Live & Learn Event - This Week!

Hello, Readers!

You may have noticed that some of my post graphics are labeled "@Purely.HannahMary"... such as in the previous "Be Still" post. That is because they are also posted over on my Instagram account with the theme of:

NATURAL LIVING made SIMPLER
▪︎ Clean Thinking ▪︎ Clean Gardening ▪︎ Clean Personal Care for the Whole Family

If any of this interests you, feel free to find me on Instagram @purely.hannahmary or the Facebook Page of the same name. And read on for a special opportunity for a Free Learning Event this week!

Also, I don't think I've mentioned it on this blog before (because I do not mean to make this a place of advertising), but if you are interested in help finding clean and non-toxic products for personal care for all ages, as well as clean hair care, skincare, beauty products, spa-at-home, and more - including thoughtful gifts for those going through cancer or other health struggles...

Please text my Lemongrass Spa number with the word "info". (To try avoid unwanted messages, my number is split up on the lines below.)

(218) 271

... 8677

Just before explaining the learning opportunity, I have a quick question for you: 

What do you think when you hear the words “Live and Learn”? 

Rather than the negative connotations often attached to that phrase, I love the fact that as long as we Live, we can continue to Learn!

And so I am offering a free, three-day texting event centered around Enjoying Life & Learning Together! With the goal of featuring new topics every other month, each “Live & Learn” event will include 2 days of exclusive video content I record on a variety of topics, with Day 3 saved for catching up and wrapping up.

Here is some feedback I have received from private texting events in the past:

Would you like to join one of these events?
You are invited to the first "Live & Learn" this week! 
• Wednesday–Friday, September 27^th – 29^th 

This month’s topics (shared via videos, under 10 minutes each) are:
• Why Ingredients Matter + Clean Swaps for the Whole Family
• What to Read for Fun & Growth at Any Age (including FREE book lists!)

Of course every texting event also has a giveaway! And those who choose to order any products through this event will be entered to win all the event's Host Rewards of free and half-price items from Lemongrass Spa!

TO JOIN, simply text "LiveAndLearn" to me at the number above!

• No purchase necessary to join the event or win the giveaway.
• Lemongrass Spa and I can ship to US addresses only.
• The Host Rewards winner will be drawn from points earned according to order sizes.
• Event messages and video links will arrive by text so you can watch at your convenience and have the option to opt out at any time.

Have more questions? Text them to me at the number above.

I'd love to "see" you there!

~ Hannah

Blind Contour Sketching

Have you tried Blind Contour Sketching? I had not... until today. And it was fun! 

✒️ How freeing to know it won't turn out much like the subject but to enjoy the process anyway! 

✒️ How clearing of a full mind to sit and stare at interesting shapes for 30-120 seconds without glancing away!

✒️ How therapeutic for an injured brain to make connections straight between eyes and hand!

✒️ And how healing to finally look down at the paper and laugh!

Lessons from a Sheep Dog

Reginald was our second, lively Border Collie since moving onto this hobby farm in 1985. Neither he nor Kep (named after a dog in Beatrix Potter) ever learned how to handle our flock of sheep, but they found ways to pretend to "herd" anyway.

Even if you haven't tried to raise one of these bundles of intelligent energy, the descriptions in Lessons from a Sheep Dog by Phillip Keller bring them to life in a special way.

And, as in all his books, Keller finds deep spiritual significance in his everyday interactions with the world around him - here focused on a dog named Lass, who was about to be destroyed until she came under the care of a loving and patient shepherd.

"Lass, of course, could not fully comprehend the complexity of the work we were doing. And at times she gave me the distinct impression that for a dog as energetic as she was, to 'stay' was almost asking too much of her.

"God used this element in Lass to teach me a most important principle. I began to grasp the absolute necessity to be quietly steadfast and faithful wherever He placed me. In a sense these interludes in life were a test not only of my faithfulness to God, but also of His to me."

