Category: Life (page 2 of 81)

June 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, June

HELLO, June. We’re ready for our table to be heaped with heirloom tomatoes and fresh corn on the cob. We’re ready for evening to crawl in a little later, while we eat ice cream and watch the waves roll in from the shore.

We’re ready for early morning beach strolls, hunting for shells amongst the rocks. We’re ready to stretch out on our bed, with the windows wide and read books with a bowl of popcorn between us.

We’re ready to make fresh shortcakes, heaped high with strawberries that are nestled in pillows of whipped vanilla cream. We’re ready to listen to more Carolina beach music and dance in the kitchen while dinner is cooking.

We’re ready for all that you bring this month as we move more fully into summer and the opportunities to drink it all in.

{Oh, Shucks! by Paige Spearin | Pinned HERE}

May 29, 2023 / 0 Comments

Nineteen

I saw an interesting video on “Meet Cutes NYC” earlier this month, “Mailroom Love 💌”, and the filmmaker asked the couple he was talking to, what’s the secret to 50 years together? And the woman’s (Alice) response was that “it’s much harder to like a person than to love a person”. And she LIKES her husband, Geoffrey.

That gave me pause. Love is a word so easily bandied around. And you can love someone to the depths of your soul, but that doesn’t mean you can be with them on a day to day basis. Liking someone is much harder. Continuing to get up every day and not only love but like the person you are with is sometimes a difficult challenge.

I like the person I am with. I like him in the valleys and I like him on the mountain and I like him as we traverse this space and I like him as we have continued to grow up together. All relationships are not smooth sailing, seasons come and go, storms blow in and out, but we continue to weather them together and I LIKE him and I LOVE him and I couldn’t ask for more than that.

So, here’s to 19 years of marriage with someone that I truly love and really LIKE and respect and value and who still makes me laugh and is the only person I want to be in the trenches with.

{“Robert Redford, US actor, and Jane Fonda, US actress, cuddling as they pose for a studio portrait, issued as publicity for the film, ‘Barefoot in the Park’, USA, 1967. The Neil Simon comedy, directed by Gene Saks, starred Redford as ‘ Paul Bratter’, and Fonda as ‘Corie Bratter’. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)” | Pinned HERE}

May 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, May

Hello, May. We’re ready for you to continue to lengthen our days and bring us more of a taste of the summer yet to come. We’re ready for more adventures with friends, with weekends spent exploring and laughing together till our sides hurt.

We’re ready for opportunities to breakfast on the beach, hoping to spot a seal in between bites of breakfast sandwiches and crossword puzzling.

We’re ready for the three luxuriously long weekends you bring this month and the chance to soak those days up in each other’s company.

We’re ready for more fruits and vegetables to appear at our greengrocers as our table spreads to include more spring greens tossed in pasta, salads, risotto and everything in between.

We’re ready for all that you hold as we continue to appreciate the little things in each day and making the most of the season of spring.

{Audrey Hepburn in dress from Givenchy Boutique at her home ‘La Paisible’ in Switzerland, taken by Henry Clarke for Vogue, 1971 | Pinned HERE}

April 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, April

Hello, April. You’re picking up where March left off with a cool, blustery, rainy start. We’re ready for you to bring some sunshine our way, although I won’t complain about a snow day off from school, if you usher that in before you leave us.

We’re ready to watch the bulbs continue to sprout from the earth and burst forth in a sea of pinks, blues, yellows and whites. We’re ready for the Easter Bunny to pay us a visit and hopefully leave a few surprises in our Easter basket.

We’re ready for the Easter break from school and a chance to catch our breaths. We’re ready for the opportunity to breakfast on the beach and go for long strolls with no plan, just going with where our feet take us. We’re ready for our days to continue to lengthen as we move more fully into the season of spring.

We shall continue to find space in the quiet moments, to dance, to enjoy each other’s company and to find joy in the little things.

Welcome, April! We’re ready for all that you bring this month.

{Vespa Bunny, by Paige Spearin | Pinned HERE}

March 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, March

Hello, March. We’ve already seen a few signs of your spring-y arrival, here and there with the bursting forth of snowdrops and daffodils. They’ve been dotting hills, lawns and gardens with little dazzling white and custard yellow bursts of magic against the green.

We’re ready for you to continue lengthening our days little by little. We’re ready for more ramblings in the woods and along the coastal path. We’re ready to wear the green for St. Patrick’s Day and feast on my Nana’s Irish soda bread.

We’re ready to dance in our kitchen, crafting meals that allow us to cook with the season. We’re ready for more movie watching, popcorn eating, puzzle doing, quiet weekends just getting to be together.

We’re ready to carry on in this season of Lent and use it carefully as a time for reflection and an opportunity to commit even more “random acts of kindness”. In my family we always “added” too Lent, alongside abstaining from something of our choice for 40 days. My parents instilled in us a need to do good within your own community and we have carried that into adulthood.

We’re ready to continue to cherish the little things, to stop and be present and to find peace in the quiet moments.

Welcome March, we’re ready for all good things.

{Daffodils by Tatiana Boyko // Central Illustration Agency | Pinned HERE}

February 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, February

Hello, February. We’re ready for the birthdays you bring this month and a day solely dedicated to the celebration of L-O-V-E in all its many shapes and forms.

