Home Life
Home Sweet Home
Yes! Please put on the tea kettle, your fluffy slippers, and join me for a long, lazy respite curled up in a favorite comfy spot and let’s enjoy an “armchair afternoon.” It is my heartfelt desire to warm our hearts, stimulate our imagination, and offer some inspiration for our souls and for our roles as we share in our journey together as women, wives, and mothers. May I also offer some comfort and companionship as we persevere in our privilege and position in stoking and keeping the home-fires alive and burning. And what a marvelous privilege it is indeed. We, as wives and mothers, honestly have no idea what our presence in the home really means—not only for our families but for our generation. Although much of what we do goes rather unsung or unnoticed in many respects, that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant or inconsequential. As friend to friend, sister to sister, we can span the generations, lift each other up, and help each one of us see how invaluable motherhood and our domestic life truly is and what a remarkable influence we bestow—just by being who we are.
"Next morning she got up very early and
began a spring cleaning which lasted a fortnight.
She swept, and scrubbed, and dusted; and she rubbed up the furniture with beeswax,
and polished her little tin spoons. When it was all beautifully neat and clean,
she gave a party to five other little mice.."
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse
Celebrate The Domestics
I was flying homeward now…
to books, to music, refinement, company, pleasure,
and the dear old homestead I love so well
Sybylla Melvyn, My Brilliant Career
The Laundry
The Pantry
A fun springtime project to do with the children is to clean out the pantry, scrub all the shelves, and get it prepared for the summer confections and fall harvest. Put down fresh shelf paper and cut a scalloped or a lace-like border to dangle off the edge of the shelves. Organizing and preparing the summer pantry simply invites fresh picked berries and preserves, garden produce, and glass-covered pies and tarts to fill these tantalizing spaces.
Spring Cleaning & Chores
Most of us can admit to a certain romantic appeal when Spring Cleaning comes around. The sense of renewal and rejuvenation that Spring breezes usher in softens the edges of all the manual, less glorified aspects of scrubbing, scraping. cleaning and sorting that has to be attended. However, the daily chores in all the seasons requires a bit more imagination...or determination...in order to fall anywhere close to the realm of the romantic. This is the time to allow the fresh eyes and enthusiasm of our children to come to our rescue. There is a certain satisfaction that accompanies taking care of animals...keeping all cozy and comfortable during the long winter months, enjoying the new babies in the Spring, and watching the brood grow along with garden in the long summer months.
Then there are those chores which belong to their own particular season that, once finished, bring a glow of contentment in the knowledge that all is in order. Beautiful stacks of wood piles, split and dried, shelves of new preserves, sheds and outbuildings repaired and freshly painted....perhaps this could actually be Romantic Living in its finest hour.
Then there are those chores which belong to their own particular season that, once finished, bring a glow of contentment in the knowledge that all is in order. Beautiful stacks of wood piles, split and dried, shelves of new preserves, sheds and outbuildings repaired and freshly painted....perhaps this could actually be Romantic Living in its finest hour.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust
The Garden
But the garden is a safe place to reverse the hardening process, to become conversant with realities that are no less valid for being softer and more beautiful. A garden is a place of tenderness, of freshness, of joy and delight…
It’s no secret that children and gardens just naturally go together. And grow together. The garden is outside in the fresh air, and so much is going on there… Over the years, my garden has sprouted with geraniums, peonies, and roses. But I know, too, that my garden’s harvest includes a child’s wonder, a friend’s laughter, and my husband’s smile. Among its shaded corners, raised beds, and trellis-lined paths,my garden grows love. Emelie Barnes,
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The most important thing we can do for children is to get them outdoors. The more inviting we make our outdoor spaces, the more our children will want to be out there. The more time we spend outdoors, the more our children will want to join us. Plant flowers, vegetables, and herbs. I teach them...and myself....the names of all the various trees, perennials, annuals, bushes, and wild flowers. Hang out bird feeders—don’t forget hummingbird feeders—and make room for bunnies and squirrels, chipmunks and whatever critters come along. If you have some room try raising a few chickens. I've found the gardens, large or small, to be the most magnetic and magical places we've yet to create.