It has been a good reading month. I finished my OWL’s and took part in The Unread Shelf’s book bingo- managing to compete all but 2 squares of the bingo board.
Among my favourite reads – the second in the Gentleman Bastards series – ‘Red Sea under Red Sky’ and a reread of ‘Last Song Before Night’.
Do you have reading plans for May?
Stay safe friends.
Today is Anzac day. Usually that means marches and dawn services. Today it looked like candles at the end of the drive at the Last Post on a phone speaker at 6am. So different from every other year. Yet some things stay the same. I made Anzac Biscuits (see here for a recipe).
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Lest we forget.
This morning I left my house for my walk and turned right instead of left. I normally walk the same path each day, but today I was on a quest. So I turned right and walked the path that I used to drive several times each day to drop the kids, to pick them up, and so on. I am now not driving several times a day – most days I am not driving at all, but yesterday when I went to pick up the groceries I noticed something that I wanted to check out on foot.
What I noticed first was the yellow rose in a neighbours yard, in full bloom and gorgeous in the morning sun. A teddy in a stroller under an umbrella in another garden with a sign saying ‘holiday at home’ that made me smile. The new house being built down the street has a roof. Things I would miss in the speed of a car, but made me smile this morning.
Then I saw what I had set out to find. A row of deciduous trees ( I wish I knew what they are) that line the main road to the shops. All still dressed in green, except for one.
One has gone bold and bright, proudly displaying his/her autumn colour – a loner in this sea of green.
There is no moral, no great lesson, just a vividly dressed tree that made me smile.
Have a safe weekend friends.
Today is an extra post, inspired by Anne Bogel’s “What I’ve been reading lately.” I love her list and have bookmarked two books to pick up – at some stage.
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It is hard to escape from the news that threatens to overwhelm us every minute. However reading has become one way for me to turn from the news, to give myself space, especially done with an actual book, putting down the phone and forcing my attention elsewhere.
Like Connor Goodwin in this article in The Atlantic, I have just finished reading with Rob Macfarlane “The Living Mountain” as part of the #CoReadingVirus group. Forcing my attention to the mountains that I have only seen from a train once in my life (but continue to haunt my dreams) has been a break of a sort. Nan’s focus on the small that captured her attention has felt right in these days of slower.
I have also been participating in The Unread Shelf’s book bingo, a fun way to choose my next read from the stack on the bedroom floor. So far this month I have read “Children of Virtue and Vengeance” by Tomi Adeyemi for the ‘Author of colour’ challenge; “On the Jellico Road” by Mellina Marchetta for the ‘chosen by friends’ category and “Red Seas under Red Skies” by Scott Lynch for the ‘from a favourite genre’ category. My current read “The Easternmost House” by Juliet Blaxland is my ‘blue book’ read. This has been a fun way to ‘shop my shelves’ when I can’t get to the actual shops.
Finally this article from Janice Hadlow at electricliterature.com on “Why we turn to Jane Austen in Dark Times’ really resonated with me, and has had me pulling ‘Pride and Prejudice’ from the shelves to dip into. My copy is 30 years old, bought and covered when I was at school and read one summer, with me complaining every page up until the proposal, when I finished the remainder of the book in an evening. Memories of phone calls to school friends with the breathlessness of teenagers over plot developments fill my mind as I hold the book. Like an old friend certain pages, certain passages bring comfort.
Do you have a comfort read? What have you been reading?
Do you find these occurring in your day – those moments when the most pressing thing that you needed to do is done. The automatic everyday is complete and now there is a choice. For various reasons I face a few of these each day even in the ordinary days. I have no boss, no one to answer to, usually just a few touch-points in the day. Now, like many, those are gone, and after the morning chores, I have a choice. I can sit and read my book, or watch half a show, or scroll the socials. Or I can tackle that thing that has been nagging me for weeks – even if it is only a small part of what needs doing. Today’s example, I need to get into the pantry that is usually so carefully sorted and try and make sense of what is actually there. It will make the next few days easier, but it has no deadline, no urgency. Decision point.
How do you decide what to do?
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There are probably as many answers to that as there are days in the week. So many variables that affect the choice.
For me, in these days of weird, I am using a method suggested by Elise Blaha Cripe in her book “Big Dreams Daily Joys“, and on her instagram feed (@elisejoy) – 3 things. I am sure it is not unique to her, but she wrote the words when I needed to hear them. It is a simple concept – what are 3 things I can do today. They do not have to have a purpose – although like my pantry shelf to do for today they can. Other days one of my three might be to go outside and see the moon. I decide on these the night before, and give myself grace that if the day becomes ‘one of those’ – well, those three things (or two of them, or one of them) will still be there tomorrow. And so when I have the choice between doing the thing or scrolling – usually I choose the thing. Making my decision point easier. I still get to decide, but it is a decision with two very concrete options.
