“The Hummingbird Nest has never been about being perfect. And that includes me and you.”

“I’ve stopped waiting for it to be polished and to still invite you in.”

“I’d like to invite you to consider this journey as permission to begin before you’re ready.”

We ended with a short garden visualization - picturing a flower that opened in its own time, petal by petal, and letting ourselves do the same.

I promised to share the full flower pounding tutorial, which I did in a newsletter that day. If you missed it, you can view it below.

The Hummingbird Nest

Flower Pounding Art

Read more

6 days ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Kathy Barlow

Thank you , & Nikki for joining me live. Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Kathy Barlow in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

On July 20, right in the heart of our In Full Bloom month, The Creativity Studio welcomed its second Guest Creative: Lise-Lotte Loomer, who joined us from her urban flower farm on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. What followed was an hour of flowers, friendship, and the gentle reminder that creativity is about presence, not perfection.

We opened, as we always do, by arriving together, and since we were a cozy group, we went around the circle with a question: if you were a flower, what kind would you be? I’d love for you to think about this question yourself. What flower would you be?

💐Our little bouquet of answers was lovely.

A peony, for being beautiful, scented, and sweet. A stargazer lily, fragrant and simply a favourite. A rose - twice over, once for the way roses come back and bloom again after being cut back, and once for the variety of colours and the softness of the scent. And a chrysanthemum, for all the detail in the petals - no matter how many times you look, there’s always something interesting to see.

One guest arrived partway through. She’s planning an in-person women’s circle for flower arranging at the end of August and came to soak it all in. Watching is always welcome here.

The Arrival Practice

Every gathering at The Hummingbird Nest begins with an arrival practice. Here is the one we shared that day:

You’re welcome to close your eyes, or to soften your gaze.

Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a garden, in the fullness of summer. Behind you is everything that has filled your week. Ahead of you, a path winds between the flower beds.

Take a slow breath in, as if you’re catching the scent of something blooming nearby. And a gentle breath out.

Now picture a single flower. Any flower you love. Notice how it doesn’t hurry. It opened in its own time, petal by petal, and it’s simply here now, being exactly what it is.

Let yourself do the same today. Nothing to tend. Nothing to prove.

One more slow breath in. And out.

Lise-Lotte’s Presentation: Fun with Flowers

Lise-Lotte had wandered her garden that morning, gathering with purpose, and then walked us through it all: how to get more stems from a single cut, why the big leaves are removed, the magic of a tape grid across a vase, cutting stems on an angle so they can drink, playing with shape and scale and scent, and finding beauty in the unexpected - strawberry leaves, seed pods, even a radish gone to seed.

Woven through all of it was her gentle philosophy:

And she explained that there’s nothing to lose with flowers. It’s a flower; you can pull it out if you don’t like it or if it’s placed incorrectly.

You can watch her full presentation here:

A small note about the recording: the video I captured during our session didn’t spotlight Lise-Lotte on screen, so I wasn’t able to use it. Luckily, she had recorded one as well - that’s the version linked above. As you watch, you may need to adjust your volume from time to time, as it varies throughout.

Arranging Alongside Her

The best part. We didn’t just watch, we arranged right along with her. Vases, tape grids, and garden gatherings at the ready, each of us built a bouquet as she guided us, and at the end we shared them in a little show and tell. Here’s what bloomed at our tables:

What Is a Petal Potluck?

The Petal Potluck is Lise-Lotte’s own creation, and it’s just how it sounds - a gathering where friends bring flowers, greens, branches, or seed pods to share, along with a vase they never want to see again. Everyone arranges a bouquet, names are drawn, and each guest gives away the arrangement they made and receives one made by someone else. There’s something about making flowers for somebody, even someone you don’t know yet, and something equally lovely about receiving them. The Petal Potluck captures both.

A few things that make it work so beautifully:

• It’s not a contest. No judgment, no competition - just the freedom to play, so everyone can stay in the relaxed, curious, “what if?” part of the brain where creativity lives.

• The invitation is written for you. The wording is ready to go in her handout, so you can skip the overthinking and get on with the fun.

• The conversation goes deeper. Her guide includes suggested questions to draw out real conversation around the table - the kind where a friend answers questions like, “What’s your favourite thing to make?”

Get the Free Handout Here

Signing up adds you to her lovely weekly newsletter (you can unsubscribe anytime), and the free resource gives you everything you need to host your own - the invitation, the name-draw envelopes, the discussion questions, and all her tips.

