Autumn Chat

"There is always, always something

to be thankful for."

UNKNOWN

For all you pumpkin spice lovers, have you been indulging in your favourite pumpkin beverages and foods? So far this season, I've had two Pumpkin Spice Lattes - both were deee-licious. And I've got pumpkin puree ready to turn into pumpkin muffins one of these days. 

It's been a splendid autumn so far. A mix of bright sunny days and cloudy, cool ones. We've had no frost yet, but a few trees and plants are beginning to have that bedraggled end-of-season look. Others, like the Rudbeckia and Joy Pye Weed perennials continue to bloom, as do the annual alyssums, marigolds,  and petunias The geraniums look as if they are enjoying a second spring - as bright and bold as ever. 

The other day we went for a drive in the countryside. It's a feast out there for the senses. Though many trees are bare, there are still great groves of brilliant russets and butternut squash yellows to satisfy any colour-longing eyes. Casting a glance to the horizon, one sees fields upon fields of harvested land in muted hues of brown sugar and sandy beige. It has a slightly shorn, forlorn look - where you maybe want to pull your sweater closer. Flocks of geese rest in fields, undoubtedly enjoying the remains from combined crops, readying themselves for the next leg of the journey. 

Our drive took us to a nearby city known for its downtown streets of old-fashioned store-front windows and sidewalks lined with shops and cafes. I meandered down one strewn with crackly leaves with leaves here and there dropping from overhanging branches. Sometimes atop my head. It felt like I was on a fairy tale trail. We lunched with dear friends at a bistro where the food was heavenly. And we wandered through an art gallery/art supplies shop that was chockful of wonderful things to look at and enjoy. Everything from walls of original art to art cards signed by local artists to Tibetan singing bowls to paintbrushes, watercolour paper, and palettes of paint.

   

"It is not joy that makes us grateful;

it is gratitude that makes us joyful."

DAVID STEINDL-RAST

One thing for which I am extremely grateful today is the ability to read, and the ability to read any time, any place, any book. Books are such a staple in my life - I know it's that way for many of us. And I look forward to the quietness of the approaching darker colder season where I can wrap myself in a cozy blanket, set down a cup of something hot, and reach for my ever evolving pile of books to delve into this autumn season. I have no photo to show, but here are a few books on my current pile and a couple soon-to-be-released titles: 

- The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall. A children's tale about a widower, four young daughters and the many adventures they get up to in their motherless state. I love this family - I've met them in earlier volumes - they are a delight to visit in this autumn set story.

- The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann. Vignettes written by a couple dozen or so librarians and booksellers tell their own stories about why they love books and how they got in the business of books. Most chapters are by American writers, but I was happily surprised to find a goodly number of Canadian librarians and booksellers sharing their stories, too. The book's entertaining and thoughtful.

- Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson. In chapter five, we find out that this story takes place in foggy October - which makes it a lovely book to cozy up in right now. It's a re-read for me. Miss Buncle needs some hard cash; her dividends are drying up in the hard times, and she doesn't want to raise hens or take in paying guests, and because she needs to keep up appearances, she can't go out to work. So she writes a book, all based on the keen observations of her neighbours in the English village where she lives. Happily for her, a publisher likes and publishes it. Things heat up when villagers start reading this new book by 'John Smith' to find their quirky selves leaping from the pages for all the world to see, and recognize. It creates quite the stir-up around town. 

- A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie. Also set in autumn. There is nothing more to say about this familiar, well loved classic by our best beloved Miss Christie, except do read it if you haven't. That is, if you like mysteries.

- A new children's book The Verts by Ann Patchett. Saw a clip on YouTube where Ann was chatting about it. Beautifully illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, it's an "empathetic story about introverts and extroverts, and two siblings who learn to be themselves." I reserved it at the library, but I have a feeling I'll need my own copy - maybe for Christmas (wink).

- Louise Penny's latest Inspector Gamache novel Grey Wolf comes out at the end of October. It's been a long time coming. Three Pines, here we come, we can't wait.

- Reclaiming Quiet, Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention by Sarah Clarkson. The book is being released on November 5, 2024. It's all about cultivating quiet in a noisy world where we are distracted by so much. I always enjoy Sarah's writings and musings and look forward to her latest work.

Alright, on that note, I'll stop here. We're traveling to my nephew's wedding this weekend so there's no time to lollygag. I leave you with two quotes I found online that I thought create a soft spot on which to rest my own thoughts. They both remind me of how much I have to be grateful for on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

❦

"Reflect upon your present blessings,

of which every man has plenty;

not on your past misfortunes,

of which all men have some."

CHARLES DICKENS

"Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter

how bad you think it is, is someone else’s fairy tale."

WALE AYENI

❦

To my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving.

To all the dear people dealing with those horrid hurricanes,

heart hugs and great grace. 

I wish you all a safe and beautiful weekend,

Brenda

Autumn blog schedule:

I post on Fridays

Photo credits:

Image by kaheig from Pixabay

Our Giveaway Winners Are . . .

