{Soulfood Friday}

Life has been so very busy of late friends. It has been hard for me to participate with Soulfood Friday and blogging generally in the way that I want to. I can only apologize for not being very present online at the moment. I'm hoping Summer will loosen up the knots in all our routines and there will be more time and space for reading, visiting and writing too.

There are seasons of life that seem to leave such little time for deep reflection and yet their fullness is itself a kind of meditation. During these busy times, brief moments of quiet seem all the more sacred and shimmering. I watch for them without grasping for them and then when they happen they are free from the binds of expectation. I have learned it is better this way.

Sweet Emmy and her beautiful Rowan Jo have moved back home with us and we are savouring these precious days of babyhood together. He smiles and gurgles so easily. Today I read him Tabby Mctat and Hairy Maclary and he cooed, squirmed and smiled in all the right places. Emmy has just finished the last of her first year A level exams and is planning to spend the Summer learning to drive and hopefully acquiring her license. She missed a lot of classes since March and has been doing a lot of catch up and revision from home. It's not been easy but she has worked really hard to balance everything. She rearranged her room last week and although it's small it is a beautiful, peaceful space for her and her little one full of all her favourite things, candles, books, artworks and little gifts and trinkets from friends plus, of course, all Rowans softies and toys. I am so proud of her.

A couple of weeks ago we adopted two little Ratties, more of which I hope to write about in due time. They actually make very fun and friendly pets. We have two little boys. One rex with curly whiskers that makes him look a little like he's just been electrocuted and one smooth coated. Their names are Figaro Albert Scruff (Fig) for short and Tiptoe Long-stocking (Tippy) for short. There has been more than one occasion when I have been talking to Boo and noticed  a twitchy little pair of whiskers poking out of her hair. They love to hitch a ride on the girls' shoulders.

Oh and I am writing a book. Perhaps two books even. Progress has been slow but so long as I write a little everyday, even if it's only half a paragraph I feel accomplished. I think the body gets used to a writing schedule the way it gets used to and eating and sleeping schedule. I find that if I write a little at the same time everyday, my brain seems to  get into writing mode at that time too, the ideas certainly seem to surface more readily and words seem to flow more freely this way. I have noticed that if I skip a few days I get blockages and find it harder to find inspiration. I think as with all creative endeavors, practice is key to unlocking the Muses door.

Wishing you all a great weekend friends! We are planning a picnic on the green tomorrow. Please cross your fingers it doesn't rain like it did today!

 

 Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*  
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

There have been lots of happenings here at home this past week. We have had some very busy times but there have also been moments clear as blue skies and bright as birdsong. These moments have provided a pause for me to catch my breath and realize how incredibly lucky we are, in so many ways.

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*  
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.
   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

Sometimes poetry is medicine. This is one of my favorite medicine poems.
  
 Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. 
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
     purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye
  



 Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*  
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

 'I have no philosophy, I have senses"
 Fernando Pessoa

From the uncertainties of last week we have found our course once more. Having a baby is the most life changing event ever. It is especially so when you are young and still forging your own path in the world. There is so much negativity in the media about young parents. The way life has been structured, with  so many fabricated hoops to traverse on the road to becoming an adult it does make logical sense to wait before having a family. But then something unexpected and altogether wonderful happens and suddenly the old picture, the one we bought into about how things "should" be doesn't make sense anymore because the new picture with all it's strange and wild beauty leaves us breathless with real wonder. Emmy is 18 and Emmy is a wonderful Mama. Her gentleness and connection with her little boy is a magical thing to see. Rowan Joe is growing fast and beginning to charm us with the flutters of first smiles and gurgling sounds. 

The clouds are clearing space for the blue today and the forget me nots and cow parsley are in full bloom. Sometimes simple things like these are just enough to fill the cup full.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*  
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough week. I am tired, body and soul. I hope I have been enough.
It is hard not to be able to wave a magic wand and fix everything for those we love, make all the hurt disappear.

One thing I realized again today is how incredibly vital it is to have people who you can just be totally vulnerable. A few years ago I was lucky enough to come across a beautiful, diverse, open-hearted group of women as part of a weekly home-school meet up. Today I felt supported, encouraged and blessed by their friendship.
I also felt blessed by nature and it's ability to inject beauty and re-frame our perspective and the soft, warm place to land that is my five girls and Tani.

Wishing all a peaceful and restful weekend...

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*  
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

 
   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

word kindling

Sylvie stares at me bemusedly as I jot down notes. I began a couple of projects about a year or so ago. They are bundled into a riddle of skeins which I am now, finally, attempting to untangle. Journals brimming with brief sketches, spider diagrams and scribbles clutter the bedside table. There is a book in here somewhere, maybe two. Well it's nice to dream.

