Highlight the Beauty Within the Ordinary

Dear Reader:

While flipping through a magazine in one of my medical appointment waiting rooms…I came across an article talking about a style of life / decorating known as “Wabi-Sabi.” It is a Japanese term/expression that encourages “us to appreciate and elevate what’s humble, impermanent, and earthy.”

As I read the article and thought about my own home…I realized that this approach has always appealed to me. When I got home later and gazed around my “Happy Room” I began to see why I related so well to the article…I love having  “earthy” around me…especially in this beloved chair found in a barn after my Uncle Harlette’s death. (title photo)

I took it to a shoemaker to repair the bottom that was torn and tattered….today I have an original rustic tin duck candle-holder from the Pine Forest Inn (Honey gave me) filled with dried hydrangeas from last season on it. Simple but beautiful to me.

Pine Forest Inn Summerville, SC

 

I don’t want anything “matchy, matchy” any more  in my home…instead I want pieces that have stories attached to them….where they can stand alone. This old antique tattered up-holstered chair Aunt Eva gave me is another example of something old and frayed…remnants of what used to be ….still beautiful in its own way.

“Wabi-sabi embraces the chaos of the everyday happenings and objects we so often try to hide and instead says, “Yes, I see loveliness there too.”

This centuries-old-concept embraces the truth that life is fleeting, fragile, and always changing. It inspires us to surround ourselves with things that reflect the perfectly imperfect...objects that are odd, aging, or seemingly incomplete. (Resource: “Wholeness at Home”-Magnolia Magazine)

So until tomorrow…Let’s place the simplest objects around us…the ones that have a story to tell.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Vickie has made Gertie so comfortable…turned her cage into a five-star chicken coop!

Luke and Chelsey will be by this afternoon to pick up their girl (Home from Iceland)… she has shown a lot of spunk and fun this week back on Rainbow Road. She is a rebel…searching for ways to “fly the coop”…we can see why she survived the dog attack when her sisters didn’t. 🙂

This cool weather must have triggered the color mechanism in the grandchildren’s Japanese Maples…they are starting to turn colors.

Tommy and Kaitlyn met her Aunt Becky and Uncle Tim in McClellanville for dinner before they went on to Pawleys…they are so much fun and I know Tommy and Kaitlyn had a wonderful visit over fried seafood with them.

Walsh and Mollie went to Asheville over the weekend to help celebrate a friend’s 15th wedding anniversary…a lot of Walsh’s high school friends were there…great weather…cool sixties for highs. Congrats Robertson and Abby! 🙂

 

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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