2014

The new year is a whole 11 days in, and I've been on vacation for most of it. But now I'm falling back into reality and regaining a bit of my motivation, so now is probably a good time to set some goals in writing. 

Here are a few things you can look forward to on this Blog in the coming weeks:

• I'm finally getting around to writing up my reflections from Meditations on the Tarot - chapter by chapter..which will take up all the Mondays of 2014 - if I manage to stay committed.

•  The Harry Potter Book Club will live forever! Thanks Jenna and Christie for keeping me committed, and this year I'm hoping to do a few more fun side projects relating to the Club, as well as putting down some of my many thoughts on the spirituality I see reflected in the books - with some happy arguments in the combox, right Jenna?

• A few posts on beauty as a physical trait - and how all the talk of 'inner beauty' is often directed towards killing the joy in looking beautiful. I'm not completely sure how I should go about writing it, but it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently.

• Photos of projects, tea-time, and the beauty of home.

• Drafts of poems. I have a few that need work, and I'm really looking forward to reading your suggestions!

• Book reviews not limited to Meditations and Harry..and at some point, a review/reflections on Pan's Labyrinth, which I now own!

 
What else should I write on??? Any thoughts?

 

Tea Tins and Ritual

 
I’ve been lucky this week. I picked just the right day to ride along to Portland with my husband. I spent the day basking in 60 degree sunlight, wandering the bookstores and picking up fantastic thrift-store necessities. My favorites by far are the tea tins - a set of three, made in England, and just the right sizes to house my coffee and two best beloved (after Weekend Morning) teas. I have a basic, organic Irish Breakfast tea in the smallest tin, and will very soon have Simpson and Vail’s Smokey Siberian in the mid-sized tin. I can’t wait. I haven’t actually had my Siberian tea in years, but it’s left such a mark on my mind I can’t forget the late-night taste of it.

The tea tins are in a way, representative of my renewed commitment to ritual and beauty. Like the life I’m trying to build, they’re beautiful, orderly, and simple. They store things that would otherwise mess up my shelves. And they’re beautiful..I’ve been trying to do things gradually - I don’t like to be gradual, I like to jump into things with so much enthusiasm. But my enthusiasm is hard to maintain, and when I’m too eager, I cut out things I should have kept, and keep things I should cut. Just as I do in my writing. So I’m slowing down, settling into rituals, welcoming the silence and the imperfection that comes with reflection. I’ve spent the morning cutting out the unbeautiful: words, phrases, dust, and junk; drinking tea with scones and cream; stoking the stove against the wind and cold. Our warm days are done, the windchill is bitter and the sunlight can only warm the soul, not the air.

On the advice of some friends, I’m planning to delve into my writing by posting poems here more often. Open and ready for critique. My hope is that it will encourage more dedication to the improvement of my craft. I’m also removing myself from the internet on the weekends to welcome in the peace of those days and nurture my little family more with my full presence. I love the new goals that come with each new year, especially those that slowly reveal themselves. The wind is loud now, a Friday wind, full struggle and anticipation. Yarrow is napping under blankets on the bed and I have a stack of poems to prepare for new eyes. Enjoy the weekend.

The New Year

I’ve been away, in California for four days watching a dear friend marry her beloved and begin a new life. It was lovely, one of the loveliest weddings I’ve ever seen: we sang Christmas hymns and celebrated under a full moon in weather that felt ridiculous under the light of Christmas candles and Holly wreaths. The ceremony made me miss my husband - snowed in at home with pork and presents and our sweet, neurotic dog. I came home in time for the New Year, jet-lagged and sleep deprived. I’m looking forward to 2013 - the year I will leave my 20s behind forever, the year I will - finally- do the many things I have collecting on resolution lists from year’s past.

The morning, only the second day of the year, is colder than we’ve had for a long time. I don’t remember a winter morning this cold last year - even on the nights I stayed up to feed the stove each hour. We’re better insulated, both by our own work and by the early storms that buried us in snow. I’m eating oatmeal and drinking the first of many cups of coffee as I watch my husband walk the long driveway out. I don’t have defined resolutions this year. 2012 had some of the best moments, and a few which stand alone as the worst moments of my little life, and I’ve been ending the year with a sense of renewed direction, not always well-lived out, but active and growing. I am, more than ever, resting in the hands of God and offering my life up to him. Waiting for him to show me the new year rather than planning it, or searching it out in cards and fire. Blessings to all in 2013, may it be everything good to you all!