I think we may be finally moving towards slower, summer days. No more big performances or commitments, just a scattering of appointments and summer ballet for Mabel once per week. Keats is home, and played with Larkspur and Beatrix in their spring concert. (All three are in the photo above.) Elsie is crawling and so adorable. We have a very full house, but it feels good to have everyone close.
I’m tending flowers, knitting a bit, and have discovered Barbara Pym (Of course you know that’s not all I’m doing, but let’s not talk about planning meals for a crowd and staying on top of laundry etc.) Barbara Pym was recommended to me many years ago and is included on my happy reading list, and she is quickly becoming a favorite. (affiliate links) I loved Excellent Women, and I am enjoying Crampton Hodnet, just not quite as much (I really loved Mildred in Excellent Women.) I told a friend the other day, that right now all I have mental space for are light, funny stories about vicars and spinsters. I do love them. Of course, I started listening to Anna Karenina on audio a few days ago, then picked up a paper copy at the used bookstore because I do believe I need both. So much for sticking to light reading!
I’m on to the second sleeve of Ambrose’s sweater and have slightly ambitious knitting plans for the rest of summer. I think for many people, knitting is more of a fall and winter activity, but those are such busy seasons for me, that I find summer knitting to be a bit more accessible. I’m trying to prioritize knitting along with other stress relieving practices in general, but it’s hard and requires more intention than I have on most days. I’m keeping a project out on the desk in my bedroom with the aim to sit down and knit a row or two throughout the day and that is working. It’s a little unsafe though. I don’t think I have ever had a knitting project destroyed by one of my children, but if ever a child were to, it would be Ambrose. He just wants to help. Recently, he asked if he could knit a bit on the sleeve of his sweater and fortunately seemed satisfied to do something else when I suggested that he could knit sleeves when he is a bit older.
Anyway, I’ve had a nice, slow Saturday morning, but now it’s time to pull out some chicken to defrost for dinner (should have done it yesterday) and assess what I need to accomplish today and weigh it against what I’d like to do and hopefully find some balance.
Are those hollyhocks?
Congratulations Mabel on making your First Holy Communion! You look so cute in your Communion dress.
Thank you for being so honest, through the years, about how hard life is sometimes. I struggle with anxiety and sometimes I feel so alone. It helps so much to read your words, because you don’t present an unrealistic picture of life, as only ever beautiful and sweet, as so many people do in their online posts. You balance the wonderful with the ever-present possibility of something going wrong…and the anxiety that results. That’s like MY life. Thank you for being real.
Ginny, I’m sure you have read the Mitford series, but if not, they are the stories that would interest you. Have a lovely summer.
I’ve read them all! I did love them. 🙂
Hi Ginny
Love the pics!
Will you share the sweater pattern, I really like the elbow patch!
Thank you
The pattern is linked if you hover over the words “Ambrose’s sweater” I just forgot to underline it so it would stand out! 🙂
I always love your beautiful photos! My birding daughter was excited to see your Indigo Bunting, as they are rare where we live.
I read Excellent Women a few years ago for the first time. I loved the main character and the humor. The detailed accounts of domestic activity were probably my favorite part. But I can never decide what to make of the ending. Would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂
I’m with you on the ending! Does she want to remain single? Will she end up with the anthropologist? Who knows???
I’m so glad you’ve found Barbara Pym, Ginny! She has been a favourite of mine for many years. I would recommend A Glass of Blessings or A Few Green Leaves next perhaps, but they are all wonderful!
Beautiful post as usual Ginny. Love, love that GRANDbaby. Adorable!
You definitely should consider putting your photos on note cards. I think
they would sell out in a heartbeat. Your photography skills are excellent.
I save every one of your posts in a special folder so that I can revisit them.
God bless you.
Hugs, Barbara
Who is baby Elsie? Did I miss a birth?
Elsie is my granddaughter! (Seth and Phoebe’s baby.)
Babies, birds, knitting and books!! That’s the life, I say. I rarely get more than two of those things at the same time anymore, so I greatly and vicariously enjoy your sharing of these gifts, which you graciously receive from the Father. Thank you!
Hi Ginny’
Your flowers are beautiful. Thank you for sharing the Ballet and Music photos. I am reading “Second Chances On Huckleberry Hill” by Jennifer Beckenstain
Happy reading
Joan
Ginny I love the pictures especially the Ballet,Music ones and of course Baby Elsie. I am reading “The Grand Sophy” by Georgette Heyer
Happy Week-END
Marion
I read Anna Karina years ago. I am now reading The Shell Seekers by Rosumund Pelcher. Love the photos of Mabel’s ballet,the music concert and of course baby Elsie. Enjoy your reading.
