The Evolving Homemaker

Rhythm.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.” ~Thomas Merton

It is so elusive to me.

During the equinox, rhythm was on my mind a lot.  One is supposed to set their intention in the spring around balance.  I was needing balance alright, balance in my mothering.  So much of my days were spent reacting.  Reacting to what needed to be done, who needed to be where, who expected what, who needed what.  It was a constant state of ‘automatic pilot’ yearning for more intentioned living.

It came to a head on Wednesday night when my six year old announced gleefully that, “You can’t make me.”

My less mindful self would have announced back with a sassy attitude and nasty look that, “Oh yes I can little buddy” with a glare that could have burned a hole right through him.  But instead I went into silence.  For like an hour.  And instead of loosing my shit, I mulled the whole thing over. I realized that my intention for spring, to bring more rhythm to my mothering, was now in need of implementation.

I have a plan.  And that is, to…make a plan.

First, we switched all of the kids activities to the afternoon.  Second, we began to do school in the morning.

And that is as far as I have gotten yet.

My dream?  A schedule that allowed for more time with community, less t.v., more time in nature, meditation circles in the mornings to smudge, chant, sing, call in God, learn how our bodies feel in silence, create an awareness in the house of deep listening to each other, time for ritual, daily quiet time, less fighting, more mindfulness, more efficiency.

What we actually have is, reaction to this fire.  Reaction to that chaos. Trying to manage by dealing with what has just taken place or what we have to be doing in the next moment.  Not a lot of living in THIS moment.

Today, tonight, and this weekend, I will be mulling over that which I want to bring more of into our daily experiences, and that which is not nurturing to those dreams of mindful moments with my children.  And I intend to work it all out on an Excel spreadsheet.  So romantic.  From waking up, to brushing teeth, to nature walks, it will all be on there.

Why the detailed spreadsheet? I do this for the actualization goal of creating rhythm.  I tend to be a pretty scattered gal, wanting to launch into whatever bee pops into my bonnet on any given day.  If I just attempt to ‘wing it’ through this rhythmic adventure, I will get sidetracked and loose steam.  I know myself at least that well.

Happiness=balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.  I can second that Mr. Merton.  I second that.

Stay tuned, I will update how this dance with rhythm pans out in our home.  What worked and what was not so good.  What the kids loved, and what they could do without.  Those parts that I loved, and those that just didn’t end up as intended.  And what we will hopefully have in a few weeks, a few months, and over the years, is a home that listens to what is going on and is aware and responsive when change is needed.

And rhythm.

NA97WSUAUCZV

The spring equinox is here, well on Sunday, but I have been feeling it for weeks.

Like a friend of mine said last night at our Women’s Circle, her nervous system gets all ramped up and it is hard to stay grounded this time of year. I would say that goes the same for me. I feel as if I am living somewhere above my body, in an ethereal place and find it extremely hard to stay present, feeling my body, shaking the anxiety of the spring to-do list.

Spring is the time of air. We are welcoming the warm breezes that will be bringing with it change and growth, not only of the earth, but of ourselves. From Celebrating the Great Mother, “In spring, the silent skies of winter become alive with birds again; to many ancient cultures, birds and their element of air related to the swiftness of thoughts. A time for new beginnings, the sprouting of young things, reviving fresh breezes that sweep away the cobwebs from our minds, making lists and planning the projects we want to achieve during the growing time-and sharing these with others so they can blossom-spring teaches us about communication and new ideas.”

“At this equinox, a shift takes place from the earth energy of winter to the airiness of spring. From the cold darkness of earth and stone and the roots of trees, sap begins to rise; the breeze begins to warm and soothe us; and the skies become thickly inhabited again.”

Ah, my favorite time of year, but also a difficult time for me. As one of vata dosha, I tend on the anxious, quick moving, scattered ideas side of things as it is. All the movement in the earth, in the air, in the migration of geese going north and the return of the red winged blackbirds here, sends my senses into a whirlwind. I try to take on too much, everything feels as if it needs to get done now, I quickly loose my balance, I can’t hold a thought for more than a minute, I jump from idea to idea, project to project.

A prime example?  I broke my toe last night.  On a baby bouncer.  But I was moving too fast, with too much in my mind, and not paying attention.  So now I get a constant reminder for a few weeks to move slowly, to take it in, to breathe, to ground, to calm my speedy mind, to smell the air, and remember to just be.   I will spend another weekend in the dirt.  Feeling the mother pulling me in, leaving the realm of the air for a few hours, focusing instead on the solid magic of soil, and rebirth, and getting dirty.

