September was quick this year!
One thing that I struggle with when it comes to writing here is how to narrow things down and choose what to share. Every day is packed with the good and the bad. I could potentially devote an entire blog to documenting all of Ambrose’s shenanigans. Some days it feels like I am putting out one fire after another. I remember last year when I shared about Mabel breaking her arm at a time when we didn’t have health coverage, someone commented that I manage to share some sort of disaster every time I post. While it’s impossible to accurately interpret tone in a comment from a stranger, this one felt a little unkind and definitely caused me to question it’s accuracy. I don’t think I share that many negative posts. I mean, at most it’s every other post. (Hahaha!) Having a large family opens us up for perhaps a greater percentage of catastrophes big and small, but also lots of good things! I try to keep things balanced here. I’d hate to give the impression that somehow I manage a much larger than typical household while spending most of my time lounging around reading and knitting, occasionally picking up my binoculars to get a closer look at whoever is visiting the bird feeder (I don’t actually have any binoculars.) Blogs tend to create false impressions. But I’m also not aiming to have a family calamity blog. I prefer to keep this a place where I talk about fun things, even if in reality they occupy 0.25% of my time. (More than that, but many days it doesn’t feel that way especially during the school year.)
Every now and then I guess I feel the need to explain myself. I should get over that, right?
On to fun stuff.
I tend to have obsessions, usually over somewhat obscure topics. While they eventually recede, only to be replaced with the next one, my general book obsession has been with me for as long as I can remember. Recently, I’ve found myself reading so many books: to myself, with others, and to others. The stacks on my desk and headboard are a little out of control. So that is what I will talk about today. Not the crazy virus that went through our house for an entire month, not the grown kid who scared me with oxygen saturation dropping below 90 (pneumonia) and not the bird obsession that I have gotten some of my kids caught up in alongside me. We can just talk about books. (Amazon links are affiliate links.) Wait…that’s going to lead me to talking about birds after all. (Sorry, Beatrix.)
First, and not pictured because I returned it to the library, I read The Bluebird Effect by Julie Zickefoose. This book was really, really lovely. Julie is a wildlife rehabilitator and artist (I don’t know her but I’m just going to pretend we are on a first name basis), and she has a writing voice that I really like. I so enjoyed all her stories (as I’ve mentioned, I am in a bird watching phase-still going pretty strong.) One of the chapters in The Bluebird Effect led to a weeks long hyper-focus on Ivory-billed woodpeckers. I haven’t quite recovered or moved on. I’m ready to drop everything and spend my days slogging through Arkansas bayous. I did live somewhat close in the second grade. If only I’d known. I’m afraid I won’t actually be able to make it back there anytime soon. (Sigh.) I am almost finished reading Tim Gallagher’s book on the rediscovery of the (critically endangered) Ivory-billed woodpecker, called The Grail Bird, and I am firmly in the camp of believing they still live. If you are too, you might be interested in this t-shirt. I’ve bought it for a couple of bird lovers recently. Well, I wouldn’t say that Jonny is necessarily a bird lover (I’m working on it), but he does like the shirt.
I’ve been reading Animal Farm with Silas for his literature class, and The Magician’s Nephew to Mabel for one of her co-op classes. Both are rereads, and I’m guessing that many if not most of you have read Animal Farm. Didn’t we all read it in school?
I’m not sure how many times I’ve read (and loved) The Magician’s Nephew but I’m excited to read the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia to Mabel in the coming months. It’s been awhile since I’ve revisited them.
A Sand County Almanac has been on the desk next to my bed for months and I am slowly reading it. It’s been replaced lately by One Wild Bird at a Time, but I’ll get back to it. For the past couple of years I’ve been reading some sort of natural history book at all times-probably my favorite genre of books.
