I was leaving a shop in downtown Jackson, Ohio when I happened to look up. Check out this view. All these brightly painted buildings really popped against the gloomy sky. Rain was coming but it didn’t matter because the colors were so pretty.
Whether you look at this photo and see a gloomy sky or pretty buildings is up to you. Just know that life is a little easier when you embrace the happy colors than when you only focus on the bad.
Have a great Monday, friends. Go look for something beautiful today!
There’s something exhilarating about watching the sun wake the day while you venture out to see what the world has to offer. When the weather is nice, I like to open the windows and I always have good tunes to set the tone.
One of my favorite things about a good road trip is actually ditching the car to explore on foot. There’s nothing better than finding a nice downtown, parking the car, and taking a walk.
That’s how you see the things the car window cannot show you. It’s surprising how many historic plaques, flower boxes, alleyway murals, and nice patches of shade you’ll find when beating the pavement. Of course, this doesn’t include the smells and sounds you miss with the windows rolled up.
Ah, I just reread that last sentence. I suppose I should change it to say “with the windows closed” but I’m a young Gen Xer and car windows in my vocabulary will always be rolled. And I’m ok with that.
On pavement, you’re more apt to wander into a nice shop or to say hello to a stranger. You may even find yourself enticed by the aromas of a bakery or cafe so that you go in to sit a while.
A good road trip always includes a good road trip snack and lunch. That’s part of the fun. I don’t make the rules. That’s just how it works.
Some towns reveal many secrets on these walks. Brick sidewalks and pocket parks, chalk drawings and cats in shop windows are some favorite things to discover.
I like to take pictures of things I see both to have a record of the journey and because it changes the way I perceive the world. Looking, not for the best picture, but the most honest one is my technique these days.
Depending on how far you go, a road trip could be just for the day or for many days. It could cost you some lunch and some gallons of gas or it could be an all out Thelma and Louise adventure. Just don’t end it the way they did!
By the way, I’ve been to Canyonlands National Park in Utah where they shot that movie. Now THAT was an epic road trip. If you ever get a chance, Utah is a wonderful road tripping state.
But there are things to explore all across this great nation. So exit the interstate and look for the interesting.
These little towns, city neighborhoods, and rural roads through forests and farmland are the beating heart of this country. It’s where life happens. So take the drive but remember the journey is the destination. Slow down to enjoy it. Slow down and make the journey fun.
PS- The dog pictured isn’t mine but I spotted him in a car parked next to me recently and he seemed like a good (if not judgmental) boy waiting to feel the wind in his ears.
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published on September 22, 2024. Today seems like a good time to revisit it as a gentle nudge that patriotism can be found, not just in the fireworks, but in the quieter places too.
Silence is underrated. So is being in the presence of history. Once in a while, I’m fortunate to find myself in a place so heavy with significance that you can feel the sacredness vibrate through your body if you know how to listen for it in the silence.
I’m grateful that I appreciate these things and that I know how to wait for the vibrations.
Day two of our Philadelphia adventure was marvelously packed with all kinds of good things. Breakfast from a cute cafe around the corner, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross’ home, a ridiculously good lunch at an Irish Pub, shopping, and the list goes on. We really packed it in.
But at some point that day, we found ourselves having just escaped a chaotic place and standing on the sidewalk outside Christ Church.
This church was founded in 1695 and is the birthplace of the American Episcopal Church. This building was constructed in 1744 and the steeple was added ten years later thanks to a fundraiser organized by Benjamin Franklin.
Those founders of our nation who believed in the concept of separation of church and state? Many of them worshiped here.
George Washington, John Adams, Robert Morris (financier of the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution), Benjamin Rush (signer of the Declaration of Independence, members of the Continental Congress and many others prayed here, knelt here and sought spiritual guidance for the revolutionary ideas that helped to build a new nation.
It was five bucks to go in and look around. Ten for a guided tour. All the money goes back to the preservation of the property and they have done a great job at that.
Friends, I got to sit in the pew where Betsy Ross worshiped. I got to sit as the world went by around me and consider the perspective that she had on the world while she was quietly sewing her place into American history.
There were a few other visitors like us. My friend chatted with a volunteer. I sat quietly and soaked in my surroundings. I wasn’t interested in talking or learning. I didn’t want to make new friends. I wanted to just absorb the air around me, to feel the pew, to notice how the floor felt beneath my feet and to appreciate the soaring ceiling that reached toward the heavens.
It was the most peace I have felt in a long time and I was beyond grateful to have that experience.
We were preparing to leave when three women marched in the front door, past the sign with admission details and started past the young woman who was selling admission tickets. She was extremely polite as she welcomed the ladies and let them know there is a $5 admission. The women looked annoyed and one said “well, it isn’t worth that!” They turned and left without even saying thank you.
