Over the weekend I finally got around to reading the first of my twelve serial reads installments of Gladys Taber's Stillmeadow Calendar. As the book is divided into monthly chapters covering the months of the year it is a perfect book to dip into each month. I want to read each chapter in one sitting and 'January' was read sipping a hot tea in cafe--a cozy afternoon spent in the presence of a charming and cozy book, and I had to stop myself from reading on.
The book was published in 1967 and I suspect that the chapters were loosely written to reflect her experiences over the course of the year or maybe even over many Januaries as experienced at Stillmeadow. Taber was first and foremost a writer so while she writes in diary format I think she is simply evoking time and place. You definitely get the sense of the rhythms of the year and the seasons as they occurred, so I wonder if it is also more a composite of her life at Stillmeadow. Although Taber had been married and writes about her children and grandchildren she and a good friend (called Jill in this book) bought Stillmeadow together and I hope to learn more about their friendship. Jill is briefly mentioned as having spent the new year together with Gladys, but it was to be their last before Jill passed away.
I'm sure each chapter will offer inspiration to write about it in some particular way each month, but I think this time out I will just share a few quotes that I jotted down in my own journal--a few sentiments that are especially pleasing and noteworthy to me and will set the tone for the rest of the book and maybe for the rest of 2019.
"There is, I have found, at least one good or lovely thing in every single day. Everyone has sorrow, endures difficult times, but loveliness abides if we look for it."
***
"When I go out with the cockers and Holly (her dogs--a couple of which were Cocker Spaniels), I sometimes look to see how many branches came down in the last ice storm. Winter does her own pruning. And I think that, as the new year begins, I might well do some pruning in my own life, keeping essentials, the real values, and letting go the part of my life that is no longer contributing to the growing time of my spirit."
***
"Life is not, for most of us, a pageant of splendor buy is made up of many small things, rather like an old-fashioned piecework quilt. No two people have the same, but we all have our own, whether it is listening to Beethoven's Fifth with a beloved friend or seeing a neighbor at the back door with a basket of white dahlias. Or after a long, hard day having the family say, 'That was a good supper'."
Reading her writing is truly a delight. Stillmeadow sounds pretty amazing and I think it will be lovely to hear about the seasons in New England. January is a time of beginnings and this was a perfect little mini read. So many wise things to think about at the start of each new year--I am already looking forward to February.