Then there is Watership Down. Somehow I’ve never read it, though a couple of my now graduated kids read it in high school. I chose it as my evening read aloud for Silas and Job and much to my surprise I can’t really get into it. I feel like I’m supposed to like this book, but we are about 200 pages in and it hasn’t grabbed me yet. What’s wrong with me? I will persevere and maybe by the end I’ll feel differently. But maybe talking rabbits just aren’t my thing. At least Job likes it.
And finally, after reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina over the summer, I wanted to read War and Peace. I’d never really considered it before, but I saw that an online friend was participating in a slow read of it and decided that I would do the same. I roped Beatrix in to read with me and then a friend and her teenage daughter with a plan to get together periodically and have discussions. The goal is to read one chapter a day and I’ve been doing so for about six weeks. Most of the chapters are short and it gives me a sense of accomplishment when I get mine read for the day. I’m about 200 pages in, and I do like it a lot.
One book pictured here that I am not reading yet (because I’m saving it) is another by Julie Zickefoose called Letters from Eden: A Year at Home in the Woods. The cover is so beautiful that it had to make it into the photo with the vest I just finished knitting for Ambrose. More photos of the vest next time I’m here! It’s very, very cute.
p.s. There are about a dozen naturally dyed organic cotton gauze headscarves in my shop right now. There won’t be any more of them after these this year, but I will be listing larger scarves sometime in the near future. There is also lots of goat’s milk soap!
Your blog is about your real life. That is the good and bad. I enjoy reading about you and your family.
As a longtime reader (I think i have been reading here since 2011?) i can honestly say that you are the only blogger i still read. Your blogs are the best! I never made the switch to instagram or other platforms and ditched dozens of blogs over the years because i changed my perspective on many things and felt too much friction whenever i read them.
Not you! I love your honesty and quirkiness and eye for beauty. It helps me that you are a self declared oddball because i am one too and if only more people were somewhat less usual or maybe even downright weird because i would never have to feel embarrassed, nor would my kids!
I only have 3 children, 2 of which are in school and i feel overwhelmed by life so very often. I absolutely cannot imagine how you stay even a tiny bit sane and i think you are an absolute rockstar for raising 9 kids and schooling them too. It’s a miracle to me that children survive childhood, given all the crazy stuff they constantly get into!
Just the other day one of my kids very casually declared she had a pinworm infection that she claimed had been going on for months. We looked up pinworms online and actually had a lot of fun learning about them. It’s in moments like these that i tell myself, what would Ginny do. Rest assured i went to the pharmacy the next day and picked up medication :).
Love from Belgium, Elizabeth
Ginny – I’ve been a reader for years but don’t think I’ve ever commented. I’ve long thought about how good I feel after reading your posts. Your photos are stunning and convey to me the beauty of creation and God’s gift of family and love. I can’t think of another blog/site where I feel better and calmer after visiting. Most sites leave me feeling like I’m not doing enough or not good enough (which is why I quit Instagram). But your site leaves me feeling like I just sat with a treasured friend who shared important happenings in her life. Thank you for sharing your life – the ups and downs – with us. You are such a blessing. I hope we meet one day in heaven and I can tell you how much your site has meant to me!
When I was in high school, my boyfriend recommended “Watership Down” to me, so I read it. I really enjoyed it, and was telling him all about how it spoke about human interaction. “I just thought it was a book about rabbits,” he said. I haven’t picked it up since, so I don’t know if I’d like it 45 years later.
I have never liked Watership Down either, and I like talking animal books–the Wind in the Willows is perhaps my favorite book!
I LOVE the photo at the beginning of your blog post with the wasps (?). Absolutely beautiful .
Ginny, I never think of you as a complainer and your blog is not a string of family disasters. Surely that comment was made in jest! I so enjoy each blog entry of yours. The gorgeous photos of your family and your surroundings as a delight, and watching each of your children grow and engage in activities at home and about is a treat. I raised two boys and am amazed at your success in raising all of your lovely children. I taught school but would never have dreamed of homeschooling our two sons. I find that so interesting and I know it is a growing trend with fine results. I love seeing what you are reading. I see how busy your life is, but I hope you always find time for an occasional blog entry!
