Welcome Friends! Time for another monthly favourites. It is the start of a new year and yet it seems like it is just a continuation of 2020. Do you feel the same way? Because I spent so much time at home, I really dove deep into my heart and soul. I worked on myself and came to a few fundamental truths about dealing with toxicity in my life. I will deal with that in a separate post because the topic needs a post of its own. I am sure that, like many people around the world, 2020 drove home to us what really matters in life. And if you have toxic people in your life who, after 2020, still cannot find it within themselves to exercise a modicum of kindness and generosity to the people around them, then you are permitted to shield yourself from people like that. 2020 shone a spotlight on the few people who were true friends in my life. Speaking of friends, a good friend of mine sent me this wonderful book after she heard me raving about it.
This book is, of course, Charles Mackesy's The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse. It is a collection of drawings accompanied by conversational bon mots between, of course, a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse as they wander around the English countryside. I think that the first time I read it, tears poured down my face. It reminded me so much of my soul relationship with a dear departed fur pet. That pet was my soulmate. I was so damaged back then, and through my relationship with him, I discovered the unplumbed depths of love, compassion, understanding, friendship that were within me. There isn't a straightforward plot or a conventional narrative in The Boy, the mole... but I would put it in the same stable as The Alchemist, Le Petit Prince and The Tao of Pooh. The audiobook, whilst it doesn't have the magical drawings of the hard copy version, is equally magical in its own right as it is narrated by Charles Mackesy himself and is delightfully scored as well as accompanied with the sounds of nature.
Another Christmas gift from a different friend was this reed diffuser by Erbario Toscano.
I popped it on a little shelf in the bathroom. You can see it has already gone down by half in just a month which is the fastest of any reed diffuser I have tried and doesn't have a wide scent throw. I wrote about making your own reed diffusers during Blogmas here. I do love this one though. It is the Spicy Vanilla which smells like an expensive men's cologne. I have become obsessed with anything that creates a cozy, comforting home environment. It is safe to say that my nesting instincts are in full throttle.
How did your January go?
