manna {1} the lane that leads to home

MANNA: Full Definition of manna. 1 a : food miraculously supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness b : divinely supplied spiritual nourishment c : a usually sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain. (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

Where have the weeks gone, burnished and glowing, they have certainly been beautiful? I have found myself slow (verrrry slow) to blog, partly because I tend to lean towards facebook and instagram these days, and yet, yet, I so miss my space here and the interaction with those of you who are kind enough to follow.

So what has been going on here? There have been many wanderings down these leaf-strewn lanes, even runs (even 10km can you believe!), there has been been designing and making of course, and family time and the gazing at supermoons and fireworks. There has been some heartache over politics and darkness in the world, some wondering how we can each find some way of making things better, even in tiny ways...

Although we don't celebrate thanksgiving like our american friends, this time of year with Christmas approaching, does make me prefoundly aware of the life changing power of real gratitude and how those feelings generate hope which in turn tends to spill outwards to others. Do you not find that in people you know that lead grateful, hope-filled lives - that life seems to ripple out in amazing ways into their communities and work? It is actually the sort of opposite of smug - it tends to propel people outwards to engage with and support others around them? Anyway, the easiest route for gratitude that I have found is to really pay attention to the small slivers of beauty and creativity I have all around me if only I stop rushing past them on my way to run errands, take the kids to school, tackle the laundry, write the to-do list - you know the things?! So, as this is not a flashy, monetised blog, it might as well be a celebration of beauty, a way to share the joy of small things, so I have decided to resurrect it slightly as a place to share a daily photo, maybe a thought or two about everyday, unexpected beauty and inspiration. 'Daily' may be an exaggeration, could we settle with 'regular'? Sometimes there might be some added news relating to my jewellery or  events but often it will just be the photo. I hope it will bring a tiny burst of beauty to you every day, a heaping up of the goodstuff amid all the doom and gloom in the news. A gift to me, that I pass on to you. I am going to call call these posts simply 'manna' - remember that Old Testament provision of daily nourishment - because that is what these moments are to me, soul food.

Today's photo is the lane to our home, the path to the black barn in a field we are lucky enough to call home. The bricks and beams that have held us, through good times and bad, for the last 16 years. This view is the way home, the crooked fork in the country lanes to our tiny patch of the spinning universe, it makes me want to shout with joy!

Have a great week! xx