Imperfect Hospitality
Today’s painting of the week is of my friend Schwartz’s dog Gracie! If you’re interested in commissioning a pet portrait you can order one here.
I had some friends over a couple weekends ago and when they asked if I needed anything before they came over I said jokingly that all I needed was some grace for my house being messy. I was feeling exhausted. I was excited to have some folks over but not up for mopping my floors.
My friend Charis replied, “it won’t be grace, it will be comfort and relief.”
My friend Lydia then replied, “I hate clean houses”. (lol)
Another friend chimed in, “this is why we’re friends”.
Folks don’t want perfection. They just want to be together. We had the best time laughing and chatting and sharing good food. My dusty cluttered knick knacks and dirty floor didn’t seem to bother anyone. I’ve long realized that this is peak happiness for me. Sharing food and conversation with friends, preferably in sweatpants. I’d take a walk and talk with a friend over just about any other activity in the world. Add in a cup of tea and I’m over the moon.
I’m also not great at making it happen. Our house is small, we don’t have a dining table, I hate figuring out who to invite and who to invite next time. I don’t want anyone to feel left out! We have been out of practice hosting which puts more pressure on when you do decide to open your home up to folks. But when we recently invited a family with 4 kids over for brunch the dad made it a point to tell us multiple times that, “no one invites a family of six over for a meal”. It meant a lot to them! I wasn’t sure where all of us would sit, but I knew they were flexible and we’d figure it out so we all decided to smoosh around our kitchen table to eat together. We talked about our favorite comedians and their recent road trip. It was great. It would also probably look terrible on Pinterest.
So this is just me saying that I want more of this. More meals and thoughtful conversation, more walks and trips with friends to the park. I want closer connections to neighbors and to remember that people are really great. I also want to remember that shared experiences don’t need to cost a lot of money, and we don’t need to venture far to find fun.
I’m thankful for friends while the world is going bananas!!!
I still think about this blog post about a family in our neighborhood having people over every Friday for spaghetti dinner years after it was written.
Love this idea of opening your house up as a coffee shop for your neighbors.
Today’s painting of the week is of my friend Schwartz’s dog Gracie! If you’re interested in commissioning a pet portrait you can order one here.
Loved this article on cashing in on memory dividends.
And here’s a reminder that there is no perfect community.
I kind of want to go on an art treasure hunt.
I made a batch of this Chai and have been enjoying it the past couple days.
I’ve been enjoying the free healthy minds meditation app. It’s like headspace, but free. I also like the christian meditation podcast called Daily Still, they have a nice Holy Week series if you’re preparing for Easter.
I gave up shopping, social media and true crime podcasts for lent. Lordy it has been so fruitful. I’m preparing what I want it to look like to reintroduce them. Maybe I’ll write about this next week.
I loved this newsletter on sketches from observation vs sketches from memory.
This video from Ian Roberts, the man who literally wrote the book on mastering painting compositions shared a little secret to help you layout your paintings.
What are you loving? Feel free to reply and let me know!
My Shop: phillycornerstore.bigcartel.com
E-mail: halestormenator@gmail.com