I love the initial stage of writing. The stream of consciousness memory jotting. The sideways  glancing at humanities eccentricities. I metaphorically (although sometimes when pushed, literally) throw all my notes up in the air and let them fall where they may. It is glorious. But oh, the picking up the pieces and pasting them back into some semblance of order and the knitty, gritty editing and re-editing of drafts is a far less inspiring task. Yet I have felt unusually methodical of late and as a result I already have 10,000 words down.

Ultimately, if no bound tome arises from these crumpled ashes the process of breathing my breath on them till they kindle will seem enough.

{Soulfood Friday}

 

I started to write a short story in long hand a few months ago. This past week I have been editing it and working on some other writing projects that have been on the back burner for a while. It's wonderful when out of nowhere the words just start falling like  great fat raindrops onto the dry, white page. So cathartic! I have been reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott which has some excellent advice for writers of all kinds. I love her ideas about just writing in stream of consciousness during a first draft. Perfectionism over every word and comma is inspirations worst enemy I am certain. I have just ordered Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft  too as I've heard so many wonderful things about it and of course her writing is exquisite. Her advice to a young writer is something I re-read again and again when embarking on my own humble word-smithing.  I've also enjoyed listening to Marilynne Robinson readings and interviews on youtube. Her characters radiate humanity and her prose shimmers with stark yet graceful imagery. If you haven't read Gilead yet, I highly recommend it.

The girls wanted to look through old photos the other day. We dusted off our Wedding album and there were lots of ohhs and ahhs about how young we looked. Well it's true but that was four children ago so we have a right to a few wrinkles and grey hairs by now.  I remember being equally fascinated, as a child, by my own parents wedding pictures. Looking back at old photos brings up so many emotions. Time and the way memory processes it is such a mysterious thing. In some ways the us in those pictures seem almost like strangers and yet in other ways it seems like we were standing outside that beautiful old church only days ago, our teeth chattering with both excitement and cold ( why did we decide to marry in March?) It's funny how time goes by with it's bags packed full of story and experience yet deep down inside at the core you feel just as confused and thrilled about life as you did when you were three.

Boo bought (with her own money) a beautiful gardening planner for me last year. It has some very quaint recipes in it and little envelopes for storing seeds. The sewing, planting and harvesting calendar included is very helpful and it's just plain, lovely to sit down and write notes on what seeds we've planted and what is blooming and when in the garden. It's practical too as it helps me plan the following year  based on when certain flowers are coming up this year. I love to potter about the garden and dream about what plants we'll put where. I love the way gardens change year on year. I like to scatter wildflower seeds as well as raising seedlings to plant out, along with all the self seeding varieties this makes room for plenty of  surprises.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of peaceful pottering around. xx

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

The week began with four seasons in one day. We awoke to snow gently falling in big fuzzy flakes over the daffodils. After about an hour the sky completely cleared and it was sunny enough to hang my washing out. At about 2 in the afternoon an ominous storm cloud rolled over up and pelted the garden with a shot of hailstones. Not long after the hail turned to huge fat raindrops. The shower was so heavy the country road opposite our house was turned into a stream. Strange weather, strange days. The children thought it was a great adventure. I have to admit I'm a little less keen on snow in April than they are. 

I have found space to sit in the sun (however fleetingly it shines) write, read and generally potter. Schedules may not be very romantic things but writing things down and reserving space in the margins for all kind of necessary errors seems to work for us at the moment. I used to be the kind of person that thrived with pieces of note paper, trinkets and books lounging all over the place. As I have grown and begun to share space with ever more growing little humans who all have their own needs, styles and stuff I have realized how deep my need for order is. The key to it all seems to be in letting go of things when necessary instead of pushing through just for the sake of finishing a job (although that is nice too) I think it is also about being content with loose ends from time to time while still keeping spaces on the borders for putting the house back together again at key moments in the day so it doesn't feel like there's a big skein of yarn unraveling all over the house which will probably need to be wound up when I'm most tired and least in the mood to do it. There is something deeply satisfying to me about creating small pockets of beauty and knowing that there is a place for everything even if things are not always in them. That whole idea applied to hours in the day seems to suit me too.

Matilda read a beautifully illustrated version of the Cinderella story to us in bed last night. Tani was away at work last night The little girl inside me could get lost in these images...

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

Daffodils just make me happy.

As does this sweet little face.

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.
   

    An InLinkz Link-up