Happy Friday friends and happy thanksgiving to my American friends
Looking forward to anything lovely this weekend?
These parts its still pouring down rain and has been most of the week. The ceiling in Ethan’s room has sprung a leak and the washing machines blown up so good times here. I’ve been washing clothes in the bathroom sink and wringing them dry by hand pioneer woman like which has been very grounding in a weird sort of way. (This hot on the heels of the dishwasher packing it in last week). Man does it ever make you appreciate those modern conveniences. Anyhoo this weekend I’m looking forward to buying a new washing machine. Wish me well !!
As always because it’s one of my favourite things to do, I’ve rounded up a few good words and reads to keep you company as you end your week and head into your weekend.
So take a few deep breaths, grab something good to drink and enjoy – – –
A Good Word
A Good Look
Treat yourself to a long ambling scroll through the gorgeous creations of Australian artist Leanne Pearson
A Good Laugh
Friendsgiving Edition: if Jesus’ disciples had Italian American mothers from Jersey
A Good Idea
from Karen Harrison
Show Up As You Are
Remember when I told you I was meeting a new friend on Tuesday because someone from Texas connected us? Ok, so…She sat across from me in this cute little bistro and she said, “I almost canceled 19 times!” And then the tears welled up in her eyes and in mine, and she said she was glad she didn’t. This was our first time meeting each other and yet we put down our masks and talked openly about our lives, our struggles and our deepest everything. It wasn’t awkward, it was a relief. She was lovely, y’all.
The best.
Gone are the days when we showed up to show off our purses, our little darlings and our freshly manicured nails. Fast forward a decade or more and now, many moms are showing up with scars on our hearts and questions about everything. Is this normal? Do you struggle with this? Did I miss something? Was it the wrong decision? We’re looking for someone to say, me too. We want the freedom to say, THIS is what my world looks like these days. Here is my pain on the table, isn’t it gross? It’s so alive and liquidy and I’m afraid of it.
Some friends will pick your pain right up off the table and pizza twirl it around their index finger before tossing it out the window. You’ll die of laughter and then cry and later, have the best sleep of your life. Other friends will drop their own gob of guck on the table and together you’ll just stare at the blobs feeling like, well at least we are in this together and isn’t life something? Both of these friends are pure gold. PURE. GOLD.
What is my point here?
Show up as you are. Jagged little toenails and all.
Share your globbery goop.
Let a friend see all of it.. Do not be afraid. Do not go alone.
Friends are everything. New. Old. All of them. Forever and ever amen!
A Few Good Reads
From Cabin Granny
Thanksgiving At The Cabin
Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go . . ."
When we were kids, we thought this song had been written just for us, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Certainly, it was our destination that had inspired it—the log house on the lake 89 miles south through winding roads and thick woods. Our Daddy was the principal of the Jr High School in Libby, Montana so we couldn’t leave for Thanksgiving until school was out on Wednesday afternoon, and every student and teacher had cleared the school halls. He would probably go down to the basement and check the furnace one more time, and the outside doors, before coming home and loading up. These weren’t the days of week-long Thanksgiving Breaks. We had just these two precious extra days, Thanksgiving and Friday.
Since we lived right on Hwy 2, just a couple of blocks from the mill, it didn’t take long to get into the woods once we were on our way south out of town. The pines rose before us and beside us. We’d crane our necks to look out of the side windows to their tops, then watch out the back as they closed behind us, like a choir on risers.
From Tsh Oxenreider
The Supply Chain Crisis Could Save Christmas
Creating a plan and budget for buying Christmas presents is something families do every year. We want to emphasize “the reason for the season” and avoid going overboard with gifts, while not appearing stingy or curmudgeonly. But this is no ordinary holiday season.
While I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, my parents would spend a few afternoons and evenings in December finding gifts at local stores. If it wasn’t stocked in our general vicinity, it wasn’t meant to be under our tree. Now we buy almost anything from almost anywhere at almost any time, and we have all but forgotten how to live without this luxury. If we are out of laundry detergent, we can use our phone to get a doorstep delivery within hours, so of course we can order a new toy manufactured across the world and have it wrapped and under the tree by Christmas Eve.
– – – keep reading
And a thoughtful one from Emily P Freeman
WHAT DO WE NEED TO TEAR DOWN?
For the first 11 years of my life, I shared a room with my big sister. That room left of the porch of our little Indiana house holds a decade of memories that blur together in a swirl of Barbie pink and Michael Jackson glove silver, and the rainbow label on the Kool & The Gang’s 45 record.
We have so many memories from that childhood bedroom, but one that stands out above all the others is how many hours my sister and I spent on the floor with our Barbies. We’d scoot all the Barbie stuff in the middle and categorize the clothes, the furniture, and the dolls themselves.
We even had a specific category for all the extras, what we affectionately labeled “the little junk,” which included things like shoes and accessories, pillows and blankets for the Barbie sofas and beds, and stuff that in a real house would be considered a tchotchke.
Summer times were the best Barbie playing times because we could start in the morning and spend the whole day setting up the houses and the stores, the school rooms and the hideouts, not to mention discovering how all the drama would unfold in the Barbie world.
That’s all for now friends. If you’ve enjoyed The Friday Recliner drop me a comment or copy the link and pass onto a friend.
Have a beautiful weekend, rest up, do something you love xx
Water Into Wine 