Hygge

“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty,
a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

🍁For those of you who follow Morning Musings you know that I spent a week in the English countryside last May.  Walking on the Lake District paths along moss-covered stone walls, through pastures of sheep and cows, over hill and dale had a profound affect on me.  I've always loved being outside.  Whether it's hanging clothes on the line, gardening, or hiking in the woods, I've always felt it to be a place I belonged.  The first thing I do in the morning is open the blinds and whenever I can I open the window to my bedroom bringing the outdoors in.

🍁Upon my return from England I began seeing articles, blogs, and books on the value of getting close to nature and realized I needed to be even more intentional about it.  I was introduced to Emma Mitchell's blog, Silverpebble, through Twitter and am excitedly awaiting her newest book, The Wild Remedy:  How Nature Mends Us - A Diary, due out in January.  About it she writes:

This is a diary of the curative effect of my walks in green places & is full of my illustrations. I hope it will encourage others to get outside.

Hagerstown Get-Together

The Take Joy Society begins its third year this month.  We had a gorgeous day to begin our theme this year of exploring different nearby towns.  Four of the six members got together to check out a new project recently completed in Hagerstown, MD called the Cultural Trail.  We met at the Washington County Fine Arts Museum, which I featured last year in our January get-together, to view the art pieces by member Cindy in the exhibit "The Art of Life:  Celebrating 85 Years of Art Education". . . .

Norwegian Get-Together

Yesterday we met at member Chris's home to get a taste of Norway--a country she has visited several times and from which her ancestors migrated.  We started the afternoon with cold cantaloupe soup--especially refreshing since the temperature was in the 90s. . . .

Grandma Moses Get-Together

Five members of the Take Joy Society gathered together today for a Grandma Moses Painting Party.   Anna Mary Robertson Moses, otherwise known as Grandma Moses was born in 1860 in Washington Co., New York.  She and her brothers would draw on the newsprint paper their father brought home on his trips into town.  Anna Mary would color her pictures using grape juice or berries.  She especially loved the color red.  After she married in 1887 she and her husband moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  She birthed 10 children there, but only five survived infancy.  In 1905 they moved back to New York and bought a farm they named Mt. Nebo.  The only painting she did in those years was decorative painting on furniture.   Because she liked to keep busy she took up embroidery and made "yarn pictures" in the 1930s when house and farm work became too strenuous for her.  Here is an example of her yarn pictures. . . .

Mt. Nebo on the Hill