Coming in August: Journaling for Creative Nourishment with Jennifer Zarin, Thursday, August 6th, 11:00 am MDT

Join us in The Creativity Studio as Jennifer Zarin leads a session of mindful journaling prompts for creative nourishment.

​Jennifer has spent years witnessing what the page can hold, and she knows the quiet magic of journaling in community.

​There’s no right or wrong way to do this, and no experience is needed.

​Meet Jennifer: ​Jennifer was dubbed a Promptologist by one of her subscribers, and the name fits. She has nearly twenty years of experience as a mindful expressive writing and journaling facilitator, coach, and creative arts therapist. Jennifer is a writer and speaker with a background in theatre, and a singer and songwriter as well. She lives in New York City with her husband and three-year-old son. She is the Founder and Writer at Journal Your Path (journalyourpath.substack.com), a newsletter and intergenerational journaling community. Her work is rooted in connection and compassion, which makes her a natural fit for our August gathering in The Creativity Studio.

What to bring: ​A notebook, a pen you like, and a cozy spot to settle in.

I can’t wait to gather with you at the page. To receive the Zoom link, please register at the link below.

Come Journal with Us!

I hope you enjoyed another peek inside The Creativity Studio. See you next month.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

I’m excited to share a glimpse of The Hummingbird Nest. Here’s a snapshot of the home page. Come on in for a visit.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

✨This letter is for the reader who loves flowers in any form, growing in the garden, tucked in a teacup, or pressed flat and saved for later. And it's for the one who thinks she isn't creative, because I promise this project will change her mind. Everything here is simple on purpose. A few blooms, a hammer, an afternoon, and something beautiful to show for it. That's the kind of creativity I love best: easy on the hands, generous to the heart.✨

I had good intentions of delivering my flower pounding demo live on Substack this morning. Truth be told, I ran into some technical difficulties and decided to deliver it to you in a newsletter instead. I did go live, shared some behind-the-scenes challenges, and spoke about the difficulties I've been having and the Substack Live learning curve. I love going live. It's great practice, and I'll keep at it.

What is Flower Pounding?

Flower pounding is a natural art technique where you gently hammer fresh flowers or leaves onto fabric or paper. With each tap, the plant’s natural pigments are released, leaving behind delicate, one-of-a-kind botanical imprints.

This meditative craft invites us to slow down, connect with nature, and create something beautiful with our hands. No two pieces are ever the same.

You can use your imprints to make heartfelt cards, meaningful wall art, table placecards, gift tags, or simple keepsakes. All you need are a few blooms, some paper or fabric, and something to gently tap with.

🌿 Supplies

• Fresh flowers and leaves (see list below for what works best)

• Watercolor paper, cardstock, or fabric

• Paper towel (to place over the flowers)

• Parchment paper (to place on the cutting board)

• Hammer or mallet

• Hard, flat surface (like a cutting board)

• Tweezers (optional, for removing petal bits after pounding)

🌸 Flowers That Work Well

If gathering flowers ahead of time, here’s a little guidance on what works well:

• Pansies & Violas: high pigment, great detail

• Coreopsis: brilliant orange and yellow

• Cosmos: soft but vibrant imprint

• Ferns & Herbs: lovely shapes and greens

• Roses: juicy, but can bleed heavily

• Petunias: deep color, may need blotting

Flower Pounding on Paper

We tried this activity at one of the Kitchen Table gatherings last year. Each woman created a unique design using various flowers. Here are some samples of what we created. I love them.

Flower Pounding on Fabric

I love to pound flowers on fabric. I mostly use the imprints to make my slow-stitch cards. Here are a few examples.

This piece was made into a card by simply gluing the fabric onto a blank card. It carries so much meaning. I gifted it to my mom’s friend Ruth for her 100th birthday. Pansies are Ruth’s favorite flower. The blue fabric was cut from one of my mom’s wool jackets, and the floral blue from a napkin she lined her makeup basket with. The hearts, of course, signify their friendship and love for one another.

This piece was made for a card gifted to my sister. The yellow background is a vintage quilted piece of fabric that she gifted me. The pansy, her late husband’s favorite flower, was pounded on a piece of our Grandmother’s linen doily, and the lace is also from her stash.

