A bit before the holidays, Batman and I spent a few days in Portland, ME with my brother Doug, his wife Ra, and my cousin Nate and his wife Mary. We rambled around the city, ate great food and saw some live music. We also did a bit of shopping in independent stores, looking for items from local artisans. On our way out of town, Batman and I ducked into Taproot Magazine and Market. The magazine is edited by Amanda Soule, and she curates the shop as well. They’ve hit some bumps in the road recently, so we wanted to support their effort to spotlight makers, doers and dreamers. Batman and I fell in love with this print by Addie Best, and knew it would play nicely with our EXTEND poster by Nicki McClure. The text also rang true as another mantra for 2024!
This heirloom cactus has a lovely story behind it….
January 5 7:33 AM
New Year’s Day, 3:15 PM
another view, that same day.
January has been a mix of weird weather around here so far. This week saw lots of snow and high winds. Now it’s raining on top of 12” of snow. Yuck. (The snowplow is grinding along the road as I type). But look at all this beautiful light on the hills across the way. When I’m shoveling the deck, I lean on the handle of the shovel and take some deep breaths and soak in the beauty. When I do my morning meditation, I get up and look out the window before I brew my tea. When I go down to town to do errands, I pull over at the meetinghouse to check out the view from a different perspective. One of the ways I’m girding myself for 2024 is by noticing light and smiles and generosity and all the other things that push back against the darkness. I’m reminding myself that finding happiness and joy in life are an important part of resilience.
There’s nothing like a snow day to pull me into the kitchen. Batman and I made a meal to take over to some neighbors who need a lot of support right now. As I prepped to bake a batch of cornbread, I loved the quiet light that filtered through the curtain. Right outside the window, birds were flocking at the feeders and life just felt so cozy. Where does lovely light puddle in your home?
Our book group met last night to discuss The Marriage Portrait, and, wow, did we have a discussion! Let me know if you read it and what you thought about it. As is our custom, we gathered around the table afterwards to enjoy a pot luck meal inspired by the book. Set in Italy, the book reminded me of a goal we had when we visited Tuscany, pre-Covid. Our dearest friend Dolo, who we were traveling with, wanted to eat gelato every day. So we did! Of course, I took gelato to book group, and I baked some polenta cookies too. You can find the recipe here. Next time I will skip the vanilla, and substitute instead one of our favorite ingredients, Fiori di Sicilia, from King Arthur Baking. It is pricey, but a little goes a long way. I used certified organic cornmeal (for both the cornbread and the cookies) that I bought last time I was at Eastern Market in Detroit. I was chatting with the vendor from Hampshire Farms and he told me the grain had been ground the day before! I popped it into the freezer when I got home to Vermont ‘cause those whole grains need TLC to keep from going rancid.
The other book I’ve been reading is Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser, by Lewis Richmond. It’s not knocking my socks off, but, gosh, it does offer some food for thought.
And to wrap things up here, I’ll share a little project I’m getting myself ready for. Ann Wood has organized the 2024 100 day stitch book challenge. It is free, although she invites folks to join her stitch club with a membership. And being one to tweak language that bothers me, I am looking at this project as more of an invitation rather than a “challenge”. Ann will be stitching for 15 minutes each day, from January 19th -April 27th, and invites us to join her. That seems like a doable practice to me. What intrigues me is how the book will be put together at the end of the challenge. I’ve made fabric books before, but this technique is new to me. Can’t wait to get underway!
I’ve started to pull fabrics (above) and plan out some initial ideas for page spreads.
Are any of you stitchers intrigued?
Dearest readers I’m so glad you’re here, reading along as I write. I love knowing you are out in the wider world, shining your light, doing good things, and holding love and hope close to your hearts. xo