Little Delights: Focusing on Joy and Going with the Flow

Friends, I’m exhausted. I don’t think I realized how massive an endeavor this move would turn out to be. The to-do lists are neverending, but we’re getting close to putting our other house on the market. What a relief it will be.

We continue to fall more in love with our new place by the day. I’m so grateful to have found it and that everything worked out. I still can’t fully believe it’s actually happened and that we live here now (and yet it now feels like home).

a field with bales of hay below a blue sky and fluffy clouds — *our view across the road to our neighbor’s field and the hills beyond*

Even though I’m exhausted and continue to add things to my to-do lists, this experience has been bringing on a shift. I’m feeling more relaxed and getting better at going with the flow. (Of course, it’s complicated and I, like this property and our new home, am a work in progress. Satya is right that when we move, we bring ourselves with us).

I haven’t had much time to spend in my studio, but I already love it.

Anne Butera's painting studio with a watercolor painting in progress on the table — *working on my first watercolor painting in my new studio*

Every time I set foot in the space, I feel a jolt of excitement and the pull to stay a while. Like everything here, it’s far from perfect, but it’s perfect for me and I know over time it will continue to get better and better (in case you missed it, I shared a view of another area of the studio in my last Joy Letter).

Although art-making and filming classes (and writing newsletters and blog posts) is my job, right now any time I spend on those sorts of creative endeavors feels a bit like playing hooky.

a sketchbook spread of hosta flowers surrounded by colored pencils and a page of watercolor color swatches

Have I mentioned that we have a lot to do?

Hahahaha.

So for today I’m just going to share some photos of what’s been delighting me lately. I hope they will delight you, too.

orange daylilies in evening light — *lilies in an old garden bed by our driveway*

a sweet baby bunny hiding in grass and clover

three red farm outbuildings — *we hope to be able to salvage these old outbuildings — I have my eyes on the one on the right and I’m already using the one on the left as a potting shed*

an old door and doorknob on a farm outbuilding — *the interior of the door on what I hope will someday be my summer studio*

white elderflowers look beautiful against a red farm building

containers of plants on a rustic wooden deck — *I’ve been harvesting herbs from the containers on the deck*

a flower bud on a night blooming cereus plant gets bigger and bigger — *a flower bud on my night blooming cereus — this will be the first time it’s bloomed*

the glow of the rising sun through rain wet tree branches — *my view out the windows of the sunroom — photos don’t do justice to the magic of the morning light*

new growth on a fiddle leaf fig tree — *new growth on my fiddle leaf fig, happy in the sunroom windows*

Purple and white streptocarpus flowers — *my happy streptocarpus in the laundry room window (but what’s more exciting is the roofing equipment in the yard outside)*

Anne Butera's art and writing in Uppercase Magazine Issue 66 — *my art and short piece in the new issue of UPPERCASE Magazine*

My wish for you today, and every day, is that you will look around and no matter what’s going on in your life, find little delights to light up your days.

joy, life, magicAnne ButeraJuly 22, 2025moving to the country, our new property, delights, daily delights, joy, joy collecting, beauty, noticing beauty, savoring beauty, savoring simple pleasures4 Comments