Healing Hillary

true for me today

Since I have last written life has continued along. C is now 6 months old, our summer garden is plump with tomatoes, the start of school is upon us and the days are becoming shorter as this earth of ours turns every so slightly away from the sun. Life continues to evolve and change all the while somehow maintaing a bit of familiar rhythm. 

As for now I am just trying to stay here in this moment. As summer wanes my mind easily drifts off to autumn planning (garden, knitting and otherwise).

:: Yet what is true for me today is that I can reach into our cherry tomato plant and tickle the plant and it releases many, many fruits of abundance. It also covers my hand with sticky pollen. 

:: Today I am (again) marveling at all of the orange tomatoes in our garden. While we planted a few different heirloom varieties of differing colors...they are somehow all orange. How is that? 

:: I am blessing the garden spider that has taken up residence smartly between two tomato plants, protecting our harvest. 

:: Even though I did not get my morning sitting meditation this morning, I am glad that I can bring mindfulness into my actions. Knowing that at some point in the day, I will have an opportunity to sit for a minute or two. 

:: I am allowing T the time and space she needs to recover and return to wellness after a feverish night. 

:: I am gently bringing myself back to this moment when my mind goes into the future. I am reminding myself of the wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, that in this moment I have an appointment with life."Breathing in and out is to get back to the present moment, where you have an appointment with life."

What is true for you today? 

 

 

flowers in the garden

I love Spring! My little Lilies of the Valley bring me such joy. 

I even love the dandelions. I love watching the clever flowers reseed (I also love snacking on the leaves in our unsprayed yard). 

And the violets that are popping up amidst our yard just make me giggle. Here is one for you! 

I love how there is so much that goes into a flower bloom. Starting with a sprouted seed, next roots, and then a stem. Leaves followed to increase the exposure to life giving light. A bloom is evidence that many things coincided and nurtured the seed that evolved into such beauty. As I write this it occurs to me that the hard things in life, the challenges are little stretches on the path of blooming. 

Rooting down preparing for beauty,

Hillary 

outside

"Mama, I'm going outside." 

This is a common phrase in our house these days.  As the weather has turned warmer our time outside has expanded.  

 We have been eating meals/snacks outside more as well.  I found D and T outside yesterday both shirtless, eating lunch together.  It was a sweet moment. 

Popcorn on the hammock has been a recent favorite of mine.  Occasionally, ok well frequently sometimes, we have popcorn for dinner.  I have found a way to be fine with it. I add coconut oil, nutritional yeast and kelp powder.  A few super foods sprinkled on organic popcorn made on the stove, I've decided is perfectly acceptable.  And popcorn on the hammock...even better! 

Pure luxurious bliss...how beautiful this life is!   

 

I hope wherever you are, that time outside and a bit of popcorn is finding it's way into your life. 

Peace (crunch...just one more handful). 

Hillary 

P.S. Tomorrow I'll be back with my One Small Change post...

out in the garden

"Out in the garden, out in the garden...there was a little bunny."

This is how T's Waldorf teacher starts stories during snack time. T loves these stories and will even ask, "What's in your garden?" 

As you can see...we took our bunny into our garden with us. 

He had a lovely time finding things...

Smelling them..

and tasting them. 

Here's Shelby...our clover eating bunny. Boy did we all love the sunshine. I got the peas (aka beanstalks) into the ground. Now they can grow to the clouds. 

What's out in your garden? 

With dirt under my nails,

Hillary      

{this moment} sunset

Sunset on my birthday at a friend's house...sitting on the front porch watching the kids play in a sandbox. 

(Love how they cleverly left this dead tree in their yard for climbing on.)

Warmly,

Hillary 

P.S. See you on Monday!

I think I'm sprouting.

We are working on sprouting our seedlings for our garden this year.  As I prepare to watch these little seeds sprout, I am amazed at the power of life.  That one seed can provide such bounty. 

With the promise of sprouts and life, this lovely garage apparatus has temporarily found home in our kitchen in a South facing window.  As you can see I have embraced it and added a little display of sprouting succulents to sooth my visual field. 

On the bottom shelf are our seedlings that were planted last weekend (thank you dear hubby).  D constructed a little greenhouse to nurture these dormant seeds to life.  With a bit of warmth (they are above a heat vent), sunshine, water and love, they will grow to feed our family for many months. 

Now we water, watch and wait for Mother Nature to do her magic, so that our seeds can grow.
All of this talk of seeds and sprouting has me reflecting on life.  I feel that in so many areas of my life I plant seeds, offer the right conditions for growth and then have to patiently wait for the seed to come to life and bear fruit.  I am reminded that it all unfolds in the proper timing, which is not necessarily the timing I want, if it were up to me.  Today I am grateful for the reminder that I have done my part to offer the right conditions for growth and that the sprouting is not something I can force (for a garden or for a self-reflecting soul). 

Eagerly awaiting Spring (both physically and metaphorically),

Hillary  

wintering snow

A rare treat...we are snowed in! We've been filling our bellies with warming foods and spending our days in the sun and snow. 

See you tomorrow for my shop opening. 

Warmly,

Hillary  

snow (com)post

i've been hulled up in the house this week. between a sick tot and a wee bit of snow (which is a show stopper here in the south), outside a short trip to a redbox (julie & julia for me during naps) and the local store for immunity building soup ingredients, i've been at home.  

i had all of these lofty ideas of places i'd go this week. places i'd get to take pictures of my feet and share with my fellow unravellers and with you. i thought i would get to spin a tale of wonder in my big world. but life had other plans for me and yet there is something to be grateful for...honesty. i can share what is real for me, and what is real is that i am at home. i am in my slippers padding around the house carrying my sick child and brewing thyme tea and honey for her cough (all hours of the day and night). i have pockets full of hankies and a counter top filled with remedies. 

the only time i stepped outside yesterday, was to take out the compost. i made a large pot of fresh soup to warm our insides and had many compostables (is that a word?). 

today is a new day. today i get to go on a knitting adventure with two new friends. and my tot will be home tucked in with daddy. oh for a few hours outside my home...now to decide what knitting projects to bring along. 

peace and love,

hillary 

winter solstice

lighting a candle this first day of winter...

 

my friend and doula, sasha, shared a story she told her children ever winter solstice...

Why the Evergreen Trees Never Loose Their Leaves by Florence Holbrook

welcoming winter,

hillary

nostalgia

twice a year one side of my family gathers for a bit of a reunion. the many descendants of my great-grandparents still honor the importance of gathering together as a family during the holidays. some 90 of my great aunts, uncles and every variation of a cousin were gathered together this celebrating the season. 

the home of my great-grandmother provides a nostalgic setting for conversation, play, food and stories.

 

(as best i can gather, my great-grandmother had the self-closing hinges installed on the outside doors. there was always a flurry of children in her home and i am sure these hinges have served their purpose over the years...genius!)

i enjoyed my father telling of his grandfather's use of this aluminum pitcher at dinner time. he described how my great-grandfather would drink lots of water with his meals and as a child how my father watched the condensation bead up on the outside of the cup on hot summer days. 

wishing you all a bit of nostalgia this christmas season,

hillary