Bonus: Pressed Flower Stickers

As a little bonus, I'm sharing the video from the live where we made pressed flower stickers together. I absolutely love to have a supply of stickers to attach to envelopes when you're sending out mail or giving a special occasion card. They're lovely in journals as well.

And with this letter, we almost wrap up our month of In Full Bloom in The Creativity Studio. What a month it has been. We made flower stickers, pounded petals into paper and fabric, gathered around the screen with Lise-Lotte Loomer to arrange floral bouquets and learn about Petal Potlucks (more on that to come soon). Simple projects, a few blooms, and so much joy along the way. Thank you for blooming right alongside me.

Before You Go: A Short Visualization

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

I’m excited to share a glimpse of The Hummingbird Nest. Here’s a snapshot of the home page. Come on in for a visit.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

🌸This letter is a look back at July, a month that lived up to its In Full Bloom theme in every possible way. Inside you'll find a small confession about mixed-up calendar dates, news of what's still to come (including the flower pounding demo), a cake flop, and glimpses of the gatherings and celebrations that filled my days. Then we'll turn the page together and peek at what's coming in August here at The Hummingbird Nest.🌸

You'll notice this letter is arriving a little early. I'll be away on vacation the last week of July, so I'm sending my month-end reflections before I go. Consider it one thing crossed off my very full calendar.

I let out a little cheer this week when my horoscope report arrived in my inbox. Mercury retrograde ends on Thursday, it said, which means fewer delays, fewer transportation troubles, and less confusion.

Confusion. That’s the word that caught me.

Lately I’ve had my fair share of it. When I look at my July calendar, almost every day holds something. Too much something, if I’m honest. And somewhere in all that activity, a few dates got mixed up. I had scheduled several gatherings here in The Hummingbird Nest with the best of intentions, and I even published a calendar with those activities on it. You can imagine my surprise when I realized the dates on my personal hard copy calendar (I’m an old school gal who likes paper) didn’t match.

So consider this letter part confession, part catch-up, and part invitation.

What’s still coming

The flower pounding demo is still on its way, and I can't wait to show you this one. There's something wonderfully satisfying about coaxing color out of petals with nothing but a hammer and a little patience. This live takes place on Thursday, July 23 at 9:30am MDT and will be shared on The Hummingbird Nest site afterwards if you miss it.

If you’d like to make some along with me, here’s what you’ll need:

Supplies:

• Fresh flowers and leaves (see list below for what works best)

• Watercolor paper or cardstock

• Parchment paper (to place over the flowers)

• Hammer or mallet

• Hard, flat surface (like a cutting board)

• Tweezers (for removing petal bits after pounding) optional

• Masking tape (to hold flowers in place before pounding)

If gathering flowers ahead of time, here’s a little guidance on what works well:

🌸 Flowers That Work Well:

• Pansies & Violas, high pigment, great detail

• Coreopsis, brilliant orange/yellow

• Cosmos, soft but vibrant imprint

• Ferns & Herbs, lovely shapes & greens

• Roses, juicy, but can bleed heavily

• Petunias, deep color, may need blotting

And if you missed the Pressed Flower Stickers Live earlier this month, the video is waiting for you - just hit the button below.

One small note: the recording picks up just after our arrival practice, which seems to have wandered off somewhere. Mercury retrograde in action, perhaps. Everything else is there, and it's a lovely warm-up if you're planning to join me for the flower pounding on July 23.

Watch the Pressed Flower Sticker Video

A small confession

On my calendar this month was a plan to make flower pot cakes for a birthday celebration. I had grand plans to turn them into a tutorial for you. The cakes had other ideas. They flopped, and so there won’t be a tutorial after all. Some things bloom, and some things don’t, and July taught me both.

What’s been filling my days

Beyond the nest, my calendar has been full of the kind of things that make summer feel special.

An afternoon of pedicures and manicures with my granddaughter Ellie, who is super creative. She did my nails herself, and never did I ever think I'd be walking around at age 69 with flower designs on my fingertips and toes. In a month called In Full Bloom, it feels exactly right.

Our Kitchen Table gathering, which was truly something. I’m still holding pieces of it close, and I’m planning to share part of it with you soon on a live. Here’s our menu, aka agenda.

A watercolor painting gathering at my home. We painted hummingbirds, of course. There were refreshments and cake and so much conversation that the painting almost became the excuse rather than the point. One guest gifted me a painted rock that I will treasure, and she also shared these perfect fruit masterpieces.

