Hello, May! We’re ready for you to bring us more sunshine and usher in a few warmer days here and there. We’re ready for sun kissed blueberries to start arriving on the farm stand so we can gobble them up by the handfuls while we read our books.
We’re ready to be greeted by the beginning of the heirloom tomato season at the green grocers so we can feast on our first delicious BLTs of the year on homemade bread while the juice runs down our chins.
We’re ready for evening to draw in a little slower so we can keep the windows open longer. We’re ready for hot cups of coffee on the beach in the early hours when the world belongs just to us, as we watch the waves roll in.
{Strawberry Bouquet, Becca Stadtlander // Pinned HERE}
Hello, April! We’re ready for the Easter Bunny to visit us and see what is tucked into our basket come Easter morn. We’re ready for the sunlight to change hue and the days to deepen. We’re ready for the golden shadows that welcome in evening when the world starts to quiet again.
We’re ready for the warmer days you will bring and the bulbs and branches in blooms, dotting the landscape around us in menagerie of colour, like a painter’s palette.
We’re ready for the chance to picnic on the beach and leave the windows open longer before the evening chill sets in. We’re ready for strolls at dusk along the water and up through the gardens. We’re ready for spring to continue to be ushered forth, we’re ready for this next season to continue to bloom and grow. And we’re ready to see where you take us next.
Hello, March. February brought us the first flush of bulbs pushing up from the earth and bursting into bloom. The world around us has slowly been polka-dotted with the whites and purples of crocuses and the eruption of saffron painted daffodils. We’re ready for you to usher more pops of colour into the landscape.
We’re ready to spend more days in the sunshine and for dusk to take a dash longer to arrive before the curtains close on the day. We’re ready for more chances to picnic outdoors and for longer evening walks. We’re ready for St. Patrick’s Day, where my Nana’s Irish Soda bread will grace our table.
However, we’re not quite ready for our rhythm to change with the latest government announcement that all children will return to school in one fell swoop on the eighth. Selfishly, I will miss the opportunity that this time has afforded us (Mr Michie and I) to work around one another again. I will dearly miss being able to pop out of one room, while on a break, and see Mr. Michie’s beautiful face working in another. That has been a gift that I have cherished.
We are blessed during this time to still have a roof over our heads, food on our table and jobs when so many others are not in the same circumstances. I think it’s easy to say during this time, that we’re all in the same boat. But, in actuality, we’re not. We’re all in the same fleet, but each of us face different challenges in our own boats. We should strive to be physically, mentally and emotionally aware of that. We are navigating these waters as best we can.
So, let us continue to live in the moment and not let the small things pass us by. Let’s celebrate the coming of spring and welcome her with open arms.
{Image by Barbara Dziadosz found HERE // Pinned HERE}
Hello February! We’re ready for hot chocolate swirled with whipped cream on still frosty mornings; the world around us turning pink, white and red in the celebration of L-O-V-E that you bring on the 14th.
We’re ready for more nights spent eating popcorn and watching old movies together. And we’re ready for cold nights where we eat breakfast for dinner by candlelight and listen to albums on the stereo. We’re ready for that much needed downtime in this whirlwind; for those quiet moments to savour books that we have been greedily devouring.
We’re ready to continue cherishing these slower winter days where we watch, little by little, the sun stay out a bit longer each day. We’re ready to see those first glimmers of spring: bulbs sprouting up inch by inch and buds forming on trees, soon to burst forth in the coming months.
We’re not wishing away this slower pace. Rather, we’re enjoying the stillness and the reflective mood that the final month of winter offers, before spring comes into full bloom.
February, this year you take us full circle to the cusp that we were standing on last year before madness descended. And we have found our way each month and we shall continue to do the same through your days and weeks. We will persist in finding the pleasure in the little things. We will continue to dream, to laugh and to breathe in the world around us.
We’re ready for you February.
{“Dear Frost” by Lore Pemberton // Pinned HERE}
Hello, December. We’re ready for the frost that you bring and the bite in the air that chills are cheeks. We’re ready for quiet moments as evening closes in, cups of cocoa in hand while we stare at the Christmas tree lights and let our souls take a slow deep breath.
We’re ready for cold hikes through the nature reserve and the smell of fresh pine in the air. We’re ready for iced gingerbread and frosted sugar cookies cut out into holidays shapes and stored in tins at the ready to be devoured next to a hot cup of tea. We’re ready for Christmas music to be playing nonstop, working on jigsaw puzzles and for stealing kisses under the mistletoe hung above our bedroom door.
We’re ready for sparkle and glitter and the possibility of snow. But, most of all, I think we’re ready for this season to work it’s restorative magic in the quiet moments, that we find peace and a collective calm, as this has been a year that has ploughed forward almost unceasingly in a whirlwind.
Welcome, December, fill our hearts with good cheer.
{Josef Lada, from the 1953 Czech collection Detem HERE // Pinned HERE}
We cast off the last day of November with a full moon overhead, sprinkling moonbeams down upon us on this crisp and clear night.
And we leave November with a fresh wreath hung on the door as we ready ourselves for a season of magic.
It’s Friday. The sun is glowing and the air is nippy. The shadows have been changing throughout the house on a daily basis. As I write this now a golden hued beam is dancing across the floor towards my feet. Two week ago at this time, that beam would have been in a different place. It feels like a beautiful autumn day, the kind of day my parents would pack up the car with a picnic and take us up to the mountains to feast and hike.
Christmas music is playing. It’s been playing since November 1st! The house is clean and ready for the weekend to begin. I’m working on a final plan of attack for Thanksgiving, so I can ensure that the bread I’ll use for stuffing and the loaf we’ll use for sandwiches and the pumpkin pie are all baked on time. I’m also working on a final grocery store list for the week ahead to ensure I have all the little odds and ends I need.
Thanksgiving will look very different for many this year. It will be as it has always been for us. It’s just us around our Thanksgiving table. Because of school schedules we have yet to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family overseas. But, one year that just might happen!
This year has found me very quiet in this little place of mine. I have felt at times that I did not have a voice. I’ve still been working on my own writing projects, but this has not been a place that I’ve wanted to come to. I’m not truly sure why? The time I have been spending here has been with the help of Mr. Michie, who has aided me in making changes to the overall visual look of my blog. It’s been awhile since I have written code, so this project was a good refresher! There are still a few things left to tick off the list before I get it close to how I would like it. It is a very different, more streamlined look for me and I have enjoyed that, although it was a hard design decision to come to. I narrowed it down in the end and decided what would work best for me.
Our days are moving one into the next. Life is still happening in the midst of all the chaos. There are lots of games of Scrabble being played and books being read and albums being listened too. There has been a steady rhythm that we have continued to beat out through this storm we are all weathering. And that rhythm will continue to carry us through.
I hope wherever you are today that my ramblings find you safe and well.
{Cranberries, Andrew Wyeth, 1966}
Hello, November! We’re ready for crisper days; crunchy apples and pumpkin filled pies, cakes and breads. We’re ready for sizzling sausages with caramelised onions and toffee cake, with oodles of whipped cream on Bonfire Night. We’re ready for candlelight filled evenings as the night draws in.
We’re ready for quiet Saturday afternoons, spent reading while a stew simmers on the stove. We’re ready for Vince Guaraldi spinning on the record player while we play scrabble with hot apple cider in hand.
We’re ready for Thanksgiving and gobbling down turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce. We’re ready for the happiness that Thanksgiving leftovers bring us while feasting on turkey sandwiches and watching old movies.
We’re ready for all that you bring.
