October Scribblings

To begin somewhere, there has been no frost yet in our neck of the woods. So the flowers are still blooming though the plants themselves are looking tired.When I planted the garden late, I despaired of having blooms for any amount of time. The end of July came and went and we had only a few starting to bloom.  But then the cosmos grew taller than me and filled up, as did the whole medley of flowers I planted. There are zinnias and cosmos enough for large vases full. I have one on the table and another on the coffee table.

After seven plus months of studying and practicing to speak at a ladies retreat and then finally doing it, I can’t answer your simple question, my dears. I’m pretty sure it’s not my gift to give speeches to teach people what I know and love to do about homemaking. But that’s not your question, I know. It was hard work which I took rather too seriously, perhaps, the preparation of a short 45 minutes of talking about my version of homemaking. Appreciably harder than making and having a baby, as I recall. Harder on my brain, for sure. I accepted the assignment because it was my subject, if you know what I mean. I love to decorate and keep our home AND our cabin. It’s not work… More like play. So why not lead a workshop about it? Right? And I’m not afraid of people. And a ladies retreat is one of those rare and happy ways to spend a couple of days. So yes, I wanted to do it. I wanted to share my story, to inspire and to encourage. Just wanted to link arms, so to speak, with the rest of you  and share the joy of homemaking.

Now you are all asking me, “How did it go?”

To be honest, I really don’t know. Was it any good? Did anything memorable or profound or helpful get across? Here’s my only answer.

We got through it. Everybody was kind and polite. I’m glad it’s over.

I’m not afraid to tackle ticklish work like cutting pies to sell by the piece in individual packets at our bake sale. This tool helped a lot and I had to ask for help sometimes, but that’s okay too, right? To ask for help is like accepting grace.

Don’t misunderstand me, please. Whatever came of my sharing isn’t really my concern after all, but I still hope someone was inspired. The biggest deal is what I’m learning about trusting. Always, my frantic prayers were gathered up in the end with a peace from God that He was going to do His work through this. Now that it’s over, I have to trust That He is and does do that, never mind my stumbling words.

To be clear, I love showing you, through this blog, my homemaking discoveries and adventures. If that counts for teaching or leading a workshop, then I’m up for it. I get to present it here and you get to love it or leave it.

After the ladies retreat, Jo and I went up to the cabin for a couple days. Elv had gone up ahead and tackled the woods flies that were looking for a place to hang out till spring. The cabin was quite infested. He had lamps lit true cabin style and a campfire blazing outside when we arrived. Oh, but we had a nice time.