Author: Jana

  • heaven is beyond my hopes…so let me stroll through the bright hours


    lamb’s ear and rock, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Picture: a small cluster of lamb’s ear leaves adjacent to a rough grey rock. [Note: The lamb’s ear was a gift from a woman in Cambria–a few years ago our family was walking to the Tea Cozy for a cuppa when we passed the most charming all-purple cottage. The owner was in her yard gardening and we struck up a conversation and she generously offered a cluster of plants to add to our own garden. :) }

    One of my favorite birthday gifts this year included this quotation on the card:
    “Ah, how short a time it is that we are here! Why then not set our hearts at rest, ceasing to trouble whether we remain or go? What boots it to wear out the soul with anxious thoughts? I want not wealth; I want not power: heaven is beyond my hopes. Then let me stroll through the bright hours as they pass, in my garden among my flowers, or I will mount the hill and sing my song, or weave my verse beside the limpid brook. Thus will I work out my allotted span, content with the appointments of Fate, my spirit free from care.”
    ~Giles, “Chinese Literature”

  • practically perfect

    Last night, on a bit of a whim, we all went to the local dollar theater and watched “Miss Potter.” I’m so glad that we did! What a charming biopic about author and artist Beatrix Potter.

    Some things that particularly resonated with me:

    -Her unabashed love of nature!

    -Buying a quaint working farm in the Lake District! Yes!

    -Ewan McGregor as her dashing publisher/boyfriend/fiance. His gorgeous crooning in her ear as he takes Beatrix in his arms for a private dance. Okay, like I was about to pass out at that very moment because I couldn’t believe how irresistibly charming he was! Wow! And her childhood boyfriend-turned-husband was awfully good eye candy, too!

    -Her Hilltop Farm garden (pictured above). What a gorgeous rambly-looking space. If I lived in a more verdant clime, I would aspire to a similar garden layout myself!

    -Beatrix’s watercolor paintings. Feeling inspired to break open my own (unused for several years) watercolor set even as I imagine how fun it would be to set up an easel in my garden plot on some upcoming afternoon. :)

    -The Isle of Man was the backdrop for part of the film. I just can’t wait to get myself back to that place again someday (will it be as good as I remember it from seven years ago? I’m guessing it may even be better this next time??).

    After the movie we went to a nearby French bakery and bought some bread pudding and a strawberry mousse dessert to take home and share around our big brown table (not to fear, dear readers, our table still remains even after our recent household reorganization project). What a practically perfect Friday evening with the people that I love most in this world. :)

  • makin’ the world go ’round…


    So I spent the morning in our bank credit union, working out details of the best way to safeguard the money we’re saving for the kids’ education. I selected the 529 savings plan and made various choices about the ways to invest the money within that plan (based on my kids’ ages, the level of risk involved with the investments, etc).

    Though I’d done my homework before I met with the investment guy, I still felt unsure about some of the details and deferred to his expertise at various points. I came away pleased about the decision to open the accounts, but also self-critical about the fact that I’d also been ‘sold’ a particular investment product when I wasn’t completely sure about all of the details.

    I feel that I need to become more savvy about investments. I know just the basics and use this knowledge to make what I hope are wise decisions. But perhaps the rest of you have some financial gurus that you trust? Can you point me to where you look for advice on investments and money management solutions?

  • questions…

    “Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them–and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now, perhaps then someday far in the future you will gradually without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
    – Rainer Maria Rilke

    This week has been a flurry of busy-ness. Thank you to all for your kind comments and personal email messages. I am in the midst of many projects right now, including plans for summer research, reorganizing my home to accommodate for various recent acquisitions (i.e. we have some comfy upholstered furniture now that warranted a wholesale re-thinking of our LR space), and I’ve been reading and acting on the advice of Plenty–even to the point of nearing a full-time commitment to eat locally (anyone know of a local wheat source? That’s what’s holding me back right now).

