Sunday, September 03, 2023

Stillness for the Homemaker, Anxiety Prevention, Value of Silence



My Dear Ladies,

The video is at the end of this post. I can be viewed without  ads here.

I hope you have been on your sunrise walk or at least sat somewhere in the sunrise and had your morning moments.
 "It is so refreshing."



All is well here at The Manse, especially before anyone else wakes up.

"Everyone is on their best behaviour."



Today I introduced the subject of stillness at home to restore mind and body.

I read from the Emilie Barnes book,
"The Spirit of Loveliness."


Maybe if we practice a different lifestyle at home than the rest of the world, we can prevent anxiety from settling in the minds of our loved ones. Hopefully we can turn this stress overload around, one home at a time and prevent the onslaught of anxiety in the future generation. I talked about thinking back to the first things that may have triggered distress, and being careful not to push the same thing on our children. What do you think?


In her chapter, "The Spirit of Stillness" she wrote how walking made her feel calm, even though she was exercising.

I have been trying this lady's exercises. She suggests turning her videos on mute and playing your favorite music or sounds.  I take my little device outside in the morning and find one of her 5 minute exercises. I explained on the broadcast how I only follow one or two movements of each exercise if hers are too fast for me. I like that her site has some  health "challenges" , for those who like a program to follow.


Another lady I have enjoyed listening to teaches English using quotes and sayings, and often talks about Jane Austen. I quoted one of the sayings, and here is the link,


Speaking of Marianne, Austen wrote:
"She was without any power,
because she was without any desire
of command over herself."

I read from Ephesians chapter 4, and here
is the last verse:

"Be kind to one another, 
tenderhearted, 
forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave you."

I explained more of why I liked this chapter, in the broadcast. That last verse sounds like a great theme for the home.


Thank you for listening!!  I love your thoughtful comments and your insights too.
Lydia Ruth









Friday, September 01, 2023

Poems For Every Day Life



Greetings wonderful ladies!
Please tell people you know to come to the blog to listen to the broadcast. There are no ads to deal with.

If you have any problems leaving comments, just email me your comment to be posted 
ladylydiaspeaks@comcast.net
and I will post it for you.

I'm so taken with the misty look of the distant forest today.

Today I read poems that apply to life at home. I will list them at the end of this post and you can read them online. I suggested you print off poetry that has meaning for you and put it in a book for your family.

"We are enjoying very nice weather."

Some books I reviewed today, which I chose for my own personal self improvement curriculum:

The Jane Austen Diet (a health book--no particular "diet" but basic health principles found in Austenworld)
A Little Book of Manners for Boys
A Little Book of Manners for Young Ladies
by Emilie Barnes
Diary of an Early American Boy--wonderful drawings and instructions for learning how to do things.
All are from Thrift Books online.

Poems I Read in this Video
You may want to print these and put them in a notebook to use as basic thought skills for life

A Mother's Prayer:Give Me Patience When Little Hands..
a reminder to respond to children with kindness and pleasantness

Hurry the Baby by Nixon Waterman
a favorite, full of profound thoughts about the dangers of rushing children into adult life...causing so much anxiety in adulthood 

Do Something For Somebody Quick by Theresa Piercy
for boredom, discouragement or hopeless feelings

Suppose by Phoebe Cary
when things go wrong

Don't Worry Little Girl by Edgar Guest
not to worry 

At the Door by Edgar Guest
don't bring the world home

Little Things by Julia Carney, 1845
how little efforts help to accomplish big things

Patiently, Thought by Thought by James Dillet Freeman
how our thoughts help us develop good habits
I was not able to find this on the web but there are a number of other good poems online by this author.

How to Be Happy (Do Something For Somebody)
a slightly different version than the one I listed above

I Slept and Dreamed That Life Was Beauty
attention to duty is what creates the beautiful life we all want

The Man Who Thinks He Can by Walter D. Wintle
learning to think on the achievement side of life--good teaching for learning how to develop certain character qualities like cheerfulness, truthfulness, respect, and more, as well as achieving success in learning skills.

Try Try Again by T. H. Palmer
One of the most common sources of discouragement is not having a skill and not wanting to practice or take the little steps to learn and accomplish something. 

Don't Quit by John Greenleaf Whittier
Similar to "Try, Try Again" the message says when you get discouraged, rest a little but don't quit. As a caution, be sure the goal is worthwhile and achievable.

It Couldn't Be Done by Edgar Guest
of all this collection of motivating poems, this is my favorite. So many times over the years someone will say "you can't do that," or "you will fail" or "its a waste of time."  I loved the last verse, "There are plenty to tell you it cannot be done. There are plenty to prophesy failure."