We’re ready to keep moving into this new year at a slow and steady rhythm; cherishing the peaceful calm of winter. No, we’re not done with Lady Winter yet and we hope that the she will blow us a snowy kiss from her frosted lips before spring dawns to pull us out of our cozy winter-hibernation.

We’re ready to feast on breakfast for dinner on wintry nights, with maple syrup running over tall stacks of pancakes, accompanied by crispy bacon and coffee. We’re ready to nestle, in the comfort of hot chocolate and popcorn, while watching much-loved old movies. And, we’re happy to continue warming ourselves with homemade soups and hearty stews.

We’re ready to spend the evening wrapped up in a good book. We’re ready to drink wine and indulge in deep conversations that somehow manifest on winter evenings and last until the wee small hours of the morning when you suddenly realise the time, and have to scurry to bed before the alarm goes off. We’re ready to listen to music by candlelight and dance in the kitchen while we’re cooking dinner together.

And we will be ready for the changes in light, both morning and night, as the days lengthen and spring signals its inevitable arrival. Albeit, far too soon for our liking.

{1950s Ski Girl Pin-Up by E.B. Segner | Found HERE | Pinned HERE}

{Ellen Barbara Segner (1901 – 2001) was an American Postwar and Contemporary artist and illustrator who is most well known for creating the artwork for the Little Miss Sunbeam ad campaign, as well as the Dick & Jane children’s book series. She was one of the few female pin-up and glamour artists working for numerous publications.}

January 26, 2023 / 0 Comments

A Clean Slate

All the little nisse have been tucked away until next Christmas. Every space has been dusted, swept up and mopped and there is now a bareness to our home. But that has been softened by greenery and twinkle lights still peeking out here and there.

To me, we have now moved into the darkest time of winter and we need all the warmth and magic that we can bring to a space.

But there is a beauty to sparseness, a beauty to stripping something back to the bone and enjoying it in its simplicity. There is a certain magic to this time of year not to let go unappreciated. Each season holds its own enchantment.

December 1, 2022 / 0 Comments

HELLO, December

Hello, December! We’re ready for the frosty air that you bring that bites at our cheeks and the smell of woodsmoke circulating on the evening breeze. We’re ready for the streets to be lit by the glow of Christmas lights while we stroll with hot chocolates in hand to “ooooh” and “aaaah” at Christmas window displays and house bedecked for the festive period.

We’re ready for the arrival of the numerous sacred days to this most spectacular season and month. In particular Santa Lucia, for she brought light into the darkest of corners and so should we all follow her lead and ensure that we are the bearers of light wherever we may tread.

We’re ready for Christmas music to be spinning while we sit on the couch bathed in the warmth of the twinkling tree. We’re ready for our pace to slow as the sun goes to bed and to play endless games of scrabble or cards while sitting at the kitchen table where all the best conversations always happen.

We’re ready for the house to smell of gingerbread and peppermint and fresh pine. We’re ready to watch Christmas movies by the glow of candlelight and snack on buttery popcorn. We’re ready to simply drink in this season and all that it has to offer.

{Vogue, Christmas Photoshoot, 1956, photographer unknown, found HERE | Pinned HERE}

November 1, 2022 / 0 Comments

HELLO, November

Hello, November. We’re ready for our Indian Summer to finally give way to chillier days and nights. We’re ready for hot apple cider packed in a flask to take with us on walks in the nature reserve. We’re ready to smell woodsmoke in the air and the taste of a freshly toasted marshmallow on our lips.

We’re ready for the day to draw to a close sooner and the evenings to be filled with games of Scrabble or cards while records spin and conversation keeps us lingering at the table longer than usual.

We’re ready for bonfire night with crispy sausages and gingerbread cake with homemade toffee sauce and lashings of whipped cream. We’re ready for Thanksgiving because the next day you will be bringing us a heavenly leftover turkey sandwich and cold slice of pumpkin pie, which brings me endless amounts of joy.

We’re ready to continue to soak up this season and this year, for it is going far too quickly. Welcome, November, we’re ready for you.

{Autumn Palette by Mary Charles, 2015}

October 1, 2022 / 0 Comments

HELLO, October

Hello, October! We’re ready for cooler days and nights. The final weeks of September have already given us a taste of what is to come. We’re ready for crunchy leaves underfoot and freshly baked apple pies with heaping scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream and our home smelling deliciously of warm cinnamon.

We’re ready for our world to be dotted with the golden mustard, rust red and burnt orange hues of autumn. We’re ready for pumpkins on the porch and mums cheerfully peaking out of pots tucked in between them.

We’re ready to start watching some of our fall and Halloween favourite movies curled up with a bowl of popcorn on late Saturday nights.

We’re ready for fall stews and cozy soups with crusty bread and salads filled with the bounty of fall, especially slices of pears, apples, raisins and roasted chunks of butternut squash.

We’re ready for broomsticks and witch’s hats and hot apple cider on chilly afternoons. We’re ready for moonbeams and starry nights and magic on the wing.

We’re ready for the smell of woodsmoke floating on crispy air while we go for an evening stroll. We’re ready for all that you bring in this bewitching month and may it be more treats than tricks.

{Ann Miller in an MGM Halloween Publicity Still, 1955. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}