Hi, Susie. Catching up on my reading here. I love your sheep. Do they have teams? Sonny, Milly, on one team and Juniper and Jersey on the other? I want to bring a flashlight and watch them.
I would love to send you some persimmons, but I’m afraid our tree is done for the season. We had a good crop, but there was an infestation of a little green insect in our area here in central Japan. The farmers were complaining about them. They chew on the skins and leave blemishes. I don’t care. The fruit tastes the same.
Oh, my word, Sister!! Yes!! So beautiful. I love your poem at the end. And, yes, I too, have been wearing about four layers on top. I agree that cake is more preferable :-) Thank you for sharing!! XO
Sara, Thank you so very much - I am always so delighted to find someone that can see the beauty in the blur when my husband says, too often, my eyes need testing! Bless you! 🙏🏼
So beautiful. Thank you. Also, The Overstory is my favorite book of all time. I've never experienced writing of such depth before or since, and never wanted it to end. Enjoy each sentence.
Thank you for your comment Troy, for taking the time to read this post. I am but a few pages from the end of The Overstory, lingering over each finely crafted sentence for the same reason... I don't think I've read more than a handful of books - if that even - twice in my 60 years but Powers masterful witchery of words, with so many of its pages tabbed by sticky notes for reminders, will be!
Hi lovely, Isn't the weather just crazy! We have had similar highs and lows in temperatures too, no snow flakes yet but from my sitting room window, I see the mountains, on Thursday and Friday last they were beautiful white capped peaks. Winter... I know well you love these days - I'm learning, albeit slowly, to see the beauty you do too...
I hope the week is kind to you - thank you always 🤍xx
Hunt the bucket is fun for about the first week of winter and then only if its not lashing rain, after that its just bloody annoying. Last year I tied it to the fence to avoid such antics but they broke the fence, escaped into the veggie garden and ate all my Cavelo Nero kale... it seems I can't win!
Deirdre that book is extraordinary. Do read it if you get a chance.
Thank you for reading Matthew, isn't The Overstory extraordinary! I always want to read everything written by an author when I find a book that leaves such a mark, but this month I've read two, the other was Anne Michaels 'Held' which is also breathtakingly beautiful writing - so who to choose!
It's clear it was uncomfortable, maybe even unpleasant, to be out in the cold, wet weather. However, to read about it is lovely. The wind, the rain, the cold are real, raw, and wild, purely what they are. You capture that beautifully in your writing.
Thank you so much Sarah, it is strange you should mention the words raw and wild, I was thinking about extreme weather this evening whilst battling against gale force winds across the top of the hill. There is always a feeling of exhilaration isn't there, despite the discomforts. Somehow it reinforces the fact that we are alive and actually, I love that!
There is so much to enjoy about reading your postings. I feel like I am floating like a breeze observing the snapshots of stories in action and the beauty of the photographs you share. The details just as intimate.
I believe Powers has a new book, Playground. The Overstory is a powerful read.
Oh don't tempt me, I am trying to refrain from ordering his new book, or read any of the critiques, although I've heard it is also excellent, until I have cleared an already mountainous to read pile, next is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
My intention for the rest of the year is "order no new books." My stack is too, too big. Next (maybe) is There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak, but I also want to SLOWLY read The Need to Be Whole by Wendell Berry.
Elif Shalaks 'There are rivers in the Sky' is on my list Stacy, Wendell Berry's 'The Need to Be Whole' I have read... but many years ago... and of course now I have to add it back to the pile! Oh dear... this wonderful space isn't not helpfully in clearing either lists or piles is it!
I've been having the exact experience with birds / leaves / birds / leaves. I love it. It's been a lesson, too. I noticed, at first, that I was thinking, "Birds! Oh, no, just leaves". Then realised, what am I thinking?! Both are exciting and incredible to see grouping in the air. So now it's jubilant whoever is airborne...
Your fig leaves are so beautiful, Susie. As is your kale. Look out for me, basket in hand...x
The weekend has continued here on its same wild and windy way...are they birds or leaves that fly? In the end I watch am simply happy to be in love with both...
