{read read completely read}

(above: Tilly's abstract art on the inside of our book)

This week, I've been mostly reading:

• Simplicity Parenting (by Kim John Payne) -- because we need simple. We need less. It's not just less toys that are covered, but less distraction overall, which has made space this week for deeper breaths and peace and time. The section on family rhythm really struck me -- we're not often reminded how important the things that we do over and over again are. A few favourite thoughts:

"Meaning hides in repetition: We do this every week because it matters. 

We are connected by this thing we do together."

"Family is not disparate relationships between individuals and machines, 

in seperate rooms of a house"

"I take necessary (speech) to mean 'more important than silence'. 

What enables us to read a word is the white space all around it."

• Two Girls, Fat and Thin (by Mary Gaitskill) -- because I wouldn't let myself read Veronica (by the same author) again. Such a real world is created that its facts are blurring into my own.

• Month-By-Month Gardening in Texas (by Dale Groom & Dan Gill) -- because, at this point in my life, there are only two plants I haven't killed. A scraggly mint in a pot in the back garden, and the world's most amazing rose bush in our front garden (which we can thank the previous owners of our house for). I hope to end this year with these, and a few more.

So here's to more white space, less weeds.