The Holy Bible ~ Emily Dickinson ~ old wood ~ trees, especially willow ~ quilts ~ reading ~ garden gates ~ quaintness~ charm ~ Babette’s Feast ~ You’ve Got Mail ~ While You Were Sleeping ~ journals ~ pens~ writing~ the moment right after birth, when they hand your baby ~ candles, especially tapers ~ cardigans ~ Bequest of Wings: A Family’s Pleasure with Books by Annis Duff ~ Charlotte Mason’s six volume set of books on education ~ streams ~rain~ photography ~fine china ~thrift stores ~travel ~home ~Susan Branch, check out A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Country Side ~ Elizabeth Goudge, specifically A Pilgrim’s Inn ~ Yorkshire Gold ~ Peter Pan collars ~ Oxford shoes ~ TOMS ~ ballet flats ~Edith Schaeffer ~For The Family’s Sake by Susan Schaffer Macaulay ~ A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola ~ Loreena McKennitt ~ folk music~ hymns, especially “Come Thou Fount” ~ skirts ~ jeans ~ Converse Allstars ~ cat-eyed glasses ~ pearls ~ copper ~ washi tape ~ real letters in the post ~ country roads ~ fields ~ fens~ hedgerows and dry stack slate walls ~ baby animals ~ bird watching ~ Bess Streeter Aldrich ~ Agnes Sligh Turnbull ~ twinkle lights ~ bunting ~ scones ~ maps ~ children’s book illustrations ~ vintage books ~ old book smell ~ Sally Clarkson ~ fireplaces and woodstoves ~ scarves ~ “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by Yeats ~ English and Irish cottages ~ stone pathways ~ tea kettles ~ children laughing ~ Anna and the King ~The Sound of Music ~ The Magic of Ordinary Days ~ BBC’s North and South ~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~ coffee shops ~ porches ~ poetry ~ pretty postage stamps ~ seed catalogs ~ barn swallows ~ Canon cameras ~ old-fashioned hurricane lamps ~ wax seals ~ quill & ink ~ photographs ~ sound of water ~hot showers ~ The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason by Laurie Bestvater ~ Where the Blacktop Ends ~ Journey-and-Destination ~ Sage Parnassus ~ Joyous Lessons ~ Christa Parrish ~ fells ~ stained glass – words ~ Mary Oliver ~ August Derleth ~ William Wordsworth ~ light flickering through tree leaves ~ smell after the rain ~ Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner ~ long walks ~ mud squishing under my toes ~ my baby boy’s brown eyes ~ The Forgotten Garden and The Lake House by Kate Morton ~ Charles Martin ~ summer read alouds with the children ~ Thomas Hardy ~ wagon-wheel tables ~ lace tablecloths ~ Cedar Waxwings ~ super hero capes on my 5 yo daughter ~ sparkly toenails ~ geraniums ~ homemade brownies by my 14 yo daughter ~ embroidery ~ bridal showers ~ cabin days ~archaeology ~ Middle Eastern geometric art ~ vines ~roll top desks ~ dunes ~ lighthouses ~ popular trees ~ Kingfisher sightings by my 12 yo Noah ~ Andrew Wyeth postage stamps ~ thick white trim ~ brightly colored doors ~ buoys and lobster traps ~ spruce ~ canola fields ~ Rowan trees ~ “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis ~ Amish splitting wood in autumn ~ wood smoke ~ giant white pumpkins ~ pear galette ~ looking at Orion with my Sam ~ Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury ~ Christmas letters, photos, & cards ~ beautiful bohemian-style tablecloths ~ Moments with Mother Culture ~ Rabbit Patch Diary ~ Beyond Eden Rock ~ sunrises glistening on snow ~ Vincent Van Gogh washi Tape ~ Les Misérables ~ clothesline through the kitchen, drying items before the wood pellet stove ~ choosing colors for a quilt ~ Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising Series ~ Abigail Carrol’s poetry ~ jalapeno kettle chips ~ coffee ice cream ~ Moomins ~Braveheart Soundtrack ~ Begin to Wonder ~ Outlander Soundtrack ~ Poldark Soundtrack  ~ 18th century colonial dances ~ pussy willows ~ reflection of sky in puddles ~ deep rutted lanes ~ Tookish feelings ~ Billy Collin’s poetry ~ Tea & Tattle Podcast ~ Speaking With Joy Podcast ~ The Midnight Folk by John Masefield ~ Dala Horses ~ 100 Foot Journey movie ~ Lyle’s Golden Syrup cans ~ English ivy ~ cornbread casserole ~ Robert Siegel poetry ~ heraldry ~ illuminated manuscripts ~ marginality in old manuscripts ~ lighthouses ~ Kortney Garrison’s Homeschooling MFA idea ~ Tue Pies by Nahko Bear ~ inch-worm-like crawling by baby boy ~ Marco Polo support groups ~ walking in the rain ~ silence ~ Jeff Hardin poetry ~  my spruce sanctuary ~ raindrops on water ~ strawberries ~ Tombow pens ~  Ezekiel cereal ~ new-to-me patio set out of the local dump, one man’s trash ~ Idlewild Morning Glory patch ~ the stiff-legged walk of baby boy ~ Bright Line Eating ~ grilled zucchini ~ local lake days ~ InstaPot sweet potatoes ~ Spindrift ~ black cardigan ~ thrift store clothing hunt ~ stationary ~ dragonflies ~ baby lilac bush ~ Big Dipper ~ baby boy’s excitement over first pair of shoes ~ spaghetti squash ~ driving through leaves ~ crystal clear blue sky of autumn ~ book mail ~ Christmas surprises starting to take shape in October ~ American White Pelicans ~ iced coffee drinking with my sister next to the lake ~ early morning on the lake, waiting for the sunrise over the edge of the lake horizon ~ Vanilla Almond tea ~ golden tinge of autumn from crops waiting to be harvested and sunlight ~ gigantic sunflowers bouquets ~