Let's Do a Daybook!

Outside my window There is a glorious old Horse Chestnut tree. It blooms around Memorial Day every year, so it was in bloom the first weekend we came to the house. The view from my bedroom window is so pretty. The wavy glass only makes it dreamier.

The view from inside that I see most often these days is through the French doors in the room we call “The Balcony Room.” As much as I’d love to, I can’t work outside, but with both these doors flung open, it’s pretty close. This room is bright and cheerful and very small. It was a dressing room when we moved in—with its own closet and two doors to the hallway. I moved a small drop-down desk in there. It serves as a bedside table for guests, but I shuffle it around the room depending on the light for my own use. There is only one outlet, so sometimes I’m creative with things requiring electricity. The breeze keeps the room fairly cool and stirs the air so that it doesn’t feel too sticky, despite the lack of air conditioning. All in all, it’s a good way to feel as if one is outside when actually she is at her desk.

I am so Grateful for

Local friends. I worried about friends when we moved. And I worried about the church. Mostly, people told me to worry. Turns out, we have lovely friends and we enjoy them so much. There are good, strong shoulders to lean on and holy people with which to do life. 

I'm Pondering

I was quiet, but I was not blind.

― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

I am Reading:

I have fallen deep into the well that is Rosamunde Pilcher. I mentioned this on Instagram a few weeks ago and discovered I’m not the only one. I read The Shell Seekers first and it’s my favorite so far. I have 14 hours left in Coming Home. It's a significant commitment because it’s more than 40 hours! I put it aside for a while just a few hours in because of a scene I found really troubling. A friend who had read it and was confident I would feel decent resolution persuaded me to push on, and I’m so glad I did.

I am Thinking

That very few things in life turn out the way we thought they would. It’s all a surprise—sometimes small diversions from the path you thought you’d be on, sometimes large plot twists. I can’t imagine navigating these without faith. All the more reason to do whatever we can to help our children embrace faith for themselves. 

I am Creating:

I’m working on a Lent booklet, the kind you find for free in the back of the church on Ash Wednesday. I just finished writing, and I’m glad. It’s always a little disorienting to be writing outside the current liturgical season.

In my ear:

In the spirit of Charlotte Mason, I have three books going: The Nature Fix, Wordsworth, and Coming Home. The Nature Fix is fascinating science about why nature makes us healthier and more creative. Ironically, it’s compelling me to not listen to something on Audible every time I walk. 

Towards a Real Education:

As the term comes to an end, I’m as busy as the next mom with all things May and early June. But I have a sense of poignancy that I can’t seem to shake. Our homeschool co-op graduation was at the end of last week—the last one before it’s our turn. With every graduation, the class holds kids I’m genuinely sorry to see leave. This one is no different. And I watch Karoline. She was bereft last year when a whole gang of her closest friends left for colleges flung far and wide. This year, it’s her go-to best bud, the boy who could be counted on to cheer her up and stir out of her melancholy. He will be going very far away, indeed. Her own class is very small. But we will keep busy doing all those things that we said we’d always do, but somehow never go to. This is our last year to do them—the last chance.

In my ear:

In the spirit of Charlotte Mason, I have three books going: The Nature Fix (free with an Audible membership), Wordsworth, and Coming Home. The Nature Fix is fascinating science about why nature makes us healthier and more creative. Ironically, it’s compelling me to not listen to something on Audible every time I walk. 

I love to walk this way in the morning

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

Rhythm is evading me here at the end of spring, on the brink of summer. Our grown kids are coming in spurts. And for some reason, I seem to never know when. I keep telling myself we’ll settle in, and the we don’t. The first two weeks of June are dedicated to all-day, every day rehearsals for the June musical. There will be rhythm imposed for sure.

To Live the Liturgy

For some reason, our parish always brings in the Mary statue only for the month of May. It’s a lovely statute and I’m so glad she’s there! I’ll be sorry to see her go.

I am Hoping and Praying

My prayers are unceasing. One thing we discussed in the Take Up Membership last month is how telling our prayers are. The thing you pray for incessantly? It’s often the thing you’re holding tightly, failing to surrender. Now, I’m just praying for the grace to surrender and for an infusion of hope.

In the Garden

My whole backyard is a garden—it’s truly an Enlgish garden come to life here in New England. In the spring, it requires an enormous amount of work. My husband is doing most of it. Hours and hours of labor to eradicate the weeds and shore up the plants and get rid of debris. and then there is the extensive system of elaborate drains that just went in. Hopefully, we won’t live on lakefront property this summer the way we did last year.

It’s just beginning to look amazing. The roses, in particular, are beautiful this time of year.

One caveat to keep it real: the peonies in my garden were kind of disappointing this year. Very few buds, and not many blooms at all. Does anyone know why?

Around the House

I finally finished the big blanket switch. This house is very old and not very well insulated at all. In the winter, we pile on the blankets. In the summer—in the absence of air-conditioning—the beds get a very light touch: the crispest of sheets, the lightest of coverlets. And then we look for space in closets and under the beds for all those bulky blankets.

From the Kitchen

This week and next, I will be out of the house all day, every day. Thankfully, Nick and katie are both in town this week, so they are trading off dinner duty. We’ll eat well and get to try some new recipes. So fun.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week

Nick came in on Friday. I am so happy he is here. I know this summer is his last hurrah! He begins a “real job” in September, and there will be no more long holidays in the summer and at Christmas. It’s a thought I don’t let myself think about too long. We’ve been apart so much these last four years; it’s hard to imagine seeing even less of him. He’s come a long way from the boy who refused to do algebra (and much else) his junior year of high school. Despite formidable health struggles, he graduated in three years and collected a Master’s degree in accounting this month. Not bad for the boy who shunned math.

Here’s what’s happening this month in the membership community. Join us here. It won’t be the same without you.

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One of My Favorite Things

Walks at sunrise. Whatever the weather, I’m out there. First I take one dog, then the other. If the third appears and begs to go when I get back with the second, I take him, also. I cannot manage more than one at a time. And that last one always gets me to run! I live on a busy street, and the sound of traffic is a nearly constant drone. But in the earliest morning, just as the sun comes up, it’s quieter. The air smells sweet. You can literally smell the flowers on the breeze! It’s such a lovely neighborhood. The daffodils gave way to tulips. Just as the tulips faded, it was time for lilacs and rhododendrons. And now, the peonies and roses are budding, with a few early blooms promising what is next. I can see hydrangeas beginning to leaf out, tiny green buds suggesting that summer won’t be without color. Springtime in New England is definitely one of my favorite things.

A Picture Thought

the view from my church across the soccer field to the cemetery and the river just beyond