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Now I am off to clean that shelf.
Stay safe friends.
This week I finished a quilt top. I want to say I am slow at sewing (and maybe that is true too), but what is more true is that this quilt is something I have been working on for 4 months. What I love about assembling the top is that the steps are already broken down for you. Cut the pieces, sew them together (repeat – in this case 40 times), sew the blocks into strips, sew the strips together. While the whole is overwhelming, just focusing on one step at a time is helpful. Even more than that, Sewing up one block takes only a few minutes. Which means even on busy days I was able to sew one block while I waited for something else to start/finish. And after several months I have something that I think looks good, and when I get it finished will be practical (thank you William Morris for that criteria).
When so much has changed, and the world seems grim, even spending five minutes completing one block feels like a challenge, but over time it grows into something bigger. That reminder this week was encouraging.
I still have several steps to complete before I can call it a quilt, but they will get done. However long it takes.
I hope you have a happy and safe weekend wherever you are.
The pattern is from ‘Charm School – 18 quilts from 5 inch squares” by Vanessa Goertzen. The material was a bunch of scraps I had at home.
It is overcast here today, the sort of day when I struggle even in normal times. This podcast episode by Kendra of The Lazy Genius has been just the thing today. While her focus is on reading in this episode – her straightforward words about finding ways to hang onto the things we love in these days of pandemic are applicable even if reading is not the thing that you love. I have found myself turning from more serious books to reading lots of lovely simple romances or travel stories. What is working for you at the moment?
If you are looking for an artistic challenge the 100 days project starts today. I will be aiming to add 100 elements to a fabric panel, inspired by the beautiful work of Tracey English (@traceyenglish on instagram). She works in paper, but is so imaginative, I am looking forward to having a go creating with needle, thread and fabric something silly, whimsical and totally for no other reason than I can.
Stay safe friends.
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Tonight, here in Australia, the clocks go back, from summer time to … regular time. I don’t know. It does feel weird, in a world where everything else has been cancelled and the days feel like endless repeats that summer is over here down under. It is Palm Sunday too if you believe in certain things, and it is strange too to think that Easter isn’t cancelled either. Some things continue.
The summer we have had is one I thought would never end. I waited and watched and prayed for cooler days, for relief from the fires. Now that feels like a million years ago. My social feed is full of spring flowers and spring birds, while here I watch for autumn leaves and prepare to get out the blankets and dust off the soup recipes.
Stay safe, and if you live in Australia don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight.
I hope everyone is doing well this last day in March.
I managed to finish 19 books this month due to a combination of personal and global circumstances. Lots of them were fluffy, easy to read, nothing really bad happens and the boy and girl get together at the end that I seem to be craving at the moment. Some of the books were borrowed from the library, some from friends, and so putting together a complete book stack is a bit hard.
Actually I wanted to give a shoutout to my four favourite books of the year so far in case you too are looking for something do dive into. In no particular order they are:
Please stay safe. The Magical Readathon and Camp NaNoWriMo start tomorrow if you are up for a challenge. If you are just trying to get through each day then I hope you can see some blue sky today.
I have actually made it into the garden this week, and discovered this beauty hiding under the weeds.
I loved this talk (scroll down on the page to see the video) with Patti Henry about her book “Becoming Mrs Lewis”. I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of this book, and listening to her talk about her adventures and discoveries while writing the book were fascinating. Best of all I could watch in my pyjamas with a cup of tea.
In other bookish things – Whitney from The Unread Shelf has started a fun bingo game with every book you read in March and April. You need to sign up for her emails to gain access, but if you are stuck at home and can only browse your own shelves this may be something a bit fun. I have 8 squares crossed off (out of 25), but am going to have to get creative to get a ‘bingo’.
If you need a laugh Christie and Lisa-Jo at The out of the Ordinary podcast have a show this week full of some of the absurdities of these strange days. Finally if you have not seen all the animal love that is filling social media, can I suggest the Wild Life Sydney Facebook page. Go and feast your eyes on the Lorikeets, Koala’s and Quokka’s.
I have two small strawberries that I picked last night to save them from whatever has started to feast on my plant, with a couple more not quite ready to be picked. The first of anything I have ever grown!
What have been your favourite moments from this week?
burstingattheseamsweb 