Enjoy your move to spring this weekend, but don’t forget to listen to the changes it is calling forth within you.  Don’t move too quickly fueled by the warm air, that you miss the messages your own body is sending. There are lessons to be learned from bringing the outer changes of the world within, it is just a matter of us taking the time to deeply honor them.

“Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”  ~Pablo Picasso

In homeschooling, there were two commitments I wanted to make to myself and my kiddos.  One, that we did science a lot.  Two, that we did art equally as often.

Only one problem with these ideals, I often run the risk of worrying about reading and math, and less about the creative forces that inspire children to really find out who they are at their depths.  Last years school experience and the fact that they wanted to hold my son in kindergarten again, has set a tone of catch up in my mind.  I worry more about whether he is on par than whether he is passionate.

Big miskate.  Same mistake I fear happens so often in school, regardless of the location in which it is taking place. The creative juices in humanity will be as important in solving the issues facing my children’s generation as knowledge of math will be.

With that rant in place, this is the art project we worked on this week!  We were doing a unit on the Arctic and Antarctica, when I stumbled upon this little gem from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge site, stained glass art. (click green link for full instructions)

We had to buy an array of permanent markers for this project, and they aren’t cheap, over $18 with a large selection of colors, but they were worth the purchase in the long run!  I am sure we will use them over and over.

Busily coloring their transparencies, I was pleasantly surprised that it cost me less than $5 to copy six pictures onto transparencies for this.

Mama’s first finished attempt, to see that this was all about.  I was a little worried as we colored the transparencies that this was going to be lame, but they are really quite cool when the aluminum foil went on the back!  They are so sparkly when the light is on in the school room!

My sons first finished caribou!

My daughters finished Kestrel…don’t tell her, but I totally wanted to do this one!

When all was said and done, they turned out beautifully!  And the kids loved this art project, they couldn’t stop saying how much they loved it as we were doing them!

How many heads, fingers, toes, knees, elbows, noses, can you spin plates on?  All at the same time?

If you’re a Mom, the answer is all of the above.  All of the time.  The only question then would be, how good at it are you?  All of that spinning?  Is it working for you or not so much? How does it feel to be that little green rubber doll, Gumby, so many days you have lost count now?  How does it feel constantly to be spinning?  To be pulled?  To be stretched beyond what you thought capable by humans?  How much guilt do you have constantly on replay in your mind?  Guilt because time is limited?  Guilt because it is hard to be a ‘good enough’ friend, a ‘good enough’ Mom, a ‘good enough’ wife, a ‘good enough’ writer, a ‘good enough’ gardener, a ‘good enough’ laundress, a ‘good enough’ maid, a ‘good enough’ advocate for your own needs?

I may be lacking solid sleep, and the emotions are catching up with me.  After six and one half years being woken up virtually every night, more often each night as of late due to the fact we have finished rooms so that each of our kiddos now has their own, which isn’t boding well for Mama sleep.  I am grasping trying to feel as if I am minutely good enough today.  As if I am not letting everyone down in just trying to cover the bases.

I want my friends to know I still love them, even though I am fighting hard just to get done what has to get done which doesn’t leave a lot of room for them right now.  I want my kids to know I love them, even though I take a half hour to blog and desperately need time to read a little bit of a book each and every day.  I want my husband to know I love him, even though the laundry is wow, so behind, and the kids make constant messes I can’t keep up with and I don’t know how to get them to keep up with their own either.  I want to think I love myself, except the first thing I do when I feel like this is to load up on all things sugar, as if somehow taking it out on me will make it all seem more manageable. Or am I punishing myself for my flaws?

Hoping for some grace last night, I peeked into Nothing To Do Nowhere To Go by Thich Nhat Hanh for a few fleeting moments before I couldn’t focus on the letters any longer, my eyes fighting exhaustion to take back some peace from his work.  What hangs with me today is:

“The person who has nothing to do is sovereign of herself.  She doesn’t need to put on aires or leave any trace behind.  The true person is an active participant, engaged in her environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all phenomena are going through the various appearances of birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn’t become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate.  She lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing, walking, lying down, or sitting.  She doesn’t act a part, even the part of a great Zen master.  This is what Master Linji means by “be sovereign wherever you are and use that place as your seat of awakening.”

