June Stuff • Slow Living Notes •

June, you are finished, done, no longer. It feels like a blink of the eye. Now that I am reflecting on each month, I realise that it makes time go by so quickly. Instead of wishing time away or wishing time backwards, as I was prone to do, I am so much more aware of time. I am more aware of this kind of stuff now.

June was about finding whales... we took a trip out to whale watch, and it was magical.

Seeing the Whales put a lot of 'stuff' into perspective

Whale watching has commenced,these amazing mammals put all the 'stuff' into perspective.

What is ‘stuff”?

According to the English dictionary (via google) “Stuff is an informal noun, referring to substances, materials or an unspecified collection of things. As a verb, it means to pack or fill something tightly.

For this blog post, I will be referring to “stuff” as a noun.

It is funny, the moment I declare how settled I am now in this new home and life (you can read about it here), we found out that our beautiful bay rental house is being sold. Just as we breathed out a sigh of relief, convinced for some reason that the lease would continue on.  But no, life, has another plan for us and all our stuff.

Our new walking track, the dog loves it, and I love the views

We have found a new walking track just down the road. The dog and I both love it.

Well of course I realised that our rental would not be ours for ever. And of course I realised that the lease could end in a year. Yes I said at the beginning, when this wild idea of selling up nearly everything we owned, including our dream home.  This was part of the adventure! We could live in lots of different homes. I laughed at this delightful scene of living in many beautiful homes.

But what I did not envision was that time could move so quickly. I mean a year just goes by so fast. How did I never realise this before? And of those boxes of stuff! I had all the intentions of sorting through and donating alot of stuff. Well I did get rid of some. In particular the Christmas boxes when I decided I would never celebrate Christmas again. I donated most of our Christmas ‘stuff’.

I'm really enjoying my solo walks around the bay and along the pathways.

And what about my studio, and all that ’stuff’? It was supposed to be condensed. But somehow it looks like I have doubled all the ’stuff’ despite only purchasing when it was desperately needed. How did that even happen?

And although I am trying to be positive about moving again, the husband is not. Moving all the stuff again he said, visibly shaking.

I just remember how much ‘stuff’ we did get rid of when we sold the dream house. We even sold the dining table! Not to mention the washing machine and dryer! Now,we are going to have to purchase more ‘stuff!”

But l’m getting distracted, let’s talk about my studio. I’m so pleased that things have continued to chug along again. Slowly, but with a few more orders of handmade knits; booties, rompers and bonnets. My hands and heart were happy once again. I do so love to create.

Some of the beautiful custom orders I was able to create.

One of the highlights from the studio this month has been the coincidental making of the Slow Granny Baby Blanket. You can read about it here. And the fact that it resonated with so many people. I love that people, well, women are seeing this pattern and want to create their own. To know that women are taking the time out of their busy day to create is a revolution.

The Slow Granny Baby Blanket

Somewhere along the line it became irresponsible or foolish for women to slow down and take time to work on something with their hands. Women resting, engaging in leisure activities? It was frowned upon. There are may reasons for this and it blows my mind. When I think about it, really think about all this ‘stuff’.

Why did it become shameful for a woman to rest, to indulge in the pursuit of creativity? Was it passed on from religious doctrine that it was the women’s fortune to work/look after everyone? Was it from our mothers who grew up watching their own mothers working all day in paid work and/or housework? Let’s face it, housework looked a lot different back then. There was so much more ’stuff’ that needed to be done.

Yet, so many studies have attested to the importance of wellbeing for people, especially women (as they don’t usually do it) to take time to create. It is so important. And I know what happens if you don’t indulge yourself, when you don't give yourself time to create, to rest or simply be. I have lived it. Burn out is real, and wellbeing is not a luxury.

Me, so happy that this kit is going to help another women's wellbeing.

But I digress. My point is that I am so pleased that something that I teach, something that I have created, is helping other women find that moment of joy. The joy in creating. These women can create their own joyful stuff.

So what is the ‘stuff’ that I have loved this month?

All three books are highly recommended this month!

The book Ciao Bella by Kate Langbroek has been fabulous. Reading through Kate’s experiences of Italy has been delicious in all scenes of the word. I love that Kate describes the food she eats so delicately and precisely,that I feel like I can actually taste it.

I love how she describes truthfully her life of a mother, how she is so tired, and the melt downs that her and her family experience. It’s so truthful about the family stuff. And now I don’t need to go to Italy as I feel like Kate’s descriptions have been turned into my own memories.

I did find it extremely difficult to ‘get into’ a tv show this month. With the exception of From. My daughter insisted that we would love it and as I was so scared of being frightened we watch it together, through the day only. And I loved it

Then thanks to the continuous watching of the FIFA World Cup on SBS I have stumbled on new shows. And can I just say The Dry is brilliant. It’s all about a family, who are real and who are all individually going through all of their own stuff. The living stuff. It also makes me slightly nervous to down size our home, just in case the children come back to live with us in another 10 years. And bring back all their stuff!

Taking some time out for my own projects this month

So what did June teach me?

It taught me not to get too comfortable in life because eventually some of your ‘stuff’ raises to the surface and you have to make new choices and decisions.

It taught me that I could go 5 weeks without a migraine, even if I am doing all of the ‘right’ stuff.

And that I will always have ‘stuff’ that I have to deal with. Even if I hide it in a big house with lots of cupboards.

The ’stuff’ will always, eventually have to be sorted.

Make sure you do something just for yourself today,

Melissa

My local library has puzzles that can be collectivaly worked on. This looks impressive, but I made myself add 2 pieces to each puzzle. Feels like I am doing a puzzle, without bringing more 'stuff' into the house.