Seasonal Living & Learning :: Still Pause

I'm waving the white flag. For reasons I don't really want to dwell on here for their negativity I just want to admit that I'm not superwoman and I can't do it all. Seasonal Living & Learning is going into hibernation for a while until I can work out something a little more workable than me running myself into the ground for nothing more than a mediocre result. I have high hopes for a reincarnation, until then, these images sum up what's going on. I'm sure you get it.





Some refocussing going on.

Thanks, friends.



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These walls of ours...

A year or so ago I nailed these crates to our sitting room wall for somewhere to display nick-nacks. I really love them, they have a rustic charm and they have turned a large, boring flat space into something more engaging.

But still, there was something missing... Of course, a plethora of prints! And so with the help of arty friends, some of my own images and etsy finds I created our 'seasonal wall' - Images that keep us in tune with the outside when we are in the very heart of our home.







I think it works somehow. A hotch-potch of nick-nacks and granny things with a little modern tweek.


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Seasonal Living & Learning Issue 1 :: OUT NOW

Oh. My. Goodness. Oh my word, what technical difficulties have beset me this last week. I honestly don't know which end is up right now - so many platforms and software and conversions. I give up. All I can say is :: I start small and aim high. Let's see where this things leads, shall we?

So the first edition of Seasonal Living & Learning is LIVE. I know, that sounds so important, doesn't it? I'm excited to start something so close to my heart, and I'm happy to start it in this season.

Autumn has to be my favourite season of all. There is so much colour, so much beauty. All those golds, yellows, fiery oranges and brazen reds, smouldering from one side of the tree to the other until the canopy on the horizon looks to be almost on fire.

There is also much busyness in preparing for the coming months regarding canning, and putting by. This season can be defined by its underlying message of 'getting ready to hunker down'.

My mind turns to the home once again after a season of outdoor living. I seek the warmth, the cosiness of home, trying to find a new rhythm of togetherness after having so much space in summer. I contemplate the winter woollens that I need to knit; the winter blankets I need to wash and get ready; the autumn recipes I need to dig out.

A new season is upon us, and as we seek the autumn rhythm in our homes, let's seek it together, shall we?

In this issue there are knitting patterns, sewing patterns, recipes and activities for the whole family. There is something for you all to bring a seasonal rhythm into your lives.

I admit that I wanted to do more, offer more, make it bigger and better, and I hope that this ambition sees the ezine go from strength to strength, but for now I offer the first edition at a special introductory price of £1.75 (thereafter £2.50).

You can buy a copy here at Seasonal Living & Learning Store or leave a comment here for your chance to win a copy!







For this giveaway ONE lucky person has the chance to win a copy of the first issue FREE as well as a complimentary pack of Seasonal Living & Learning postcards in a rustic bag (also available in the shop to buy).

If you would like to enter this giveaway leave a comment below. Comments will be open until Monday (London time) morning.

Until then, please visit the blog for more information!


Edit :: oh I am reading every comment and wanting to answer but leaving my own voice out to make the draw less complicated - love your thoughts and kind words. As always. xo

It's a phonecam week

I thought this week was next week, and thought today was Monday to boot, and then realised it isn't so am quickly putting the finishing touches to the first edition of Seasonal Living and Learning, sending birthday cards off in all directions on the hoof hoping against hope they get there (sorry if they don't love you anyway xo), and basically organising a couple of reviews for the first edition - do you have a blog and would like to review? Email me we can work something out.

Til then - byyyyeeeeeeeee

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Seasonal Living :: September

Where we've been the last few days ::

Well, Eid took up a large chunk of the days, as did being ill (me), and being very, very hyperactive (them).

We've been slowly noticing the change in temperature, appreciating the sun when we have it, and sensing the shift that happens at this time of year :: the summer ends, the school year starts, friends drift back into old routines, and we spend just a little bit more time indoors.

We harvested our apples! Yes, as small as they are, they are perfectly formed and tastey, and are destined to become apple pie filling for the freezer to feed us through the winter.

But more than all that, I have been secretly working away at a new project that I am both eager and reticent to share (how about that for confliction?!).

Reticent due to being nervous; I have no idea how well this project will do, how well received it will be, if at all (the worse case scenario apart from troll baiting would just be being ignored), or whether it will 'work'. For a long time (years, even), I've given up at the first hurdle, happier to give up before I start. It's easier not to put yourself 'out there' than it is to open yourself up for criticism, isn't it? And I am all too aware of my inadequacies in practically everything I do in life. I know that the world is littered with truly amazing, creative, talented, artistic, resourceful people, and I do not count myself amongst them! So it is a little hard to stand up in the shadows of these great people and say, 'um I have an idea too'....

But I do. And it's more than an idea, really. It's my passion, my interest and my life. For a long, long while now our little family has walked this homeschooling, homesteading, seasonally-aware, conscious life. We may not have done it perfectly, and we may not have kept from meandering off the path once in a while, but what centres us as a family is this middle path we walk of treading on the earth as gently as possible, to inhibit our consumeristic traits, to live wholly and together mindfully in all that we do, and to use everything in life as a lesson, a chance to grow.

For years people have emailed me for help and advice (just in case you were wondering, I'm no expert or guru so please don't think I have a pedastal that I polish for just such an occasion) on everything I blog about - from homeschooling hows and why's, to worried mothers wondering how to 'do it all' (easy answer - you can't, and no one does), from requests for activities and ideas - it struck me a long time ago that there is a need for a meeting of minds for families like ours.

My perfect book/blog would include everything from homeschooling resources, homesteading information, tips and DIY tutorials, recipes, articles, ideas for living seasonally and living in balance with our environment. It would be crafty, and engage my need to make things. It would have patterns and tutorials. And it would be for the whole family of all ages, not just mamas with their toddlers.

But I could find nothing out there that did all this - nothing to recommend to people who emailed.

So, I decided to do it myself.

And that, my friends, is what this new project of mine is all about. In a nutshell I have been working on starting an e-zine (for download) that will attempt to do ALL of the above. It will engage our need to live seasonally, wholly, mindfully and resourcefully.

I have big dreams, but admit I start very small. Oh, and I'm starting late (uh, organisation? NOT me), but from small acorns mightly Oak trees grow, right?

Introducing 'Seasonal Living & Learning'.

For the next couple weeks I would like to talk a bit more about this project, introduce some people I've been working with, share a bit more about what will be in the first edition and at some point I envisage a give-away too!

But for now, please wander on over and see what you think.





Yours nervously,
D
xx




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