Marilyn
I wonder if I recommended Barbara Pym to you at one point. She is probably my all-time favorite author, along with Elizabeth Gaskell. I read her books again and again and they never fail to delight. I especially love them because for a while during and after the reading I see everything through her eyes, which is a truly enjoyable way to go through life.
Oh! That gorgeous bird!
I bet you did! It was many years ago that I asked for recommendations for that “Happy Reading List” and I am sure you chimed in. 🙂
Ginny, I have been reading your posts for many years now and as a homeschool mom of five, I appreciate your perspective so much! “assess what I need to accomplish today and weigh it against what I’d like to do and hopefully find some balance”….. this seems like the daily task of a mother!
What is that kind of bird? I’ve never seen one! Beautiful!
It is our daily task, isn’t it? The bird is an indigo bunting! They are my favorite. 🙂
I was wondering about the bird — it’s a glory in blue!!
Beautiful snippets of life !!! And oh my goodness that adorable grand baby !!!!
I know! She’s the cutest! And I’m allowed to say that, right?
You sure are !!! :):)
Ginny, I hope you might one day consider making note cards of some of your photos. As I enjoyed so many in this post I was thinking, “That would make a lovely note card.” I would buy some for myself and also for gifts. You have a beautiful way with capturing the ‘everyday’ beauty of nature.
Agreed about the note cards. Your photos are beautiful. Orange snap dragons are exquisite!
Elsie is so beautiful! And your post was beautiful. I am always so amazed at all you are able to accomplish! I agree that notecards would be a best seller! I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” for the first time. I have seen the movie a few times but had never read the book. It is a true classic. Have never read Barbara Pym but will give her a try. I loved that blue bird! Wish we had some here.
Thanks for sharing your amazing life with us!
Thank you for encouraging me to make notecards! I have wanted to for many years, but never manage to make the time to figure out the best place to have them printed. Maybe I’ll make that a goal for this summer!
Barbara Pym is my favorite author. “Some Tame Gazelle” is almost tied with “Excellent Women” as the books I have re-read the most.
Oh, yay! I just got a copy of Some Tame Gazelle. 😊
She’s also one of my favorites. Jane and Prudence might be my favorite after Excellent Women.
Thank you, Annie! I value your opinion and I will get that one next. 🙂
Thank you from sharing Ginny. I love Barbara Pym and then I found Angela Thirkell and her Barchester stories. So lovely and on audible narrated by Jilly Bond. Gentle and humorous. I love your updates thank you.
I thought of you, reading this paragraph in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Made me laugh!
“I have often noticed that these things, which obsess me, neither bother nor impress other people even slightly. I am horribly apt to approach some innocent at a gathering and say, ‘Do you know that in the head of the caterpillar of the ordinary goat moth there are two hundred twenty-eight separate muscles?’ The poor wretch flees. I am not making chatter; I mean to change his life.”
I love it.
Audible has Barbara Pym’s books as well as wonderful dramatizations. I live in Central Virginia and have never seen that glorious blue bird…lucky you !!! Thank you for a lovely post.
Finished Excellent this week and wanted to thank the person who recommended it but I hadn’t recorded the source. Now I know and thank you! So fun! And I loved the ending. Picking up The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym at the library today!
And knitting… working on a gifting baby sweater and decided on a 2T in apricot yarn since the parents don’t want to know the sex before birth. Got to thinking that apricot peachy might not be the best color if baby is a he, so I finished the 2T and am using the remaining yarn for a newborn size. Now I am playing yarn chicken but still enjoying the fun of knitting a tiny garment!
Hope you get to enjoy your summer rest! Thank you for all of your inspiring posts.
I’ve never read anything by Barbara Pym, but now I might! I have read Anna Karenina though, and also got two versions of it…first an e-book, then a hard copy from the library. It was lovely (though I had to keep track of names on a sheet of paper for a while, ha).
I adore those bird photos you took! And any chance to see the earless goats (I know they have tiny ears) makes me happy!
Elsie is very cute, by the way.
Have a good week/month! 🙂 hope the weather is more summer-like than here in north/Western Europe.
The names in Anna Karenina are part of the reason I needed a hard copy!