Welcome! I was hoping we would find each other! Can you stay a minute or two?
finding words for a blank slate
Just the other day, I was rummaging through a cupboard and came across my beloved grandmother’s slates that she used in a one-room schoolhouse in North Dakota. Can you imagine learning to write on a small 5 inch by 8 inch piece of slate? Really inconceivable!
Grandmother Ione's schoolhouse slates c.1910
One hundred years later…I am sitting in front of a “blank slate” ready to learn…ready to share ideas… ready to make something new from vintage, adored before objects…and ready to make new friends! Like Grandmother Ione as she sat in front of her slates and thought about what to write, I also wonder what words will be written on my 21st century blank slate this year. What new ideas will be shared? What lessons will be learned? What new friends will be met?
The Rose Cottage Gardens and Farm “slate” is a place to share ideas about cooking, gardening, home keeping, families and life. I hope to reflect on creating an inspired home, gardens and life at Rose Cottage. I will talk about lessons learned in the process, too. Will you share your inspirations along the way?
more about blank slates
Notice that Grandmother Ione’s well-worn slate is made from a single piece of quarry slate surrounded by a simple wooden frame. She also had slates without wooden frames, and they would become chipped around the edges as the years passed. One of these less-than-perfect slates is laying flat in the photo.
As a young girl making many mistakes (and they would happen a lot!), Grandmother would say “just wipe it off and start over on a clean slate!” In other words, just forget about it and try again! I imagine that this sage advice came from lessons-learned in Grandmother’s early years in that rural one-room schoolhouse while carefully practicing penmanship with a quarry pencil. When the slate had less than perfect letters, it was simply wiped off with a damp cloth and Grandmother started over again! The start of every new day gives each of us a chance to start with a clean, fresh slate. (I had to do this several times already today!)
Today, I am going to resolve to wipe the slate clean, and start anew on a fresh slate–filled with ideas, creativity, inspiration and joy!
Can you stay awhile and leave a comment or two on my slate so we can chat? I hope so! Thanks for your visit!
rose cottage gardens and farm 