SAME OL' SAME OL'

Not much has changed since I talked to you last -- part of the reason I go so long between posts. We're still staying hunkered down here at home, other than a couple of doctors appointments and a couple of trips to the garden center by Dear Hubby. He's very good about wearing his mask, however. The only problem now is that it's getting a whole lot harder to stay upbeat about doing all this, and not getting to spend real time with our kiddles, when the rest of the world seems to be running amok! But, all the more reason to do it.

I'm still sending pen pal cards to my little grandson.

And though I don't get many in return, I always get an immediate facetime call, with him jumping around and waving the card in the air, to tell me how excited he was to get it.

We're still doing puzzles too, and getting totally obsessed with them. Hard to believe, since we never did them at all prior to quarantine. This has been our favorite so far, since it brought back so many great memories.

Barcelona

This next one was pretty nostalgic as well, since my sister put herself through college working at Kip's Big Boy in Dallas, and we all spent a good bit of time there.

I'm still getting my monthly art lesson subscription from Lucy Brydon. This month we took all those tips we learned about glazing and layering leaves and put them to use making floral wreaths.

Loved this lesson. I am not good at particular and precise, and with these wreaths, it seems that the looser and messier you got, the better they turned out! Next up? Fun, funky little birdies.

The one thing I never tire of, however, while being stuck here at home, is the view from my windows.

Even when the little rascals sneak into my garden and nibble my plants!

AND SO IT CONTINUES...

Long ago, when I had that very first brain fart -- about something I later came to call "seasonality" -- it was simply the realization that life was better when you made the most of its seasons. Back then we were still big-city-suburbanites, and  it was mostly about how I decorated my home and entertained, and that when I incorporated seasonal touches into these activities, I was much less likely to get bored with them, or with everything I owned, making me want to go out and buy a bunch of new stuff I really didn't need.

Then we migrated to the Texas Hill Country, and it turned into something else altogether. I started reading books like Animal Vegetable Miracle, The Good Life,  and A Reasonable Life, and I learned about the Slow Food and Farm to Table movements. Then "seasonality" became less about stuff, and more about how I gardened and what I ate, watching the seasons change outside my treehouse windows, and wondering what kind of world we were bequeathing our kids and grandkids.

Twenty five or so years down the line from that first light bulb moment, I am a much different person. I spend much less time entertaining and decorating, and my hubby has taken over the gardening. I still love to cook and eat what is in season and grown nearby, but mostly I spend my time playing with those grandkids, reading, journaling and occasionally, drawing or painting. Is it any surprise then, that Seasonality has followed me here as well?

I'm pretty sure that, back in December, I told you about grabbing this planner at Costco just because I needed one, then discovering that it was actually a mindfulness journal. But did I mention that a few days later, I was digging through my art shelves looking for something, and stumbled upon a book I had bought a couple of years ago, then forgot all about?

When synchronicity knocks, I listen, and it was clearly telling me I needed to use the techniques from that book to develop an artful journaling habit in the other one.

First step was to copy the yearly insert and paste it inside the cover, to remind me of my daily, weekly and monthly assignments.

My First Assignment

The Result

 I really did intend to follow their instructions, but then my hand, of its own accord, reached out and grabbed something that was laying nearby, and I knew that was the only image I needed to fill my altar -- the place I go every fall "to catch my breath".

Instead of New Years Resolutions, we were asked to make a vision board showing things we wanted more, or less, of in our lives in the year to come.

I had a lot of fun prepping my journal according to the No Excuses instructions -- adding things like envelopes for collecting collage fodder in, and sheets of water color paper on which to do our weekly "card peep" sketches. I spent so much time searching for the right colors of washi tape and envelopes to match, in seasonal colors (hmmmm...) that I ran out of time to finish all four of that month's card peeps.

So Wintery!

One of the many meditative coloring pages provided in my planner.

One of the No Excuses daily instructions was to track the weather, while my agenda had this handy little chart for tracking your mood each day. I ignored them both and turned that mood chart into a food chart, where I could track what was in season and available at the farmers' market.

My Beginning Assignment For February

The collage was supposed to be of lots of February-ish images torn from magazines, to use as inspiration. Again I disobeyed, and used my collection of colorful painted papers to pay homage to the first of the asparagus spears that were poking their heads up in my garden.

I actually managed to complete all four card peeks this month...and, of course,  they were all about seasonal things!