My granddaughter Avery’s horse show, where I mostly spent the time in awe. She amazes me every time she mounts the horse and jumps. It’s been her passion since she was seven years old.

My daughter’s birthday, celebrated at a famous restaurant where we had to book one year in advance. It was wonderful to be in the country with family to celebrate. The meal was outstanding. When we arrived back at her home for cake, her neighbour had surprised her with many grumpy garden frogs hidden throughout the garden - hilarious.

In full bloom, indeed

When I chose In Full Bloom as July’s theme, I imagined flowers. What I got was a month that bloomed in every direction at once. Gatherings, celebrations, mixed-up dates, flopped cakes, painted hummingbirds, and a calendar that couldn’t quite contain it all. That feels about right for a theme, doesn’t it? Full bloom is beautiful, and it is also a lot. And it was so amazing how flowers continued to show up in the most unexpected ways throughout the month.

A peek at August

Here’s what’s taking shape for next month:

🌿A Guest Creative session: Journaling for Creative Nourishment with Jennifer Zarin. Jennifer has nearly twenty years of experience as a mindful expressive writing and journaling facilitator, coach, and creative arts therapist. Coming to The Creativity Studio on Thursday, August 6 at 11:00 am MDT.

Register Here

🌿Our Kitchen Table gathering on Friday, August 14, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm MDT, with a theme I already love: Make Something, It Helps.

Pull Up a Seat at the Table

🌿And plenty of lives. Now that I’ve found my rhythm with them, I plan to show up on your screen often.

Thank you for being here through a full and blooming July. May Mercury behave itself, may our calendars agree with us, and may August arrive at a gentler pace.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

I’m excited to share a glimpse of The Hummingbird Nest. Here’s a snapshot of the home page. Come on in for a visit.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

One small note: the recording picks up just after our arrival practice, which seems to have wandered off somewhere. Mercury retrograde in action, perhaps. Everything else is there.

Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Kathy Barlow in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video!

Hope you’re having a great Sunday and looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Join me for my next live video in the app.

Get more from Kathy Barlow in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

✨This letter is for the reader who has been here a while, and for the one who just found the front door. The one who has wandered the Garden, or saved a Studio session for a quieter day, or read along from the edges. However you arrived, you’re part of what this place has become. And before the season turns, I want to make sure you know your way around. ✨

If you’ve been here a while, you know these letters arrive in your inbox carrying different things. Some have held stillness practices and creativity invitations. Others have been personal stories, moments of quiet clarity from my own unfolding.

What you may not know is that all of it now has a home.

I recently sat with two close friends and showed them the new home I’ve been building. A place where the practices, the invitations, and the stories are gathered under one roof, each in its own room, waiting for whenever you want to find them. Not scattered through your inbox anymore, but arranged the way a house is arranged, so you always know where to look.

Here’s a glimpse of the front entrance. This is The Hummingbird Nest home page, as it stands today.

I'm so excited to welcome you in. Let me give you a tour.

What’s coming in September

There’s one more thing I want you to know, because you’ve been here for the building of it, and I’ve mentioned this will be coming.

This September, The Hummingbird Nest opens its membership. There will be an open house to celebrate it, and I’ll send you a proper invitation when the day is closer. From that point on, some of the rooms will be kept for members. The monthly Kitchen Table gathering, the monthly Creativity Studio guest session, monthly creativity invitations and stillness practices, and three years of past publications in the archive will live behind a door that members hold the key to.

The front porch stays open to everyone. My monthly Reflections newsletters will always be free to everyone. But if this place has become somewhere you return to, I’d love for you to consider stepping all the way inside when September comes. Nothing is asked of you today. Today is just for looking around.

Here’s what membership will look like when the door opens in September.

You can be a Free Subscriber or a Paid Subscriber. Follow the links below to find out more in each category.

Free Subscriber:

🌿Reflections - The Hummingbird Nest’s monthly newsletter, which includes personal stories and moments of clarity from my own unfolding. I share them in the hope that they offer you a small insight into your own path.

🌿Occasional stillness practices in The Garden and creative invitations in The Creativity Studio.

Paid Subscriber:

🌿Monthly live gathering at The Kitchen Table, from my kitchen to yours, so you can feel the warmth of women who share your love of creativity and connection.

🌿Monthly Guest Creative session in The Creativity Studio. A skill to learn, a process to explore, the simple joy of making something together.

