(Above: a tiny posy of small flowers from the garden: forget-me-not, pansies, calendula, & marigold.) )
Hello!
Another week of our lives has passed since the last time you were here…indulging me by reading my collected nonsense.
How was your week? Did you have time to look at the sky for a while? Read a good book? Wear something that makes you feel excellent and utterly yourself? Did you drink enough cups of tea?
If not, make yourself one now and settle in for some slow-small media imbibing…
The joy of simple well-made things
I write this from beside our fire. It’s stormy outside and today’s high is 12 degrees. The fire is just over a year old. We had it put in when our 1980s gas fire was condemned by the gas inspector. He recommended a heat pump. We did this instead and have not regretted the decision for even a second.
The fire was made in New Zealand in a business in the Hawke’s Bay. The fire feels like a new member of the family and staring into her depths has given me many happy moments.
(Above: our little fire with the morning sun on her.)
When I was in Taupō last weekend, I upgraded our poker to a lovely hand made one from a metalsmith at the local Sunday morning market. I took a photo of him brandishing the poker at the market because he was a lovely chap and I am a nerd for the provenance of handmade things:
(Above: The maker of our new poker. He didn’t make the hooks on display but he did make the poker.)
Speaking of woodstoves, last week I stumbled on the YouTube account of Homewood Stoves, another NZ-made wood fire business – this time based near Whangarei.
Their videos are full of wholesome and homey videos featuring their beautiful homes, gorgeous kids and lovely kitchen…it’s peak #cottagecore content but in a NZ context. Very soothing viewing for a rattled nervous system. Which leads me to today’s recipe…
How to start a ginger bug for homemade ginger beer
Also on the Homewood Stoves channel, this aesthetically-pleasing and slow method video has really inspired me to brew up some ginger beer this summer.
This is a very helpful and nicely made video.
& I have kitchen-envy! >>
Poetry: A bit of Mary Oliver balm for another hard news week
On Thursday, I had a really long work day and was ‘head down, bum up’ all day so didn’t catch any news. When I finally knocked off, Fraser mentioned it had been a big news day in terms of global events and laid it all out for me. (I won’t rake it over here because it’s not Slow-Small-Media suitable… ) but again I was struck how, in these turbulent times, you can be offline just for a day and then plug back in and find the world has been through the wringer again…in new and newly-awful ways.
To that end, I feel this week we need one of the big guns of solace poetry…so here’s an excerpt from Mary Oliver’s ‘In Blackwater Woods’ (read the whole poem here):
Here she is on love and the necessity of detachment as part of that love:
‘To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold itagainst your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.’
A song for the week: ‘So Free’ by Lūka, & Mose
I appreciate every season…however, at this stage of late winter/crappy spring, I can’t help but begin to yearn for summer.
This newish song by Lūka & Mose gives me that spacious and bright summer-road-trip feeling…even on this stormy day.
I can tell I’ll be playing it a lot this summer:
Affordable Art : the Tea Frog you probably don’t need at all but might make you smile
Oh, hi:
(Above: image borrowed from the IkoIko website.)
Look, I know nobody needs this ridiculous object…but how much fun, hey? )(+ Who ever went into IkoIko looking for something they needed?)
This little guy is $33 so he falls well within the affordable art budget of $50.
Is it ‘art’ though? I imagine you asking… I’d argue it makes having a cup of tea more artful…and so yes, he qualifies.
A short list of ‘sacred gifts’, from Alex Klingenberg
Returning to the topic of regulating the nervous system after feeling rattled by the noise of the world… this short article by Alex Klingenberg invites us to consider what we have to give in this moment, what our ‘sacred gifts’ are.
I particularly like this excerpt. As I read the list below, I think about how I can bring these qualities into my relationships, my family, my friendships.
Does my being in my presence leave people a little uplifted? I hope so.
Sacred Gifts of Being:
- Presence – showing up fully to the moment.
- Attention – the act of noticing, listening, and honoring.
- Wonder – the childlike awe that keeps the world alive.
- Stillness – the capacity to rest, pause, and make space.
- Resilience – carrying light through difficulty.
- Gratitude – choosing to see abundance and say thank you.
The article is gentle and thoughtful; I felt a little steadier after reading it.
(Hat tip for this link to Thousand Shades of Gray who also does a regular digest which I really enjoy and find a lot of good reads from.)
An artist who embraced the slow art of sewing after an illness
Speaking of gratitude and presence, this is a lovely watch. Louise Watson had to give up her teaching career after illness. Now, she lives more slowly and has begun and nature-based art practice as part of her new, slowed-down life:
& That’s a wrap for this week’s sharing.
This weekend I’ve been invited to a friend’s house for the inaugural paella in her new (from the op shop) paella pan; I’m going to be sharing early birthday cake with some fellow September-birthday friends and I’m going to a Sika Sound Journey as he’s passing through town. This will be my fifth time going to a Sika journey. I’ve been twice at yoga/kirtan camps and twice here in my home town. It’s always worth it. Transporting!
Sika often starts his journeys with the repeated phrase:
‘you are leaving time…you are leaving time…you are leaving time…’
I hope you can find some moments of presence, attention, wonder, stillness, resilience and gratitude this weekend and also maybe ‘leave time‘ for a little bit.
Much love.
Helen Lehndorf 
I treasure every comment. Thanks for stopping by!