Today was not a good day. I did have a lovely dinner with a friend, but aside from that there just wasn't much good going on. When life sucks and nothing seems to be going quite right, I find that searching out beauty and inspiration is one of the ways I can maintain my precarious grasp on sanity. Here are a few of the places I wander to online when I'm in need of a reminder of the good and beautiful things in life. I thought I'd share them with y'all so that you too could turn to them in moments of need.
A Cup of Jo - I visit this blog every single day, without fail. Every. Single. Day.
rockstar diaries - I'm obsessed with this blog. It is impossible for me to not be inspired by Taza's posts.
Clumsy, Creative Bliss - Gorgeous photography and a consistently positive outlook on life. This is a must-visit blog any time I'm feeling sapped.
wit + delight - Consistently reminds me why I appreciate the finer things in life, and how wonderful the simplest things can be.
Note to Self - Just a gorgeous blog. And the Monday quotations always resonate with me.
Nancy Straughan - The sheer volume of visual and artistic inspiration I find on this blog is astonishing.
thxthxthx - Because I find this concept absolutely delightful and Leah's view of the world is so wonderful.
Ring Them Bells - Witty. Funny. Touching. Slightly bizarre. Elizabeth is a delightful writer.
The Storialist - Ekphrastic poetry that is incisive and touching and challenging all at the same time. Hannah's discipline astonishes me.
Live Creating Yourself - Always something beautiful to be found on here.
Tonight I sat in one of the local pubs with a lovely person who is rapidly becoming one of my dearest friends out here. There was live music and good wine and delightful, meandering conversation. At some point our conversation turned to the future, to leaving Wolfville, and to the discomfort we both feel with that idea. This town is wonderful in so many ways. Of course it has it's problems. It's a small town. You run into people you would rather not see. Everybody knows everybody else's business. There's a lot of chatter, some of which is simply gossip. But it's also beautiful here. We talked about how this is the first point in our lives where when something goes horribly wrong our first instinct isn't to long to be back with our parents. There are places here that feel like home. I can go out. I can meet up with a friend. Basically, the things that would have made me feel like my world was ending only a year ago are now painful, but somehow more manageable. Thinking about leaving is unpleasant. This is a strange town though. Almost everyone here is in transition. None of this is permanent. Yes, there are people who actually live here, but for the most part people's time here comes with an expiry date. In some ways this impermanence is what allows for such a wonderful atmosphere here. Consequences are diminished somehow. But if the loveliness of living here is predicated on this transitory nature, then one can also outstay one's welcome. So staying sometimes seems impractical. How will the experience of the town change once all of my friends have left? We didn't really come to any conclusion, other than my feeble suggestion that perhaps we have reached a point in our lives where every decision we make means passing on something potentially wonderful. When I was trying to decide where to take my master's a very wise friend told me about her experience and said that no matter what decision I made I was always going to be missing out on something, but if I made a good decision then while I might wonder what would have happened if I'd chosen differently, I wouldn't be able to picture it any other way. I feel like this has become the case for every decision in my life. I just hope that I can continue to choose wisely, because right now I couldn't picture my life any other way.
It's my birthday in 3 minutes!
Just a little somethin' somethin' for you all to enjoy. This is one of my favourite shots from a photo walk I took in early December.
This photo has nothing to do with anything really. I just like it.
I thought I should drop in here and let you all know that I'm not dead. I'm just a student rapidly approaching the end of the semester. And since I'm trying to maintain a social life for the sake of my sanity, I've been a bit busy lately.
I know spring is supposed to be the time of new beginnings, but for me fall always holds more promise than spring. Maybe it is because I still operate on an academic year (and probably will for at least several more years), but September brings way more new things than April. This year in particular I am relishing many of these changes. New job, new school year, new perspectives on life. And smaller things too, like new clothes, new school supplies and a new haircut. I will admit that I don't always like change. This time around though I am enjoying every moment of it.
So in honour of these new beginnings, I bring you a picture of the new berries on the mountain ash in my parents' backyard. This tree is right outside my window, so I often mark the changing of the season by the changes in this tree. This picture is a few weeks old, but one of the things I like about the mountain ash is that it holds on to that promise of newness longer than most trees. It flowers around the same time as everything else but the berries keep looking new long after everything else has reached full summer blooms. It, like me, waits for fall before it changes itself.
