Greetings all! Sorry for the radio silence. It has been an interesting and challenging few weeks. Here’s a quick rundown on what’s been going on behind the curtain.
- I fell heavily into the family historian rabbit hole – and spent a lovely evening sifting through old photographs with my sharp-witted uncle and dear grandma. More such opportunities are on the horizon.
- My anxiety knocked me on my ass in a way I have not experienced in a long time. I summoned all my strength and tools and coping mechanisms, hunkered down, and waited for it to pass. Which it inevitably did. Anxiety, in all its illogical whispering and cunning cruelty, runs its course like a fever on the brain. Thankfully this ship has righted itself, lessons were learned, and strength was acquired. In short, I’m becoming a better navigator of my own life.
- We reworked the office into a creative space, which is where I am happily writing this as Sunday sunlight washes in through the windows. Every craft supply and writing tool has its place. This orderliness gives my messy mind a place to prosper.
- It is National Poetry Month and I have been selecting a “poem of the day” of sorts. One poem that struck me while navigating the fog was Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. I’m sharing it below because it is a good read, in my humble opinion.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
- Crafting, so much crafting has occurred. The college girls and I got together to learn how to crochet. The objective was to crochet a headband. Some of us got on better than others. I am definitely in the “other” category. Seriously, any crocheters or knitters out there want to show me how to make something that is not a balled up fist of yarn?
Some friends of mine spent a glorious weekend together crafting and resting to our hearts’ content. So much goodness came out of that weekend, and I’m not just talking about the new spring wreath now hanging on my front door. Mine is the one on the far left.
My sis and I planned and held a craft day with the nieces. It was a bit chaotic but definitely fun. We made garden flags, happiness jars, and salt dough bowls and other pieces. Part two of the craft day will occur – and after I run the garden flags through the sewing machine, I will share a photograph.
Sissy came over for a little stitching and bitching. Something about stabbing a cross stitch multiple times soothes the soul. We continued working on our designs from the previously mentioned Really Cross Stitch book. Obviously they are a work in progress. Sissy has really taken to cross stitch and I couldn’t be more proud. Sissy's is on the left and mine is on the right.
So yes, it’s been busy and challenging, but also inspiring and formative. Sorry again for the radio silence. I am glad to be back. But enough about me. What’s new with you?