Worthwhile by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
show how unhappy circumstances can be turned around by smiling through the strife and rising above hardship

         
I appreciate your readership and hope it benefits you in some way.
Lydia Ruth





Monday, August 21, 2023

Happiness at Home, Homeschool Prep, And I Don't Know What Else

Greetings ladies!


I hope you are all doing the best you can at home today.


In this video I read about the subject of happiness from several books, 
and also discussed ways to get ready for homeschooling. 


Dress fabric:  Brother-Sister Designs from Hobby Lobby
Teacup: Brewed to a Tea (BTAT)


Please enjoy some of the things you need to do while you listen:

I see YouTube has put ads on my videos. If you watch on the blog, the videos might not have ads. I’m working on uploading videos straight from my own computer and not having a host like YouTube.
                  

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Health and Happiness



Today I shared a couple of hardback editions of vintage books from Lamplighter, which someone generously sent me. I'm sold on them and want my whole library to have these beautiful hardbacks. They are lovely to hold, and the pages are quality; I also like the size of the print. 

Dress I wore:
Fabric--Fabric Traditions 
Teacup-- Brew to a Tea (BTAT)



Last month my daughter and her children re-designed the front flower beds of the Manse and I'm so glad they did. It is one weight off my mind of the myriad of things that need to be straightened up around here. Every time I walk out the door, those gardens give me peace.

Miss Lillian enjoyed  reading outside, with the Manse in the background.

In this video I talked about the connection between cheerfulness and health, reading from The Jane Austen Diet by Bryan Kowslowski.

I so appreciate your viewership and your encouragement to keep providing this service to homemakers.
Please enjoy doing something at home while you listen today. My videos are not supposed to have ads. Please let me know if any ads come up and I'll get them removed. Thank you.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Keep Your Routine




Thank you for your visit today!! 

 I hope you enjoy the broadcast,  which is at the end of this post.

I talked about having your own routine while people are in your home. I read from The Jane Austen Diet book about the mind-body connection and how people of Jane Austen's era knew something about taking care of their mind and getting away from the world for some peace and quiet.


We also learned the old expression for goodbye, which was so much better: "Please accept my best wishes for your health and happiness."


Dress fabric: April Cornell by the yard 
Tea Cup: Home Goods.

I hope you have great success at home today with your family harmony and your homemaking responsibilities. Thank you for praying for me and for your encouragement to keep publishing, and thank you for your comments.

Lydia Ruth

            

Friday, August 18, 2023

Summer Camp at Home, Jane Austen Tea


Please enjoy your home while you listen to the broadcast:

I addressed several subjects in this video. In the beginning I mentioned that I learned about the old custom of protecting the ends of your hair. You can listen to it on THIS VIDEO.

During the "Summer Camp" at The Manse, our daughter and her children re-created the front flower beds. They had one rule from me: please don't buy anything or spend money.  They used whatever they could find and did a very professional job. They worked in the evenings when it was cool, for about a week. 

Miss Lillian went for her morning walk, wearing one of the dresses she posted about on 
HER BLOG.

Mr. S. donated some floats for our stock tank, which I happily used for the de-stress floating assignment I gave myself.

The dress I wore during the video, 
and the matching teacup.
Fabric: Shabby Fabrics
Teacup: Home Goods (TJ Maxx)


We made things with brown paper and heavy string:



Some of them created a tea company and hired their mother  to work for them, filling the tea bags.


For more details please watch the video.
Lydia Ruth

Sunday, August 13, 2023

An Irish Hymn for this Lord’s Day


I am getting closer to a time to talk to you!!! Thanks for praying for that. At the end of the video there is a playlist you can click for continuous wonderful hymns to calm and lift you up for the tasks ahead of you at home. I noticed SE Somante channel, which I use a lot here, has allowed ads,  and previously did not, which you can click off. That spoils the smooth transition of these songs from one to another, but still I hope you enjoy.

Lydia

Saturday, August 05, 2023

The Slow Life at Home

 


Hello,
I’m missing the broadcasts to you. I have not quit. I should use my scientific sleuthing skills to find a time and place for a stealth broadcast.

We have filled the stock tank, added floats, and there is always someone indulging in "floating therapy", our new health-care idea.



Harvest was more noisy than ever and the machinery was so big,  it was like a hotel going past. I didn’t think to get a photo.

During a visit to the Hobby Lobby I saw a lot of wall art depicting very similar scenes to the ones we have before us here.

Th children have been making music and picking flowers..


The little green apples are growing wild.



The children said I needed some different toys, so they made telephones from paper cups and rope and showed me how to answer a call.

