Monday, May 9, 2011

Soul Food #89~


Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
Journals.. I like journals..wait... I love journals..
I have to say to date..my favorite journals.. were the baby books..and later years books.. I kept for my 2 daughters.I loved writing down what they were doing ..what they liked etc..the last was a book about them..my mother and myself..they have them now..
I made little welcome books with photos for the 4 boys when they were born(Such highlights in my life~) and they were fun to make also..


Journals.. are a great way of keeping memories.. now the web helps us chronicle and keep tabs..But I still love the feeling of paper in my hands....

A favorite journal also.. is from our trip to Europe ... a green suede journal..I added watercolor..wine labels.. ticket stubs.. street maps of the little or larger European towns..menus..etc..my day..every day....It's a treasure for me now..to look back on it..I loved taking it out and happily writing down all my thoughts..and my excitement of such a trip..


Not all journals are filled with joy and adventure..some are filled with different things..



But the beauty of a journal..apart from it's cover..are the blank pages.. ready to receive.. the NOW~
Everchanging.. with always the glimmer of hope..with faith and peace~

To quote the title of Thich Nhat Hanh's book that I appreciate so often~
The journal..the book..the candle.. are treasures~
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34 comments:

  1. ZurinMay 9, 2011 at 8:57 AM

    I love journals too but I don't keep one. So much happens and so little time. Much regrets.....I wish I had.

    beautiful post Monique. :)

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  2. ShelMay 9, 2011 at 9:19 AM

    Ahh Monique, beautiful post!
    I love journals too..... my late moms, mine ...real treasures....
    Memories for our future generations.
    Your candle looks just perfect with your inscription....
    Much love
    Shel x

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  3. RitaMay 9, 2011 at 12:40 PM

    What a lovely post! I did start a book for each of my boys, but it seems like got in my way and didn't keep it up. Now I am sorry about that. I admire that you kept it up. Bravo Monique.
    Rita

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  4. CarolynMay 9, 2011 at 12:48 PM

    I kept journals of our children early years also.
    I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day.

    Carolyn

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  5. SarahMay 9, 2011 at 12:53 PM

    Lovely, Monique. I've several treasured journals and continue to keep a journal when the mood hits. I've a special handmade one waiting with those loverly blank pages. I was going to begin living the motto: "a line a day" , but hasn't happened yet. Like anything, it takes discipline. ~ Sarah

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  6. MarysolMay 9, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Monique, why do I get the feeling your journal would be a page-turner?

    I've kept journals for the kids. And I hope someday these handwritten memories will become their most treasured possessions.

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  7. La Table De NanaMay 9, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts about journals..
    Shel..you have your mom's ..Oh what I would give!To read some lines of my mom's life..I have only to find her signature in a book and I feel her.She had such perfect penmanship:)Her cursive writing was the most beautiful I have seen.
    Sol..you made me smile..Page turner? Not so much..:) Your journals for the kids must be so special.I have just to have read words you have written about them over the years:)

    A line a day..sounds good.
    Lately..I have been picking a Rune a day..and writing down what I have picked~
    Have a lovely afternoon..

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  8. BarbaraMay 9, 2011 at 1:38 PM

    I love them too, Monique. Have kept one for nearly every trip I've taken. Kept them about my kids too, but have long since turned them over to each of them.
    In these days of computers, Facebook and texting, the written word is so much more to be cherished.

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  9. Thibeault's TableMay 9, 2011 at 2:52 PM

    Monique, your posts are always so beautiful and from the heart.

    Ann

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  10. AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    Monique great ideas did the kids journal have a theme cover?

    Also where did you find the pink journal and the green suede sounds so chic.....?

    I will start one now for my grandkids too, merci!
    ~Ginette

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  11. SavoringTime in the KitchenMay 9, 2011 at 4:37 PM

    What a pretty journal!

    I kept those baby journals for L & L too. Many times when life was busy I'd jot something down on the calendar and think would add it to the journal when I had more time. I never did but, I still have the calendars :)

    We have years and years of John's mother's diaries.

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  12. Kathy @ Sweet Up-North Mornings...May 9, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    I can imagine you a super Journaler...(is that a word?)
    Right now I cannot sit still long enough to lay my thoughts down.
    I'm finally starting to read again.
    everything in it's time I guess.
    Beautiful pages....Love a blank page too.
    xoxo~Kathy @
    Sweet Up-North Mornings...

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  13. La Table De NanaMay 9, 2011 at 5:28 PM

    Ahh..no theme cover on the girls 3 books.. they were store bought..the baby ones.. the young years..and the later years:) all store bought..The wee ones.. again just photo books.. a nice cover.. and inside photos of their mommies being pregnant with them.. their showers.. on the way to the hospital..being born..coming home..

    The green suede one was given to me by our traveling companion as a birthday gift ..months before our departure.. this fuschia paper one is from my friend and neighbor.. who has taught me so much.
    She is an artist.

    And has numerous journals..
    Susan..what treasures!The calendars and the journals.. have you read them?

    Kathy.. I am impressed at everything the convertible girl does:)
    Ann..I bet you have an M book:)

    Barbara..my girls have their albums also....It was time..

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  14. AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 7:29 PM

    Thanks Monique for the information, your lucky to have friends/campanion I do not know the differance they mean in english but your lucky to have them in your life......I will let you know what I've chosen for mes petit enfants~

    Merci...Ginette

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  15. CathyMay 9, 2011 at 8:34 PM

    I have kept journals of my travels and love to go back through them. I can live my wonderful adventures all over again.

    Beautiful post, Monique.