    And of course, there’s the garden…this time of year the garden demands so much! I got my cucumbers and more flowers in this week (yay for free flowers from Aunt Suz’s yard!). I discovered from a garden neighbor that many are suffering from a complete lack of pollinating bees–she’s only seen one (ONE!) bee in her plot at all this month. My garden: bees EVERYWHERE. They love love love the lavender and the sage flowers, especially. I am so glad that I made flowers a priority as they will bless my veggies, too. :)

    Well, ’nuff of my rambling for now. The garden is beckoning…(and, yes, I will be taking more plant photos for you this weekend–I especially can’t wait to show you the kiddoes’ purple bean teepee. The vines are nearly 4 feet high and it’s such a magical space…)

    PS: What questions are you living (a la Rilke)? My question for life right now: “What is it like to live without fear?”

  • Platform 9 3/4


    Platform 9 3/4, King’s Cross Station, originally uploaded by karanmisra.

    Back in the year 2000, our family traveled to platform 9 3/4 and found nothing at all to commemorate that very important space. I’m so glad to know that they’ve remedied this situation now! :)

    We’ll definitely have to return again soon!

    H/T to John for the photolink!

  • women in art

    This video about 500 years of women in art is gorgeous. You won’t regret watching it. Now I just wish there was a similar vid about 500 years of female artists.

  • loss

    “The greatest danger, that of losing one’s own self, may pass off quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc., is sure to be noticed.”
    – Soren Kierkegaard

  • longing


    sideways, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Longing is like the Seed
    That wrestles in the Ground,
    Believing if it intercede
    It shall at length be found.

    The Hour, and the Clime —
    Each Circumstance unknown,
    What Constancy must be achieved
    Before it see the Sun!
    ~Emily Dickinson

    When we lived in Utah, Memorial Day was a day to deliver flowers to cemeteries. Now it’s just another 3-day weekend to enjoy with the family and to celebrate birthdays (wow, I know so many people born within a few days of me!).

    Can I just say how lovely it is to have time to relax, to read, to get caught up on things? Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening with my sister and her posse. So fun (and can I say how many myriad ways I am dreaming of spending my new HomeDepot giftcard??)! Today we’ll do garden time and hang out with some more friends at an afternoon birthday potluck.

  • columbine


    from below, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    This flower is a ‘volunteer’ in my garden–perhaps growing from some seeds that a friend shared with us 3 or 4 years ago. Now there’s a big cluster of them growing in the center of my flower garden. Just lovely.

    This afternoon our family attended a party at the home of some folks that I met while traveling in China two years ago What fun to see them and many of our other traveling companions again! They have a gorgeous garden, primarily composed of unknown plants that T dug up for other folks’ gardens (with their permission, of course). He readily dug up a funky yellow flower and a cactus-y type plant that he’s nicknamed ‘the pickle’ for me. I can’t wait to get them in the ground in my own garden. And I love that every time I see them I will think of my good friends from China. :)

  • Make me smile (the birthday edition)…

    You people are all so kind!

    So this morning I slept in, then lounged around in bed chatting with my little sister on the phone (her birthday was yesterday so we had a lot of birthday talkin’ to do). So I am just now opening my computer. What fun to open my laptop and see John’s hack appear on my screen! What a sweetheart. :)

    So now I will get a bit of work done (read: tidy the house a bit) as I am contemplating what kind of birthday goodies I want to make to share with some friends tonite. I’m tempted to try Sara’s cake recipe, but I’ve also got a bit of a hankering for fresh strawberry pie…

  • Hacky/Happy Birthday!

    John here, and I’ve “hacked” into Jana’s blog (okay, she left her computer on and already logged into blogger–no l337 h4k0rz here). I just wanted to let all you pilgrimgirl fans know that it’s Jana’s birthday today! Wish her a happy one! :D

  • Dark Days

    Yesterday I watched Dark Days as I was doing housework and eating lunch.* Wow. It’s about a group of homeless folks who made their homes in an abandoned subway tunnel under the streets of Manhattan. They had running water, electricity and well-built homes made of scavenged materials. There were drugs, rats, and some interpersonal tensions. But the ingenuity and perseverance of these folks is quite admirable. My favorite parts were watching them cook: making cornbread and meatballs and all manner of ‘normal’ foods in their tiny kitchens. Amazing. And somewhat reminiscent of the frontier era. Oh, and the cinematography was quite unique as everything was shot in the dark underground using ‘night vision’ cameras.

    Here’s the trailer for your enjoyment (note: the music in the movie itself is a bit more subtle):

    *Hat tip to John for netflixing this gem.