Families and Reading for Life

Your home is your castle....  :)

I am grinning from ear to ear today. My eldest son, Patrick, flew in from Australia this morning to spend two weeks at home. I am so so thrilled. We normally see him only at Christmas....this is an extra special treat to have him home.

More great news, my daughter, Christine, is flying home from New Zealand next week. She has been in the hospital and is in recovery mode and well enough to fly back to the nest. Can you hear my sigh of relief?

One daughter is still at large, Miss Claire is in China. In ten days, she and I will meet in New York to commence a two week College 'road trip'. Just me and Miss Claire, driving up, down and across New England looking for the perfect college for her.

My youngest, Sir Connor, is still in school...sweating it out until his last day on Thursday. His English teacher has given him a reading challenge for the summer holidays which makes me very happy, I just love a challenge!

With a challenge in mind, Patrick and I went off to the local book shop where we immersed ourselves in mystery, history and travel.  I went with a list in hand after reading a great article, 'Reading for Life', in the recent issue of Country Life magazine (UK). The article provides a list of  books that the author believes all children should read by the age of 16.  The following advice was given...
"Screw your courage to the sticking place and approach the sofa with it. Prise your remote control out of your child's hand, ignore their howls of anguish and challenge them to read every single one by the time they go back to school in September"

from Country Life magazine

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tom Brown School Days by Thomas Hughes

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Best of Saki by H.H. Munro

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Northern Lights ( His Dark Materials) by Philip Pullman 

I call it a list to love. 

All books referenced to a little book store 'across the pond'

that I wish was my little 'shop around the corner'.

Book store: R. J. Julia

Book recommendations from  June 22, 2011

issue of Country Life magazine

Images:

Top via Apartment Therapy

Graphics and bottom image via Country Life magazine

Image of girl via We Heart It

Safe Landing

A safe landing into Heathrow this morning.

Always a comfort to return home :)

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend!

Jeanne

images~me

Miss Claire and Miss Kate along the River Thames

Miss Claire and youngest son, Connor....a peaceful moment this morning and I stress moment!

Be it ever so humble....

I have a lot of feelings mixed up in this post. I have been procrastinating all week. Each day I have thought, I must do it, I will write about it tomorrow and then the next day and the day after that and now it is Friday and we are leaving tomorrow.

I think anyone who has moved houses, towns or countries and later gone back to visit the place they left will understand this one. It has probably happened to most of us. In our case it has happened often and when kids are involved it gets a bit trickier. 

This is particularly relevant now as I started these blogs as a way of transitioning myself from one country to another. In this case, moving from New Zealand to England. If you go back to the beginning of Collage of Life,  you will read about my thoughts on moving. If you go back to the early days of In One Place, you will find even more...that was my secret hiding place. If you go back to Finding My Way, you will find photos and thoughts on our new home in England. If you go to the B-Well Report, you will find posts on how I keep my sanity thru all of the above :)  All of this started in October 2009.  

I have written 662 posts since my first post on 24 October . I was told that one of the best ways to deal with emotions is to write about them and I have been pounding away at the keys ever since and loving every minute of it. It all came from one simple line 'shape that thoughts that stir within'.  Hey..it is cheaper than therapy, right?


The best part is that we are hopping on a plane tomorrow and going back to visit two of my children, Miss Tine and Patrick who are attending University in New Zealand and Australia. An added bonus it that we are also going to the welcoming arms of dear friends too.


I had a dream last night and have not stopped smiling since. The doorbell rang in my dream and I opened the door and there were my two oldest yelling 'surprise'. To have all my family under one roof for any amount of time would be one of the most precious gifts I could receive. It makes the packing that much sweeter.


There is a life here that we all enjoy and are settling into nicely. There are points in time when you feel 'the shuffle'..the shuffle of emotions. The ones that make you feel like you are on a roller coaster and you are not sure if you want to get off or keep going. 


Three months, six months and a year are major turning points. Every book written about life changes and moving talks about them. We are at the six month point and traditionally when we go back we leave happy for the visit but also happy to return to our lives in our new home country. It is sort of a rite of passage. Sounds strange but it works. Well, it works but you do have to keep your fingers crossed that it will all go according to plan. We all know what life is like and it is those little mysteries that keeps us on our toes.


Hence, Collage of Life,  all of this is what life is made of. For me it centers around the home.......be it ever so humble, there is no place like home. In our case...make that times four...America, England, Australia and New Zealand. I really do hope it stops there!


I think Miss Claire's paintings say it all. 'Kia Ora' is hello in Maori.  Her first love is soccer and this is her running thru all the countries she has lived in. 

With that I say  E noho ra (good bye)

but not for long...in fact when you least expect it,

I will be back :)

Best wishes for a glorious weekend!!

Jeanne :)

Poetry of Home

Friday morning

a file of torn pages

no rhyme or reason

from lots of magazines over the years

memories of New England

A peaceful morning

filling a basket with hydrangeas...

smell of fresh cut grass

rocking chair and ice tea waiting...

A busy mud room

excited voices ready to play....

Nantucket nautical breakfast room

coffee brewing on the stove...

looking out to sea

   listening to music....

made in New England

     relaxing with a good book.....

an artists corner

adding another thought or two...

the end of the day

chamomile tea and Robert Frost...

Note:

Can I just say that I am in this peaceful mode because my lovely children have been away for three days on school trips. One to France and the other to Spain. I have been galavanting around London for the past two days without a care in the world. Each morning I passed the dishes, the laundry pile, the beds and pranced out the door to catch the train, as giddy as a school girl. Managed two museum exhibits , lots of breaks in cafes and a dinner in town with Mr. H.  It was a vacation in itself.  I am taking the day to have a 'domestic' and am ready to tackle the mess. Well, sort of, does blogging count as work???

Can't wait to see the kids and hear about their adventures. I saw the images above and thought of the heart of a home and the simple things we do that bring so much joy.

Ok..off to work!

Best wishes for a wonderful, wonderful and fabulous weekend :)

Jeanne

Images

I will do my best here, they are from all over....

Image 1-3 Remodeling Ideas Magazine June/July 2003

Image 4-8 Elle Decor, assorted issues

Blogs by Jeanne

Collage of Life~one woman's view

In One Place~thinking about a creative life

Finding My Way~ discovering England

B-Well Report~ wellness

Mary's flowers

I love these photos.  My friend Mary has a beautiful home in Nantucket, the sort of home you never want to leave. We had just sat down at the end of a glorious summer day. The table was set, the wine was being poured and I thought it was one of those moments in time that needed to be remembered with a photo. I am so glad I did as it has brought me years of enjoyment.

Images created by me in Nantucket

Collage of Life

There is nothing worse than being homesick, 
especially the kind that reaches right in and sits heavy on your heart. 
I found the best way to 'let it all out' was to create a painting that represented 
everything I felt at the time. I discovered many things about myself 
and thru the months it took to create the painting I slowly felt at ease 
and found comfort. The images and words are 'home'. 
 It has been several years since I created it and to this day 
it still brings a smile every time I see it. The driving force are the words 
in the center of the painting.. 'Shape the thought that stirs within.' 
I called the painting 'Collage of Life'. 
It seemed a natural for the name of this blog as well. 
It has become another outlet for me to shape the thoughts that stir within.

painting~ me