Don’t be those women. Be a nice visitor. Pay attention to your surroundings and at least be polite to the volunteers or the low paid service workers who are there to help. Honestly, the experience I had in that old church was worth more than the price of admission. Not to mention, it goes to a good cause. Imagine the weight of responsibility being caretakers for such an important piece of our nation’s history.
I walked away completely at peace, breathing better and feeling more equipped to take on the rest of the day. It was well worth the time and money to have such a close brush with our nation’s past on sacred ground. Worship in person or visit them online for information.
A couple of years ago, I discovered a publication called Bella Grace. It’s a thick, perfect bound magazine on quality paper. There are no ads. The photos are soft and the ideas are sharp.
It’s timeless and well done.
Basically, it’s the opposite of everything else that’s popular these days.
They aren’t selling products and ways to fix yourself. They are shining a light on calm and beauty in this world. They give you stories and writing prompts to make you think. Reader submissions are creative, thought provoking and sometimes so familiar it’s exciting to know there are others out there who think like you. It’s also sometimes mindset changing to read thoughts from people who are different. This is how we learn.
Bella Grace is about making the everyday special and making hard days easier. It’s about making the good stuff magical.
In short, it’s a soothing balm for my nervous system that I didn’t even know I needed.
I’ve only seen it in two stores in Ohio – Barnes and Noble and Joseph Beth Booksellers on Cincinnati so it feels like a special occasion when get to pick one up. It ain’t cheap but it’s not a throw away piece either. I keep my past issues lined up together on a bookshelf and always have one or two lying around the house. They are great rereads because you always spot something new.
They also publish a companion piece called “Bella Grace Field Guide To Everyday Magic.” The new one is more than 130 pages of quotes, worksheets, lists and writing prompts to recall memories, make you think, spark creativity and to help you view your world differently.
One prompt asks in what ways you are like your five year old self. Another is what books you think everyone should read. Others deal with everyday beauty in common things, adventuring in the world and the loveliness of being a homebody.
Perspective is a huge theme because the things some find workaday can be viewed by someone else as having great value.
There’s a two page spread with 31 blocks – a calendar with no dates, if you will. Each block is an inch square. The prompt is to write something about every day. It can’t be too long and can be just snippets like “dark and rainy, read Frankenstein, laughed with a friend.”
This time I’m using mine to write something good that happened every day. Most days are easy. Some are really hard. That’s how life goes.
This week there were good things to report even on the hard days. In fact, it felt like the hard days outnumbered the good. But, as I sit here looking back over the week, it’s hard to focus on the bad when there was so much good. Just this week, I had porch suppers on pretty nights, saw the governor speak at the ribbon cutting of an amazing new community college facility here in my hometown, saw a rainbow, and my dad rescued a kitten from a tree because he’s a really good guy.
That’s not too shabby.
I think half the problem with this world is that people focus too much on the bad and on what scares them. That’s certainly understandable given the social injustices, cruelty, anti- intellectualism, mental health struggles, poverty, closed mindedness, inflation, and narcissism of the general population that exists every day of the week.
Don’t get me wrong. I think about those things too and I worry we are on exactly the wrong path toward the future. Worst of all, I can’t change it. I can only change myself and try to be a role model for decency.
Bella Grace feels like the escape that everyone needs and most people don’t want right now. it’s certainly the escape I need. Less stimulation, prejudice, anger, and all around cruelty and more calm, kindness, and thoughtfulness both inward and toward the perspectives of others are a good start toward a better world.
Be the change you wish to see.
And if you get a chance, pick up an issue of Bella Grace and see what you think! As for me and the 31 days of good things, I’m almost done with my available space. It has been good for my mental health so I think I’ll find another way to keep doing it!
I am not an especially fast reader but I am a devoted one. There have actually been times in my life that I struggled to read – distracted by other things, too tired, and exhausted after my time as an English major at Ohio University – but I never forgot my drive to read.
It has been a bit of a journey for me but has always been important in my life.
When I was quite small, before I could even read, my mother budgeted for a Little Golden Book every time we went to the grocery store. We would start at the Little Golden Book rack so I could pick out a new one. I would sit in the cart, looking at the pictures while she shopped and she would read it to me when we got home. This was quite smart, a distraction that kept me from requesting things not in the budget and instilling in me excitement over new books.
Scholastic book fairs and the monthly flyer we could order from at school were the only good things about school by my estimation. I was shy and typically panicked when called on in class. To this day, most of my classmates probably remember me as an imbecile but I was an imbecile with a decent home library.
An only child living in the country, books were my friends in the absence of other kids. They kept me company, inspired my imagination, and made me curious about writing.
Actually, they made me curious about everything.
As an English major, I read constantly. It was nothing to consume a novel, a Shakespearean tragedy, and fifteen or twenty short stories in a single week. Unfortunately, required reading and all the necessary writing left no time for fun reading. My brain felt bruised long after graduation.
