Keeping a Journal

One of my favorite things to give as a gift is a journal. A book of blank pages for my friends and family to fill up with their handwriting, drawings and anything that makes up the moments of their lives.



I’ve got these beautiful, linen napkins and embroidered on them in gold thread is ‘Consider the empty plate, full of possibilities” – the same can be said for the empty page. As soon as you scribble on it in your own hand, it is transformed and can become anything.

My son keeps his music journal. I have several – one is all about my house, I have one for my art work and ideas, one for my garden and one for writing about the days of my life.



In a paper journal, you can scribble things out, add illustrations, ticket stubs, and dried flowers – all clichés but there is a reason some things become iconographic. They are universal mementos and they have the same effect on all of us.

There are a lot of people who use the web as a personal journal but certainly I am not one of them. They record intimate details of their lives and post it on the web for all the world to see.



I still like the feel and look of the handwritten page. It gets messy and wrinkled up but it seems more real and more connected to real life than anything to do with a blog. I like it because it is personal – no right or wrong, it just is.

I do admire the people who use the web to keep their personal journals but I cannot see myself joining them anytime soon.