🌿Monthly stillness practices in The Garden - step into the quiet and exhale.

🌿Monthly creative invitations - make something for the joy of it.

🌿Full Archive including three years of content.

🌿Perks - digital products to download that support your retreat experience will occasionally be added.

Warmly,
Kathy

Visit the Hummingbird Nest Website

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

✨ A Reflection ✨

Personal stories and moments of quiet clarity from my own unfolding. I share them in hopes they might offer a small insight for your own path.

Yesterday I did something I’m always encouraging you to do. I took time for me.

I joined Wednesday Write-Togethers by . Kate describes these sessions as art-inspired writing for wellbeing. This week’s session was called The Pictures That Shape Us, and we were invited to get curious about the part art has played in our own story. Favorite images from childhood. Memories of making. The art that has stayed with us without us quite knowing why.

I’ll be honest with you. Some of the terminology felt foreign to me. Pantum? Say what??? I love learning new things, and I've also learned to go with the flow and trust the process. Isn't that the beauty of taking an hour like this one? You arrive with nothing in particular and leave with something straight from your heart. I left with a story and a word I had never heard before. More on that in a moment.

The story I found

As a child, Heidi was my favorite storybook. I don’t recall when she first entered my life. Perhaps she arrived as a gift, or as a book read aloud in my grandma’s kindergarten, or passed down from a friend. Maybe she was even shared around the coffee circle, those daily morning gatherings my mom and her friends held around the kitchen table. I can picture the women there, coffee cups in hand, passing books between them the way they passed everything else worth sharing.

I have always felt drawn to Switzerland, Heidi’s home. I don’t know why. Maybe I lived there in a past life. Maybe it was my grandma, who talked about her travels there and once brought me back a red dress. I wore that dress on my first day of grade one.

I loved the pictures that book painted in my mind. Cows wearing cowbell necklaces. The Swiss Alps rising above meadows of wildflowers. The peacefulness of that way of life. Those images have never left me.

Then, in my late fifties, I found a copy of Heidi at a yard sale. Of course I picked it up. Best twenty-five-cent purchase I have ever made.

And here is the part of the story my heart holds closest. When my oldest granddaughter was around eight, I shared with her my love of Heidi. She looked at me and asked, would you like me to read it to you?

My heart exploded. We cuddled, she read, I listened. A grandmother and her granddaughter, and a story that had waited more than fifty years to be read aloud to me.

That book still sits on my shelf. And I still feel destined to stand in a Swiss meadow someday.

A word I had never heard: pantum

Back to that word I’d never heard before. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard the word pantum either. If you’re curious, I’d love you to read Kate’s essay with more information about pantum, and the Western version, Pantoun, which you’ll find here.

Self-Centred

I find myself rejoicing and free

I find myself rejoicing and free every morning a new guest The moments when two people smile and their hearts join in The geese turn into the light again delight in a mother’s rebelliousness The moments when two people smile and their hearts join in Beauty begins with silence delight in a mother’s rebelliousness A windswept elemental place, demanding a response Beauty begins with silence You may be alone but you are one with the substance of the place A windswept elemental place, demanding a response remembering my inner strength You may be alone but you are one with the substance of the place A permission slip to be fully and authentically myself. remembering my inner strength every morning a new guest…

Read more

2 months ago · 3 likes · Kate Poll

Here are two pantum stanzas I wrote:

The mountains, the meadows full of wildflowers.
Feel like home, we’ll never part.
Beauty and peacefulness abound.
Always close to my heart.

A granddaughter’s question, would you like me to read it to you?
Cuddling, she read, I listened.
A moment I will never forget.
My heart exploded, even glistened.

What that hour gave me

I want to tell you what one hour of taking time for me actually opened up.

It introduced me to something new. I’ve always believed there is more to learn, and I stay curious about what is next. Yesterday proved me right, a whole poetry form I had never met, waiting inside an ordinary Wednesday. It gave me space to write a story from my past, a memory captured in my heart and now captured on the page. And it gave me one more story for the book that will someday become my legacy, another page my granddaughters can hold long after the telling.

That is what happens when we take an hour for ourselves. Not always. But often enough that the hour is always worth taking.

So here is my gentle nudge for you this week. Find your hour. You don’t need to know what you will find there. Heidi waited years for me. Whatever is waiting for you will be patient too.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

July 15, the garden asks you to listen.