That my friends, are our words for the weeks end this week.  I am inspired not to act the part of the plate spinner, but to be aware and engaged without being oppressed.  Today I put on no aires, but already I feel less of a victim of my own sadness, happiness, love, and hate.  I take this place and use it as the seat of awakening.

Spill it: Spill whatever you want today.  I am sure whatever you share will be wonderful.

“By soulful living, I mean the process in which a person invests the time and energy to develop her inner self,

to connect with whatever higher being or spiritual presence she believes in.  In my view this is all that is

required. Once a person does that, everything else falls  into place. All of the answers to life’s difficult

challenges become evident, not necessarily easy, nor without anxieties and fear, but clarity and courage will

usually prevail.”

~ Linda Pierce from Choosing Simplicity

First post to the new face. There are still some changes to be made, so look for all the updates next week! Until then, this awesome quote by Ed Abbey on his fan page today:

“If you’ve never ridden a fast horse at a dead run across a desert valley

at dawn, be of good cheer:  You’ve only missed out on one half of life.”

~Edward Abbey

“Peace comes from within.

Do not seek it without.”

~Buddha

“People say that I am remembered by various things,

but I hope one of the them would be the encouragement

to live the life you want to live.  Live your life

so that you will not leave too many things undone.

Live the life you sing about.  Live the life.  That’s it.”

~Maya Angelou

“When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high,
And don’t be afraid of the dark,
At the end of a storm, there’s a golden sky,
And the sweet silver song of a lark.”

~You’ll Never Walk Alone

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“I don’t pretend to be an ordinary housewife.”

~Elizabeth Taylor

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.

“I don’t wanna to be the girl that has to

fill the silence.  The quiet scares me

’cause it screams the truth.”

~Pink

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Finding our “life work,” as the poet Donald Hall

calls work that both sustains and impassions

us through a lifetime, is not easy.  It means

being able to hear one’s own heart, to feel

the swell of it, and to recognize its beat of

joy, and finally, to have the courage to

follow wherever it leads.  This is a divine

process that must be revisited again

and again.”

~Growing Roots Katherine Leiner

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Don’t quit.  Don’t give up.

It’s just that simple.”

~Biggest Loser

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“In addition to contributing to erosion,

pollution, food poisoning, and the dead zone,

corn requires huge amounts of fossil fuel –

it takes a half gallon of fossil fuel

to produce a bushel of corn.

~Michael Pollan

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“I am, I hope, a little wiser now in realizing

that trying to prove anything to the

world is a waste of everyone’s time.”

~Rafe Esquith

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Crazy gets on television.  Normal

has to make dinner.”

~Jon Stewart

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Oh, river rise from your sleep

Oh, river rise from your sleep

Oh, river rise from your sleep”

~THE MAKER Dave Matthew Band

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Remember, you have been criticizing

yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked.

Try approving of yourself and see

what happens.”

~Louise Hay

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

On Children

~Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune–without the words,

And never stops at all.

~Emily Dickinson

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time.  You have exactly

the same number of hours per day that were given to

Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Theresa

Leonardo daVinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.”

~Leonard Cohen Anthem

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“The monk in this story is like the rest of us, seeking

wisdom through intellectual inquiry.  If we’re not

careful, this is how we approach mindfulness:  as

an idea, one we rather like, to elevate our lives with

special contemplative consideration, a method for

making smarter choices and thereby assuring better

outcomes.  The problem is that the life before us is the

only life we have.  The search for meaning robs our life

of meaning, sending us back to our discursive minds

while right in front of us the laundry piles up.”

~Karen Maezen Miller

(Shambhala Sun March 2010)

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“I wondered if Jeremy had been beaten so often that

it had destroyed his spirit.  Had he lost the ability to

defend himself?  How many times could he forgive

the men who had bloodied and broken him?  Is there

a finite amount of forgiveness in the world?  Was there

a point after which forgiveness, even the most divinely

inspired, is simply the act of a coward?  Or has forgivness

always been used as political capital?”

~Sherman Alexie War Dances

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,

and when we escape like squirrels turning in the

cages of our personality

and get into the forests again,

we shall shiver with cold and fright

but things will happen to us

so that we don’t know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,

and passion will make our bodies taut with power,

we shall stamp our feet with new power

and old things will fall down,

we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.”

~D.H. Lawrence

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man

is willing to be what he is.”

~Desiderius Erasmus

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Women turn to food when they are not hungry because

they are hungry for something they can’t name:

A connection to what is beyond the concerns of daily life.

