I sit at my computer watching the early morning sun gently spread its tentacles of light over the hilltops to the east and I wonder what clarity this new day might bring. What do I have to say that is interesting enough to interrupt your day?
I started out writing this blog with a mission statement of sorts. It read:
A blog about finding meaning and beauty in the simple things (and sometimes not so simple things).
I decided that the best way to go about this was to take you with me through the seasons: out on walks, gardening, skiing, cooking… And finding in these simple, everyday activities the beauty and purpose that infuses a life with meaning.
It turns out finding beauty and meaning in the simple things is rather easy and fun for me. It’s the not so simple things that can send me seeking shelter. I haven’t been able to bring you along, for instance, on the deeper, longer transitions that make up a life. Mostly because these transitions are multilayered and deeply personal and it just takes time without words for the process to happen.
While I was in the place of fewer words, I closed my computer, took out my Japanese brush pens, and immersed myself in learning traditional and modern calligraphy. My interest in old and new scripts was stirred because of an article I wrote on this blog back in February, a month after my mother died, and I was sorting through old paperwork. I wrote:
I’ve been thinking about handwriting a lot these days as I sort through paperwork and personal items that belonged to my mother and father and grandmother. Their handwriting says more about each of them than any portrait possibly could. My father’s handwriting is large and flowing and my mother’s much more measured and cautious. I feel their presence as if they were sitting beside me when I see snippets of things they have written. It’s as distinctive and personal as any work of art. Which begs the question, what will we have lost when handwriting becomes extinct?
Isn’t it funny what happens when we get clear enough to ask a question? Answers come pouring in. You just might find yourself, as I did, moving in a direction that you could never have anticipated. I think about this often as I painstakingly study old scripts and try and practice the nuanced letter forms. I find it soothing. Maybe it’s also my way of coming to terms with the past and reclaiming old ways of making words beautiful and special again.
As the first snow softly falls this morning, I am back on my writing chair allowing whatever words there are to come to me – much in the same way as the birds come to the feeder that sits just a few meters from where I write.
Writing is how I make sense of things and it just doesn’t feel good to be away for too long.
So for now, it’s my words and the birds that keep me company in the early morning hours before the world has awoken and complicated things. Maybe together we can make sense of just enough to spread a little more light and joy.
Pebbles and Clay 
Caroline, you are so right about the written word. I saved a few of my mother and fathers words in the form of a recipe my father wrote for chutney and a note from my mother. Somehow when I look at them I see them so clearly. The writing looks so much like the kind of people they were. My Dad’s is very flamboyant and confident, my Mom’s tight and precise. Sadly we no longer write letters to each other or send cards. A piece of us gone. You are such as lovely woman, as I can feel in your beautiful words. Your words are as gentle as you are !
LikeLike
Hi Donna. Thanks for sharing your experience with your parents’ writing. It feels as if they are sitting beside us when we read it, doesn’t it? I don’t think there’s anything else that comes close to this experience. I’m so happy to have you along on this blogging journey.
LikeLike
Hi Carolyn, love your depth of thoughts and feelings. Would love to see more calligraphy as you have inspired me to do some more too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m pretty obsessed with calligraphy, I must say! Too bad life gets in the way. I’m studying Engrosser’s and Copperplate scripts … and still trying to keep my modern calligraphy fresh. I’ll definitely be showing more when I can fit it in with what I’m writing.
LikeLike
Love reading your posts Carolyn. Like a visit with a dear friend!!! I am still in Toronto cuddling baby Evan! XO Kathy
________________________________________ From: Pebbles and Clay Sent: October 24, 2018 8:35 AM To: kathyfava@hotmail.com Subject: [New post] Words Like Birds
pebblesandclay posted: ” I sit at my computer watching the early morning sun gently spread its tentacles of light over the hilltops to the east and I wonder what clarity this new day might bring. What do I have to say that is interesting enough to interrupt your day? I started” Respond to this post by replying above this line
New post on Pebbles and Clay [https://pebblesandclay.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/cropped-cropped-img_0020.jpg?w=32] [http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f649df32fdc265027fbe45540f275c5c?s=50&d=identicon&r=G] Words Like Birds by pebblesandclay
[P796nVoQTTCLiy0WbXPUbw.jpg]
I sit at my computer watching the early morning sun gently spread its tentacles of light over the hilltops to the east and I wonder what clarity this new day might bring. What do I have to say that is interesting enough to interrupt your day?
I started out writing this blog with a mission statement of sorts. It read:
A blog about finding meaning and beauty in the simple things (and sometimes not so simple things).
I decided that the best way to go about this was to take you with me through the seasons: out on walks, gardening, skiing, cooking… And finding in these simple, everyday activities the beauty and purpose that infuses a life with meaning.
It turns out finding beauty and meaning in the simple things is rather easy and fun for me. It’s the not so simple things that can send me seeking shelter. I haven’t been able to bring you along, for instance, on the deeper, longer transitions that make up a life. Mostly because these transitions are multilayered and deeply personal and it just takes time without words for the process to happen.
Whi
LikeLike