A reading from The Garden

Earlier this morning I did something that feels more comfortable each time I do it. I read you a manifesto I wrote for women like us, out loud, in real time. There’s a line in it I keep returning to:

make yourself a priority. set aside time just for you. push the pause button.

If you were there, thank you for sitting with me. If you weren’t, the recording is here, and it’s short enough to fit inside a cup of tea.

At the end of the reading I offered a journaling prompt, and I want to leave it here too, for anyone who’d rather write than watch:

Today I give myself permission to…

No rules about how to answer it. A sentence counts. A whole page counts. Thinking about it while you fold laundry counts.

Reading aloud to you did something unexpected to me. It felt less like broadcasting and more like the moment at a retreat when everyone finally settles, and someone begins a story. So I want to ask you something. What would you think of a Substack Live storytime? An evening now and then where I read to you a story, an essay, something worth hearing in a human voice, and you simply get to listen. Reply to this email or leave a comment and tell me what you think.

More lives are coming. The next one, where I demonstrate how to pound flowers onto paper and fabric. It’s taking place on Thursday, July 23 at 9:30 am MDT.

Warmly,
Kathy

Join me for my next live video in the app. If you have the Substack app, it will let you know the moment I go live.

Get more from Kathy Barlow in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

July 6, 2026

A note from The Garden

Stop and smell the roses.

Every time I take Cora out, my granddog with her sweet little face, we pass the roses. And every time, she stops.

She sniffs the ground first. Then the lower branches, slowly, like she’s reading something written there. She is never in a hurry. The roses are news to her every single day. Several times a day, in fact.

The first few walks, I tugged the leash a little. We'd been outside long enough, and it's time to go inside, but somewhere along the way I started waiting. And then I started leaning in too.

Now it’s our ritual. We stop together, Cora at the roots and me at the blooms. She smells whatever it is dogs smell. I smell roses.

I used to think stopping to smell the roses was just a saying. Cora treats it as the whole point of going outside.

A story about capacity.

We had a terrible rainstorm last week, and there was flooding in our condo building. Five families were displaced. Neighbours were devastated. People rallied, checked in, grieved together.

I watched it all from my 2nd-floor balcony and felt... distanced. And for a moment I wondered, am I heartless?

I sat with that question. And here is what I found underneath it. No, I am not heartless. I give generously, to my family and closest friends, to my online community, to the women who gather at my table each month. My heart is not closed. It is simply already full.

I have burned out before. I know what it costs to say yes to everything and everyone. I have been there. I am not going back.

So the advice I gave myself was this. Don’t feel guilty. These neighbours are kind people, and they are taking care of one another beautifully. They don’t need me to complete their circle.

But here is where the story turned.

While walking our dogs, I shared how I was feeling with two of the women closest to me. I told the truth, the uncomfortable version, the one that included the word heartless. And something opened. One by one, they said, me too.

As our dogs sat patiently on the grass waiting, we talked about the past seasons of our lives that still shape us, and how cautiously we are beginning to notice the ways old patterns tug at our boundaries now. We talked about giving ourselves grace as we learn, situation by situation, what is ours to carry and what is not.

That conversation was a gift. And it only happened because I told the truth about myself first.

So maybe that is the real advice. Trust that others are held. Keep your hands free for what is truly yours. And when the guilt whispers anyway, tell the truth to someone you trust. You may find you were never alone in it at all.

That is not heartless. That is knowing the size of your own nest.

So if you're feeling over capacity, take it from Cora. Stopping isn't falling behind. It's the whole point of going outside.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. Your retreat hostess. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing myself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

July 1, the garden asks you to slow down.

A note from The Garden -

A Flower Pause

Before we begin, I invite you to pause for a moment.

Take a look at the flower below.
(And, if you have a flower nearby, bring it close.)

Notice its color. Its shape. The tiny details you might normally rush past.

Take a slow breath in and imagine leaning close enough to catch its fragrance.

Flowers don’t hurry to bloom. They simply open when the time is right.

Take one more breath, and let this be enough, just for a moment. Carry this sense of presence with you as you continue.

Flowers don’t hurry to bloom. They simply open when the time is right.

I’d planned to open the doors this month for my newly remodelled virtual Canadian retreat center, The Hummingbird Nest. During construction, I followed the blueprints, added some beautiful touches along the way, and had my first inspection with Claire Venus of Sparkle on Substack. I’m a member of Claire’s Diamond membership, which offers a personalized annual Substack audit, a fresh set of eyes on everything I’ve built.