Something deathless, something sacred.  But replacing the

hunger for divine connection with Double Stuff Oreos is like

giving a glass of sand to a person dying of thirst.  It creates

more thirst, more panic.  Combine the utter inefficacy

of dieting with the lack of spiritual awareness and we have

generations of mad, ravenous, self-loathing women.  We

have become so obsessed with getting rid of our obsession,

with riding on top of our suffering and ignoring its

inherent message, that we lose the pieces of ourselves waiting

to be found beneath it.  But fixing ourselves is not the

same as being ourselves.  The real richness of obsession lies in

the ineffable stillness, the irrefutable wholeness, that

is found in turning toward its source.”

~Geneen Roth Women Food and God

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Money is a lien on the earth’s resources. Every time

we spend money on anything, we are consuming not

only the metal, plastic, wood or other material in the

item itself, but also all the resources it took to extract

these from the earth, transport them to the manufacturer,

process them, assemble the product, ship it to the retailer

and bring it from the store to your home.  All of that activity

and cost is somehow included in the price of, say, a new

microwave.  Then there are the environmental costs that aren’t

included in the price, what economists call externalities:  the

pollution and waste we pay for in other ways-in lung

disease, cancer, respiratory problems, desertification,

flooding, etc.  What it boils down to is that every time we

spend money we are voting for the kind of planet we

want to leave for future generations.”

~Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez from

Your Money Or Your Life

**Check out my post on Reality Writes today too here!  It obviously isn’t this one!**

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“I just don’t want to come back and fall into the same

old way of living a life that I know has got to change.

Maybe it is the taste of freedom.”

“As soon as I say the words, I know that it is more

than that.  I knew as I walked back over the hill

and could not help thinking about Jerry.  He seemed

to have everything.  He had youth, a beautiful wife,

children, a good job, and the house with a picket fence.

Then one morning it is all gone.  His life is over.

There are no promises in life that my sun will rise,

that Jean’s revolution will happen, that the money will come.

The only sure thing is now, and in the experience of now

I know what I need to do, to be.”

~John Francis Planetwalker

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

~Thich Nhat Hanh

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions,

perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Let him step to the music which he hears,

however measured or far away.”

~Henry David Thoreau

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“It is possible to love a small acreage in Kansas as much as

John Muir loved the Sierra Nevada.  This is fortunate, for the

wilderness of the Sierra will disappear unless little

pieces of the nonwilderness become intensely loved

by lots of people.  In other words, Harlem and East Saint Louis

and Iowa and Kansa and the rest of the world where wilderness

has been destroyed must come to be loved by enough of us,

or wilderness too is doomed.”

~From Becoming Native to This Place by Wes Jackson

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we

would do if the stars only came out once

every thousand years.  No one would sleep

that night, of course.  The world would become

religious overnight.  We would be ecstatic, delirious,

make rapturous by the glory of God.  Instead

the starts come out every night, and we watch television.”

~Paul Hawken

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“But what really keeps circling my head was the phrase

Leah used to describe our unborn child:  the constellation of baby.

What  a gorgeous image-the unborn infant afloat in the universe of

mother, identifiable but unknowable.”

~Coop:  A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“In the depths of winter, I finally learned

that within me there lay an invincible summer”

~Albert Camus

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Sister, I hear you laugh

My heart fills full up

Keep me please

Sister, when you cry

I feel your tears running down my face

Sister, Sister keep me”

~ Dave Matthews Band ‘Sister’

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice.”

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

~Mother’s Day Proclamation

Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“How I think is how I feel.

How I feel is how I behave.

And how I behave is what I create in my life.”

~ Sierra Bender

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“The wilderness once offered men a plausible way of life,”

the doctor said.

“Now it functions as a psychiatric refuge.

Soon there will be no wilderness.”

He sipped at his bourbon and ice.

“Soon there will be no place to go.

Then the madness becomes universal.”

And another thought.

“And the universe goes mad.”

~Doc from The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

It’s the end of the week, and every Friday I leave you  with words of wisdom, anecdotes, interesting and inspiring, even some thought provoking things I might have read or come across, to ponder.  If only to shine a light on simple, natural living, mothering, mamavism, crafting, gardening, sisterhood, children and any other area which might fall into the world of an evolving homemaker.  Which we all are doing.  All of the time.  Evolving, that is…

“Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them.

Sticks and stones may break our bones,

but words will break our hearts.”

~Robert Fulghum