Joyful Joanna

The other day, I posted a link to Auntie Joanna Writes, the new blog of English Catholic writer Joanna Bogle.

I have been a big fan of Mrs. Bogle's writing - for newspapers, for magazines, and in her books - for quite some time. And that which I enjoy most about her writing carries over onto her blog (I find myself checking back several times a day to see if she has blogged something new since my last visit). Mrs. Bogle's informal conversational style is delightful - like sitting down for a long talk over a hot cup of tea with ... well ... your Auntie Joanna.

What I find most lovely about her writing is the joy she takes at encountering life's simplest, smallest, every-day pleasures. A chance meeting with her husband on the sidewalks of London. A "very happy evening" giving a talk to a Methodist women's group at a local church. The "tumbl[ing] about", chattering, and laughter of a friend's children, and the offer of a big mug of tea, while she uses the friend's computer when her own computer is down. Cold, crisp, fresh Autumn mornings and "the pleasure of hot drinks after a cold walk". Stopping in a "(lovely, medieval) Anglican church to say the Rosary - Mysteries of Light, with September sunshine pouring in through ancient windows, gentle words of 'Hail Mary' renewing one's soul".

These are the things in which Mrs. Bogle delights in writing about. That which the post-modern "cosmopolitan" columnists and editorialists of the world would find trivial, boring and mundane, Mrs. Bogle sees as an opportunity for joy, grace, and praise. Something there about the joy of the Lord.

Please do visit Auntie Joanna Writes.


UPDATE
Among many other published works, Mrs. Bogle is the author of A Book of Feasts and Seasons, which comes highly recommended by the Anderson family. In addition to her blog, she has a website here: www.joannabogle.com/.