October 2021

Hello again! I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, just after finishing the November-welcoming post for Wisteria & Sunshine. This is my weekly rhythm, to put together Monday’s post on Sunday afternoon. But today, as I was readying the monthly calendars to share, I had the impulse to share a few with you. Usually, the month’s calendars and planning pages are waiting in the first-day-of-the-month post, but at this season, I leave both November and December. Most of us have much to contain and plan for in these months, as you likely know very well. : )

If you click the image above, it will open up the one-page calendars I began making a few years ago. And below is a glimpse of the other pages I offer each month, with membership. Refining the organization of the hundreds of printables I’ve created for Wisteria & Sunshine over the years is one of the projects I look forward to accomplishing early in the new year…when I’ll be raising the membership price a bit. It’s been at the current price for more than five years, and a tiny increase will help me so much. But I wanted to let you know since the price you join with is the price you keep, no matter how long you are a member…

And tomorrow we will begin our Advent for Advent journey through November. It’s a slow and gentle opportunity to clear and prepare for the winter holidays, and a more peaceful December. This first week we will be getting inspired to seek simplicity and sufficiency in our paring down and tidying. As well, we will begin the Clean Along with Me email series to give our homes some loving attention. And as always, the daily posts will be filled with beauty and light and gleanings of poetry and wisdom. No doubt, a few little films will become a regular feature as I continue to delight in making them, since starting my youtube channel.

I would love to welcome you within our rooms and gardens at Wisteria & Sunshine, and will be waiting just inside the door, anytime you wish to cross the threshold. Before I go, I want to wish you a happy All Hallow’s Eve and a meaningful October-into-November time. A few more clicks here, and then Doug and I will carve our two small pumpkins, put together the Samhain altar with our dear ones, light candles and say hello to the crescent moon, before settling in with a cosy supper and something autumnal to watch.

xo

Lesley

(blog visiting)

…the little pink roses that you see in my web-home banner are still blooming and I bring them in, often. I will change my banner to something more autumnal sometime soon, but as October is waning and the pink roses are still blooming outside here, they are part of my autumnal. And I am finding that a note of pink suits my autumnal tastes just fine…

The weather continues mellow here, tho’ a storm blew through yesterday and our temps have dipped a bit, but still no sign of frost in the forecast. I sit outside in between tasks, soaking up the sun and warmth, knowing it won’t last forever. One task was bringing out the seasonal clothes, but when I opened the wicker chest full of autumn and winter garments last week, I found everything rather musty…one of the downsides of no air-conditioning. So everyday has seen a load of laundry washed and dried, sorted through, some now in bags to send to the thrift store, some hung and folded in closet and dresser. Just the chest to wipe down now and the sorted summer clothes to tuck away.

(freshly washed and dried linens)

Signs of deepening autumn are everywhere…outside, of course and inside my home as I begin-rather belatedly-to switch out curtains and coverings and bring as much of autumn in as I can. Such a delicate, lovely, bittersweet time!

It’s been especially poignant to capture in film this year. I’ve managed to get a second film put up at youtube already and have too, too many little captures waiting to made into the next seasonal glimpse. I am finding that it is a lot of work, tho’ interesting and good work. Finding a window of time to tend it in my week will take some discerning, especially now as I finish up the Daybooks for next year and prepare to fill my shop.

(a wedding gift of antique napkins and napkin rings)

How I wish I could still stay up late in front of my computer, designing and fashioning everything into beauty as I did in my forties when I discovered this vocation-beyond-mothering! But computers at night and me no longer get along well, if I want to sleep. So I try this rhythm and that in hopes of finding the peaceful, nurturing one that will hold all I would like it to.

It’s a beautiful time of year to be exploring and experimenting with it all, with the autumnal breezes setting the leaves dancing and the sky so blue and white. Tho’ invitations, pulls away from home and the nearing of the holidays are beginning to be acknowledged within me as a strong desire to get settled with much in these next several weeks. I used to think that January was soon enough to find winter’s quiet and stillness, in my days and in my heart. Now I know that December is its sweetest if I can enjoy it then, too.

So it came to me that I want to create a proper  Advent  for  Advent  at Wisteria & Sunshine this year. Last year, with the usual, treasured holiday traditions very much up in the air, I didn’t have the heart for it. Thankfully this year-tho’ there are still uncertainties-we are all vaccinated and can look forward to being together in something like the usual ways this Solstice and Christmas. A joy and a privilege, but I cannot deny that there is a sigh somewhere within me over the thought of the effort it will require. All the more reason I’d like to fill November with small endeavorings towards more simplicity and calm.

Here is an updated little video of what our Advent for Advent is about…

I would love to have you join me.

xo

Lesley