[joanpeel]

Porch thieves stole my new Calvino book. Enjoy💋

[outofeverythingthisnamewasleft]

Edith Bouvier Beale

[joanpeel]

Feeling as if I’m now constantly exposed to stupidity in a way that feels overwhelming. It’s nothing new, it’s been devolving with each subsequent generation for decades but this drop feels particularly sharp

[joanpeel]

This morning to get me out of bed at 6am my precocious 2 year old told me “get up, silly woman” ……

[joanpeel]

This is the time of year that I always feel overwhelming dread. Summer in the south with 90+ degree days coming, air so muggy it’s like swimming in a lake, the white hot sun, being trapped indoors, severe thunderstorms and floods most evenings…but right now I feel peaceful. My days are already full and happy. I no longer feel so desperate to escape.

[joanpeel]

[joanpeel]

Desperately wish I had my city’s native accent. Think…Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias but less affected

[joanpeel]

You're a writer?

Used to be…a few poems published and half finished novels on a hard drive somewhere but that’s the extent of it. I stopped after having my daughter but maybe I’ll start again someday

[joanpeel]

It bothers me to no end that all of these turn of the century mansions in my southern town have one or two people living in them. 40 years ago they were probably filled with kids. Meanwhile I don’t have enough room in my little house to even think about another child. Stop hoarding all the space!!

[weepingwidar]

Mary Bishop (British 1914-1990) - Purple Moon (1967)

[joanpeel]

For mother’s day T got me a pair of Birkenstocks. My first pair I ruined two years ago when my water unceremoniously broke (enough said). It feels very like him — funny, full circle, thoughtful. I’m now lying in bed reading with tea, something I haven’t done in over two years but used to do every morning

[dontmutilatemymink]

[joanpeel]

Milton Avery - Artist's Daughter by the Sea (1943)

[joanpeel]

Two years ago in this moment I was in labor with my daughter and I’m still too tired to really piece together and make sense of everything that’s happened since. I didn’t know this type of transformation was available to me outside of childhood. I am completely turned inside out. It is neither wholly good or bad, it just is. Fighting to protect and comfort her is my brain’s at-rest state. She is everything. Still, I dream of turning my brain back on. One day I’ll be sharp and available to myself again. It doesn’t need to be today. It shouldn’t be

[joanpeel]

I’m going to stop reading the news. I’m going to completely bury my head in the sand. I’m going to treat my neighbors well. I’m going to do what I think is moral and right, on instinct instead of deliberation. You see, I only have this one life…

[joanpeel]

Sleepy sunday spent on the porch

[joanpeel]

One of the most romantic things about my ancestry is that my great great grandmother gave up being part of a hugely wealthy family in 19th century England (they were the Queen's bankers, and her aunt was the richest woman in England) to marry a lower class violinist she had fallen in love with. She was immediately excommunicated and the only time she heard from her family again was during World War I when they sent along a basket of food. I think about it all the time and that, without her courage, I wouldn't be here

[joanpeel]

Having the house to yourself when raising a family...such a luxury! Even when just working/cleaning/baking things to freeze for toddler's breakfasts