I would gladly send you kale Chloe, I have an abundance this year, too much for one person, too much for two even...
I send hopes for a kind week for you muddled in with birds and leaves and my thanks for reading xx
Susie, you write your life-world with such exquisite detail to the senses and feeling that I walk in the dark alongside you holding my hand out to your chores. Every story begins in the sphere of time shared in the presence of an other. Thank you.
Dear Renée, the presence of your hand and warm heart are clutched, held tight and felt through the ether. The details shared amongst the many hours of chores, and oh the pleasure of their belonging, of knowing you, too, are here on this beautiful sphere. It as is a calming I cherish with my own heart - Thank you, with love always... x
The crows are numerous this year, a farmer (all farmers) would so too numerous but when they fly up from the trees like this I can’t help but see anything other than beauty.
Fig leaves, no matter that they’re fading or curled, caught in a hedge or a boulder, are always very photogenic - perhaps this has to do with their long history Jo?
Always with thanks lovely - may the weekend be sweet to you ♥️xx
Hi, Susie. Catching up on my reading here. I love your sheep. Do they have teams? Sonny, Milly, on one team and Juniper and Jersey on the other? I want to bring a flashlight and watch them.
I would love to send you some persimmons, but I’m afraid our tree is done for the season. We had a good crop, but there was an infestation of a little green insect in our area here in central Japan. The farmers were complaining about them. They chew on the skins and leave blemishes. I don’t care. The fruit tastes the same.
Keep that warm coat on, dear one. x
Oh, my word, Sister!! Yes!! So beautiful. I love your poem at the end. And, yes, I too, have been wearing about four layers on top. I agree that cake is more preferable :-) Thank you for sharing!! XO
I love your blurry photos and your evocative words, Susie! Thank you!
Sara, Thank you so very much - I am always so delighted to find someone that can see the beauty in the blur when my husband says, too often, my eyes need testing! Bless you! 🙏🏼
save some frosted Kale for me, Susie 💚
Will do Darren, with pleasure... there's plenty!🥬
So beautiful. Thank you. Also, The Overstory is my favorite book of all time. I've never experienced writing of such depth before or since, and never wanted it to end. Enjoy each sentence.
Thank you for your comment Troy, for taking the time to read this post. I am but a few pages from the end of The Overstory, lingering over each finely crafted sentence for the same reason... I don't think I've read more than a handful of books - if that even - twice in my 60 years but Powers masterful witchery of words, with so many of its pages tabbed by sticky notes for reminders, will be!
Winter arrived here too, with some snow and icy winds - and I loved it! But the next day we got 17c 😳 with heavy rains, complete madness 🤷🏻♀️
Loved reading your notes, Susie, and of course your beautiful photos! xx
Hi lovely, Isn't the weather just crazy! We have had similar highs and lows in temperatures too, no snow flakes yet but from my sitting room window, I see the mountains, on Thursday and Friday last they were beautiful white capped peaks. Winter... I know well you love these days - I'm learning, albeit slowly, to see the beauty you do too...
I hope the week is kind to you - thank you always 🤍xx
Beautiful.
I am so glad you think so - thank you 🙏🏼
Loved reading about the dark night walk and search for the bucket. How your descriptions make me feel connected! That book sounds great.
Hunt the bucket is fun for about the first week of winter and then only if its not lashing rain, after that its just bloody annoying. Last year I tied it to the fence to avoid such antics but they broke the fence, escaped into the veggie garden and ate all my Cavelo Nero kale... it seems I can't win!
Deirdre that book is extraordinary. Do read it if you get a chance.
I loved The Overstory. Thanks as always for your beautiful words Susie. Please keep writing!
Thank you for reading Matthew, isn't The Overstory extraordinary! I always want to read everything written by an author when I find a book that leaves such a mark, but this month I've read two, the other was Anne Michaels 'Held' which is also breathtakingly beautiful writing - so who to choose!