They fill the Manse with signs. Every room, space, object or activity has a  name.

They are very interested in the things that can be done with twine. The 5 year old made a present for me. It is a bracelet and a bow for my hair. I hope I remember to wear it in my next video. Maybe it will create a trend and the rich and royalty will catch on. 

Upon rising, they decide the location of their vacation house.  They want to get the most out of it. Today we are visiting a desert.


A few pictures I took when I  was browsing around while waiting for some of the children to finish their shopping:





This is a very successful ice cream recipe my daughter used when she was younger. She has since learned to make it without sugar, using heavy cream, cream cheese and adding diced peaches.


Do you see what happened here? On the rare moment this room is empty of projects and people, we amazed ourselves with the pristine appearance, and declared it off-limits to the residents for 5 minutes. Notice the roped-off museum-esque area. 

Yes I know he needs to improve his spelling but we are all in a perpetual developmental stage of learning. I agree with his spelling of museum. That is how it should be spelled. The designer of this sign is 11 years old. He's our futuristic/historical descendant. 

This is what it reads:

MEUSIUM  EXHIBIT

Family living room Circa 2020's

This was in an era when DVD players were popular and computers had CD players. 
 
Note the REAL piano.  Back in this time people practiced the ancient art of  REAL piano playing. 

Also note the analog clock. This clock was a style of looking at the hands which pointed to the time.

The electric lamps you see had to be plugged in and manually turned on and off, in stead of receiving electricity via wifi, and being turned on and off with a command.

These people were into tea drinking, and had never heard of "taste fluid."  Also their kettle used electricity, not heating pads. 
**************************************

My comment:  Before this time, the Victorians, in the day of our grandmothers and great-great grandparents, were great inventors and had non-electric record players, as well as ice pads to keep foods cold, and heating pads for hot things.  They could heat water without electricity. 
…………………….


The grown grandchildren and the younger ones helped produce a play called “The Shipwreck” using the narrative in Acts 26, 27 and 28.

With props made from brown paper grocery sacks and other disposable household items like straws , tissues and tape, the structure and workings of a ship of that era was explained as best we could.

Since the stage was limited to a small space here, most of the drama was pantomime and charade style.I especially enjoyed the way the sailors pretended to do something with the anchors but were trying to use the lifeboat and leave the ship. Paul had told them not to leave the ship. He was a prisoner at the time, but the ships captain took a liking to him and listened to his advice.

Words like bow, stern, fore, aft, leeway, lee, cable, ship’s boat, main sail, foresail, sounding, put-in, put-out, bay, harbor, inlet, coast, reef, and weigh anchor, gear, cargo, tackle—all from the chapters of that historical record in Acts, were  defined and demonstrated with the brown paper boat made by the 11 year old. 

The 5 year old was overjoyed to be pretending. Why just the other day he came to my sewing room to tell me he was in “ pretending mode” so I wouldn’t be alarmed at all but the jumping and running. Later, he said he was on “ pretend pause.”

A quick side note  here: I’m jumping much better since he has been around. I haven’t really jumped, hopped or skipped in years but I’m trying to skip more. He reminds me every day!

A brief time was spent explaining the way anchors were used, and various anchor designs. An anchor could be made by using a bag of cement, but more sophisticated anchors had parts (with names) and functions of each point and curve. 

With great drama, the captain of the ship, the apostle Paul, the prisoners, and the ship crashed.  I personally don’t care for loudness and commotion of any kind,  with a reaction to sudden crashes, but the boys loved having permission to make a big ruckus. 

As there was a terrible storm in the script (Acts 27 was the script) we had to find some things to make thunder and rain. A large piece of kitchen foil and a paper bag  did the job and they got great satisfaction shaking it all around noisily. 

I had saved thick pieces of corrugated cardboard  and those cardboard pieces from fabric stores which fabric is wrapped around, to use as loose boards from the wrecked ship for hanging on to as they all floated to safety to the island of Malta. 

The photo of the living room shows the floor where the ocean was. The couch was Malta. 

I plan to read this play to you and make comments about it in a future video.
 *****************
Ladies, I want you to take care of yourselves and do what you need for spiritual and physical strength and revival. Those daily luxuries will pay off dividends later.
~~~~~~~~~

In a future post or broadcast I will relate what all we did when an uncle, one of my sons, spent a day with us.  It was better than going "somewhere else" for mental re-creation and emotional relaxation.

Please be sure and go to my Pinterest, because I have added some ideas.

I have always loved dressing to "go with" the area---from by the sea to in the field. On Pinterest I find paintings with that same sentiment.


Below: Painting by James V Griffin
(I want that outfit )

I love you all,


Lydia Ruth