I am smiling as I write this first post in my newly-arranged space, weeks after I had hoped to, with many of the smallest arrangements still to come. The first delays were out of my hands, waiting for others to do their work. The last few days were filled with work only I can do, so tediously, due to the bringing together of my old posts from blogger and my new rooms here.
It all comes down to circles, you see.
If I tune into it, adding more circles to my world seems to be an unconscious pastime of mine. Sometimes, all it takes is the addition of a circle or other curviness to make a room…or a design…or view settle into restfulness.
So when I chose a new design for this space, it’s not surprising that I fell for the one with circles. But I sadly found out that all of my old images didn’t play nicely with the circles at the bottom of each post (to guide you when you feel like wandering through old posts), and I’ve been spending all of my spare time in the last few days adjusting them.
But there is another circle that I am eager to bring back to life, and that is the gathering of readers who visit here. I wanted to wait to open the doors until everything was just so, but who knows how long that is going to take? And the truth is, if you were to come by my home for a visit these days, you would not find it as I would wish…but I would still be very happy to see you.
So, I am trying to throw my tendency towards wanting everything to be just right and am sending this post out into the world and welcoming you back in. Some of the links and other bits are not quite what I want them to be…but they will get there. It’s funny to see the odd shapes that my old photos are turned into at the moment, but such glitches are familiar. As I go through my posts of ten years, messages and gentle wailings over technological woes are a common thread. This is just another in a long line…or should I say the turning of the circle?
Another aspect of this fresh setting that I like is that I can easily share bits of poetry and other written loveliness I come across. If there is more to them than the line in the photograph at the top of the page, I will share it in the box in the bottom right. And when it is something like the current poem, which has companioned me for more than twenty years, I will share it in its entirety in a post…
To a Young Lady
(who had been reproached for taking long walks in the country)
DEAR Child of Nature, let them rail!
–There is a nest in a green dale,
A harbour and a hold;
Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see
Thy own heart-stirring days, and be
A light to young and old.
There, healthy as a shepherd boy,
And treading among flowers of joy
Which at no season fade,
Thou, while thy babes around thee cling,
Shalt show us how divine a thing
A Woman may be made.
Thy thoughts and feelings shall not die,
Nor leave thee, when grey hairs are nigh,
A melancholy slave;
But an old age serene and bright,
And lovely as a Lapland night,
Shall lead thee to thy grave.
That poem is my wish for all of us. And that this spot may sometimes be a nest and a harbour for you when you need it. But now I am going to leave computers and unruly pixels behind for awhile and find a green dale to wander in.
Welcome back!
