Good morning! It's nice to be back. First of all, I must apologize for having you all add me to your feed readers, only to change my blog address on you. My address is now http://www.quietude.blogspot.com/ Makes a little more sense than the old "bitter gamer" one, no? If you have always wondered, the bitter gamer is my brother, who gave me some webspace years ago. When I first started my blog, I didn't really have plans of making it public, and so didn't worry about the address. However, I eventually got me some visitors, and then when people started asking me for my blog address in real life, I realized how bizarre it sounded. :-P I am just now getting around to changing it, since Blogger has disabled FTP support. I also felt it was time for something a little less "blah" than the white Blogger template. Hope you like it! I think it says, very firmly, that this is a Woman's Blog. Now, if you've been reading Quietude for a while, you probably noticed that I began to gradually lose my blogging steam in the months after my marriage. I eventually got to the point where I was just "guilt-blogging," which is not fun for me or for you. When I first started my blog, I hoped to use it as a chronicle of the quiet joys and beauties of day to day life. Somehow along the way, I veered away from that. Now I am hoping to recapture that first purpose, but also expand and shift my blogging topics to reflect the season of life I am in. My "hobby" interests currently take a back-burner to the more important tasks of being the best wife and mother that I can be, so it may be that I will not have as many posts on vintage clothes, sewing, books, etc. But, I pray that I can find beauty and joy in the humble task of serving those I love best, and share that with you! I'm back! I enjoyed my break from blogging but I'm glad to be back to posting. First of all, I must apologize for having you add me to your feed reader, only to change my address on you! My new blog address is now http://www.quietudeblog.blogspot.com/ Blogger discontinued FTP support recently and it seemed like a good time to switch over to a new address; one that fits my blog a little better than the old one. ;-) (If you have always wondered, the bitter gamer is my brother, who gave me some webspace years ago. When I first started my blog, I didn't really have plans of making it public, and so didn't worry about the address. However, I eventually got me some visitors, and then when people started asking me for my blog address in real life, I realized how bizarre it sounded. But I haven't gotten around to changing it 'til now!) For the time being I will leave the archives up here, but all new posts will be at my new address. So please update your links, feed readers, etc. to point to http://www.quietudeblog.blogspot.com/ See you over there!

Excerpt from my current reading

"One of Laura's earliest memories was of her grandfather coming through the gate and up the end house garden in his old-fashioned close-fitting black overcoat and bowler hat, his beard nicely trimmed and shining, with a huge vegetable marrow under his arm. He came every morning and seldom came empty-handed. He would bring a little basket of early raspberries or green peas, already shelled, or a tight little bunch of sweet williams and moss rosebuds, or a baby rabbit, which some one else had given him -- always something. He would come indoors, and if anything in the house was broken, he would mend it, or he would take a stocking out of his pocket and sit down and knit, and all the time he was working he would talk in a kind, gentle voice to his daughter, calling her 'Emmie.' Sometimes she would cry as she told him of her troubles, and he would get up and smooth her hair and wipe her eyes and say, 'That's better! That's better! Now you're going to be my own brave little wench! And remember, my dear, there's One above who knows what's best for us, though we may not see it ourselves at the time.'"

--Lark Rise by Flora Thompson, published 1939