May has been a month of transition and settling into a new routine. Of course, along the way I’ve come across some favourites to share.

Books

Although it took me a month to read this 600-page novel, I found it fairly interesting. (I wrote a little more about it in my post on four novels set in the Spanish Civil War.)

Another book that took a while to get through even though I enjoyed it immensely was this classic about a thoughtful girl named Connie Ives, her friend Billy Maloon, and a bullet head burglar who invades their idyllic home in Brooklyn. It’s a childhood favourite that I was excited to read aloud to my own kids.

Places

It’s been a month of places, both familiar and new.

• It was lovely to spend nearly two weeks at my parents’ house where I lived from age seven until I got married (with a few hiatuses for work). We visited the chickens, the park, the trails in the woods, the library, and church.
• We are now staying on a farm until we buy a house of our own. The farmhouse is over 150 years old and a good size for our family. It’s surrounded by apple and cherry trees, daffodils, ferns, lilacs, and a giant willow tree with a swing in it. Surprisingly one of my favourite things to do here is hang clothes on the line to dry.
• We have been attending church about 40 minutes away. Everyone is very friendly and in fact I’ve met almost all of them before, but haven’t visited in nearly ten years.
• We’ve already made several visits to the public library in Owen Sound. It has a whole kids floor, which is definitely a hit. Last week we even went to their fiction book sale and I picked up some classic novels for the girls.
• Another place I’m excited about in Owen Sound is the weekly farmers market. I bought some local honey and plan to get eggs there this Saturday.

Food

Of course, we couldn’t stay at my parents’ house without being inundated with delicious food. My dad makes good use of his new smoker and we definitely enjoyed the turkey, sausages, and other meat that he cooked for us. My mom also kept as well fed with specialities like pizza, rhubarb crisp, and chocolate chip cookies (I have to get that recipe!).

Speaking of rhubarb, our farmhouse has seven large clumps! I’ve baked a few things and frozen some for future use. There are also two large cherry trees in the yard, one sweet, one sour. Our landlords treated us to some of the sweet cherries they had canned, which made us all the more excited and hopeful that this will be a good year.

Articles

Do you find your daily life to be one of repetition, or beauty and creavity? Or both?

Even though I don’t anticipate any rum-soaked weekends in the Caribbean, I am taking to heart the advice in this article.

Music

Loving this song lately…

Bible Verses

“Remember to extol his work,
    of which men have sung.
All mankind has looked on it;
    man beholds it from afar.
Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
    the number of his years is unsearchable.
For he draws up the drops of water;
    they distill his mist in rain,
which the skies pour down
    and drop on mankind abundantly.
Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
    the thunderings of his pavilion?
Behold, he scatters his lightning about him
    and covers the roots of the sea.” – Job 36:24-30

Any favourites you’d like to share? I’d love to hear what you have been up to.