Please keep on just being you.
That is what brings us here.
Ha! I think some of your disasters add balance to the other seemingly impossible serenity and beauty that you present sometimes. When I think about a family or personal blog, I just dont know if I could keep it interesting. But then again, if I only posted once or twice a month I could pick and choose a few of the exciting bits and people would just think we were crazy! You’re good. You’re fine. Balance is key and you have it. Also, a broken bone is a big deal…so is pneumonia. Blech. With a lot of people come a lot of “things,” you know? Those arent disasters, they’re just living with a lot of people. There’s always something and there’s never nothing. 😉
If we got into birds, which would be lovely, I would need 8 pairs of binoculars to calm the fighting over whose turn it was to “see next”…and I would never get a turn. HA! We just put up a greenhouse and I have so many plans for flowers, cut flowers, for more bouquets than one house can handle. I bought three beautiful books (no English language gardening books in our local library in southern Poland) and cannot put them down. My new obsession is trying to figure out how I can have flowers blooming all year round. There is lots of eyerolling when I start talking about planting and seasons and winterizing and bulb lasagnes. “Mom is so booooring in her middle age.” So blessedly boring.
I love your little window bird feeder. I must find one for the winter months.
Happy and sad, good and bad, is the strife that makes a life. I heard this somewhere, it fits your blog reflections. I too struggled through Watership Down, it never grew on me.
It would be a super boring read if it was ALL GOOD ALL THE TIME…not to mention a discouragement to moms struggling just to get through each day.
I have 10 children ages 25 to 3, (8 of them are boys) and I know for certain that we must be willing to embrace both the sorrows and joys of life…and keep moving. We have a tragically broken heart in our household right now, but we have to keep playing music and telling jokes, cooking nice meals and going on starry walks to see the northern lights flash across the night sky. Real life is always a mix.
Also, I love the book list, it is very inspiring. I too keep a stack of 5-6 books going at any given time. It keeps one sane and gives a good example to children of what being a lifelong learner might look like. Tip: I bought a special book bag to tote around my current reading collection, so I can even take it with me when I go out and might have to do some waiting.
Keep writing the truth!
Hi Ginny, I always enjoy your posts. Have fun reading your books.
Happy Fall
Joan
Hi Ginny, Thank you for another interesting post. I look forward to your blog. I read Anna Karenina. It was good. I did read Water Ship Down and did not like it at all.
HAPPY AUTUMN
Marilyn
When I read your writing , I feel goodness & inspiration. I appreciate all that you share . Much love to you and your beautiful family !
Hi Ginny, you may enjoy this NPR gem from years back about the ivory billed woodpecker, Brinkley Arkansas, and Sufjan Stevens. I have listened to it many times and it is so sweet and also melancholy. I was going to college in Arkansas near this time and drove by Brinkley often.
https://www.npr.org/2005/07/06/4721675/brinkley-ark-embraces-the-lord-god-bird
I’ve listened to it, but am glad you sent the link because I lost it and want to listen again!
Lovely to see your post, Ginny! I’ve been happily reading along for many years now and I don’t think you are a catastrophe blogger at all! Gosh. People are funny, right!? … Life is full! Variable! Surprising and shocking and glorious by turns … Anyhow! I love War and Peace — never could engage in AK! Or Watership Down, for that matter! Narnia yes, love so much. Oh, and The Bluebird Effect is a wonderful book. Loved that so much. It was one of our beloved read alouds with my then-teens, during their homeschool high school years. She is a special writer.
Reading The Bluebird Effect aloud to my older kids is a great idea! Thank you!
I love your blog!
You are amazing!
Thank you!
I was really pleased when I managed to read all of war and peace… I definitely preferred the peace bits than the war bits though!
