My last post mentioned how I love the domestic arts. I really do. There is something so satisfying about keeping a home for my family. I enjoy focusing on the various tasks around the house.

Ironing is not something I find to be a chore. I enjoy the repetitive actions of it. It is refreshing to have a job that is so clearly finished. The shirt starts out wrinkled and with each pass of the hot iron, the fabric smooths.

Cooking, as you know if you have read my blog at all, is one of my passions. I revel in it. It melts away my stress. The other day I was hit with a stunning migraine. I had not had one like that in over a decade. After time in a dark room and some medication, I was feeling a bit better, but it was not until I started dinner that I could feel the last of the migraine go. Standing there over the cutting board, creating matchsticks out of the carrots for egg rolls, mincing the onion for the fried rice, I could feel the layers of the headache peel away until I was refreshed. Mixing up scones, forming breads, the culinary arts are an escape for me. When cooking or baking, I have to focus on what I am doing or risk ruination of the food. It is living in the moment.

Gardening is peaceful. Outside with the sun shining down or the breeze ruffling by, hand digging in the dirt, I am connected with the earth, helping provide foods for my family.

Even mundane chores like laundry and sweeping are enjoyable for me. They are repetitive, simple, freeing. It is like knitting stockingette stitch in the round - simple tasks to occupy the hands while the mind roams free.

Now, life being as it is, I do not always have the time to be the homekeeper that I want to be, which can be stressful, but for me, most of the time, the domestic arts truly are a pleasure.