It's a Classical Life

  Hello all! It's been quite some time since I've posted on here and if you've popped back in then I thank you for your patience and interest. I hit a bit of a creative wall and upon reading this beautiful quote by Isaac Newton I got thinking. I needed silence and I needed to meditate on what I was sharing and what the point of it was. There are so many wonderful blogs and websites on the internet - was I really contributing anything worthwhile? I sat with these questions for quite some time and I'm not really sure that the answer is yes, but I do know that today I felt inspired to share this with you and a few other things that have crossed my path recently.  I think the biggest take away we can have from this quote is the search for truth. If we are really interested in finding the truth in any aspect of our lives then we need silence and we need the time to ponder. Not necessarily stew or worry excessively, but quiet reflective time. If there are any areas of uncerta...

Source Have you visited Jane Austen's house before? Classified as a "cottage" in Chawton, Hampshire, it is a Grade 1 listed building kept in the original condition of the house Jane lived in. The cottage is open to the public and offers guided tours, lectures and other Austen-inspired activities. And the best news is, you can visit it from the comfort of your own home!  Today I want to share some home decor tips based on the Jane Austen Virtual Tour. If you haven't before, pop over to the website here and have a look around. Then come back and join the discussion on how we can de-clutter and decorate with Jane Austen.  Tip 1: Don't be afraid of blank walls When you step into the Drawing Room the sense of space is magnified by the fact that there are blank walls devoid of both furniture or decoration. Of course, there is artwork on some parts of the wall, but there are swathes of blank wall that contradict the modern notion that all parts of a room must be filled....

It's taken me exactly eleven weeks (the year to date) to realise that I have overloaded myself and I'm not coping very well. Although I have left my teaching job, I have picked up extra work in the office where I have been doing some bookkeeping, plus I'm also helping a friend out with babysitting one day a week. Suddenly, like Virigina Woolf, I find myself craving simplicity and to stop the rush. I'm out the door early four days a week (and I know many people do the same and more!) but I'm a low-energy person and I suffer from overwhelm quite easily. It's quite counter-cultural to admit this and it's taken me a long-time to accept the fact that I am simply a low-energy person and cannot do all the things, all the time.  This was the guiding thought behind my moving to a more simple, slow literary life  and yet this year I seem to have forgotten not only the goal but the motivation behind it. It has taken this mini-episode for me to realise that I need to si...

  John William Waterhouse - Dolce Far Niente (The White Feather Fan) 1879 Source When I first made the move from teaching to working in a very small office two days a week, one of the hardest changes to make was to slow down my pace. I noticed this most during morning tea where we sit around the kitchen sipping coffee and chatting. Initially, I felt a strange pull to check my watch, get up and do something productive. I felt like I was being idle when I should have been working.  It took me a while to realise that the things that we were chatting about were important and productive. The coffee we sipped on was a break, sure, but we were together, office matters were discussed and it was like a lovely, relaxed staff meeting. Coming from a school environment where I was on the go from the minute I stepped in the building to the end of the day, I wasn't used to this slower pace of work. Everyone respected the fact that work would get done in a timely manner, no-one...

Hello, and welcome back to It's a Classical Life! If this is your first time here then I hope you will leave a comment saying hi and that something inspires you as you go about your day. As my mother cleaned out her house recently, I inherited a small collection of classic movies on DVD. They had been my grandmother's and my mother, knowing how much I love the classics, offered them to me after my grandmother passed away. I've watched a few of them already and though it would be a great idea to share some thoughts I've had whilst watching. This new little series (which won't be every week) is called Saturday Matinee, so if you're interested in classic films, please be sure to keep an eye out for that heading.  Today, I want to begin with a silly, but fun favourite: Three Coins in the Fountain. This American film was made in 1954 and won two Academy Awards (Best Cinematography and Best Song). Set in Rome, Italy it follows the lives of three American secretaries w...