"Lass helped me to understand that it is often in the darkest hour, during pressing danger, that the Master is closest to us. He cares, and He cares profoundly. It is His presence which gives us peace. It is His nearness which gives us hope. It is His protection which gives us life."

Bearer of Good News

We are enjoying getting to know the most special gift our family received in 2021: Evangeline!

Her name means "bearer of good news." May she be just that in our world full of bad news.

Meanwhile, Joseph is learning to be a caring big brother...

...and learning to solve puzzles!

Spread Your Sails

"I am seeing more and more that we begin to learn what it is to walk by faith when we learn to spread out all that is against us: all our physical weakness, loss of mental power, spiritual inability - all that is against us inwardly and outwardly - as sails to the wind and expect them to be vehicles for the power of Christ to rest upon us. It is so simple and self-evident - but so long in the learning!"

Lilias Trotter (22 August 1902)

Isabella Lilias Trotter (1853-1928) was poised to be the top artist of her time when she left it all to follow God to the mission field of Algeria. To see samples of her work and read or watch some of her story, visit:

https://liliastrotter.com/

Instagram: @liliastrotterlegacy
https://www.instagram.com/liliastrotterlegacy/

And, yes, we did get sailing once more this summer! Elsa was my "first mate" for a relaxing cruise last week.

Learning from History - Part V

"No war. No politics. What shall I say?" 

Abigail Adams, 1816

Oh, that we had this dilemma when writing letters to our family and friends today! But Abigail had just come through decades of turmoil, vision, and sacrifice that deeply affected her family as well as her nation.

Public Domain photo of 1766
portrait by Benjamin Blyth

Are you ready to be challenged and inspired?! Reading personal letters and journals are one of the best ways I know to learn from history. 

"Abigail Adams: Letters"

Edited by Edith Gelles

Overview by publisher - Library of America:

"Abigail Adams was an unusually accomplished letter writer. Spirited and insightful, her correspondence offers a unique vantage on historical events in which her family played so prominent a role, while bringing vividly to life the everyday experience of American women in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Here are 430 letters—more than a hundred published for the first time—to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Mercy Otis Warren, James and Dolley Madison, and Martha Washington, among many others. Including her famous call to “Remember the Ladies,” letters from the 1760s and 1770s offer an unrivalled portrait of the American Revolution on the home front. Travel to Europe in the 1780s opens a grand new field for her talents as social commentator and political advisor while her roles as vice presidential and presidential wife place her at the very heart of the nation’s founding."

Public Domain photo of
portrait by Gilbert Stuart

If you are ready to better appreciate the Independence Day we in The United States of America celebrate tomorrow, try this first-hand, inside view of life at that pivotal time.

Learning from History - Part III

A great way to learn from history is to sit down with someone who lived through it and hear their story. Thanks to author Bill O'Byrne, we can do just that.

Have you ever heard of the "900-Day Seige" of Leningrad? This difficult time is well worth experiencing through the eyes of young Marina and her family.



From back of book:

"God was not absent or silent during the '900-Day Siege' or Blockade of Leningrad... The compelling story of little Marina Sergeyevna and her parents demonstrates the significant role that one family of Christians played in surviving the Blockade, and how [they] helped other people survive it with dignity and faith in God. ...Faith in God was the the secret of strength in weakness."

Learning from History - Part II

As we near American Independence Day, do you wish you knew more of the true stories from our past? Are you looking for some history that has not been re-written? For books that exemplify what I quoted in my Memorial Day post?




Then start here!



The Light and the Glory and From Sea to Shining Sea by Peter Marshall and David Manuel address America's history from 1492-1789 and 1787-1837.

Learning from History

Happy Memorial Day!

Begun in 1868 to remember those who lost their lives in the US Civil War, for the most part this holiday has turned into a beginning-of-summer party for family and friends. Growing up, it was the day we turned blue getting the dock into the chilly lake and cleaned the cabin after a long winter.