This is actually how I discovered Harry Potter one Winter break. This was back when OU was still on quarters and break lasted from Thanksgiving until January. I devoured those books because they provided the ultimate escape from reality,
After graduation, I gradually began reading for fun again but found myself in ruts that lasted years where I did little more than sit still and hold the book. It was like a worry stone or maybe just a good old fashioned security blanket.
Many years have passed. I still experience periods when I can’t calm my mind enough to read but have been doing well for the last several years. Covid was great for me because I had plenty of time to read and the only adventures available were through the pages of books.
I use the library some and am a huge supporter of libraries. In Ohio, libraries are free to use and anyone can have a library card. Books and audiobooks for all tastes, periodicals, local history materials, events and even items are available to borrow for FREE.
What a gift! I’m glad to see my tax dollars paying for something society needs.
But I mostly prefer to own my books. I like to be the first person to crack open a book and learn its secrets. They’re like little friends waiting to share something special.
I like their cover art and the way they smell. I like the feel of paper in my hands and the weight of it in my bag. I almost always have a book in my bag or beside me on the couch, at the kitchen table or on the front seat of the car.
And that’s how I’m able to read so much. It’s not that I speed read. It’s that I’m an opportunist who prioritizes reading. Doctors’ offices are great places to read while you wait. In the car before an appointment, while eating lunch at my desk, on the porch after work, as I drift off to sleep in bed – these are great reading opportunities.
Entire days will pass without ever seeing the TV turned on in my house. Sometimes I turn on M.A.S.H. reruns in the evenings because I know it all by heart and it’s great noise in the house. It’s also easy background noise for reading
I used to be really fussy about selecting my next book. I’m a mood reader, after all. But it could take me days to choose my next read. These days, I tend to pick up something I’ve been looking forward to and jump right in. If it doesn’t resonate in the first few pages, it typically goes back to the stack of favor of something else.
I’ll come back to it another day.
I also like to switch up my genres. Since I read historical fiction, literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, Appalachian fiction, nonfiction, self help and even fantasy, I can change genres to make sure every book is different than the last and feels fresh. It’s a form of palette cleansing.
Thanks to these habits, I guarantee that reading is part of my every day.
My goal this year is to read 100 books. Will I make it? Who knows and who cares? Meeting the goal isn’t the point at all. Neither is speeding through books so I can.
The point is to keep myself immersed in new worlds and with characters who teach me things and tell me stories. The goal simply keeps me reading and that’s all that matters.
I hit the clearance jackpot at Half Price Books last weekend, bringing home a large bag of books I am eager to read for just $3 each. Honestly, I’ve run out of shelf space again but I don’t care. I like to be surrounded by books – someone put imagination and clarity into their ideas so they could be bound up in pretty covers for others to enjoy.
Why wouldn’t I want them around?
I tend to think of my bookshelves like a wine cellar. You bring home a bottle of wine for the perfect occasion. I do the same with my books.
I will read them when the time is right.
There are some I revisit occasionally. Others I may never revisit in their entirety but will flip through them and read excerpts. They’re all here if I need them. Good friends, they are.
I’m at 59 books for the year and it’s only June so I’m a little ahead of schedule. I’m adventuring a lot less this year to pay for my bathroom remodel so there’s more reading time.
I’ve enjoyed most everything I’ve read this year and that’s the whole point. I’ve DNF’d a few – that’s reader talk for “Did Not Finish.” Every book isn’t for everyone so I pass on the ones I know I won’t want to revisit later.
People act like reading and physical books are dead but I beg to differ. There are lots of bookish events, literary festivals, Facebook groups, and bookstores packed with folks happy to browse and talk books.
I saw a literal fight break out in a readers group on Facebook the other day over audio books. The question was whether audio books count as reading. When I say fight, I mean that if we were in the same room, there would have been a switch blade and some hair pulling involved.
Yikes.
Do audiobooks count? Once again, does it really matter? When I consume a book via audiobook, I always clarify that I listened to it. I do think there’s a difference between reading words on a page and listening to someone tell you a story. When my mother read to me and I listened, I wasn’t reading.
But the consumption of books and ideas is the most amazing thing in the world, if you ask me. And if you prefer to listen or need to listen instead of hold the book, I think that’s terrific. Do that.
No need for a fistfight in the girls’ room.
And I hope that if you are a reader you are also a person who shares book recommendations with friends and, especially with non-readers who need a reason to get excited enough about a story to read or listen for themselves.
It’s never too late to get excited about reading!
So I’ll keep pushing through my endlessly growing stacks. At the rate I’m going, I have enough unread books to keep me entertained for the better part of three years.
But don’t worry. I still brake for bookstores and will continue offering a safe space for all those homeless, friendless books on the shelves.
Are you a reader? Tell me about your preferences when it comes to books and reading! This is a judgment free zone (unless you dog ear) and all are welcome. There will be no fistfights over audiobooks on my watch!
