Soar-Dream-France

Bonne Maman Advent Calendar JOY

 

We are no strangers to Advent Calendars in my family.

Last year, I went a little crazy with them for family and some special friends. Here in France, I treated myself and my neighbors to a Foie Gras Advent Calendar and my friend Christiane to the Thiriet Ice Cream Advent Calendar.

Stateside, it was all Bonne Maman.

 

 

This year I decided to get myself the Bonne Maman Advent Calendar, along with the others I was planning to have sent for gifts.

 

Pretty soon, I realized that since none of my family will be together during the holidays that it might bring us all together if everyone had their own Bonne Maman Advent Calendar. Far be it from me to tell anyone how to do it, but there clearly is a right way and a wrong way. Patience is essential.

Everyone has theirs. Some of us are looking forward to getting started tomorrow. Others have jumped the gun...possibly peeking and partaking. For me, it was fun to think about all of us participating in some remotely parallel activity every day leading up to Christmas.

 

Togetherness at a distance!

I'm guessing there will be more Bonne Maman Stories to share. 

 

 

Happy Advent Calendar Eve!

Happy Wednesday!

 

Loving into the Answers

 

I love taking photos of chairs. There is a lot that I love.

These days, I'm finding myself struggling to settle into a wonderful new life or the "new book" that no longer has the structures, constraints, and musts of old. I am paying attention. I am watching myself. I am feeling my feelings. I am learning a lot more about myself in a whole new way.

What do I want these next twenty years to look like?

The list of what I have given up in the last couple of years is even longer than I had been aware of. Whether it's loss or my own decisions, the reality of the GONE has been an interesting one to ponder. I could go into great detail on each of the "gones" and the impact and changes in my life. Some are huge. Some are more subtle.

 

 

One of the recent ahas for me has been that I no longer need to get onto the laptop every day. Some of that is that I have my SmartPhone and my Fire notebook, that allow me to keep up without full laptop capacity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another part of that is that I am no longer "working" in any capacity. Keeping up my social work license and offering workshops meant that there were periods of time when the laptop was attached to my hip.

 

That isn't necessary any more.

 

In that "gone", I have found that there are some days that I don't even want to turn the laptop on.

It feels good. 

That also means, that I'm not blogging as much since I blog from the laptop and not the other devices.

I am also realizing that these days, I prefer to journal than to blog. Putting pen to paper, holding it in my hand, watching the ink travel the page of whatever pretty journal I've chosen to use next; all make it more enjoyable than pounding the keys and fighting computer and program glitches with my photos.

This "gone" is leading me to re-evaluate my blogging.

I don't want to stop completely, but I want to find my way back to loving it like I used to and blending it more naturally into this new life.

 

 

It will come, probably rising out of the space left by one or more of the gones.

 

 

Here's hoping you'll hang with me!

 

Happy Sunday!

 

A Blog Test

 

I have been having a horrible time getting my photos into my blog posts lately, so this is a test. These shots from the inside of the tunnel are just so pretty. 

I don't really need any additional barriers to blogging these days. With so much change in my life, it seems that my blogging habits and desires have changed too. So, it appears that there is still some problem with editing and getting them in the body of the text. We shall see.

Happy Tuesday!