I love this week's "question to ponder." So much has developed in my life in the last two years...so many things are suddenly coming to fruition. I have been really blessed! The #1 thing is probably that my dissertation is actually finally becoming a book...I had really, truly given up on that!
Thanks for the kind mention of "Winter Wonder," too.
I love that! Yes, I have to frequently remind myself that when I was in middle school, I walked into a bookshop and wondered, "How do people ever get a book on one of these shelves?" And I've since done that. I too often focus on the things I still haven't done!
The smell of sawdust reminds me of my own dad. He was always doing small carpentry. He even built the pulpit at the church he pastored for the last 31 years of his ministry career, before retiring.
Another portkey smell (I love that phrase, by the way) is Wind Song perfume, which I actually hate the smell of (super acrid and repulsive). But there were so many old ladies in church who wore it when I was growing up (heck, they still do), that it instantly takes me back to those old-time Pentecostal churches with wooden pews and a "y'all come" choir and dinner on the grounds at least once a month. Those old ladies were always wanting to hug me, and then the smell of that perfume would get on me. Yuck. And also precious.
WIND SONG PERFUME! Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that stuff... One of my grandmothers wore that all the time and kept giving it to my mom as a Christmas gift, thinking she loved it too... Thanks for that brief walk down memory lane.
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed to not find a actual Tolkien soup recipe to make on this rainy day 😅 But it was a lovely reflection!
So true about smells. Part of the reason I try to get us to the Mass with incense! That still stirs up so many memories for me. I hope the same for my kids.
And a beautiful question to ponder. I was thinking exactly that today as I was driving to nature school. Both kids in the back talking + babbling away. There was a time I dreamed of exactly this moment! Chaos and all! Lucky lucky me. It's good to remember that!
We used to sniff the packages from my one grandma’s house when they arrived. Cookies, tissue paper, Christmas ornaments all had the distinct grandma smell - warm, evocative, attentive. I still wonder what exactly comprised that smell but it is one of the most distinct olfactory memories in my life and it immediately felt like someone loved us.
The boxes where we kept Christmas ornaments and decorations growing up had such a distinct, nostalgic smell. I can almost smell it now! Interestingly, now I have my own home and children, and they say the same about our Christmas boxes-- and it's true! And yet the smells are somehow different... maybe that's just a bit of Christmas magic :)
As regards dishwashing... I just got my copy of Every Moment Holy, Volume III and what do I find by a prayer for “When Washing Dishes” by Sarah Wilson: “...let me instead take joy in this: I am loving the well the next person to eat from this dish, and, O my Lord, it is enough.”
Yes! That's taken from a quote by St. Mother Teresa: "Wash the dish not because it is dirty, nor because you are told to, but because you love the person who will use it next."
Is there a reason the Drink with a friend podcast wasn’t uploaded to the apple podcast or Spotify? I can’t find the latest one and then Substack won’t let me access it either. I’m not tech savvy so I could be missing something too. Thanks for any help!
I love this week's "question to ponder." So much has developed in my life in the last two years...so many things are suddenly coming to fruition. I have been really blessed! The #1 thing is probably that my dissertation is actually finally becoming a book...I had really, truly given up on that!
Thanks for the kind mention of "Winter Wonder," too.
I love that! Yes, I have to frequently remind myself that when I was in middle school, I walked into a bookshop and wondered, "How do people ever get a book on one of these shelves?" And I've since done that. I too often focus on the things I still haven't done!
The smell of sawdust reminds me of my own dad. He was always doing small carpentry. He even built the pulpit at the church he pastored for the last 31 years of his ministry career, before retiring.
Another portkey smell (I love that phrase, by the way) is Wind Song perfume, which I actually hate the smell of (super acrid and repulsive). But there were so many old ladies in church who wore it when I was growing up (heck, they still do), that it instantly takes me back to those old-time Pentecostal churches with wooden pews and a "y'all come" choir and dinner on the grounds at least once a month. Those old ladies were always wanting to hug me, and then the smell of that perfume would get on me. Yuck. And also precious.
"Yuck. And also previous." is true more often than one would think.
WIND SONG PERFUME! Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that stuff... One of my grandmothers wore that all the time and kept giving it to my mom as a Christmas gift, thinking she loved it too... Thanks for that brief walk down memory lane.
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed to not find a actual Tolkien soup recipe to make on this rainy day 😅 But it was a lovely reflection!
So true about smells. Part of the reason I try to get us to the Mass with incense! That still stirs up so many memories for me. I hope the same for my kids.
And a beautiful question to ponder. I was thinking exactly that today as I was driving to nature school. Both kids in the back talking + babbling away. There was a time I dreamed of exactly this moment! Chaos and all! Lucky lucky me. It's good to remember that!
It really is good and necessary to remember that, isn't it? And yes, I agree with the incense at Mass!
We used to sniff the packages from my one grandma’s house when they arrived. Cookies, tissue paper, Christmas ornaments all had the distinct grandma smell - warm, evocative, attentive. I still wonder what exactly comprised that smell but it is one of the most distinct olfactory memories in my life and it immediately felt like someone loved us.
I love that, Annelise!
The boxes where we kept Christmas ornaments and decorations growing up had such a distinct, nostalgic smell. I can almost smell it now! Interestingly, now I have my own home and children, and they say the same about our Christmas boxes-- and it's true! And yet the smells are somehow different... maybe that's just a bit of Christmas magic :)
Yes - same! I hadn't thought of that, but you're right — Christmas has a distinct scent, for sure. Even decorating-for-Christmas has a smell.
As regards dishwashing... I just got my copy of Every Moment Holy, Volume III and what do I find by a prayer for “When Washing Dishes” by Sarah Wilson: “...let me instead take joy in this: I am loving the well the next person to eat from this dish, and, O my Lord, it is enough.”
Yes! That's taken from a quote by St. Mother Teresa: "Wash the dish not because it is dirty, nor because you are told to, but because you love the person who will use it next."
Is there a reason the Drink with a friend podcast wasn’t uploaded to the apple podcast or Spotify? I can’t find the latest one and then Substack won’t let me access it either. I’m not tech savvy so I could be missing something too. Thanks for any help!
Ok, I got it to play on Substack but it is still not on apple or Spotify