melladys

[melladys]

Re-starting the Fire

Last night, my little family had our first cookout and fire of the autumn season. After hot dogs and smores were eaten, Kiddo went inside and left me and their dad to our drinks and apple pie Oreos by the firebowl. As the flames flickered and died down and the sticks within the bowl began to smoke, we just sat in contented conversation. Then, quietly and determinedly, the embers seemed to find…

[melladys]

Craving the Change (Again!)

I have lingered in the longering days and now I am craving again. The meterologists say that it’s our first “false Fall” of the season, with temperatures starting to dip and mellow out. They say it won’t last, but I do not care if it is “false”. Gimme! Give me cooler days and much cooler nights. Give me fall-scented candles and cozy cuddles under blankets. Give me bonfires and fireplaces,…

[melladys]

What's Saving My Life at the End of Summer

A Recliner: Husband’s den is now home to two comfy rocker-recliners instead of a futon. The one to the left is Husband’s because it offers the best angle of the television, and I have claimed the other one. It is glorious! I love to sit there, next to my person, and do my thing while he games. Needless to say, I have fallen asleep multiple times in said recliner, safe and warm and comfy. I love…

[melladys]

What is Saving My Summer Life

 June is done (uggggggh!), and I hate the idea that it’s almost half over. But here is what is saving my life in these summer months. Dresses – I am a deep lover of flowy, graceful dresses. Stores like Altar’d State and JessaKae were absolutely made for my aesthetic, if not my wallet. Dresses have always helped me feel my glorious as a feminine figure. Over the past few years, I have leaned into…

[melladys]

For the Love of my Forties

I recently became the “answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”! In other words, I turned 42, and, once again, Jen Hatmaker was right! I find that I am still fiercely in love with my forties. I cannot fully explain just why I love it so much, but I do believe that part of it is that there is a freedom that I feel in being in my forties. A freedom to do as I want,…

[melladys]

Lingering in the Lazy

My Spring Break has come to an end, and I was sad to see it go, but it was a lovely nine days. Long and deliciously lazy. I largely spent the days bundled up in a blanket on the couch, my purring cat in my lap, and a book in my hands. However, what I enjoyed the most about Spring Break was the absolute lack of any guilt at doing absolutely nothing. I enjoyed it so very much and felt no guilt…

[melladys]

Embracing the Season

In December of 2024, and then revisited on the January 24, 2025, edition, All Things Considered profiled Kari Leibowitz and her study of the “wintertime mindset”. Fascinated by the data that pointed to countries at higher latitudes having fewer instances of seasonal depression during the winter, Leibowitz decided to see for herself. Relocating to the Article Circle in Norway, she spent a long,…

[melladys]

Lingering in the Slow

12 January 2025 In today’s Call to Worship, Ben read a piece from Richard Foster, which started, “My soul is noisy…” and it hit home like a flick on the nose. How often do I stay busy either at the urging of or to keep the noise at bay, or muffled at the very least? How often do I bury myself in work to silence the insistent noise that I should be doing something?  That to rest is weakness,…

[melladys]

Lingering #2

Greeting cards have all been sent; the Christmas rush is through… As the hustle and bustle of the Holidays come to an end and we stretch into these liminal days between Christmas and New Year’s, I find myself wanting to linger on in the softness of the season. I do not want to give up that special, magical quality just yet. As I contemplate resetting the house for the New Year, I find myself…

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Advent 2024 ~ Lingering

Lingering There is a distinctly Midwestern habit that no one can deny, and that is the tendency to linger. It is not only Midwestern but very Caribbean as well. I remember it from my childhood. After-Sunday-dinner dozing in the lawn chairs on my grandmother’s porch while my mother lingered on with her inside at the kitchen table. Lingering over Christmas dinners at a favorite restaurant with…

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Advent 2024 ~ Light

As winter draws through the doorway, ducking its frosty head under the lintel, the days grow gray, colder, and, yes, darker. The lights of our homes conversely grow softer and more golden, and more lights begin to fill yards and trees to accompany the growing darkness. Within our homes, light glows and twinkles in the form of candles and holiday lights. Fireplaces crackle and whisper comfort.…

[melladys]

The Precious Expanse of an Empty Page

There are few things as beautiful to me as the smooth creaminess of a blank notebook page. I love running my hands over its soft, empty expanse. There’s a comforting hope in imagining the smooth lines of my pen filling that page. The words of my mind and heart drawing a map on that blank landscape. The potential of it is one of the most amazing things in life. I love the sensations of it. The…

[melladys]

October Cherishings (2024 Edition)

This autumn has finally come into itself– in weather, color, and activity. We have visited apple orchards, have cooked out, gone trick-or-treating, and enjoyed our fireplace. We have yet to make stew for the season but we have made soup. We have oo’d and ahh’d over the gorgeous colors and dressed cozily in our hoodies and sweaters for walks. I have burned through comforting candle after…

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XVI: The Halloween Edition (Revisited)

October 31: Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve. November 1: All Saint’s Day, El Dia de Los Muertos. The Day of the Dead. Feast of Ghosts. These days are known the world round and down throughout time. Even the Magical have something to celebrate. Halloween is Winging Night for gargoyle babies born in October. The night when their mothers and fathers take them aloft, release them to the sky, and they can…

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XXII. -- (Halloween Revisit)

“Okay, kids, let’s go! See you later, Honey. Good luck! And thank you!” With a kiss to her mouth and thus laden with their twins, Drake headed out for the day, leaving his wife Francesca waving on the stoop. She leaned there for a little while before turning and heading back inside. Work awaited her, after all. She stepped into the freshly-swept front hallway of their little brownstone, breathing…

[melladys]

Even in Those Dark and Messy Places

My favorite children’s book about God is It Will Be Okay by Lysa TerKeurst. I have lost track of how many times I have read (and cried over) this book to my beloved child (and to myself) or how many times I have used its words to reassure them, “It will be okay, Little Seed.” In the story, a little seed and a little fox become friends, living simple, happy lives in the farmer’s dusty shed and…

[melladys]

Yearning for Golden Days

I find myself hoping and praying for an early, long autumn. I want those crisp, cloudy, golden-bronze days. The bright sunlight with the blazing blue-tile sky, pinioned by red and gold trees. I want the air perfumed by vanilla, cinnamon and apple, warm and sharp and sweet. I’m longing for the pull and draw to prep and store and cozy down for winter, to make my spaces ones of comfort and rest. I…