It's a Classical Life

I consider myself lucky to have a number of older women in my life who are my mentors, my confidantes and my friends. These include my mother, my stepmother, my mother-in-law and two close friends I have made through teaching. All have been in my life for a number of years and seen me through good times and bad. I have only recently come to appreciate the role that they have played in my life: accepting me as I am, offering advice and guidance when asked, sharing values, ideals and interests (especially in literature and history), amongst other things. Not all of them fulfil each of these roles, but as a whole, they keep me on a good path. It got me thinking about the role of older women in literature, well in recent literature anyway. I thought the role of older women in ancient literature would probably be another post all of its own! I know that many Christian women look to the Scripture Titus 2 for guidance on how to graciously mentor younger women, but there are some wome...

When I read the classics, one of the things that I love to read about in detail is what the characters are wearing. It helps to create an image in my mind of the characters; not only of their physical appearances but also their attitude towards clothing and style. For example, I notice if they change their outfits regularly (as society often dictated, because, heaven forbid, one should wear the same outfit twice!) or if they were comfortable with their 'uniform' of daily wear. Usually, the classics will focus more on the clothing of women, but sometimes men get a look in too.  For this Classic Style Inspiration post, I thought we could look to some Victorian classics to inspire us. What does, or to be exact 'when' does the Victorian period actually refer to? Well, the term refers to the time that Queen Victoria ruled England, that is from 1837 to 1901. This extensive period of reign marked a number of social and cultural changes in England, Continental Europe and the US...

  Did you try the Jane Austen word search last month? If so, how did you like it? If not, perhaps you would like to give it a try - you can find it here . Today, I'm sharing with you another word search, this one based around the classic novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It's getting very wintery here and Little Women is one of my favourite books to read in winter. For those of you heading into summer, this is still a fun, free past-time to while away those long summer days. I hope you enjoy this month's word search! Remember, you can either click on the image above or you can download the PDF through the Google link below. Happy searching! Little Women Word Search

 "Whether you're single and living in your first apartment, a young couple buying your first home, a married couple with a few children, a single parent, a single solo adult, or baby boomers moving towards retirement, you can create a simple home that won't burden you financially or emotionally. When you build a comfortable and nurturing home, you'll feel like you've sailed into a safe harbour, that you're where you can be your best."                                                          Down To Earth ~ Rhonda Hetzel I first became interested in the notion of 'homemaking' when I was on parenting leave with my first baby and homemaking blogs were becoming all the rage. People who spoke of their family, their homes, their cleaning routines, their meal plans and everything else that goes with being a homemaker sudd...

Originally, I was going to name this post Can We Live More Simply? I was recently reading an article on Nicole Lutze's blog about living simply enough. She reminds us that living simply is unique to all of us. She also adds, that simple living is about spending more time within our homes, and less time working for money. I believe there are many books that we can turn to that have a focus on the home to inspire us to live simply and to live well, but when I thought about it, really thought about, one book came to mind: Louisa May Alcott's Little Women . And what better time to remind ourselves of simplicity than the holiday season when things tend to get blown out, we become overwhelmed and we all wistfully remember that dream of living more simply! If you're interested, you can also read last year's post on Lessons to Remember These Holidays from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol ". Tip #1 Ditch the plastics - eat like the Marches and grow some of y...

A couple of weeks ago, Annabel from The Blubirds are Nesting on the Farm shared a post about pure wool blankets and being prepared for winter . Winter is well and truly upon us here in Australia. For some, that has brought flash flooding and enormous amounts of rain, for others, it means snow, heavy frosts, colder than average temperatures, fog, damaging winds and more. It is easy to be overwhelmed by harsh weather patterns, especially as we hear talk of climate change exacerbating these already unpredictable patterns. Like Annabel, I think there is plenty we can do to be prepared and I chose to look at this topic from a warm and cosy perspective - hygge. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years, I'm sure you've all heard about the Danish concept of hygge  It is what is often attributed to the Danes being amongst the happiest people in the world. I think that the classic novels do wonderfully well to highlight the importance of  hygge in ...

Simple living is one of my favourite topics to discuss here on the blog. There is so much inspiration to be found on this topic in the classics, and for me living well  is much easier when I'm living simply . This is in part due to the fact that when the classics that we discuss here were written, life was in many ways simpler. I don't necessarily mean easier, but certainly simpler, less hurried, less distractions, less of always chasing more. The proponents of simple living are different for everybody, so I've just chosen some of the easiest and most enjoyable ways I know to embrace simple living.  In this article I thought it would be fun (and helpful) to refer you to certain books for certain aspects of simple living. That way, you can use the book as a sort of guide to direct you to certain aspects of simple living, whilst offering a entertaining and in some cases, a rollicking good read (I love that old-time expression!) Where possible, I also add a link to other art...