Since it's the first snow day of the 2021-22 season, I was going to post my usual photo taken through the window of my chicken coop surrounded by snow, with a slate grey sky and the yellow tufts of grass showing through the snow lying on the field.
But.
When I saved the photo, I saw that I have posted a lot of snow day photos over the years, so instead I decided to post a photo of what was going on my life on this day in 2011 -- the year I started this blog.
The puppy had arrived! The photo shows Stella and Abby, the pup, just a couple of weeks into their new co-existence.
Stella died in the spring of 2015, and Abby turned ten in September.
And this is the point where I tell you I will no longer update this blog on a regular basis. I don't want to say I'll never write here again, because as soon as I say that, something will come up that I want to share.
But.
My life has moved in a different direction, again. I'm not longer writing about country living. The whole "city girl, country girl" persona has wound itself down. Now I'm teaching almost every day, and my writing is moving more into the genre of spirituality and faith. I miss being home every day and living my country life to its fullest AND I miss writing every day (boy, I really miss my writing life),
But
if anyone knows that life is constantly changing, and a person is (or could be) constantly evolving, it's me. So I'm okay with these changes, knowing that at some point, they'll change again.
This blog began ten years ago after I published my first Field Notes column in the Oxford Journal community newspaper. It closed in March 2015, Stella died a month later, and six months later, I sold my first book -- a collection of those columns. So yeah, you never know what is going to happen and what path through the field you're going to find to follow.
I finally gave up that column, which had moved to a magazine, in the fall of 2020. Just couldn't hang on for another year to make it an even ten! Field Notes is part of my life, but no longer part of my daily life, or my future.
So it's time to move on from maintaining this blog on a regular basis. The publisher of my new book, Alphabet of Faith, has asked me to do a blog about faith, ethics and spirituality, so I created one but I don't have much time for writing posts there either Teaching takes a lot of energy and creativity, and I don't have much left for writing.
That bothers me, but I'll figure it out as I go along. Teaching every day is new to me so I'll eventually find my rhythm and learn to preserve my energy. That involves creating priorities and this blog -- writing about my country life in Nova Scotia 15 years after I moved here -- is no longer a priority. I've exhausted everything I have to say about it.
Thank you for following along. I appreciate your interest. It's been a joy to share these stories and this life with you. Take care! xo
~ Sara Jewell
