Author Archives: Jen H Mont

Wow…

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Come On Pilgrim
When I began my Christmas Journal I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Would I finish it… would I abandon it… but I decided to give it a try and see what happened. All I can say now is – Wow! What an experience! It truly changed my holiday season in a beautiful way.

I truly meant to share my journal throughout the class, but for one reason or another I felt very much like hibernating this holiday season and so I did. I am so happy that I completed my journal.

Thank you- Shimelle for this wonderful experience (and for my wonderful Come on Pilgrim christmas present… could something be more perfect…I think not)!

Finished Journal To see more wonderful Christmas Journals take a look at writtendown.com . What a wonderful holiday season and what a wonderful start to the new year.

Looking…

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I adore new beginnings.So, for me,a New Year is always a chance begin anew. It is a time to reflect and look forward. A chance to celebrate triumphs and search deeply for what might be next.

So much changed in my life in 2006. Most noticeably we moved to Essex, but so much truly transpired. Simplification, selling our home, finding the furry members of our family new homes… all complete changes in our day to day life. Art has come back into my life- after a long time spent ignoring it. I have completed paintings and journals and begun to draw again. I have learned so much. Jon and I have made many of our dreams come to pass this year… giving me a new found confidence in my ability to make a reality out of the rambles in my head.

In 2007 I hope to continue the process of growth. Enjoying all the steps along the way… whatever they may bring.

I am thankful for the chance to do so.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

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3 Dec

I have completed Day 3 of my Christmas journal. Yeah! I also made some Christmas cards… Which for me is quite an accomplishment. Now I just have to send them… that is an entirely different thing. One step at a time…

Today has been a windy, cold day. It has been a relaxing day though… Jon and I went to the farmer’s market that was going on near us today and it was lovely. Now we have fresh eggs and the most wonderful Stilton cheese. This is also the first time in a long while that I am feeling good. I felt like I have been sick so often… but I am finally starting to feel like my self again.

So happy first weekend in December to you! Take care, relax and have fun.

Christmas Journal- My first entries

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I am loving this so far…

Inside Cover
This is the inside of my joural cover.

DedicationThis is my first entry my Dedication. The writing reads as follows:

Becuse it doesn’t feel like Christmas yet… so I can remember my first Christmas in England… to take time each day to celebrate- appreciate- create- rejoice and to start 2007 with this in mind… because I forget… So here I am- Comiting to the page… each day- for the next 37 days and hopefully beyound that into the new year. So I will show up to the page each day.

2 dec2 December 2006- My perfect holiday season involves snow, but I am not out in the snow. Oh no, I am by a fire with a warm cocoa… looking at the snow outside.

Silence of the snow
falling around you peaceful
Cold Silent Breathing

Christmas Journal Cover

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I have started my Christmas Journal. So far I am having a lot of fun with it. I started with a spiral bound sketch book … I have decided to take it a part- I have not decided yet how I will put it back together when I am finished with the journal, but I suppose that I have some time to think about it.

This is the cover of my journal….

Christmas Journal Cover

My Christmas Journal Declaration

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Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one’s intentions.

“Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories. I may post some of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you can see their work here. Or you may join us. Above all: enjoy the season. I will.”

I wasn’t sure about this at first… I am not feeling very Christmassy at the moment, but now I have gone and declared my intentions… So let the fun begin! I have to say that I am excited and I am starting to feel a little Christmassy.

Christmas Jouranl

"Make Peace with Progress"

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“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

The last several weeks have had a focus of patience and progress for me. I have not been feeling well… First, with a cold/flu thing and then with a muscle spasm. Because of this I have had to to be really patient with myself. I have had to force myself to slow down and take care of myself. In many ways I dislike having to do this, but I admit that it has been good for me to focus on being still and resting rather than constantly doing something.

Despite the slowness of pace I feel like I have been making progres in many ways. I have taken time to knit… which has been a lot of fun. I have also taken some time to think about my teaching. This have been good for me- I have been able to move forward mentally with my work. I feel like I am doing well, but I have been able to get my bearings and work on the things that I want to improve.

A quiet time overall though… the month of November is shaping up to be very quiet. Jon and I continue to adjust to our move- It does seem quite odd to me all the things that have changed in our lives in such a short period of time. We learn and we grow. Every day I make progress and I continue the journey learning as I go.

Bonfire Night

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Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Jon and I got to celebrate our first bonfire night with some lovely friends this weekend. Twas a wonderful evening comeplete with a wonderful cookout, pumkin pie,mulled wine, fireworks, and -of course- a bonfire. We had much fun.

Jon’s Bonfire Night Photos

Week In Review

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“Do not select a life but make the one you have strech out.

albert camus

What a lovely week. Time this week… there was a lot of time this week to play. And I love it when it can be like that. It is odd though… I can’t say that I am looking forward to going back to work tomorrow- a whole week off was just too lovely- but I am not dreading it. I did not guard today and try to save every moment of it away…

It was a good day and in fact it still is. It is getting dark and it does feel like it should be much later than 5p.m. I do miss daylights savings time, but all is well. I have a cup of tea and I have been playing in my You Think You Know Me journal. It has been a good day, but it has also been a good week.

It is still hard to believe sometimes that we are here in Essex and not in South Carolina. I know that I have said that before…. but it still seems odd… How did I get here. This is the kind of thing that I would always think of doing, but to actually do… it doesn’t seem likely, but here I am. Here I am .

It was a relaxing week… full of wandering and visiting and lots of play. Play with paper and play with yarn, play with words and play with books. Play. It is such an important part of human life, but often people forget that. I often forget that when I am in a classroom… trying to be serious and get my point across… sometimes I forget that. Play… why is it so hard to remember sometimes?

I feel that I am in a period of growth. It has been odd truly for sometimes it feels like I am coming into my own…. self? And then other times it feels like I am growing out, stretching too far… and it becomes uncomfortable. And yet at other times I can’t tell if I am growing at all… but I feel like I should be. It has been hard to explain to myself even… so I am having a difficult time putting it into words here, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

So overall… a good week and I am closing it in a good place. How was your week?

since feeling is first

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since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

e.e. cummings