The magicians nephew is (possibly controversially) my favourite of the Narnia books.
I love reading your blog, and I don’t think it would feel real if it didn’t have a mix of calamity and joy, or even finding joy through the calamity.
I’m so with you on preferring the peace bits!!!
I’m excited to reread the Narnia books-I think my favorite last time through was the last one! Will see how I feel this time…
I have been reading your blog for years and have always loved it! Always! Please don’t let one comment get to you. You have a bunch of kids, things happen, there’s good days and bad days and everything in between. I have four kids and oh my gosh the things we went through, I could write a book. Gosh, getting through a meal without one of my boys “accidentally “ farting at the dinner table was a win in my book. You post real life, and we all love and appreciate you so much. And you do it with such kindness and grace. So please, always do YOU!!!!!
Thank you! I really shouldn’t let things like that get to me. It’s ridiculous! That I still think of that comment nearly ten months later is so silly.
Hi Ginny,
It’s not silly at all. This thing about today’s social media world is that we interact with folks far and wide and in one respect, it feels like a normal in person relationship. But, it truly happens in a vacuum and had it not, you would have had a conversation with that person to understand what she meant.
I have followed you for so long you now feel like an old friend even though we’ve never met. Keep on being you! I believe the majority of us are here for the good, the bad, and everything in between.
Oh Ginny, I can’t disagree enough with your reader insinuating you post only sad or difficult stories. I am sure she could find many blogs that are happy and light. At 74, I assure you that I enjoy reading about your family through it all! I do not wish you difficulties but you handle such things with dignity and grace. I thought all of us knew that life is very much a mixture of happy and sad. Since my husband has advanced cancer, I have been unable to travel to our 3 Grans in Seattle although they come to CA when possible, I enjoy reading about your family and hearing what my friends’ Grands are doing. Thank you for sharing!
From Arkansas with love! Come chase the Grail Bird when you are ready.
Your blog is a peaceful breeze in a busy life — please don’t let the viewpoint of one naysayer overshadow the following of “friends” who enjoy your blog as a nourishing reminder to enjoy the small things. Some small things are hard, and some small things become big things. In all cases, they are part of your family’s beautiful story. Thank you for sharing your story. ♥️
I have changed how I blog as well, now that my children are adults and married (one with two children-yay). I do not feel comfortable posting photos of them or talking about them like I used to do when they were much younger. Also the older I get the more aches and pains I have and I really do not want to focus on that on my blog – So I stick with what brings me joy and smiles and gratitudes!! I always love when you do post and whatever you post.
Hello Ginny, I have been reading your blog for years and I rarely comment. But today, when you wrote, I felt compelled to share that a large part of why I read your blog is because it is so balanced. Life is imperfect and yet you find the loveliness in it. And that, these small moments of beauty amid struggles is what I like. It helps me to keep looking myself. Also a jot of humor and laughing at oneself… these are things that I also do & can relate to. So I cast my vote for you to continue as you have been. It is nurturing and sustainable. It is real. And there is strength in weathering the storms of life and talking about it. If I were to blog, I would want to blog like you do.
I’ve never read Watership Down, but I did watch the film when it came out when I was small and maybe talking rabbits on screen are easier to relate to than in a book? What I do know is that after watching the film, I never wanted to read the book because I know what happens! 🙂 Life happens too, and when you write a blog then you write about what’s current; they’re snapshot moments, and I never feel that you write about them in anything but a capably practical way. Christine xx
Ginny, the last thing I think of when I think of your wonderful blog is disaster. Instead, I think of a beautiful, interesting, close and loving family; I think of the glories of nature; I think of books, books, and more books (which I also adore!); and, I think of you as someone I could be good friends with because I love your point of view on so many things as well as your honest portrayal of your family. Thank you so much for your lovely posts!