* * * Our Winners * * *

SUSAN HYDE

DEANNA RABE

Happy Friday and congratulations to Susan and Deanna! I'm so happy to send you each an autographed paper copy of the anthology Creativity & Chaos, Artistic Endeavours for Trying Times. I'll be in touch with you to get your mailing information.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in the fun, both here and on my Facebook. I appreciate each of you. 

If you didn't win but are interested in the book, both the Kindle and paper versions are now available for purchase on Amazon.ca.

Although it's overcast and blustery here today, the canary gold leaves still holding fast create a blaze of colour against the metal grey skies. What a feast for the eyes. I'll be back next week with an autumnal post. In the meantime, here's wishing you glimpses of heaven in unexpected places. 

❦

Contest is now closed.

Please take care . . . hope you have a pleasant weekend,

Brenda

Autumn blog schedule:

I post on Fridays

Book Giveaway: Creativity & Chaos Anthology

We're Having A Giveaway!

It's been a while since I hosted a giveaway on the blog. Today I'm delighted to give away not one but two print hold-in-your-hand copies of the new anthology by InScribe Press, Creativity & Chaos, Artistic Endeavours for Trying Times.

In this anthology, 38 writers—including myself—have shared in essays, short stories, reflections, poetry, and more about how creative pursuits helped them cope in trying and chaotic times. I believe readers will find their spirits lifted, encouraged and, yes, amazed with a sense of wonder, not just at the creativity of people but the resiliency of the human spirit in difficult times.

Here I am on pg 103!
 

The eBook version (Kindle) continues to be available HERE for $0.99 CDN on Amazon. Print copies also will soon be available to order.

In the meantime, enter the giveaway for your chance to win one of two paper print copies I'm giving away. Fingers crossed, and all the best!

GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES

1. Leave a comment. Maybe something creative

you do that helps you get through tough times.

2. Be sure your name is included in the comment if

you don't have a blog link

(it's hard to send something to "Anonymous"). 

3. Feel free to share the giveaway on your social media.

4. The Draw will be next Friday, October 4th, at 9:00 am MDT.

5. The winners will be announced on the blog on Friday morning. If you

have an online presence, I will reach out to you. Otherwise, you

will have to touch base with me here to exchange info offline.

International addressees are welcome to join in.

❦

Wishing you a beautiful autumn,

Brenda

Autumn Blog Schedule:

I post on Fridays

Calling Forth Life's Riches

"If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself,

tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches;

for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place."

RAINER MARIA RILKE, Letters to a Young Poet

This quote has been part of my life for decades, having pondered it off and on for years now. They were words that leapt off the page the first time I read them, the gentle chiding a spur to my heart when my daily life felt poor, colourless, and 'same old, same old'. I'd reread the words to remind myself to quit feeling sorry for myself. To be poet enough and to use that spark of imagination within to call forth life's riches in my own, very ordinary life. I learned to pay attention. I learned to recognize and be in awe when something lovely startled my senses. I knew I wanted more of these rich moments to colour my life with beauty. 

How often I'd remind myself, too, of the ancient text I once memorized, "This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." Especially on those mornings when I wanted to roll over and pull the covers back over me. Instead, I'd pull myself out of bed with the thought, today I will wake up with vitality and good humour. I especially needed the reminder about getting on with good humour, me not being a morning person at the time. I also remembered those lovely lines I learned from the New Testament, "...whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is lovely and of good report, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things".

They became the benchmark of how I wanted to live and work and love—and eventually write. The joy always came, and still comes when I remember to look around....

     - To search for something, however tiny, on which my eyes can delight. So often it's right there in front of me, outside my window or front step, I don't even have to fly to Paris to catch the joy. Sometimes it's a gorgeous line in a book I'm reading that stands out. Sometimes the sighting of a single yellow leaf from a still green tree drifting to the ground can do it. So can catching the sound of children laughing and screaming in the nearby park as the sun starts to set. Or marveling at the lemon-hued marigolds still so bright in the flower beds and cawing flocks of crows settling and resettling in woodsy copses nearby at dusk.

     - To listen to music, music that is as familiar and sweet as the voice of a dear loved one—it can be a beloved old hymn that floats up with its comforting words, or a little Mozart whose music always makes me feel happy. The strains of theme music from a favourite old movie like the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility which makes me feel at peace, as comforting and comfortable as a favourite pair of old slippers. 

     - To sit at my desk and dream up something nice I can do for someone. I feel the thrill deep inside when I plan something spontaneous, immediate; something not too complicated, like a pretty card with a note sent in the mail, to surprise and lift someone's day.

     - To meet neighbours out for a walk and stand on the driveway having a wee chat in the warm sunshine as the crisp air fans our faces. Chattering, laughing, teasing—it makes me think that I'm living inside one of those delightful scenes from a Rosamunde Pilcher novel set in the English countryside.

How often the beauty is right here in front of us. I didn't really know back then until I read Rilke's quotation that I had within me the creative ability to call forth the richness in my own daily life. It makes me so grateful for those words all those years ago. They helped shape my life. I certainly hope one day I'll be able to tell Mr. Rilke how much his writings meant to me. How they helped a young woman learn to rise above the circumstances and begin to call forth her beautiful life.

