Come Sit Awhile
By Alice Taylor
()
About this ebook
Come sit awhile with Alice Taylor. Take a little time out – to rest, to think, or just to be.
Life can race along at a fast pace, sometimes almost stampeding us along with it. What a pity not to slow down and take the time to enjoy little things, or simply doing nothing or chatting with a good friend. Sometimes Alice finds a comfortable place to sit, maybe a low wall, a garden seat or a grassy bank. A place to let the mind calm
down and let thoughts drift. With this book she invites you to share the special moments of life.
Alice Taylor
Alice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Her first book, To School Through the Fields, was published in 1988. It was an immediate success and quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Alice has written nearly twenty books since then, largely exploring her beloved village and the ways of life in rural Ireland. She has also written poetry and fiction: her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller. Most recently, she wrote a children's picture book with her daughter Lena Angland, called Ellie and the Fairy Door.
Read more from Alice Taylor
Country Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To School Through the Fields Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuench the Lamp Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Village Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Country Miscellany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAcross the River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Place Called Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBooks from the Attic: Treasures from an Irish Childhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Parish Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDo You Remember? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTea for One: A Celebration of Little Things Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cocoon With A View Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAs Time Goes By Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome For Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTea and Talk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouse of Memories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Night Before Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gift of a Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd Time Stood Still Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd Life Lights Up: Moments that Matter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Woman of the House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Come Sit Awhile
Related ebooks
The Nature of Man: Poetry of Earth’s Flora, Fauna, and the Human Condition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShips in the Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Still Have More to Say: A Life in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBits of Stardust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNative Echoes: Listening to the Spirit of the Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWords Not Spoken: Poetry for Quiet Moments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirit Eyes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBanners of Longing: New and Selected Religious Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvery Moment Is Now: A Poetry Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Apricot Memoirs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMelodies of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Time on the Mountain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems for Kids: For Childhood and Youth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust Wild Enough Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLady Waiting Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Seven: Seven Short Stories to Ignite Your Imagination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDonegal Suite Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSexing Kofhee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoonlit Soliloquy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Australia...My Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIce Melts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWeavings: A Tapestry in Words Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDown in the White of the Tree: Spiritual Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nine Senses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeart Songs and Distant Prayers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDo You Remember? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPits and Praises Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond All Galaxies: Poetry and Reflections for the Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerenity Prayers: Prayers, Poems, and Prose to Soothe Your Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Personal Memoirs For You
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kitchen Confidential Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pathless Path Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga: A not-so-perfect tree change Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Embrace the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memories, Dreams, Reflections: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gift: 14 Lessons to Save Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let's Talk About Hard Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Bookseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eleven Minutes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Come Sit Awhile
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Come Sit Awhile - Alice Taylor
‘In these pages, we see Taylor’s remarkable gift of elevating the ordinary to something special, something poetic, even …’
Irish Independent on The Women
‘It’s like sitting and having a big warm blanket wrapped around you …’
Cork Today with Patricia Messinger on Tea for One
For more books by Alice Taylor, see obrien.ie
Dedication
For Reese
who loved all things bright and beautiful
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Let’s Light a Candle
Morning Has Broken
Peace Prayer of St Francis
Slow Me Down
Waiting for Our Souls to Catch Up
A Ploughed Field
Trees
Too Late
Hold Fast to Dreams
I See His Blood upon the Rose
Going to the Well
Fresh Flowers
Kindness
Needs
A Wet Day Woman
A Cornerstone
Sport
Wilding
Close to the Earth
Tread Softly
Men with Scythes
Stored Summer
Earth Woman
Back to Simplicity
Uplift
After the Funeral
Morning Walk
A Soft Day
Jim
The Meaning of Life
Other books by Alice Taylor
About the Author
Copyright
Let’s Light a Candle
There are times in life when we all need the presence of another human being. Maybe to sit together in silent companionship, to discuss something that is bothering us, to chat quietly about a shared interest or to enjoy an old joke. Covid robbed us of these interactions, resulting in a certain social withdrawal that is very slowly righting itself. There is a lot of wisdom in the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: ‘Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke up the unused path.’ How energising it is when an old friend calls by and you sit together enjoying a meeting of minds which leaves you feeling lighter. Even a phone chat can help move you forward.
But there are other days when friends are not available and we find it difficult to apply ourselves to what we need to do – and at such times the writings of somebody who experienced a similar situation to ourselves may echo in our mind and help us see a little kink of light that leads us on. Having a small treasury of such moments is a comfort that I cultivate. When we feel abandoned and not able to concentrate, the words of an old familiar poem, hymn or prayer can trickle into our minds and switch us back into gear. I keep a journal and also write little poems to capture fleeting moments.
How nice to sit and think awhile
Of little things to make you smile,
Happy things you did in fun
Long ago when you were young. …
This book is about taking time out, time to think, time to lift ourselves out of our everyday busy-ness. Along these pages we will recall stories, experiences and thoughts, and sometimes engage with wiser minds than mine to share words that have comforted many down through the years and that I find particularly helpful. Our ancestors have left with us the wisdom of their time when life was lived close to nature and incorporated a respect for the earth and for a greater power.
… To think of people who were kind
And left a ray of light behind,
People who were nice to know
When you were young long time ago.
So come and sit with me awhile
And think of things to make us smile.
Nature too can influence our sense of well-being. We have all known foggy, dull days when a low sky wraps a grey shroud around our shoulders and we trudge on, heavy-footed and glum-faced. And then comes a bright, sunny morning and unconsciously our step lightens, we move forward with a new sense of enthusiasm, a smile streams across our face – and suddenly it is good to be alive. We are hugely influenced by light.
Heat and light – what wonderful gifts that lift the spirit. It is so good to stop and soak them up. These moments are precious. Our ancestors knew this and had the expertise, wisdom and foresight to create the wonder of light at Newgrange, and when St Patrick lit his symbolic fire on the hill of Tara he sent shock-waves across the pagan plains of Ireland. Cathedral creators, with their awareness of the human need for morning light, faced the windows above the sanctuaries eastwards so that the rising sun could pour in and light up the minds of praying people. The symbolism of candlelight, too, beams forth from all religious traditions. At Easter the Paschal candle is lit, and at Christmas the old Irish tradition of the welcoming candle is part of who we are. When Mary Robinson was president she placed a lighting candle in a window of Áras an Uachtaráin, shining forth a welcome to our diaspora. And when hardship and hunger forced entire families to emigrate from the depths of rural Ireland the last member to leave the old home took a burning sod to a