"Spring" by Harald Slott-Møller
"Spring" by Harald Slott-Møller, 1896
A Still Life, Childhood
In the Garden
Mary Cassatt’s, In the Garden, 1903
Rachel Carson's The Sense of Wonder
A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
-from The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson
John Collier’s “Annunciation”
Some Reading Recommendations:
The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
“There must be more to life than having everything.”
-Maurice Sendak
Sewing the Sail
Sewing the Sail by Joaquín Sorolla (1896)
Ca' Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna
Venice, Italy
The Between: Work & Rest During Quarantine
Work breaks are pretty good around here. Nursing, playing with little, chubby hands, baby wearing, cashews and chocolate. During these quarantine days I’m trying to find ways to really settle into and fully enjoy these breaks throughout the day. That shouldn’t be so hard.
Some days it’s easy and smooth to plop down on the bed with her and play or read a book in the “thinking chair.” To see her grab and shake the rattle for the first time, to see her body brim with excitement as we turn the page of a book, the ease and safety she exudes when she’s eating, pressed against me.
Other days it’s more difficult. During these moments, instead of enjoying them, I feel the stress and worry of feeling like I’m not getting enough done; another email to be sent, Zoom meeting to attend. Guilty that I’m stopping to nurse my little one or read The Story of Ferdinand with her. Or just tired. These are the days when I need to breath and remember that this time is precious. Remember that I’m getting all that I am able to done and that is more than enough. That it’s better to bundle up my little one into the sling and carry her and go outside for a bit and take in the wonder of the soaring branches, the songs of birds in this urban forest, and the many varieties of color and shape in the flowers all around us. That’s more healing and more life giving than trying to play with her while mentally fretting over what I could be doing.
These quarantine days are not easy. There are so many unknowns. So many things to wait for. But there’s also the present moment, with all its wonders and oddities and dappled things, that are waiting to be seen. And it can only be seen in the between, in between work and rest, worry and peace. So settle into your between time, and take in the things that are waiting to be seen.
“Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim”
