Win of the week: Made great progress with this website!

Looking forward to: Having dinner with friends

a week’s worth of shōkakkō

What is shōkakkō? 小確幸 (shōkakkō) translates to ‘a small but certain happiness’. This term, coined by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, first appeared in his 1986 essay Afternoon in the Islets of Langerhans.

Shōkakkō refers to the tiny, diminutive pleasures in life. Consisting of kanji characters 小 (small), 確 (certain), and 幸 (fortune/happiness), this philosophy is about the small, simple, ephemeral joys found in the ordinary and mundane that can bring delight and happiness.

Sunday: The first spoonful of Japanese sweet potato

You know I love you if I give you the caramelized parts of a sweet potato. It’s like eating a lush, soft spoonful of natural sugar that melts in your mouth as soon as it reaches your tongue. I bake the sweet potatoes at 335°C for one hour, let them cool off entirely, then poke some holes into them and bake again at 335°C for another hour. Seems like a lot, I know. But it’s worth it if you want to max out all its sweetness!

Monday: Elora joyfully folding hand towels and rags

This evening, I invited Elora to join me in folding laundry. She eagerly wanted to learn how to fold. I taught her how to bring two corners to kiss the opposite two corners. After a couple of tries, she nailed folding towels and rags! I never thought a 2-year-old could fold laundry.

Tuesday: Elora whispering to herself about every book she wishes to read from the Mercer Mayer Little Critter collection

On the back cover of every Little Critter book, there’s a display of the rest of the collection. Elora pointed to each book and whispered to herself, “I want to read this one, and this one, and this one!”

Wednesday: Max’s soft, smooth, pudgy hand

We held hands as we walked around our neighbourhood. It warmed my heart to see him reach for me when I asked if he would like to hold hands. I rubbed my thumb on the back of his hand, trying to sear the feeling of this soft pudgy dorsom into memory.

Thursday: The feeling of a toddler’s kiss on your cheek, unprompted

The first thing Max did when he woke up was press his hand on my shoulder, leaned in, and kissed me on the cheek.

Friday: A winter’s morning light, a waning crescent moon between small blush pink and lilac clouds

Saturday: The smell of freshly baked cheese bread

what we did

• Caught up with an old high school friend
• Had a migraine attack
• Lots of homemaking (lots of laundry, vacuuming, tidying, dishes, the usual)
• Went for walks around our neighbourhood
• Lots of creative play; play doh, watercolour painting, drawing with crayons and markers
• Enjoyed listening to Little Bear (it actually makes for a good audio drama)
• Made pho; had chicken leg quarters cooked at 425°C for 45 mins and they went perfectly with the pho
• Aired out our mattresses
• Worked a lot on various pages of this website (anime archive, film archive, children’s library, personal dictionary)
• Started eating more restrictively due to horrible vertigo, anxiety, and body aches
• Made a physio appointment; really need to solve the root cause to my vertigo, it’s scaring me
• Made an artisan cheese loaf for the kids

content consumption

Reading — Books

• Currently: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky — I’ve made it to the final part!
• Currently: A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater — I particularly enjoyed Packing a Suitcase

Reading — Substack articles I really enjoyed

• Purist Homeschooling Isn’t Sustainable by Phylicia Masonheimer
  • Thoughts: I felt very encouraged by her experience with homeschooling and I agree with her thoughts and observations — lack of purpose and consistency, and idealism wreck the homeschooling experience (for both the parent and the child). I think I’ll be taking a more eclectic approach to homeschooling because I want to support, train, educate, and uplift my children in learning, and I believe in using and blending whatever resources and educational methods there are available to do so.
• Dear Mom who wants to give her 5-year-old a classical education by Mystie Winckler
  • Thoughts: An encouraging read for someone who feels a bit overwhelmed with all there is to read and know about the wondrous world of homeschooling. I don’t want to waste these early years. I want to lay a strong foundation for our home education journey by giving myself a good education. A mantra worth repeating to myself: Do not despise the days of small beginnings.
• You Can’t Hover Over Nine Kids… and That’s a Good Thing by Bethany Mandel
  • Thoughts: An uplifting read about the benefits of large families.
• Women & the Orthodox Aesthetic by Signs and Wonders
  • Thoughts: I’m glad someone said it. It’s been on my mind how a lot of these Orthodox female influencers all seem to have the same aesthetic, do the same crunchy things, sell the same digital and physical products. I, too, love aesthetic stuff (who doesn’t?), I love baking bread and wearing cottage-core dresses. I love planners (have you seen what I post on YT lol). I certainly don’t know what’s in anyone’s heart when they post aesthetic Orthodox content. I mustn’t cast judgement. I just worry a little for those that create the content (especially if they’re inquirers, catechumens, or new converts) and those that don’t know any better and consume this content thinking that’s what Orthodoxy is about. I certainly appreciate the zeal of new converts, but I think lines can be blurred between genuinely sharing your faith online and being a performative aesthetic.

Reading – Blog posts I really enjoyed

• A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden by Maggie Appleton
  • Thoughts: The whole reason I started this personal website/blog/digital garden was because I wanted a playful and personal way to share who I am and what I’m interested in without needing to build on somebody else’s walled garden. Obviously, I didn’t build this blog from scratch, but I do own this domain and I’m not using social media! I think that’s a good start.

Watching

• JJK Tokyo Colony Part 4 — Another week of you can do that in an anime?! So refreshing to see creative liberties being taken. A character-driven episode that spotlighted Fushiguro as a battle strategist. Also the funniest episode I’ve ever seen from JJK.

words worth remembering

“God make my life a little flower,
That giveth joy to all;
Content to bloom in native bower,
Although its place be small.” – God Make My Life a Little Light by Matilda Betham-Edwards

Do not despise the days of small beginnings.

the good and the beautiful

Anything I found beautiful that’s worth mentioning

• Ranunculus flowers
• Crisp, clean bedsheets
• The shine of a clean, stainless steel sink
• Elora enjoying her new magenta corduroy pants
• The kids in their muddy buddies
• The kids playing make-believe together; lots of tent-building
• Elora teaching Max colours using the toy chain he loves to play with
• Elora and Max counting together
• The cover of this Holy Gospel
• I hope to purchase this mug someday
• And this striking image: