Hello Friends! I did not intend to take time away, but life has been full and I am still searching to strike some sort of balance with all the things. In the meantime, I’ve been prioritizing personal journal writing over blog writing. I’ve consistently kept a journal since I was 10-years-old. It has become the primary way in which I think about things and it is important to my mental health.
Here’s my first diary and the first entry on February 24, 1978:
The entry reads, “Dear Diary. Alicia got a camra. and there was no film in it and Marie Jakie Cindy and Tammy thout that they were really taking pictures.”
Scandalous stuff, especially all the misspellings and poor punctuation!
I made another entry the next day on the 25th that notes I helped my dad trim the flowers, got in an argument with my sister, and before dinner my mom put me on a diet. WTF? I was 10! I have read this diary a few times and had no recall of this entry. But lately in my Buddhist practice, which is an embodied practice, I have begun the process of making friends with my body. Reading this diary entry was a bell of mindfulness, and I have gained a great insight into myself and the suffering from the wound I wish to transform. Just one reason why keeping a diary/journal is so important!
In the last several years, my journal has taken second place to blogging, but with the Metro Surge ICE invasion I needed to make my journal take first place. The Surge is technically over, but ICE is still active here, there are community groups formed and forming that I am involved with, and there is much trauma to work through. And then there have been baby chickens to raise, and a garden to plant and care for as well as the usual full-time job and daily and weekly tasks of living. And sourdough. I have been learning lots and getting so good! Check it out:
That’s a carrot cake sourdough, recipe from Pantry Mama. I made a significant cut in the sugar and salt and used half bread flour and half whole wheat. Toast up a slice to eat with my morning porridge with a little rose petal and peony jam made from the garden flowers, and wowza! I have much to burble on about sourdough bread baking, but will leave it for another time.
In prioritizing journaling I have also renewed my pleasure in fountain pens. I have enjoyed using fountain pens for decades and have a nice little collection as well as quite a few bottles of ink. I haven’t bought new ink in years and have been using just one favorite pen for my journal and another for letters, but it turns out one of my Beloved Community Circle friends is a fountain pen collector and their enthusiasm has reawakened mine.
They have shared some ink samples with me and recently gifted me with a vintage Esterbrook. I have gifted them with a shark pen and intend to share some ink samples too. So for my birthday in April when my mom sent me a cash gift, I bought some new ink and have put some more of my pens into use rotation.
Here are a few of my pens, from top to bottom: Lamy Safari with a broad nib and azurite ink; Lamy All Star with a stub nib and Earl Grey ink; my own shark pen with a medium nib and purple ink; the vintage Esterbrook my friend gifted me with a medium nib and Mysterious Blue ink.
I am by no means a pen collector, I just have a collection of pens. My pleasure comes from using different pens and inks and nib sizes on different paper and for different purposes, not in the actual collecting. I find great joy in the slowness of writing with a fountain pen; in the feeling of the nib moving across paper; in the beautiful colors of the various inks; in seeing how different inks and nib sizes work together and change the way my writing looks. It is a physically grounding aesthetic practice and I am so happy my BCC friend has brought me back to it.
Chickens
Babba Yaga and Nanny Ogg moved into the coop about two weeks ago. Their transition has gone well, but oh, I have stories! They will have to wait a bit. For now, here are the sassy girls who, if I counted correctly, are just over 10 weeks old:
Baba is the white chicken. She is a Pearl Onyx and is supposed to have a black wattle and comb with additional bits of black in her feathers. She has barely any black, anywhere. This may or may not change as she continues to grow, but she’s a bit of a rebel so I won’t be surprised if it doesn’t. Nanny Ogg is a Speckled Sussex and a gorgeous girl; the photo doesn’t do her justice. She is a friendly, curious hen who might end up getting herself into trouble one of these days because of it. I adore them both!
Garden
The weather the last few weeks has been hot and dry, but we’ve been managing to keep the garden watered enough so only one tomato plant succumbed. I’ve been picking rhubarb, salads, and now strawberries. So many strawberries!
Lots of garden stories too I hope to share.
Fingers crossed I will manage to make some space for regular posting even if, as dear, kind Melanie at Grab the Lapels suggested, it is only photos and a few words. I hope you are all well and thriving.
I love this post and hearing about your journaling and fountain pens. I love fine papers and journals and am rather fascinated with bookbinding. I have few skills in that area but it’s fun to learn, and I have a few choice, untouched, handmade journals that I bought from wonderful artisans. Realized I need to start using them, most likely for nature journaling/watercolor and literary inspiration. Thanks for this post, Stefanie, have loved following you over the years.
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Thanks Valorie! I love fine paper too but will write on anything when it comes down to it 😀 Book binding is a really cool skill. There’s a book arts place here that has classes. I don’t want to learn, but I like seeing what other people do. Maybe there’s a place near you where you could take some classes and make your own journals so you will have some when you have used your current artisan journals. If you ever do start bookbinding, you have to be sure to share your creations on your blog! 🙂
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For the bookbinding, I follow Lotusblubook….and take her online classes. Her site is magnificent and gorgeous to check out, even if one doesn’t want to do bookbinding.
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That diary entry is DARLING. It is also super cute that your mom still sends you money on your birthday. 🙂
I’m amazed that it is already strawberry season. For some reason, I seem to recall strawberries in central Michigan around July? It could be climate change or the fact that the climate in central Michigan is different from that of northern Indiana due to the Great Lakes.
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Thanks Melanie! I used to be so embarrassed by my old journals but I am learning to be kinder to my past selves. I should delve into my second journal sometime, it has Donny Osmond on the cover! 😀
The strawberries started getting ripe here surprisingly early. The big patch is now done, but I have some stragglers in other areas of the garden that just started getting ripe last week. June is strawberry season generally unless they are everbearing plants that produce smaller berries throughout the season. Curiously, I have yet to see strawberries at my co-op so I guess I am extra lucky that the garden one did so well this year!
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I wrote a whole post years ago about being kind to our younger selves. Weirdly, that post is still popular.
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So happy to see you here (and understand all your reasons for the quiet spell)! I’ve never been brave enough to add anything to sourdough bread, but maybe your enthusiasm will rub off on me, like your neighbour’s enthusiasm for fountain pens has reignited yours! Your diary is adorable. We had similar handwriting (and spelling lol) at that age.
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Thanks Marcie! I still have plans to catch up on your blog, but baby steps!
Oh, be brave with your sourdough! Check out the Pantry Mama website. She’s got all kinds of free recipes and articles. One of the articles is about add-ins and she brilliantly suggests using teas for some interesting flavors instead of plain water. I am planning on trying it sometime, I just need to figure out a tea flavor. I’m thinking maybe a raisin cinnamon swirl with orange tea or something like that. Or maybe a plain loaf with a spicy chai. Mmmm.
That’s funny we had similar handwriting and spelling! I was surprised at the spelling because I somehow remember being good at spelling, but apparently not as good as I think I was! 😀
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I love your diary and your chickens and your strawberries!! I feel like “little twin stars” are familiar – I must have had something with them on it. I totally get not having time to blog. I am lucky if I write two posts a month. But that just means that I am prioritizing other things. Hope your garden is continuing to do well and you get some good rain!
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Welcome back, Stefanie! Definitely hear you about the need to balance and take care of yourself. I love the diary entry too! I’m secretly hoping that either Marie, Jakie, Cindy or Tammy comes across this post and comments to say, “Did not!”
It’s great to hear that you still keep the daily journal going. I find that blogging and journalling serve different purposes – no matter how honest I am in a blog post, it’s still for public consumption, which changes it. There’s a real value in having a space for truly private thoughts, where you can write what you want and not care what the world thinks. I think that’s why reading someone else’s diary feels like such a big betrayal.
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