Fresh produce. We recently discovered a tiny farm with a produce stand close to our home, and I love stopping by for fresh, yummy goodness. Today we got squash, plums, tomatoes, strawberries… it doesn’t get better than that.
Fun blogs about doing art with kids. These two are my current favorites- SO inspiring! Filth Wizardry (best name EVER!) and The Artful Parent.
Books about butterflies. We’re obsessed with them around here recently. A World Of Butterflies
is stunningly gorgeous- an art book more than an identification guide. We found Butterflies & Moths (Smithsonian Handbooks)
to be much more helpful in that regard.
Pruning back our flowers. I don’t even know if pruning is the right word- basically just taking all the dead brown yucky bits off. (We had some casualties around here during the couple day heat wave.) There’s just something wonderful about pulling off all of the deadness to reveal the green beneath… I think there’s a potential post in that, so I’ll leave it for now. 
Finding a fun new recipe. I discovered what looks to be a delicious one for curry chicken salad. If it turns out as wonderful as it looks, I’ll share tomorrow!
What’s one of your favorite things today? Do share!
Books, Cooking, Crafts, Creativity, Nature
I feel like I’ve been in a season of gathering lately. Ideas and inspiration are being found and stored away, to be put to use after pondering and thought. These are some “nuts” I’ve picked up recently:
Steady Days
The Art of Simple Food
Simplicity Parenting
I haven’t really put any of these ideas to use yet; I’m kind of letting them simmer for a while to see what ends up bubbling up to the surface as important.
What’s inspiring you these days?
Books, Catching the vision, Inspiration
I’m currently reading Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World
by Suzanne Woods Fisher, a fantastic book I HIGHLY recommend. It’s a great glimpse into the Amish way of life, and Fisher (who is not Amish) does an insightful job of asking thought provoking questions that help the reader consider what can be learned from Amish beliefs.
I read this yesterday and it was like a kick in the head, so I thought I’d share.
“One Amish man joked that if her were meant to plow at night, God would have put a headlight on a horse. The Amish respect natural limitations: sunlight and seasons, hunger and fatigue. Do you accept those limitations, or do you try to override them? Do you ever feel as if you are expecting too much from yourself?
How many times in a day do you feel rushed? How many times in a day do you feel frustrated? Are those moments always related to each other? Building a margin of error into your schedule – for unexpected things like traffic jams – can be a simple and effective way to add peace to your life.” p 86 of Amish Peace
Share your thoughts in the comments if you like, and if you need something to read, check out this book. The chapters are really short, so it’s easy to pick up and put down, and I’m really learning a lot from it — about the Amish, and about myself.
Books, Organization
Later after I married and had a child, I learned to find equal meaning in the repeated rituals of domestic life. Setting the table. Lighting the candles. Building the fire. Cooking. All those souffles, all that creme caramel, all those daubes and albondigas and gumbos. Clean sheets, stacks of clean towels, hurricane lamps for storms, enough water and food to see us through whatever geological event came our way. These fragments I have shared against my ruins were the words that came to mind then. These fragments mattered to me. I believed in them.
What rituals of domestic life do you find meaning in?
Books, Catching the vision, Cleaning, Cooking, Inspiration
Slowness.
Abundance.
Compassion.
Mercy.
These are the themes that keep popping up in the books I’m reading, the shows we’re watching. I’m trying to take the lessons to heart.
What are your key words this week/month/year?
Books, Inspiration, Refilling the Well- You time
a book? I’m only partway through it, but it’s fascinating so far.
You can get it here for $6. (Woo hoo, bargain books!) It’s all about why we feel the need for speed (historically and sociologically speaking), and the movement to take back control over our own time. It may have just given me the inspiration I needed to tackle more hands on cooking – what will it inspire you to do?
I’ll post a more comprehensive review once I’ve finished it, but for now, if it sounds interesting to you, go take a look!
Books, Catching the vision, Cooking, Inspiration
Books, Cooking, slowing down
Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life
Calm and Compassionate Children: A Handbook