"Most people do not know at all how beautiful

the world is, and how much magnificence is revealed in

the tiniest things, in some flower, in a stone,

in tree bark, or in a birch leaf."

RAINER MARIA RILKE, from Letters on Life

* * *

Before I close, I want to tell you that next Friday I'll be having a BOOK GIVEAWAY for two copies of the new anthology published by InScribe Press: Creativity & Chaos: Artistic Endeavours for Trying Times. Through inspiring stories, poems, essays, even crafts, the contributing authors share how they found creative ways to cope during their own trying times. Being on the editorial team, I had the opportunity to read the pieces before publication, and I can tell you, this book is one you'll want to read. You'll find comfort, encouragement, and hope on its pages. I'm so honoured and delighted to have a piece I wrote included—it's a personal essay entitled "A Kaleidoscope of Creativity (during a global pandemic)". In a recent interview, I shared what inspired me to write the piece and a little of my writing journey generally; if you haven't seen it, you can find the video HERE.

At the time of this writing, Amazon is offering the Kindle version for $0.99 CDN. After September 28th, paperback copies also will be available to order. So, next Friday, do come back and ENTER YOUR NAME IN THE DRAW for a chance to win one of two copies, autographed by Yours Truly. 

❦

Wishing you a beautiful weekend and Happy Autumn,

Brenda

Top Photo:

Image by susannp4 from Pixabay

Autumn blog schedule:

I post on Fridays

Little Pieces of Hope

Life is not a bed of roses;

neither is it full of thorns.

UNKNOWN

I don't suppose it's a surprise to anyone living on this planet. It doesn't take long for a person, even a child, to discover that life is not a bed of roses. Thankfully, neither is it completely full of thorns, even in the most horrid of situations. Or so I am told, as I personally haven't lived in some of the worst situations out there. But there are dear people who have lived through some and have survived some, who bear witness that, yes, there is still goodness, there is still beauty, there is still kindness in the midst of those wretched circumstances. And that brings hopefulness for any gloom-ridden day.

If you've followed this blog for any length, you know it's dedicated to the theme of living a beautiful life—focusing on what is beautiful and what gives hope in the world around us. None of us live in paradisal circumstances, at least not all the time. Sometimes life is pretty good, but when the ugly stuff gets too much in our faces, it's harder to hold onto what still adds grace to our lives. One thing I have learned over my longish life is to pray for grace... and to watch for the tiniest gifts that show up often in the smallest places. Sometimes they feel so inconsequential it's easy to overlook, but I began to practice watching for them, and I was surprised at how much beauty was out there, hiding in full view. 

When it comes to a garden..... it's not all a bed of roses either. Maybe that's why most of my floral photos are close ups, with only a few rarer panoramic views. First, I like the 'larger than life' style made famous by artist Georgia O'Keeffe who often painted her floral works in grand scale. She said if she painted a flower in a huge scale, people couldn't ignore its beauty. When it's in your face like that, it is hard to ignore, true. Second, perhaps more importantly for me, I like taking close ups because quite often the parts of the scene are nicer than the whole of it. Edmonton author/photographer Shawna Lemay once observed that close ups block out the vistas that are not lovely to look at. 

So, I focus on what's lovely and zone out what's unsightly. It's not pretending it's not there; it's just focusing on the better thing available in the moment. My sister told me about seeing a fellow online who kept bringing to the viewer's attention all the things in his yard that weren't to his personal liking, complaining about all that was wrong in it. She wondered why he focused so much on the unsightly areas when she could see so much that was pleasing.

If I were to pan the camera over my garden, you would see the same thing here, even in the height of summer when things are at their best. Some corners are quite Edenic in sensual loveliness, but alongside there are vistas in such contrast from our hoped-for dreams of a whole garden attuned in symmetry, colour, and design. As it turns out, it's just how life is sometimes. Imperfect. We don't mean to leave a reader with the idea that all is perfect in our world where we live; we're just happily focusing on what is lovely and zoning out what isn't.

In thornier times when my soul falters and frets—when my body is unwell, when my mind grows anxious for various reasons—I try to create a space that offers restfulness with something lovely to light my eyes upon. It helps me to get on with things if I can carry something beautiful in my heart. Which often means that I do close-ups in my mind, and here on my blog, of what is still lovely in some way. I tend not to offer the wide angle lens panorama, but search for what adds colour, interest, and gracefulness in the more intimate setting. And to give you, when you visit, a little respite in an upside down world. Kind of like in the mindset of the unknown author in this little verse:

I will always search for the ray of sunshine,

the lone wildflower,

the singing birds,

the brightest star,

and every other little piece of hope.

UNKNOWN

❦

Wishing you a weekend that's lovely—with as few

thorns as possible and with little pieces of hope to keep you going,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life

"My Mom's Peace Rose"

Autumn blogging schedule:

I post on Fridays