2021

little films…

Almost two weeks ago I discovered silent vlogs on youtube. Just one of those videos that youtube serves up…and I was captivated. They are so quiet, so gentle and usually capturing the everyday moments of beauty that we all experience and savor. Since then, I’ve been learning about starting a youtube channel and watching lots of silent vlogs to see how they are done.

For years now, I’ve taken short films of laundry billowing on the line or rain outside the window and shared them at Wisteria & Sunshine. And for years I’ve tried to capture movement with my camera…the boughs of a tree waving in the wind…the leaves falling in autumn…the steam rising from a cup of tea. It’s tricky, tho’, to get the lighting right and be there on the spot before the movement has settled into stillness again. But I’m getting better at it with this new creative enthusiasm.

I’m so looking forward to sharing some peace and beauty in this fresh way…and in enlarging the circle of those making such videos. Tho’ I’ve appreciated almost every silent vlog I’ve discovered, I soon noticed that they were all young women…and there is often a lot of food preparation…and fondling of flowers. : ) And some of them are staged and arranged just so, which is often satisfying to my eyes, but a little lacking in how it touches my soul.

So I’ve begun a channel myself, with little films of glimpses of my days…the season unfolding around me…any loveliness I want to share. You won’t see much of me, at first, because I am learning how to film myself (from the back, mostly!) and in the midst of losing-weight-but-not-quite-there-yet (I’ve rarely been comfortable with photos of myself in my plumper seasons) and because it is definitely more complicated to bring myself into the picture. But…except for makeup videos and aging “advice” you don’t see many rosehips in youtube land. I’d like to change that in a very small way.

And I also want to keep it as real as I can, while also making films you will want to watch and listen to. So I won’t be staging settings, but I will tidy up in the usual way of things. I’m finding that the camera shows all too clearly the deep cleaning I haven’t been able to do for many months…but my daily, chronic pain has been backing off a bit lately, so perhaps the windows will shine again soon. In the meantime, I’ve put up the one, very short video I made in the first few days of my new crush. And I hope to have another film up sometime next week.

So, time to get back to my learning and practicing! If you visit my channel, watch my film and think you would like to watch more in the future, please subscribe so you will know when I post again…and so that I know you have visited and enjoyed. Comments and likes would also be encouraging. I’ve all sorts of ideas for films and am writing them down in my Daybook so I don’t forget. If you have any ideas for something you’d like to see me put together, do let me know. Or if you have any favorite such vlogs of your own.

I hope your October is unfolding in peaceful ways,

xo

Lesley

on autumn’s threshold…

When I last wrote, we were deep in summer and I still held onto some wisps of summery aspirations. But as July simmered and August sweltered, I let go of any lingering wisps and just coped. There were-of course-many beautiful moments and lovely noticings, but after some success with antidotes to languishing, I admit that I succumbed. And it was the right thing to do, with chronic pain visiting again no air-conditioning and all the dratted no-see-ums reveling in the tropical warmth.

And then, along came September, and with it some relief from it all and, therefore, a return of energy and vision. Not great heaps of it, but enough to sense a freshening flow in the depths of my too-still being. Now to nurture that trickle into something steady and enlivening…

September at Wisteria & Sunshine is when we usually focus on simplicity, especially in our homes. This September, it became clear that a focus on well-being, with simplicity at its heart, would serve us best. During my generous break from work at summer’s end, I pondered how that might unfold when I returned. And in the too-familiar way of things nowadays, I cluttered up my good intentions with too many ideas and possibilities. But time and wisdom (belatedly, and so welcome!) entered in a few days ago and I am now happily creating a low-key and lovely path of well-being that we will follow together in the weeks and months to come.

Well-being is my favorite word to describe what others might call fitness or health. Those words can be so barnacled with society’s ideas and approaches, with negativity and commercialism. Well-being takes me to another place, a place more helpful, a place where I can be the most flourishing version of myself…whatever that means at this particular season. I believe, tho’, that it always encompasses movement and nourishment, joy and contentment, and caring, of all sorts.

Flourishing has been difficult to come by for many of us since the pandemic arrived. A difficult menopause has added another layer of challenge for me. But the cool evenings, the quieting in the fields and woods, the gentle breezes beginning to make the leaves drift, and the…hmmm…inclination …seems to be coming back to life out of summer’s languishing. I hope to help us gather up these tiny threads of inclination, add some strong and beautiful threads of practice and ritual and weave the well-being that will give us roots…roots to hold us steady as we welcome Autumn and look to Winter’s rest beyond it.

Tho’ the dogwood flowers aren’t as seasonal as I would like, this old image best captures what I am seeking for myself just now…and you…that we offer ourselves something wholesome and encouraging to brighten and support our days…our lives. Perhaps this missive is enough to spark that care within you, if you are in need of it. Perhaps you are desiring more, some company and breadcrumbs to follow? If so, I invite you to join us at Wisteria & Sunshine as we begin our weaving our well-being there tomorrow.

It is, as always, a dear privilege to write to you!I hope your last days of summer are golden and that you may welcome Autumn with open arms when it arrives…

xo

Lesley

 

P.S. And please know these missives look most attractive at my web-home, where you may also find posts from the past and links to what I am up to elsewhere.