In later years, the weekend has included some visits to local cemeteries where the worn-out bodies of more and more of our loved ones are left behind as the Lord calls them home. Some of those graves are decorated with flags in honor of their military service, and we may add some favorite flowers.

Even if we don't have specific traditions to focus on the meaning and history behind the holiday, I believe we need to take history more seriously as we view all of life. 

True history, that is...

Those of us who are of a certain
vintage find it hard to fathom the
way in which today's students are
being encouraged to rewrite history
rather than to learn from it.

· Alistair Begg

Those that fail to
learn from history,

are doomed to repeat it.

· Winston Churchill

Our task is not to deny or to
denigrate the past but to
recognize that we live in
a fallen world and that the
transformation we long for
in America is that which
will be brought about by
the power of the Gospel.

· Alistair Begg

Toddler Portraits

The little guy who made my sister a mommy also makes me try the occasional whimsical portrait in my art practice. Very daunting...

But when mommy sent a pic of little J "helping" spread plants in the greenhouses (yes, several feet apart instead of inches), it just looked like a Mother's Day gift waiting to be painted!

Preliminary sketch

2nd version

3rd version

Since my attempts at facial features turned it into someone other than our particular 1.5 year old, I left them out of my third try. Each version is on very different papers, so the results can't quite be compared, but they taught me more about various techniques and water usage.

Which version do you think my sister picked as her Mother's Day gift?!

Sleepless Nights

April 29, 2021

Thankfully these sleepless nights where staying in bed is counterproductive are getting less common over the years. But I am also thankful to have learned to view them as a special time. I am not just sitting in the dark and pain alone, feeling my gut churning from another treatment that hit too hard. I also have hours to be ministered to by audio Bibles, audiobooks, podcasts, sermons...

This night I knit in the company of some sweet, encouraging ladies. Thanks to Leslie Ludy of Set Apart Girl for the "Beauty for Ashes" interviews with Annie W. and with Grace M. of Across Fields Studio!

[Have I mentioned before how I love the "Further Up & Further In" sticker by Grace on my computer?!]

Mountain Born

"Old Benj had once said, 'A man must have a care to what he puts in his mind, for when he's alone on a hillside and draws it out, he'll want treasures to be his company, not regrets.'"

What a great point made by children's author Elizabeth Yates in her Newberry Honor book, Mountain Born.

This little book contains some of those treasures, I think. While faith in the God of the Bible is only in the background much of the time, we continually see wonder at His creation while learning lessons both from the beauty and the fallen-ness of it.



"The year had hinges on which it hung, and every hinge had something to do with the sheep; but that was the life on Andrew's farm and the living for his family, and it was right that the sheep should mark it for them."

Old photos: 

• Feeding some of our bottle lambs with Maren. (Apparently I had already found a book I couldn't put down all those years ago!) 

• When young, we had the privilege of learning to process our wool from raw, dirty fleeces to usable, if rough, yarn.

How fun through this book to spend a couple years on a sheep farm once again with delightful, young Peter! The first year is the time when little Peter is just old enough to begin helping with a man's work. A special bottle-lamb gives him much more than a new, wool coat while he grows and learns from his parents and "Old Benj."

"As they drew nearer the cottage, the sound of the spinning wheel came out to meet them, drawing them toward it with its soft whirring croon. Peter thought, as he heard it, that if one could catch the sound of time going by -- days and seasons into years -- it might be like that of the wheel."

Then we skip ahead a few years. The worn coat is getting too small, and the pet lamb is growing older. There are more lessons to be learned in a gentle, yet true-to-life way.

While I admittedly may have shrunk from this book when young because, yes, animals do die... it is dealt with in a gentle, matter-of-fact way, and I can recommend this little book that I recently borrowed from my nephew. I'm sure his parents will begin reading it to him well before he can understand the half of it, which is great! (He already heard Robinson Crusoe!) I am glad he can grow up with stories we never knew of at that age, as well as our old favorites.