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Katrina Kenison

celebrating the gift of each ordinary day

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Home » The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay

The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay

“You must feel so proud of yourself, to have written a book and had it published,” a reader said last…
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Katrina Kenison
I’m a wife, the mother of two sons, a passionate reader, a former editor, a slow writer, a friend, a seeker. Somewhere along the way, I realized that a good life is made up not of peak moments but of many small ones – imperfect, fleeting, ordinary, precious. And so I slowed down and began to pay attention. Writing, it turns out, is a way of noticing.

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  • you can’t have it all
  • act of imagination
  • “choose an unimportant day”
    (and enter to win a book!)
  • what a year brings
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“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the s “The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone, over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.” “ ~ E. B. White, “Charlotte’s Web.” It is surely the most poignant soundtrack of our year, and these nights I step outside before bed to listen with my whole body. Sad, yes, but never monotonous.  #crickets #autumn
“It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of pat “It is this way with wonder: it takes a bit of patience, and it takes putting yourself in the right place at the right time. It requires that we be curious enough to forgo our small distractions in order to find the world.” ~ Aimee Nezhukumatathil.  Stepping outside at dusk tonight, we found ourselves in the right place. #maine #baileyisland #wonder #sunset #summer
“One of those days where you listen long enough to “One of those days where you listen long enough to the sound of sea birds & the water & the wind & you give up words for a while because none of them are big enough.” ~ Brian Andreas.  To rise early on a summer morning  is always a happiness.  But after two and a half weeks of elevating my leg and staying off my feet, a slow walk to the beach at dawn  felt like a pilgrimage, a return to myself.  What a gift it is to heal, to know our bodies will do their best to become whole, and to feel strength and energy return.  #Healing
“Beauty, in glimpses and flashes, that is what the “Beauty, in glimpses and flashes, that is what the soul required. That was the drop of water on the tongue.” ~ Anne Enright, “The Green Road”. #rainbow
“Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no othe “Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one’s garden.” ~ Voltaire.  The poppies are having their moment.  I took these photos of their dear, fragile faces yesterday morning, and then I was off to the hospital—to have this tumor removed at last.  Knowing my cancer was missed (although it  was clearly visible on my 2024 mammogram), and then having the breast surgery delayed because of an unknown heart condition that required repair and a month of healing first, certainly made me eager to get on with it. And yet so much patience was required. All spring I worked in my garden whenever I was able, knowing the summer day would eventually come when I’d be recuperating in the chaise on my porch, looking out rather kneeling in the dirt.  And that’s where I am right now, grateful for all those industrious hours I put in so I could bask through this time of  enforced rest.  A little sore and tender, tucked into a tight surgical bra for the next 8 days, and incredibly relieved and happy to have this first step in treatment behind me at last.  The chaise is a lovely place to be. The poppies are dancing in the breeze. The mountains change color with each passing hour, the bluebirds come and go from the birdbath, goldfinches peck at the kale, bees bump against the screen on their way to petunia basket.  And tonight @lauren_seabourne and @hlewers89 will make dinner and serve it on the porch, all of us savoring the perfection of a long July  day, the grace of this journey, our togetherness, another rose-colored sunset.  This is life — the thorns, the quiet work we’re called to do, the gifts of care and connection, the sustaining, miraculous beauty of a garden in full summer splendor. Today I’m grateful for all of it, and especially to my dear ones who have cared for me so generously and with so much love. #poppies #summerday  #grateful
To be in Provence in June is a feast for the sense To be in Provence in June is a feast for the senses and a balm for the spirit.  The days are sunny, hot, long, and redolent of lavender. What a treat to wander the quiet cobbled streets of Les Baux early in the morning, to be here on market day, and to experience an immersive, hands-on  French cooking class that made us feel quite at home in Saint Remy. #lacuisineprovençale #saintremydeprovence #lesbauxdeprovence

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