the first day in ordinary time
2010
It is Monday. We are not moving. We are not visiting. We are not being visited. We are not holidaying. We are not knee deep in back to school preparations. We are not eyebrow deep in family celebrations and Canadian cousins. After what has been a long time of un-ordinary, we Boots are, at last, back in ordinary time.
And ordinary time brings ordinary days. That is good :-) Abby went to school … Julian went to work … and I … well, I did what I do best. Pottered. Did some chores.
Last minute stitching … (even in ordinary times I excel at this)
Abby’s homeroom teacher asked the girls to bring a name badge with them this week so as to help the teachers learn their names. Abby wanted hers to be made from felt and embroidered.
Early morning baking …
Truly these are the best cookies ever. They are Granny Boyd’s Chocolate Biscuits from Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess. They are foolproof, unbelieveably quick (cookies on the plate and in the lunchbox in 20 minutes from go to whoa), easy, and delicious to play around with – I sometimes substitute 1/3 of the butter for peanut butter and almost always add a cup of dried cranberries. Yum!
I finally found my way to Amitie …
mmmmmm … they sure do have some pretty fabric. This sweet 30cm came home with me – I’m dreaming of a kitchen table runner. I’ll save that for tomorrow.
Doodling …
Then filling it out with a hoop, a piece of the damask bedspread I thrifted late last year, some thread, cotton and felt.
This was pure, gleeful, indulgent joy! Oh how good it was to spread out my scraps and threads and pins and stitch, stitch, stitch. Come back tomorrow and I’ll share the finished piece :-)
Abby brought home her first pocketful of acorns …
We’re so looking forward to autumn and the changing of the colours. So foreign and magical for us from the subtropics!
Soda bread graces our table this eve as a tribute to St. Brigid and her feast day …
After making soda bread for many years – and really enduring it, never quite enjoying it – I have found the ultimate soda bread recipe in Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Family Cooking. The secret – yoghurt and brown sugar. Oh it is so good. Delicious for dinner, especially with stews and soups. And then perfect for dessert, still warm, with lashings of butter and blackcurrant jam.
And candle light flickers sweetly across our faces as we celebrate Candlemas and the introduction of the old to the new.
I love the medieval nature of these feast days. I feel as if I am only around the corner from Cadfael and his herb garden, and any moment now, I will see him hurry past, late for mass, whilst the brothers of the Abbey are already in full song. Ah candles. Isn’t it marvellous how transforming they are :-)
Yep. It is the first day in ordinary time and as many of you dear folk assured me all those weeks ago, we would recreate our home. It would be different but it would be ours and we would make our way with love and joy. And we are. I look around me and our new home is filled with our old things, and Julian and Abby and I. Just as it should be.
That is good.
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Beautiful embroidery- as always, glad your life has settled into some normality, hope Abby had a good first day.
However do you remember all these important events in history!
Ahhhhh, you make the “routine” so beautiful, Lily! I would like to wander off to Amitie today. Will you meet me there?!?!?! And that stitchery? Oh my, what a gorgeous use for that damask!
Your routine is always so creative! Could you send me email, so that I get your new address, please.
C’est vraiment extra. Je trouve ses photos unique a la foi sublime. Ces la première foi que je vois une page aussi bien ordonner. Je vais revenir voir car jais pas eu le temps de toute voir. Jais rajouté cette page a mes favoris.
Quelle beau travail bien fait. Je lis très bien et parle bien Anglais mais, je ne suis pas très bon pour écrire la langue anglaise. J’aime beaucoup votre site. Jacques
How happy I am for you to be comfortable and relaxed again! I always enjoy reading the books that the Apostle Paul penned, and that portion is one of my favorites too – how pretty it looks embroidered like that. Well done!
On your 6th grader’s first day, my 6th grader is coming home this afternoon with his first report card of 6th grade. His experience at this next level of school has been very good so far, and I feel sure that Abby will make new close friends and be as successful here as she was back in Brisbane. Thinking of you, and her…
Michelle
Lily, Everyday is lovely at your house. Always.
And there you have it! A lovely post today. Just what we’ve all been waiting to hear. You not only have the gift of creativity, but of expressing yourself beautifully! Looking forward to some more of your inspiration. Can’t wait to see your finished stitchery. ~karen
Your talent with needle and thread always leaves me awe struck! Thank you for sharing your very lovely ordinary!
That little girl on the hoop is so adorable. Eager to see what becomes of her :)
So nice to see that you are settling-in in your new home and making sweet memories along the way…
I simply adore ordinary time. Your ordinary time looks more productive than mine though.
what a beautiful post. thank you.
Happy days! I am so comforted by your days. I feel like I am knee deep in toys, the constant weeding out must begin again. The embroidery is over the top beautiful! Your new home is looking very cozy. Enjoy it.