I hear little feet downstairs and crawl out of bed. They’ve slept later than usual and I am feeling energized. Even still, I always begin with the same ritual of heating up the coffee maker and talking about what is to come with my boy who needs plenty of warning, especially if the plans for the day entail leaving promptly. I turn around and leave him for a minute and he vanishes. He has been doing that often lately and I usually find him here:

We’ve moved to a cabin in the woods and when we thought about the floor plan we weren’t sure what we would do with the rather large loft. I have visions of someday creating a beautiful, well decorated library, but till then (while we have preschoolers) I wasn’t sure. It has had several variations already but I am settled now. It has become the favorite space for all of us.

The sun streams in different windows all day long and now, from my desk that sits beneath one of the windows, it is so bright I sometimes need to shield my eyes (not so easy while typing and I’m sure someday I’ll be able to shut the blinds but now my vitamin D starved body will not allow it). I love to watch cars wind up our switch back mountain from this window and breathe anticipation when I see headlights of husband coming home at night.

Down the other end of the room, my children play quietly with their toys. We were hesitant to put a play room in a loft but we’ve found our children are small enough that they only venture up when we all go together or when one of us sits down at the computer. There is something soothing and calming about the space. My children, instead of playing loud and boisterous, are more often found like this, quietly reading or ‘puzzling’ beneath the large windows. There is something about the pine trees swaying before them, the lake in the distance that causes even the souls of the small, to be still and quiet.

What about you? What are your favorite spaces? Where does your soul quiet and still?

Linking today with ‘Seedlings in Stone’ where she has issued “an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by…) you”. Join us!