I 100 percent agree with Jenny! Your posts are wonderful and beautiful. A great balance of real family life. Life is not perfect! I always enjoy your pictures and seeing what you and your kids are reading! I’ve never read Animal Farm!! Keep doing what you are doing Ginny!
You write about real life, Ginny, and that will – and should – include both the good and the bad. It’s what makes your blog so good and real. I have tried to read Anna Karenina several times and somehow always drift away from it. I am reading Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse at the moment.
I’m not sure if I would have liked reading Watership Down initially either, but the audiobook narrated by Ralph Cosham is fantastic and made our whole family fall in love with the story. It is so good!
I read War and Peace for the first time about a year ago, and really enjoyed it! It is SO long though, you just have to keep moving through it. There’s a great mini-series of it which I did enjoy watching when I finished it, that was some good motivation to keep reading. 😀
Have you read any Annie Dillard? With all of your nature reading, it seems like you would enjoy her work.
Oh how I enjoy reading your blog posts! Thank you for a healthy dose of reality each time—the good with the occasional bad. I have laughed, smiled, teared up, treasured and enjoyed them all. I love birding so much and have pushed it inadvertently on other family members. We enjoy the Cornell Merlin Bird App very much on our phones and tablets. I also love reading books about birds and learning all I can. Raptors, hawks and owls are a favorite; however, the two books you recommended look wonderful. I will add them to my stack. Thank you again.
You’re welcome to come visit me, and the woodpeckers, anytime! We are in SW Arkansas, and also have a large family with all the shenanigans.
Sounds perfect!!!
Ginny, your blog posts are always “real” and heartwarming. Don’t change anything. I love the fact that you don’t make every post an everything is great, but rather a real life story. That’s what makes it so attractive for me. I feel like a part of your story as you welcome us into your life.
Keep up the great work.
Your posts are always so uplifting and the photos are beautiful! I knit about every day but I’ve recently started reading. I got Trump, The Art of the Deal and I found it fascinating with how these properties were started and how he was able to coordinate everything with the help of his competent staff and friends. I’m also reading The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. This one is about Ted Bundy.
I loved Watership Down; I read it as my bedtime reading to myself when our children were in elementary school, and it was a welcomed escape. I would promise myself I’d read only one chapter before bed…but most of the time I’d be unable to adhere to that restriction! I can remember going to bed with my heart racing as I worried over whether the rabbits were going to be okay! I may go back and reread it now! I’ve just finished reading “The Princess and the Goblin”, by George MacDonald, a gift from our 7-year-old twin grandchildren this summer. It was their read aloud book in the spring at home, and they’ve since read and enjoyed “The Princess and Curdie” to complete this short series.
Keep writing your blog your way, Ginny. Funny thing is, I remember that comment after Mabel broke her arm, and it struck me somewhat strange. I am always delighted when I see that you have a new post…please keep them coming!
You give me hope that I might end up liking Watership Down too!
Thank you for sharing both highs and lows–you’re pretty balanced, overall! Isn’t life? I have about half the number of children you do, and while there are some calamities, there’s always beauty. Your photos and words help me to see the beauty everywhere, no matter what. Glory to God for all things!
Ginny it’s your honesty that we admire.
I love your blog and have never thought you only write about the negative things. You are one blogger who keeps it “ real”, and I feel like a friend welcomed in your home. Don’t change a thing! Love the bird books! Haven’t thought about water Ship Down for 6 decades, haha. I didn’t like it either.
Thank you!
Agreed!
Check out Julie’s blog here: https://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com/
And don’t miss her latest book Saving Jemima. So good!
Thank you! I just added that book to my wishlist. 🙂
I love your blog just as it is. The overall tone of your blog is not constantly full of calamities, at least in my opinion. Please don’t let us readers sway how you write (unless it is positive 🥴).
Thanks, Elicia!
Ginny I enjoy all of your posts. Reading “War and Peace ” is a big assignment but you and your team seem to be doing okay. Keep up the reading.
Happy Autumn
Marion