My Version Of A Love Letter To Myself

So, as I said, when synchronicity knocks, I listen! What was it telling me? Perhaps to slow down and pay attention? To spend more time on art and writing and sharing? To remember that life is better with Seasonality in it?

 I still don't know for sure. All I do know is, it's gonna be fun y'all!

LOST AND FOUND

When we first bought this house, I thought it was pretty cool that we had these great storage cabinets above the two closets in our bedroom.

Then I realized that they couldn't be reached with our indoor step stool. Nooo, you have to haul in that big fella, from out in the garage. Which, as it turns out, means that you go so long without ever opening those cabinets, you can totally forget what's up there! I did remember that there was one big red crate up there, which meant it probably held something Christmasy. Lights maybe? Or garland? No! Something much, much better.

 I found this guy...

and all of his little friends! When our kids were young, and we lived in houses with indoor staircases, they took great pleasure in arranging them, one on each step. But, with our only staircase being outside at this house, I had to settle for grouping them on my grandmother's cedar chest.

Which works out pretty well, since Hubby has been much better lately about not tossing his belongings there at the end of each day.

Know what else I found in that cabinet? I found these lovely little candle rings which go on my dining room chandelier...

this wonderful basket which hangs on my front door, instead of a wreath...

and all of the festive florals and greenery I used to rotate in and out of it, according to the season!

You have no idea the angst I felt, when I thought all of these cherished things had been lost in the last move or tossed out. But now, all is right with the world!

Happy Holidays, Y'all!

 

FOR ALEXIS: MRS. EVERYTHING

Our daughters don't know -- what it was like growing up female in the 50s and 60s, and just how limited our options were. They think they do, but not really. To tell you the truth, I didn't fully understand myself, until I read this book, just how much things changed between the years when each of my sisters and I graduated from high school, in '64, '67 and '71.

I didn't get why the oldest felt her options were so much more limited than mine ..why all she wanted was to get married and have babies...why my middle sister switched her major from accounting to teaching, because that would be easier when she had kids...why I told my mom midway through college, after taking an abnormal psych class, that I didn't think I even wanted to have any kids, and aimed instead for a glamorous career as a buyer for Neiman Marcus, and to travel the world. Oddly enough, much like the two sisters in this book, we somehow switched paths along the way. They both ended up with the glamorous careers, while I opted to be the stay-at-home mom! But, at least it was by choice.

Our daughters though, they really have no clue why we fought so hard just to have the right to choose, and for equal rights and equal pay, and to have control over our own bodies. They never had the humiliation of walking into a store to purchase a washing machine, only to have the condescending old salesman suggest that I should come back later and bring my husband, to help me make such an important decision. My reply? "Why? It's not like he ever uses one of these things!" Lest you think poorly of him, he does do all his own laundry now, but that was a different day and age.

I used to think we had made great progress and that much had changed. Now, I'm not so sure. Which is why I'm hoping my daughter will read this book, then share it with all her friends -- so they can see for themselves just how far we have come, and just how much they stand to lose, if they don't actively participate in the decision-making process!

MY FRENCH GIFT TO YOU

Two of our kiddos just returned from an amazing journey that began in Barcelona and ended in Paris,  with a leisurely road trip up through Provence in between. They are now basking in the giddy afterglow, pouring over photos, telling stories, trying out recipes, etc. I remember that period well, after we did our Viking River Cruise through Provence. Paris was gorgeous, but Provence? Well, it was so much more than a bunch of famous landmarks to have your photo taken in front of. It's about a certain way of living -- the way we were hoping to live here in the Texas Hill Country, and our reason for choosing this as our forever home.

After that trip I was even more obsessed with that way of life, and may have gone a bit bonkers in my efforts to hold onto that glow. I read books set in Provence, bought French cookbooks, poured over all the photos we took and wrote blog posts about it all.

Even the pages in my art journals around that time were all about Provence!

Then, just as the afterglow was beginning to fade, I discovered a blog called My French Corner. It's not specifically about Provence, but it is about the French way of life -- about how they eat and shop and cook, what they think about exercise and skin care and clothes, how they decorate and celebrate, etc. It's actually written by an American teacher whose sister married a Frenchman and went to live there permanently. The teacher then began spending her summers there and fell madly in love with the French way of life. When she had shared all that she had learned, she stopped writing the blog. But, it is still out there, just waiting for you to stumble upon it as I did, start from the very beginning and work your way through to the end.

 
 Bon Voyage!