Jane Heinrichs 9/17/18 Jane Heinrichs 9/17/18

The first full week of school

Happy Monday Friends!

This is our first full week of the new school year, and I’m looking forward to having routine in my life again. Every morning my daughter walks around the block to school. She proudly showed me the yellow flower on her navy jumper, the logo of her school. She is so proud to be a big girl, going to big school.

I’m trying to honour this transition, and really enjoy the process.

What are you doing right now? I think we’re always in some state of transition, as we’re always in the process of “becoming.” Can you honour that process today?

Comment below with some ideas!

Jane Heinrichs 5/10/18 Jane Heinrichs 5/10/18

Two Cup Morning

This was a two cup of coffee morning.

It’s funny how best-laid plans often get changed at the last minute, isn’t it? I had my whole day organized: from what I was going to draw, to what I was going to buy at the green grocer. Then Mary woke up with a fever, and all those plans flew out the window on the spring breeze.

At first I was panicked. Oh no! So much to do! But that same spring breeze pushed the scent of deep purple lilacs into the house and reminded me to stop and enjoy the moment. The morning was cool and washed-clean after a midnight rain storm. The day might not go as planned, but maybe it would actually be better than I visualized!

I put a load of laundry in the washing machine, which I would hang out to dry later in the lilac scented sunshine. I popped a Care Bears movie in my laptop for Mary to watch while I worked, with her curled on the cushions beside me in my studio. Do you know what? I got more done than I expected! Then we wandered to town to buy more watercolours, have a coffee, and stop by the greengrocer to fetch veggies that aren’t wrapped in plastic.

It was a good day after all! And those two cups of fragrant coffee were the perfect pairing for my revised expectations.

What are you up to today? Is it going as planned?

Jane Heinrichs 4/22/18 Jane Heinrichs 4/22/18

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! This weekend my three-year-old daughter has run approximately 300 laps of our garden, watering each individual tulip and daffodil with her little measuring cup turned watering can.

As she waters she chatters to the flowers, “You’ve already had your drink from the rain.” She turns to another one, “But you’re really thirsty, so here’s some water for you.” Then she trots back to me, plastic wellies slapping against her shins, and says, “I need more water emergently, the flowers are so thirsty. I’m taking care of them.”

Emergently means urgently with a rush of emergency thrown in. It’s her own invention.

I love that she feels this connection with the natural world. She dotes on our flowers. She listens quietly for the birds roosting in our purple plum tree. We have a tiny patch of garden, but it’s enough to open a world of nature to her.

What are you doing today?

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Jane Heinrichs 1/22/18 Jane Heinrichs 1/22/18

Block towers

Jane Heinrichs 11/27/16 Jane Heinrichs 11/27/16

Mother - Daughter mornings

My daughter is my alarm clock. She wakes at (or before) dawn and I hear her small voice calling, “Mama? Mama? I finished sleeping.”

That is how my day begins.

We pull open the curtains and search for the sun, or if we’re up before (as is common in winter), we search for the setting moon and the morning star floating just above the rooftops of London.

While I may not always be ready to start the day, I’m always ready to receive her warm, sleepy, nuzzling hugs and kisses.

What I love about the morning is it’s possibility. The night has absolved all of yesterday’s disappointments and the sun brings a new day full of promise.

Each morning starts the same. We get dressed, we make porridge, we brew coffee, and we invert into a few downward dog poses to clear the head. These routines are carefully choreographed steps that prepare us for the day to come. In the endlessly repetitive actions there is a sense of possibility.

What will we do with this one wild day?

Will we go to town to see the ducks on the river and share babyccinos? Will Little One go to nursery school so that I can spend a few uninterrupted hours in my studio? Will we set up the craft table and draw uncountable numbers of stars and moons (just as many as are in our unfathomable universe)?

Each day is a collaboration.

For years I have wanted to collaborate with my mother. I have dreamed of writing a memoir or novel together, but it has always seemed too overwhelming. How to start? Especially since we live so far apart?

I decided I needed to think of a smaller project to start with. Something we could do daily, but would add up cumulatively into something rather large.

Since we both love mornings, we decided to take a photo each day before noon: just one picture. It could be of anything at all. It's about illuminating, and making beautiful, the random objects we see each day. The cup of coffee. The bird feeder. The bookshelf.

We may be separated by 6297 kilometers, but we share the same aesthetic sensibility and way of seeing. We love the same things, wear the same colours, and read the same books.

I hope you can see the connections and similarities in these photo duets.

Here is the first instalment...