It's clear it was uncomfortable, maybe even unpleasant, to be out in the cold, wet weather. However, to read about it is lovely. The wind, the rain, the cold are real, raw, and wild, purely what they are. You capture that beautifully in your writing.
Thank you so much Sarah, it is strange you should mention the words raw and wild, I was thinking about extreme weather this evening whilst battling against gale force winds across the top of the hill. There is always a feeling of exhilaration isn't there, despite the discomforts. Somehow it reinforces the fact that we are alive and actually, I love that!
There is so much to enjoy about reading your postings. I feel like I am floating like a breeze observing the snapshots of stories in action and the beauty of the photographs you share. The details just as intimate.
I believe Powers has a new book, Playground. The Overstory is a powerful read.
Please more cake, do not hesitate to eat.
What a lovely comment Stacy, thank you.
Oh don't tempt me, I am trying to refrain from ordering his new book, or read any of the critiques, although I've heard it is also excellent, until I have cleared an already mountainous to read pile, next is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
As for cake, I can never resist that temptation!
I am a cake lover ...
My intention for the rest of the year is "order no new books." My stack is too, too big. Next (maybe) is There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak, but I also want to SLOWLY read The Need to Be Whole by Wendell Berry.
Elif Shalaks 'There are rivers in the Sky' is on my list Stacy, Wendell Berry's 'The Need to Be Whole' I have read... but many years ago... and of course now I have to add it back to the pile! Oh dear... this wonderful space isn't not helpfully in clearing either lists or piles is it!
Definitely does not reduce the stack.
Beautiful as always, Susie. Your words always make me feel I’m next to you on your hill.
I’d like to be next to you eating cake too. Can we arrange that? Xx
Ahh, I am so glad, bring the world, or at least a tiny part of it to my hill is everything I aim for with these letters. Thank you for being here.
I'd love to arrange that Miranda, just let me know when and I will have cake ready! X
How’s tomorrow morning? About 11? I’ll bring wellies and scissors for removing burs from sheep fleeces.
That sound perfect! Do you prefer chocolate or lemon cake? xx
I've been having the exact experience with birds / leaves / birds / leaves. I love it. It's been a lesson, too. I noticed, at first, that I was thinking, "Birds! Oh, no, just leaves". Then realised, what am I thinking?! Both are exciting and incredible to see grouping in the air. So now it's jubilant whoever is airborne...
Your fig leaves are so beautiful, Susie. As is your kale. Look out for me, basket in hand...x
The weekend has continued here on its same wild and windy way...are they birds or leaves that fly? In the end I watch am simply happy to be in love with both...
I would gladly send you kale Chloe, I have an abundance this year, too much for one person, too much for two even...
I send hopes for a kind week for you muddled in with birds and leaves and my thanks for reading xx
Hibernation on a Black Friday Sale made me laugh so hard! I hope (the end of) November is kinder and gentler to your soul, Susie.
Haha, I'm so glad Sha, I actually loathe all this Black Friday hype especially when the things we really want are never to be found!
Thanks lovely the rain has turned to wild winds - its bearable! xx
Susie, you write your life-world with such exquisite detail to the senses and feeling that I walk in the dark alongside you holding my hand out to your chores. Every story begins in the sphere of time shared in the presence of an other. Thank you.
Dear Renée, the presence of your hand and warm heart are clutched, held tight and felt through the ether. The details shared amongst the many hours of chores, and oh the pleasure of their belonging, of knowing you, too, are here on this beautiful sphere. It as is a calming I cherish with my own heart - Thank you, with love always... x
That photo of the birds/leaves! Astonishing. And the fig leaves - the veins of life. Stunning.
I really feel you here Susie in your wintry wonderland. Hoping the kettle keeps warming you with hot cups of tea.❤️xx
The crows are numerous this year, a farmer (all farmers) would so too numerous but when they fly up from the trees like this I can’t help but see anything other than beauty.
Fig leaves, no matter that they’re fading or curled, caught in a hedge or a boulder, are always very photogenic - perhaps this has to do with their long history Jo?
Always with thanks lovely - may the weekend be sweet to you ♥️xx