Time Travel – Reflections on an Old Ledger

This 111-year-old ledger was a gift from a friend. It’s a beautiful, large book, full of rich nuggets of information. I believe it came from a local hardware store in business from 1907-2004. The script inside is really lovely. (Check this out if you’d like to see how this skill has changed and evolved and is now sadly disappearing.)

Here are a couple photos:

Some things purchased back then: wagon covers, well buckets, washboards, buggy whips, lard cans, harnesses, cow yokes, and black powder fuses. A sewing machine sold for $3.25. In the photo above, a refrigerator cost $27.50.

Names from this time period are fascinating: Wad Moon, Green Surber, Frantz Carter, Isom Cherry, Perles Creavey.

Looking at the many entries, it seems that Hawk Schick needed a new roof, Herbert Alfother needed a new wash boiler, Bud Galbraith needed phone wire, and O. H. Mahery needed his sulky repaired.

I’m sure there’s a story in here somewhere. I’ll keep looking, walking back into an era when things were simpler but maybe harder. Maybe.

Have a wonderful week. Rest, get outside when there’s sunshine, and read a good book. I’m finishing a charming children’s book right now called The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck.

And don’t forget to ask ‘What if?’

 

 

Two Things

#1

Hey, anybody out there dealing with a really mean, grumpy inner critic lately – you know, that voice in your head that plays off all your anxieties? (raising hand)

Here’s how it’s been going with my creative work:

Me: (to inner critic) Shut up.

Inner critic: No, you shut up.

Me: No, you shut up.

Inner Critic: (not shutting up)

I’m getting pretty tired of it.

I need some tips.

Maybe I should give mine a name, so I can be more direct. Anyone else name their inner critic?

I’ve done some reading about this. There’s lots of information that suggests ways to cope, mostly that you first realize you’re being an active participant with the Meanie, and then do some separation and recovery with positive self-talk. In doing this, you create a new habit, and we all know it’s easier to create a new habit than it is to break an old one, right?

This is not to say that the inner critic doesn’t have value. I’m sure it does, in certain instances. But consider what it’s telling you. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

Being kind and compassionate to yourself, giving yourself a little grace, is a personal habit I need to develop. What about you?

#2

Book Talk – I just read the best middle grade story. It’s rich and compelling and has so much to tell us about ourselves.

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh was a National Book Award Finalist in 2023.

Here’s a blurb:

“Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation.

But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret. Set in alternating timelines that connect the present-day to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, Katherine Marsh’s latest novel sheds fresh light on the Holodomor – the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, and which the Soviet government covered up for decades.”

I highly recommend!

*I wish you all the best this upcoming week! Give yourself a hug. And read a good book.* 

Random Stuff

A fact: I am revising and revising. That’s all I’ll say about that.

____________________________________________

A quote: “Reach for the sky!” ~ Woody from TOY STORY.

*As in, reach for every goal and dream you have.

____________________________________________

Have a good day/evening wherever you are. Read a good book (I just finished The Lost Year and loved it), drink a delicious cup of tea or coffee, and do some pondering. Pondering is always good. Well, mostly always. Don’t forget to ask ‘What if?’

And, oh yeah, rest.

ANCORA IMPARO (yep, that’s me)

*Photo from Disney Pixar

A New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! As 2024 begins, what are you hoping to accomplish this year? Are there big changes on your horizon? Have you made plans already?

Me, I’m not good at sticking to a plan. I’m more of a “Oh look, there’s a squirrel” ADD kind of planner. Sure, there are things I want to make happen this year. *Did you see what I did there? I did NOT say things I hope will happen.* But truthfully, I’m stepping into 2024 wishing for more peace and joy and a spirit of quiet. 2023 was a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. (FYI, I never have liked these kind of rides.)

According to this article by Marcia Reynolds Psy.D. in Psychology Today, these tips might be helpful for starting the new year:

• Don’t start a new year or chapter in your life with the heaviness of unfinished business.
• Declare who you want to be and how you want to feel a year from now; then keep your brain focused forward.
• Be clear on what you intend to create, planning the big picture. Your sense of purpose can stay steady even when goals and action plans change.

I like the idea of keeping a forward focus and maintaining a sense of purpose. What about you? Do you have tried and true tips for starting the new year?

Autumn

It’s time for my annual post about Autumn. It’s been hot and dry here where I live, with very few signs of fall. This poem makes me happy and helps me see this season that I love with new eyes.

TO AUTUMN by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now  the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

“The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.

“The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
“Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Happy News!

Below is news about my picture book THE VIOLINIST!

Check out this link for more information:

https://www.scbwi.org/2023-ann-whitford-paul-writers-digest-manuscript-award-winners

The Sunlight Press

So grateful to the editors of The Sunlight Press for featuring my photos Ice Crystals and Mountain View. See them here, as well as lots of lovely photography and writing.

Photography by Sharon Van Zandt

Autumn

It’s time for my annual autumn post. How I love this season! The quiet, in between time. The time to be still, to rest.

My tribute to Fall 2021 is a poem by Maya Angelou called Late October. We do, indeed, begin to stop, in order to begin again.

Carefully
the leaves of autumn
sprinkle down the tinny
sound of little dyings
and skies sated
of ruddy sunsets
of roseate dawns
roil ceaselessly in
cobweb greys and turn
to black
for comfort.

Only lovers
see the fall
a signal end to endings
a gruffish gesture alerting
those who will not be alarmed
that we begin to stop
in order simply
to begin
again.

A Picture and a Thought

Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.
I want to climb some old gray mountains, slowly taking
The rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping
Under the pines, or above them, on the unclothed rocks.
I want to see how many stars are still in the sky.
                                                        ~Mary Oliver

 

*Photo by Dixie Lawrence

 

Letting Go

I said goodbye to this dear lady today. She was the best kind of cat to have on a farm, sweet and cuddly but also courageous. More than anything, she was my friend. I will miss her.