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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

Dropping by for a quick hello on this April morning, sharing some photos from the weeks past…all yellow and purple with the early spring. But my world is leafing out now and soon, all will be lush and green, green, green. Last evening, a gentle thunderstorm came along as the sun was setting behind a soft, grey curtain of clouds in the west. Then the sun peeked through and a rainbow appeared in the east and I took my Van Gogh-sunflower-yellow umbrella outside to the garden and stood, while the rain fell and sparkled, Jasper leapt and posed, and the white cherry blossom and deep pink apple blossom buds shone around me. These spring moments are held so dear…

We are in the midst of our slow spring cleaning at Wisteria & Sunshine and I shared this a few days ago, from the book Sweeping Changes…

“There is no need for you to be relentless. It is more a matter of finding the easiness that comes from using your own quiet energy. There’s no need to strive for total cleanliness and purity. Even perfect clarity is not without its problems.”

Some of these photos are from my bedroom spring cleaning, accomplished and now being enjoyed. But my living room refreshing is taking even longer than than the week I had intended for it. I am slowed down for bodily reasons, yes, but it is more a lingering pleasure in the paring down, the caring for and the adding of spring-like touches and layers. I do believe it also has something to do with tending the oldest part of our home…it draws me and feels most…mmmm…home-like. It’s mysterious.

If I could, I would spend all the coming days and weeks and months using my own quiet energy to clear and nurture my home and my garden, my life and my connections. This sort of work is nurturing for me and for whatever I am putting my hands to. As well, it gives me time and space to let my mind find clarity (never perfect!) about so much. As it is, I manage it in between my studio work, my rest and my watching of another episode of whatever British detective show I’ve found to enjoy. : ) But, the world is beginning to open up, as is my small world. In a month I will be fully vaccinated. Tomorrow, Doug and I will venture into town to a small, outdoor market and musical offering. And I’ve received my first invitation to an indoor/outdoor party. Tho’ I have pretty much decided against that one. Twenty people and being sociable on that level feels beyond me at the moment. I’ll stay with my peaceful spring rhythms for as long as I can, I think. As summer approaches and more and more hindrances fall away, that will be the time for opening more to the sun and society…for blooming…in the ways one wants to, at least.