While I slowly work on my web~home here, gently shifting from my papery-making and all I’ve focused on in the last twenty years, to whatever it will become in my rosehip years…here is my latest newsletter, for anyone who happens by…
“Abiding Presence of the Deep Worlds, while I have slept, you have been hastening Autumn. Before I enter the motion of the fruiting season, I rest in the stillness of your deep abiding. Tho’ the sun circles farther from us, may I never be far from the warm embrace of your silent presence.”
~Caitlin Matthews
Almost half a year since I last wrote to you here, with my heart so full. Not long after, my dear father-in-law began to decline and we lost him in early June…and I did sort of “sleep” through the summer. It was a season of adjusting to the world without this man who was such a loving presence in my life. How I’ll miss being called daughter! But as the prayer above describes, it has been a deep time, as I grieved and healed, and lately, as I plumb my depths as I try to put decades of chronic pain behind me.
And now autumn is here, with her welcome stillness. The last hummingbird left us yesterday, the mockingbird has returned and is sweetly singing as I write this. Our autumn kitchen garden is full of young greens, those I’ve planted and those I’ll be encouraging to leave later this afternoon. : ) The clothesline is often full as I hang the laundry to dry and the winter clothing to air in the sunshine and breezes. I am sorting out the pantry and slowly stocking up for the cold, cosy season ahead.
All that was troubling when I last wrote continues on, and what I wrote then still rings true… “And tho’ I am finding so much to read and learn and keep up with…I’m not finding what I am most seeking now, what those of us who are safe, home, living our everyday lives, are really feeling about it all? The cruelty…the damage…the suffering. This is not normal. And yet, most of the dear woman I’ve long visited in my online hedgerow are not speaking of it. I’ve been wondering what to do, what will be my response?”
Most of my responses and have been small and private, but last week I put the finishing touches on my more public response…the creation of Hedgerow Post, a slow, quiet, ad-free, no algorithms place to visit online. It’s my answer to all that’s wrong with Instagram, a place I couldn’t stay any longer because of the ads and the algorithms, but also because I just don’t want to send the message to Meta that I am ok with what they do. Instagram was a sweet spot for my online connecting for many years, simple and beautiful. It feels very different to me now, like so much.
The Hedgerow is both an antidote and a protest and it feels very different there…peaceful…friendly. I realized yesterday that it feels something like the golden years of blogging. I also realized, with relief, how restful it was not to be exposed to the ads and posts that the algorithm knows touch upon our vulnerabilities. And I’m so looking forward to growing a place where we can find kindred spirits without also feeling used or pestered.
This is a painting by my favorite artist, Winifred Nicholson. I chose it to represent Hedgerow Post because it illustrates so well the post-office-in-the-hedgerow idea from Little Women that has long been my metaphor for online connecting. We leave something (a photo, some thoughts, a comment) for others to find, and they do the same in return. I first enjoyed this with my blog…then Instagram…and now here. I do it at Wisteria & Sunshine, of course, but that is a little more off the beaten track, you might say.
Come to think of it, tho’, everything I create is that, the Hedgerow included. : ) It’s very quiet at the moment as it is brand new, but I have a good feeling that it will grow in the months to come. It costs a tiny bit monthly, to keep out unpleasantness and cover my admin costs. Perhaps I’ll see you there…
Wishing you a lovely Autumn,
xo
Lesley
