A Window to My Soul…21st Century Scrapbooking

In a world where we are bombarded by technology and “always on” with social media, I find myself appreciating a new way of sharing and preserving an old fashioned way of life.

A Monarch in the making.

I am a romantic at heart.  That is to say I like to take the simple and routine and embellish it with what I’ll call “life trimmings” to make it more memorable.  Take gardening for example.  I love to garden and can vegetables and jam.  But if you ask me what I liked best about these little pleasures, it would be easier for me to show you than tell you.  Because I trim my life in ways that make me happy.  Let me explain…

A day in my garden rarely begins and ends in a single visit.  Life is busy and I work and have teenagers in high school.  That’s why I planted my garden in the front yard next to my driveway.  I am always on the go and in and out several times a day.  And every time I’m leaving or coming back home, I find it almost irresistible not to walk over and pull a stray weed or take a peek at my tomatoes or squash.

Southern Pumpkins

My favorite moments are in the evenings or weekends, when I can kick off my shoes and walk barefoot in the middle of the garden.  The straw mulch gives me a soft bed for my feet and I can more gingerly walk around the cushaw vines trailing around in every direction.  I have a woven hat, with a lime green band.  It’s mandatory attire for sunny days and makes me smile when I see it in my kitchen hanging on a chair.  I feel happy when I grab it on my way out the door with basket and nippers in hand.

Another mainstay I keep in the kitchen are aprons.  I have a few really pretty vintage ones from the 1950’s and a few more functional ones for messier work.  I pull up my unruly hair in a ponytail and am instantly reminded of my Granny shoo-ing me out of the kitchen as a kid to put my hair up before entering her kitchen.  In my kitchen, I survey the assortment of pots and pans, canning jars, and supplies.  Like me, it’s a work in progress.  It's roomy and has potential to store all my kitchen staples for baking and canning in some organized way.  For now, I make it work with a banquet table and Rubbermaid tubs underneath.  And I’m always on the lookout for an oversized buffet or cabinet that could be re-purposed into a work center that can accommodate more storage.

I see potential in most things in life and enjoy the journey in seeing a dream or vision coming to fruition.  It’s like looking at a blank canvas and instinctively knowing what needs to be added or something that would complete the picture.  Sometimes it will be days or even weeks before I figure out what’s missing from a shelf or a mantle in my home.  But it eventually comes to me…often at a yard sale where I find a small vintage treasure.  You can be sure it will be cheap enough not to break the bank and easy enough to swap out without any sentimental value.  I used to be a huge collector of things.  I still appreciate and have a fondness for antiques, but have also learned to appreciate a more minimalistic environment…from surroundings to thoughts to everything in between.  I enjoy “props” that enhance my setting and help to set the stage for my romanticized way of life.   I recently picked up a scarecrow at a yard sale and added it to the garden.  I have included him in every picture I take while measuring my growing produce and enjoying the view.

Which brings me to my last “must have” accessory…something I take with me wherever I go.  It’s not old fashioned and lacks the beauty and character of an old Mason jar with a zinc lid.  It hasn’t been hand sewn or trimmed in lace.  In fact, it is the opposite of antiquated items I typically gravitate towards.  But this gem is what fuels and powers my creativity and passion for every day living.  As incongruous as it may sound, my i-Phone has become a mobile scrapbook of sorts.  I used to cut pictures from magazines and glue them into journals.  I’d write and mail letters to family and friends to share things happening in my life.  And while I will admit there is a tradeoff in leaving behind a good stock of paper or stationery, the benefits and ease of sharing far outweigh the downside for me.

My kids get aggravated when I want to take a picture.  They can’t understand why I don’t just enjoy the moment.  But for me, it’s all about capturing the moment and remembering why it was special.  And I get that not everyone will understand the importance of a photo shot in portrait mode taken from an i-Phone camera, depicting a basket of freshly picked tomatoes...or why I'll position the leaves of my squash, so that the plump and rapidly growing cushaw can be shown surrounded by a frame of straw.  It’s my way of scrapbooking in the 21^st century, utilizing all the tools of a different sort of revolution than that of the industrial age.