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  16. 2 StewsMay 9, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    My mom and step father used to babysit and he would write down in a book everything that happened from what was eaten to the temperature outside. He is gone now and I have the book tucked away in a desk drawer. Those are the real treasures, along with the photos. Love your pink one.

    Thanks for sharing and have a great week.

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  17. La Cuisine d'HeleneMay 9, 2011 at 9:57 PM

    I love the baby journals of my kids. I like reading them. Great souvenirs.

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  18. Yvonne @ StoneGableMay 9, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    Journals are like great memory banks. Many things I would have never remembered show up in a journal and are recalled and relived. Blogging is my journal to my great great grandchildren.
    They can hear my voice in my words and see images through my eyes!
    Beautiful post.
    Yvonne

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  19. Kathy WalkerMay 9, 2011 at 10:49 PM

    I remember and still have my first journal. I was eight. I kept a journal of our family's trip back to PA to visit family. We had moved to CA and it was our first journey back. I love reading it and looking at the pictures!

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  20. martinealisonMay 10, 2011 at 12:37 AM

    Une très belle publication... mais qui me rend triste... comment ai-je pu ne pas avoir pensé à faire un journal sur mes 4 enfants ?!!! Les années qui passent trop vite m'ont tout simplement fait avancer à un rythme fou... Gros bisous

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  21. DianneMay 10, 2011 at 12:45 AM

    Bonjour Monique - your posts always inspire me and today you have inspired me to keep a photo journal for my 4 grandchildren - the funny and the sad and the precious moments in life.
    I love the colour of your journal - just gorgeous! xx

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  22. La Table De NanaMay 10, 2011 at 7:58 AM

    M-A.. you can do one for your new grandbaby:) All the times you visit him and he you.. anecdotes hos maman will tell you etc..You can paint in it:)
    Diane..I bet that book is a treasure.
    I appreciate your sharing ..all of you.
    Have a great day..

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  23. Sam Hoffer / My Carolina KitchenMay 10, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    I love journals too Monique. There's just something so special about writing things down that mean so much later. So much more I might add than the computer renditions of notes.

    Do you have a special place to buy pretty journals? I find ones like you've pictured are hard to find. I noticed that some were gifts to you. How wonderful. That makes them even more special.
    Sam

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  24. La Table De NanaMay 10, 2011 at 10:09 AM

    Hi Sam..I don't know where my friend bought it..But I did see nice ones..in chapters..which is like Barnes and Noble..
    My friend likes spiral ones.. I also use.. notebooks..I have one I found in Italy..a lined ,small thing:) and Mary Engelbreight books are fanciful for other things.I have written one in that..bought at Michael's for a pittance..
    Fine paper shops would have some also.Handmade ones may be available on Etsy?
    Try Barnes and Noble..if you cannot find anything you like..

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  25. La Table De NanaMay 10, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    Look~
    http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=journals

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  26. JacquelineMay 10, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    Monique, you always inspired me! I wish I had done fun little individual travel journals like you mentioned with the labels, tickets, etc. I guess it is not too late to start.

    My favorite of my journals are also the ones of my five kids. Now the 3 with spouses want theirs and I don't want to part. I have plans to turn them into books so they can have the originals and I can keep a copy with photos. The things they said that I wrote down are my favorite.

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  27. lilabragaMay 10, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    Dear Monique, beautiful,beautiful,beautiful post!
    I love journals too...have a few kept inside my suitcase to remember the good times when I ma down.
    hugs
    lila

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  28. Mari @ Once Upon a PlateMay 10, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    So lovely. How extremely fortunate we all are, every one of us, that you share your beautiful creativity. Life is much richer having met you Mme. M.

    Merci. xoxo

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  29. LindaMay 10, 2011 at 9:21 PM

    Such a lovely and heartfelt post Monique! I have several journals put away from different times in my life...but I have not always kept one all the time. I have a beautiful one filled with pen and ink drawings and a chronicle of my travels overland from Greece to India and Nepal in 1974...that is my most complete. And two from when I was pregnant with the boys...and others. When I was young and in my late teens I always kept one.
    I love to look at them from time to time...
    That looks like a lovely journal Monique...waiting to be filled!
    L~xo

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  30. AnhMay 11, 2011 at 12:08 AM

    beautiful! I too kept journal but am not writing it as often as before...

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  31. Sam Hoffer / My Carolina KitchenMay 11, 2011 at 8:12 AM

    Thanks for all of the suggestions on where to find pretty journals Monique. I'm off to check the out.....
    Sam

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  32. La Table De NanaMay 11, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    My pleasure Sam..

    Linda..I would love to read your journals..something tells me you have had quite a life.. still now..but many great adventures..along the way~:)

    I didn't want to part w/ mine either.. but when they married....I felt it was the time..A book(s) is a great idea! I should have:)



    Lila.. we all have those moments..and sometimes..they last a long time.
    I love your thoughts~
    I hope one day they read them and see again how loved they were:)Those girls of ours~
    Mary..I have a whole pad of your inspirations to me:)

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  33. Fresh Local and BestMay 14, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    Over the years I kept several journals, often integrating my daily to-do list with random thoughts and recording of daily events. Although I have several hand bounded journals made with really nice paper, I rarely wrote in the really nice ones because the perfectionist in me was inhibited by the fact that I wouldn't be able to edit once I committed words in indelible pen. Now I've transitioned some of these thoughts to my blog, it does seem like this is a modern day version of a journal, and thank goodness we can edit!

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  34. nooschiMay 15, 2011 at 6:16 PM

    I love journals too! Haven't kept one in a while. The last time I did was a joint journal with CK on our trip to Hong Kong and China...it was so much fun to look back on! That pink color is gorgeous. Bright and vibrant.

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