What marriage taught me about "the best day of my life"
I heard it said that your wedding day is the best day of your life. But marriage is exquisite. It balances the whimsical nature of...
top of page
Shanley McConnell
Sep 2011 min
Mastering the commonplace: a conversation on work and rest
The sky feels almost translucent; from the window I watch a sunrise open its vast, blue wings to reveal a more heavenly scape. The...
Shanley McConnell
Sep 185 min
For want of goodness
In the 10th century BC, a musician named Asaph reflected on the nature of his home in the world by reflecting on the nature of God. Where...
Jun 3, 20194 min
The Monday Review, week four
~ ~ 1. Almost the Equinox, Sarah Maguire (London: Chatto & Windus, 2015) Sarah Maguire's Almost the Equinox is a gorgeous bouquet of a...
Jun 2, 20194 min
Social Media Week: Instagram, and a Challenge for 9th June 2019
~ ~ Social Media can be an uplifting tool because enables us to connect, share treasured moments and reach out for knowledge of...
Jun 1, 20196 min
A Semester-Review: Through The Sunshine Days.
~ ~ Are you weary? Worn-out? Burned out? Come to me and rest. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or...
May 21, 20198 min
The Monday Review, week three
~ Good-morning, my friends, Here's a little update, and a list of books/poetry collections I've read over the last month or so. Although...
Apr 26, 20193 min
A Friday Film: Microhabitat (2017)
Microhabitat, written and directed by Jeon Go-woon. South-Korea's Award-Winning, Up-&-Coming Jeon Go-woon creates the story of 'A Simple...
Mar 25, 20195 min
The Monday Review, week two
~ ~ 1. Life of Pi, Yann Martel (Canongate, 2016). Life of Pi, a novel alive with magic and realism. Both together, and separate. The...
Mar 16, 20192 min
To Annie Downs, Author of Looking For Lovely.
I came across this post as I was scrolling through blog-drafts, and thought I'd upload it. This was written over a year and a half ago...
Feb 5, 20196 min
On The FOMO Phenomenon; How To Be At Peace.
~ ~ I'm young, and still, I'm always finding out old, new words. The ones that seem to have a sort of faux longevity; they arrive as if...
Jan 28, 201911 min
On Finding Peace; In This Heavy-Handed, "Life-Happening" World, How To Live At Peace.
~ ~ It's raining outside, and because the sun is still shining, the earth is cold and crystallized. The outside is quiet and tranquil,...
Jan 5, 20192 min
To The Hellos & Goodbyes of A Year Gone By & The New One To Come.
~ ~ It was like a xylophone; the wind soft and breathing my face; my fear, my forehead-----our faith. I think of you, of the world all...
Nov 21, 20185 min
Academics: A Series of Stained Glass Studies.
~ ~ If you reach the third cove on the right side of the library three-flights above brick and granite and scaffolding, you will see a...
Oct 29, 20185 min
The Monday Review, week one
~ It is Monday again, and I am four layers of sweaters & gloves in the library of stained-glass and quiet. Mondays are my favourite for...
Oct 22, 20182 min
The Monday Review: Introduction.
~ ~ Morning mornings are for reflection, sweet tea and rest. For listening to Ballet of the Little Cafe; the melody of it lifting itself...
Oct 11, 20182 min
Oxford: October.
~ Three weeks. And maybe a few days more. That is how long I have been living in this new city. Oxford is a transition; it is so...
Aug 29, 20185 min
Time Is Not Stationary As It Is Unchanging.
~ ~ We didn't realise, at first, that sometimes time is not stationary as it is unchanging------as it is so full of motion, tidal waves...
Aug 13, 20182 min
Life Lesson: The How-To I Treasure Most From My University Years.
~ A few months ago, a friend of mine asked me about my experience at University; this was before we donned cap, gown and heels to walk...
Jul 26, 20182 min
Beauty, Guest Post by Zoe Cassells
~ There's a proverb; it reads a lil' something like this: gracious speech is like honey-----sweet to the soul, healing to bone and body....
Jul 7, 20183 min
Review of Shrines of Upper Austria by Phoebe Power (Shortlisted Collection), published by DURA.
Phoebe Power (Carcanet, 2018); pbk, £9.99 Phoebe Power’s Shrines of Upper Austria beckons to the wayfarers. An amalgamation of poetry and...
Jun 28, 20182 min
A Story About Words, Guest Post by Rebecca Baird.
So she agrees; her life is a friendship between risk and responsibility. Her work, reliable and leading; her words, avant-garde and...
Jun 26, 20183 min
How To Grieve On The Good Days: In Memory Of.
~ Many of you know that my beloved great grandmother passed away here on earth last week. It was a Monday in the UK; we had spent hours...
Jun 26, 20182 min
An Exercise In Beauty, Guest Post by Helen Brower.
I'm thrilled to welcome Helen Brower (of Inspire, Embrace and Never Apologise) back to the blog for this morning's post: An Exercise in...
Jun 23, 20183 min
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice? Guest Post by Lizzie Husum.
What a joy it is to welcome Lizzie Husum to the blog this morning, sending a bit of her story all the way from Herning, Denmark. I met...
Jun 21, 20186 min
Graduation Day: To The Dearest Great Grandmother & All Who Loved Her
~ ~ We used to play cards every night. She had one of those old-fashioned, wooden contraptions that was always filled to the brim with...
Jun 19, 20183 min
The Seven Stages of Acceptance, Guest Post: The Seven Stages of Acceptance, with Maddie Bayley
Maddie is sweet spontaneity; she is the "coffee-today?" kind-of-friend, always a message away, willing to reschedule plans in order to...
bottom of page