 

But please don’t try to pin me down to a generation or type.  I’m just tech savvy enough to be dangerous.  I can’t master Snapchat, however, Facebook is my friend for sharing the moments I capture.  Instagram and Twitter are close seconds.  I think like the industrial revolution, the mediums and channels for making and doing will always change.  What remains a constant for me is a love and passion for living in the moment and appreciating the natural beauty that abounds if you take the time to see it.  And if I embraced a tech-free existence, I’d miss out on a lot of moments I want to look back on and remember.  It may sound funny, but it’s true.  My i-Phone is the window to my soul…see for yourself…

M

Life in Simplest of Terms...With a Tint of Rose

Loving Life Exactly as it Comes

I never gave much thought to the old song by The Byrds, “Turn, turn, turn…to everything there is a season….a time to every purpose, under heaven.”  It’s an adaptation from a biblical verse in Ecclesiastes, which talks about there being a season for everything.   Always liked the tune, but seldom gave it a second thought.

But as I look back on 2016 and my own changing seasons, I see a lot of truth in the words to this song.  For me personally, it was a time of great learning and growth…sometimes fed by a hunger and passion to do and know more…and still other times in a way I felt was a bit of kicking and screaming, reluctant to accept new realizations and make room for growth within myself. 

And in thinking of those simple seasons, I am reminded of the garden I grew over the summer…a hodge podge of vegetables and fruit…and how it helped me to come to appreciate life in its simplest of terms.

As I have adopted this new lens for living, I am reminded of a very special person from my childhood.  It is actually my mom’s best friend and I have always considered her to be like a second mom to me.  She is the most optimistic and happy person I have ever met, and lives life through the lens of the proverbial rose-colored glasses. 

For over three decades, in every card or note she sends, she always signs it, “I love you, Mary Girl.”  I don’t know why, but that sweet endearment always gives me a warm feeling inside and though its been at least ten years since I have seen her, I feel loved and feel certain that if I were to see her again, it would be as if no time had passed at all.

She is now in her 70s and has never had a driver’s license.  She found that her two feet always took her wherever she needed to go, and she always enjoyed the journey along the way.  She could turn the simplest of meals into the most elegant affair, simply by pouring apple juice over ice into a couple of wine glasses.  She would create an intimate atmosphere and talk aloud of how we would make a dinner and I would hang on her every word…waiting to hear how we were going to finish off the meal with fresh strawberries and shortcake. 

Her mood and attitude was infectious and I loved spending time with her.  She took pleasure in her own garden, a garden full of plump red tomatoes growing from potted plants on her small patio and front porch.  Each evening, as she sprayed her sidewalk down with the hose, she would seem to become lost in a daydream, with a faraway look in her eyes.   Looking back, I think it was just a true and genuine feeling of contentment for every single thing in her life.  She is the kind of person, who treasures every second and never wastes a minute.

And while I have appreciated that unique perspective, I never really saw myself as the kind of person, who had the knack for turning everything into a positive. 

But in recent years, and in facing a few challenges and struggles, I think maybe her early influence in my life rubbed off when I wasn’t looking.  In most of my writing and in nearly every situation, I seem to take on a Mary Poppins-like approach.  Even in my darkest moments, I’m still making sugar cookies out of whatever ingredients life hands me.  And remembering how she always saw things as a positive or as a sign that the path forward was not meant to be.

I used to laugh when I would see the snapshots she would send to me of her garden, flowers, and vegetables…all carefully and reverently posed on a counter or in a basket, with a note written on the back about where she grew them, how they tasted, and who she was with.

Well I’m here to tell you that she was a woman of vision and innovation…and if Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram had been a “thing” years ago, she’d be a media maven to be reckoned with.  Because while many of us live our moments online, one tweet or post at a time, this sweet lady has been living and breathing … taking it all in for her own personal enjoyment, sometimes sharing it with her close knit family and friends…since there was film that had to be mailed away to be developed and printed.

So when I think about my own sharing this past year…through I-phone pictures and via Facebook, Blogger, and Instagram, I have to smile at the thought that perhaps I was a late blooming protégé for this wonderful and inspirational woman.

See more here http://oldschooljournaling.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-window-to-my-soul21st-century.html 

I now see my life in the simplest and most rewarding terms of measure …my life is a garden, subject to those changing seasons we all go through.

And in 2016, there has been a time to weep, heal, break down, and most importantly, a time for peace. 

And to my dear friend, Gail…thank you for teaching me how to make every moment in life special…with wine glasses, candles, and rose colored glasses!   May happiness and positive momentum follow us all in 2017.  And may that special lens help adjust the view for times less stellar as we all move through all the seasons of life.

Love,

Your Mary-Girl

 

Taken from my Christmas letter this year...

Lyrics to “Turn, Turn, Turn”

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/byrds/turnturnturn.html