Work & Play…. By Loba
Now that our little Rhiannon’s getting older, she is able to be lots of help. Like all kids, she’d like to only do what she feels like, and she is totally honest about that, but she also knows the importance of helping take care of things that are so essential and integral to our lives, whether clearing ditches for the coming storm run-off, or helping with the dishes that we need to cook and serve our lovely meals. Something we’re always working on is balancing work and play time– schoolwork balanced by time alone at the river, washing dishes but also swinging on her swing, gathering kindling but also riding the bike Wolf ordered and painted special for her (with an otter on the chain guard!).
Our current fun project is decorating a special fantasy wedding dress, in keeping with her interest in staging a marriage with a classy cat named Baron from the animated Miyazaki films… (by the way, we totally recommend most of his work, which combines elements of empowered girls and women, positive messages regarding nature and the effects of civilization, and the triumph of will… especially Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke). Rhiannon’s lovely dress already features beaded ribbons, lacey sleeves, beads and more! She is so tickled to get to do some of the sewing, that she gladly completes her other less enjoyable chores!
I try to apply this means of balance and reward to myself as well, putting a few nonessential activities on my daily list of things to do, or just recognizing opportunities to soak in the beauty of the moment. Sometimes this may just mean slowing down what I’m doing enough to take in the magnificent view through the salvaged farm windows of our kitchen, as I scrub the pans. Or to sit by the cookstove fire as it’s getting going and offer a prayer of thanks. It’s truly amazing, discovering in everything I do an opportunity to connect deeper to myself, my purpose and home.
What do you do, where you live, to feel connected and nourished in the midst of a busy day?
Categories: Homesteading, Practicing Animá Lifeways
Amanda Abronson
Soft water flows
over my fingers.
How easy to hate
this task, and yet
The beet water runs
through my hands the color
of roses
deep and pink
I would marvel to see
a sunset that color
I would covet the dress
that flowed
so softly
Is there a place
for love in work?
(we know there surely is
for work in love)
Can we cleanse
while
we clean?
Can we hold
our hurts
so lightly
that they too will be
washed away
with this soft water?
I hold this
gentleness
close
against
my failures–
It makes me
who I am; (hands
turning, stacking, scrubbing,
my pile growing against
the entropy)
“What do you do?”
My words are
lost
inadequate
I love
(I want to say)
I feed the hummingbirds
and drive the children.
Sometimes–
I do dishes.
Henriette
About Miyazaki: I quite like Totoro, and Porco Rosso. And the castle, and Kiki’s delivery service, and … almost all of them, really. But Totoro rocks.
Henriette
Oh, what to do, to feel rooted: cook. Or go plant or pick something in the garden, but that’s out of the question right now.