Living the Six Graces of Simple Abundance
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Sarah Ban Breathnach’s
Simple Abundance Between the Lines:
August 2022
I don’t know why, but the meals
you have on picnics always taste so much better
than the ones we have indoors.--Enid Blyton (1897-1968)
English children’s author
Dearest Friends,
Aficionados of August revel in relinquishment. When it’s one hundred degrees in the shade, it’s too hot to be anything but receptive and reflective.
August is the month for charm. Let a seasonally sanctioned sojourn of slow joys refill your authentic reservoir of creative energy. A picnic hamper never fails, tomato sandwiches, peach tarts, homemade lemonade, and sea salt chocolate chip cookies. Macaroni salad and coleslaw in paper cups and tiny pickles. After lunch, how about a hammock doze on the summer porch, and books that delight and entertain but never preach?
Over at The Art of Starting Over I’m sharing my secret passion for vintage Charm School Confessions. Charm or “finishing “schools, books, serials, and mail-order courses have always been with us in one way or another but their heyday seems to have been between the 1920s and 1960s—from the flapper to The Feminine Mystique.
I’ve always been a serious student of charm courses because they’re the original self-help guides and are a treasure trove of enthusiasm, verve, elegant tips, and instructive allure. Charm school brochures always make me smile. Their titles are so authentically upbeat: You Can Start All Over! The Woman You Want to Be, Live Alone and Like It!
O.K. sign me up.
The amazing and accomplished British actress, author, and explorer, Dame Joanna Lumley explains how during the Swinging Sixties, when the feminist movement was just catching steam, London’s Lucie Clayton School offered only two courses for women: Modeling and Charm. Dame Joanna took the modeling course but confesses she’s always wondered what it was about their charm school curriculum that set a woman up for life. Well, let’s find out together. So, turn the page with us. There’s still plenty of time left for a summer fling!
Sending dearest love and blessings for a picnic hamper full of comfort and inspiration,
XO
Sarah Ban Breathnach
PS For those of you looking for more comfort in your daily round, please take a look at our new Online and On-Demand Series, Living the Six Graces of Simple Abundance. It is not too late to join the fun, meet like-minded women and share your thoughts. I look forward to meeting you in our class call on September 26, 2022, at 5 PM PDT.