the meaningful glow: a weekly archive
flights, Mary Oliver, books, cycles, and all things yummy.
As the week comes to a close, I am preparing to fly to Arizona early Friday morning with the baby and my mother, meeting my brother there, to see my Grandpa. He is 84 and while steady at the moment, heart troubles have led to some urgency in wanting to see him. My grandfather is a former Navy Nurse, born and raised in Taunton, Massachusetts to a Portuguese family. He met my Grandmother, Eileen, when they were children. Also Portuguese, they had a lot in common and married young. Though the marriage didn’t last, I have faint memories of visiting their house when I was a girl. Apparently I speed dialed my grandpa once while my mom was in the shower. When I stayed with them, silver dollar pancakes were always waiting at their local diner.
Grandpa takes after his photographer father and crafty mother - he recently sent me his giant sewing and embroidery machine that I have no idea how to use, but someday will figure out. He still has his Massachusetts accent after all these years, laughs in a high-pitched whine when you really get him going, and always ends a phone call with “I love you, God Bless You” before hanging up without giving you a chance to say anything else. I cannot wait to see him, but I must admit my sadness that he’s never gotten to meet Roan as an older child, or to meet Quinn at all.
Trips like these tend to hold happiness over being together, aches for the reason you are. I’m so glad I get to go.
life with small beings
Quinn, the 3 year old, discovered his love of being pushed as high as humanly possible on the swing. Swinging is my personal favorite and his delight was contagious. Roan was fascinated that I could push both of them at the same time. Years of practice, bub.
This week we read on the couch often, mostly the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems and its offshoots, like this one by Laurie Keller:
Funny books are a new enjoyment around here and I’m loving it. My inner theatre major really gets to let loose with voices and exaggerated emotions. Seeing my kid’s senses of humor develop is simply the best. Sean and I are snarky people who fell in love over laughter (and food), so it’s only fitting that we are heading this direction.
learning & listening
In the last couple of years I have become more interested in paying better attention to my monthly cycles. Growing up they were something I dreaded, but I didn’t have a concept of which part of my cycle was contributing to my different experiences, moods, or energy levels.
After learning how each week correlates to a season, I started to get really curious about the patterns I presented from month to month. I highly recommend using a mood tracker app if you haven't already. I use Daylio, it’s very customizable and I am enjoying the stats feature now that I’ve been using it for 2 months.
Recently I decided to take it a step further to notice how my cycle correlated with creativity. I purchased a course by Nicole Gulotta called The Writing Cycle, and I am getting so much from it.
For further reading:
on the table
My friend Paige over at OurHomePaige on Instagram has the BEST, easiest, one bowl recipe for Applesauce Bread. It is my go-to this time of year and it’s why I buy extra large containers of applesauce. I tend to use coconut oil and coconut sugar, but you can use whatever you like.
For dinner, I have made this also incredibly simple recipe called “Yummy Sauce” for salmon twice now - we just love it. It’s from a cookbook by Alana Chernila called The Homemade Kitchen, but if you head to this post you will find its true origins and how to make it. As a young girl, Chernila and her mother were a part of a a New Age spiritual choral group which gathered by a conference center called Spring Hill. They released a cookbook, and there you will find Yummy Sauce.
*Note: I have been using coconut aminos with great success, about 2-3 Tbsp. Start with 1 Tbsp and increase slowly until the desired flavor is reached.
Thank you for reading along. I truly enjoy sharing these things with you each week. Please reply or comment below with what you are reading, listening to, cooking, or what is simply bringing contentment to your life. What have you done for yourself today?
Remember - you are always worth the time.
Warmly,
Jessica