The Beginning

Just watched the movie Julie and Julia and enjoyed it. I wondered, "What am I doing in my life? What am I accomplishing right now?" Obviously, cooking every recipe in a French cookbook is not an undertaking I would enjoy and I don't believe that anyone in the family would either (picky eaters are so hard to please). However, there has to be something I would enjoy doing that I could schedule over a year to explore and in turn, to grow.

The idea comes from my Grandma Jo who recently passed away. No, I am not hearing her speak to me, but she swells from my heart and surrounds my thoughts. I uncovered a box of her things the other day. Some old books, letters and stationary. I toyed with the idea of starting up letter writing again. Something so foreign in this age of facebook and twitter. Writing snail mail letters is truly a dying art.

The idea has marinated and expanded. There are so many lost arts that my grandmother's generation experienced that I have never even considered doing. An age of living that is lost on me and my children. I want to recapture those arts, that life, the wellbeing of accomplishing something with my own hands. Quilting by hand, making jam, kneading bread, sitting down to write a letter to a loved one are all experiences I want to share with my grandma.

So, join me on this journey of "Recapturing Lost Arts" and let us see where the adventure leads us.