☀️It Dawned on Me… {#11}
Thanksgiving family photo; creativity as a tool to counter grief; currently reading, watching, & listening; DIY chest rub
We spent Thanksgiving with seven of our eight children, a daughter-in-law & a son-in-law, five of seven grandchildren, my dad and stepmom, and my niece and her husband. A couple of days later, we gathered for my sister’s wedding. You can never have too much family time!
Using Creativity to Recover from Grief
This story about exploring creativity in the face of grief and finding your way back through photography and writing should inspire anyone who struggles with moving forward in the face of loss.
“I made a decision, early on, that we would grieve while in motion. We would be sad regardless, so we might as well be sad at the beach, or at the movies, or with friends.”
Read Emmy Gray’s article “How Creativity Helped Me Recover from the Loss of My Husband” at Zibby Mag.
Currently Reading, Watching, & Listening 📖
I hit my 2023 reading goal of 26 books a month early! Here are my most recent reads.
The Girls in the Stilt House is a debut novel about two teen girls bound together by a murder in the swamps of 1920s Mississippi. It’s a fascinating snapshot of that time and place.
The Keeper of Stars follows Ellie and Jack from first love to meeting again twelve years later. It’s highly reviewed—4.5 ★ on Goodreads, where reviewers are notoriously harsh, and 4.6 ★ on Amazon—but I liked it, not loved it.
I’m trying to read more Kindle Unlimited titles to justify the monthly payment. You can download it for free there.
The protagonist of Katherine Center’s romcom Hello Stranger develops a condition called Prosopagnosia, or face blindness, where people have trouble seeing and distinguishing faces. I found it fascinating and honestly didn’t believe it was real at first.
Read more about it HERE. (There’s also a link if you think you may have it; surprisingly, many people don’t realize they do.)
We are currently Netflix bingeing Longmire (2012-2017), the story of a modern-day sheriff in Wyoming. The show ran on A&E for three seasons and then was picked up by Netflix for an additional three. I cannot imagine why A&E canceled it.
I listened to a podcast episode recently with Craig Johnson, who’s authored 19 books in the Longmire series (#20 releases next May). He writes one book a year and each one covers a three-month season of the year, so Walt Longmire ages one year for every four years of writing.
Many of us joke about Hallmark Christmas movies, even if we enjoy them, but I especially liked A Biltmore Christmas. We subscribe to Frndly TV every Christmas season to catch all the movies. Frndly has 40+ channels (but no vowels), including Hallmark, Lifetime, Great American Family, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Hallmark Drama, A&E, and the History Channel. We get the Classic plan with a DVR feature (added bonus: fast-forwarding through commercials).
Spotify just released listeners’ top tracks for the year, and Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” was mine. It’s the first song on my creative inspiration playlist, so it reflects the number of words I’ve produced this year. I’ll take that as a win!
Soothing Chest Rub DIY
Ingredients
20 drops eucalyptus
20 drops peppermint
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup grapeseed, coconut, or carrier oil of choice
¼ cup beeswax pellets
Glass jar
Instructions
Combine carrier oils and beeswax in a pan over low heat or in a double boiler. Heat slowly until the beeswax melts. Remove from heat and allow to cool for five minutes. Stir in essential oils and pour into one 8 oz. or two 4 oz. Mason jars. Cap immediately. The mixture will thicken as it cools. Rub on the chest, back, and bottoms of feet for sinus relief. Store at room temperature and use within one year.
{Recipe from Eucalyptus chapter of It All Began in a Garden.}
