Good Morning

Burg Hülshoff

As I was walking Winslow around our neighborhood this morning while it was still dark out, I thought to myself how I have always been a morning person.

The bust of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff in the background,
one of Germany's very important poets and writers.
Click here to find out more.  

I can get up early and am fully energized pretty much immediately. Daniel gets up early, but he doesn't talk much. He needs to have some quiet time (and tea) to get going.

I, on the other hand, can talk up a storm and so I talk with Winslow and the kitties. And to myself...

I love that feeling of being up and about while the world around me is still sleeping. There is such a calm and quiet energy about that.

And so this quiet morning I thought I'd show you a few more pictures from the beautiful Münsterland, the area around where my family lives in Germany.

It is extremely gorgeous there in the summer ~ so green and lush!

And very flat, which is why all the castles that were built had moats around them for protection. Very beautiful!

Burg Hülshoff

Water Castle Venne

Water Castle Ittlingen

And here the first signs of fall I saw in Germany. Just like early mornings, I love fall. It is my favorite season and I wish it would arrive already here in Georgia!

The promise of fall always make me think of:

   ❋ that beautiful chill in the air

   ❋ crunchy apples to eat

   ❋ cozy evenings knitting

   ❋ the smell of fires in fireplaces

   ❋ making soups and stews

   ❋ baking bread and pies

   ❋ leaves changing color

   ❋ blustery days outside

   ❋ that golden late-autumn sunshine

   ❋ slower and more inward days

This morning I was almost able to imagine a chill in the air. Almost!

If fall has already arrived in your part of the world, will you send it on over here? Quickly?!

❧ Silke

How do you...

...make sure you take time to smell the flowers? How do you stay balanced in everything you do? I really want to know!

I have a hard time with this - there's so much I want to do, so much I am interested in that I could split myself into four people and still be busy with everything. I find that it's difficult for me to do a little bit of everything every day. You know, that old dilemma of breadth vs. depth...

That means that I'll have a knitting and crocheting phase, when I don't do much else. Then I start painting again and that will take up my time. Last weekend, for example, I finally picked up a book again (first time in weeks) and did a lot of reading. It was wonderful. I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and loved it! But, while we did much outside and took advantage of the beautiful weather...I did no knitting, no blogging, no e-mail even, didn't talk with friends or family, painted a little bit, but not much, didn't visit any of your blogs, etc.

You get the picture, right? The problem is that I love it all, but each interest could be a full-time endeavor. And I didn't even talk about cooking, entertaining, housework, walking Winslow, etc.

As we get into my most favorite fall and winter seasons, I want to make sure that I savor life, that I enjoy all I do, that I have time to tune in to shorter days, cooler temperatures and the quiet strength of winter. I want to get that feeling of introspection and stillness that is so different from the feeling of hectic panic so often experienced the closer with get to the holidays!

So, my question to you is this: How do YOU do it? How do you stay balanced? How you do make sure you have time for everything that's important to you and for yourself? How do stay healthy and happy during this time? I'd really love to know!!

P.S. One tip I have for you readers out there who find themselves short on reading time - audio books! I always have one on my MP3 player and love it! And that's what I'm going take advantage of now -- listen to The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindbergh and travel to Greenland in my mind while getting the house in order!

P.P.S. Some of you are asking about the audio books - I find the best source for them to be our public library! They have them as tapes, CD's and even MP3 downloads. A huge selection of both fiction and non-fiction!

UPDATE

(today's harvest from our little garden)

Well, I've gotten some wonderful comments from you all that have been incredibly helpful! Most of you were telling me to just do what strikes my fancy, what's right in front of me, enjoy doing that and then go on to the next thing. That's exactly what I did today - I just took care of stuff, one after the other, and pretty soon I had lots done, the pressure lifted and then I had time to relax and knit for a while.

I also realized that this isn't really a problem at all - because my dilemma is a very positive one. My dad wrote an e-mail to me saying that he still feels that way - never enough time in the day to do all the wonderful things we want to do. And how important it is to just enjoy what we are doing in the moment and not think about all the other things that are waiting to be explored, to be done, to be created. Let's hope life stays that full for all of us for a very long time!!

Thank you for being my friends!!!