There used to be an automatic down time. It was just built into everything. You know, now we come home from a trip, and what do we have? A mountain of e-mail, and mountains of phone calls. You used to not have any of that. You used to not have answering machines so there was just none of that. So you came home and your house was all quiet and you just put your stuff away and you got back to life. There is NO down time now. And it’s just not natural.
Susan Branch
You may read the entire interview with Susan Branch here.
She is so right. I remember as a kid coming back from vacation, you ran out to greet the dogs, mom started laundry and dad went through the mail. It all builds up so fast now. Don't you just love Susan Branch. I am especially enjoying her calendar for August...all book related:)
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly right, though I don't remember it so much from my own childhood, as my children's childhood; and I was the one doing laundry. :<)
ReplyDeleteIf you come back to read this, I'd so love to hear more about her August books.
I am just writing about the same sense of lost quiet and space. I will post it soon. I sometimes feel so at odds with the rest of the world; it wants to crowd in on me, while I want to push it away for time with my family, my books, my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAs always, Nan, I love what you have to share.
Each year I get her Heart of the Home calendar, so for August she created a collage of bookish quotes and book stacks and shared some of her favorite reads: Excellent Women, Portrait of a Marriage, A Woman of Independent Means and so on. It is so charming, I may leave it up well into September.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
ReplyDeleteI just came across your blog and am glad I did --it's great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog & your nice comment! I was lucky enough to find a house already painted to my taste - in fact, there is not one white wall in the whole place. I'm planning on posting more pictures as I finish setting up each room.
ReplyDeleteNan, I love Susan Branch! I have so many of her cookbooks-it's like a shrine-LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteI love Susan Branch's books; thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, June. It is so hard to balance. Though I do love my cell phone and my answering machine. I think the latter has actually given more peace because I don't have to run to the phone anymore. And I have my phone turned off much of the time so I just see a little light if someone has called. And I dearly love texting on my cell. I look forward to what you are writing.
ReplyDeleteBookpsmith, I have read only Excellent Women. Is the Portrait... Nigel Nicholson? And the Woman... Hailey?? I've ordered my 2010 wall calendar just today.
Susan, me too, except for what I just wrote to June above.
Thanks, Diane.
Sarah, I am eager to see them!
Sherri, I know just what you mean. Mine are all together on the shelf.
Tara, me too.
Glad I stopped in on your blog today - I had forgotten how much I like Susan Branch's work and artistry. Thanks also for posting the link to the complete interview.
ReplyDeleteAh, the subject of down time. I'm always in search of it. My husband gets annoyed when he can't reach me on my cell phone (he could call me at my desk though), but sometimes I just don't turn it on at all. I just don't feel like being "available" to the world 24 hrs a day - there SHOULD be some time to do as you please = down time.
Conny, thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a note. I think we're all getting so used to being available all the time that when people don't respond to a text immediately you wonder why!
ReplyDeleteGreat quote/passage! And so true, too.
ReplyDeleteI love Susan Branch and thoroughly enjoyed reading the interview. Thanks for the link, Nan.
So glad you could read it, Les. It was a treat to come upon.
ReplyDelete