Claire had a few suggestions for further revisions, and so the doors will open a little later than planned. I’ve moved the Open House to September.

I’ll still carry the theme I’d chosen for it, In Full Bloom, right through this month instead.

Looking ahead to September, The Hummingbird Nest will open its paid membership. And if you’ve been wondering what that might look like, July is a beautiful preview. A Kitchen Table gathering, a Guest Creative session, Stillness Practices and Creative Invitations.

And as a bonus, the archive is free to visit for the months of July and August. Subscribe now so you don't miss a thing.

Subscribe now

The Kitchen Table, Friday, July 10th - 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Our monthly gathering, live and in person around the table.

July at The Kitchen Table

Sharing again, from the archives

I arrived at July’s Kitchen Table theme in a very unusual way. Let me explain…

There’s a place at the table with your name on it. We’d love to have you join us!

Register for July's Kitchen Table

Pressed Flower Stickers, Substack Live, Monday, July 13 at 12:00 noon MDT

Snail mail is making a bit of a comeback. What better way to dress up a letter than with a handmade pressed flower sticker?

Join me live in The Creativity Studio as I demo an easy method for making your own. They’re perfect for decorating journals, envelopes, and anything else that could use a small, pretty touch.

If you’d like to make some along with me, here’s what you’ll need:

Supplies:

• Pressed flowers (Tip: smaller flowers work best)

• Parchment paper

• Packing tape (clear)

• Scissors

You’ll receive a separate email soon with an opportunity to add it to your calendar.

Flower Pounding, Substack Live, Thursday, July 16 at 12:00 noon MDT

I’ll return to The Creativity Studio and show you how to press color straight from petal to paper, an old technique with a lovely, unpredictable result.

If you’d like to make some along with me, here’s what you’ll need:

Supplies:

• Fresh flowers and leaves (see list below for what works best)

• Watercolor paper or cardstock

• Parchment paper (to place over the flowers)

• Hammer or mallet

• Hard, flat surface (like a cutting board)

• Tweezers (for removing petal bits after pounding) optional

• Masking tape (to hold flowers in place before pounding)

If gathering flowers ahead of time, here’s a little guidance on what works well:

🌸 Flowers That Work Well:

• Pansies & Violas, high pigment, great detail

• Coreopsis, brilliant orange/yellow

• Cosmos, soft but vibrant imprint

• Ferns & Herbs, lovely shapes & greens

• Roses, juicy, but can bleed heavily

• Petunias, deep color, may need blotting

You’ll receive a separate email soon with an opportunity to add it to your calendar.

July’s Guest Creative, Lise-Lotte Loomer,
In the Creativity Studio,
Monday, July 20 at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm MDT

Lise-Lotte Loomer grows specialty flowers on an urban farm on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, and she’s known for helping women find connection through creativity. She’s bringing the Petal Potluck to The Creativity Studio, a simple, beautiful idea for gathering friends around flowers.

Come on your own, learn the idea, and tuck it away for summer. More details coming soon in a separate note.

Register Here!

Flower Pot Cakes, July 23, A Creative Invitation delivered straight to your inbox.

I’ll be whipping up a batch of these special cakes for a July birthday, and on July 23rd I’ll share the tutorial to make your own.

I’m really looking forward to a month together In Full Bloom.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing myself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

I don’t usually share my birthday. I quietly celebrate. This year, on Friday evening, with a few besties, paint by numbers, and beautiful conversation. Yesterday, breakfast with my family and a visit to a country farmer’s market. Today, dinner with my family, and I can’t forget the grand dogs and cats. Tomorrow, a very dear childhood friend is treating me to lunch. And greetings as I write this from Dublin and New York. I’m feeling so very special.

This morning I sat with why I don’t usually share. Something shifted. It’s my time. Time to claim who I am becoming. Witnessing myself as others see me. Ready to say out loud. Look what I built. Look what I’ve become.

In July, I’ll be holding an open house in The Hummingbird Nest, my newly remodelled virtual retreat center. The theme is In Full Bloom. The timing feels perfect.

My Birthday Suit

I have a gallery wall in my bathroom. A legacy wall, with the matriarch of our family at the top - that’s my mom in a wash basin. A wall in full display of us in our birthday suits.

You might ask, who decorates their bathroom with photos of their mom and themselves in their birthday suits?

Someone who knows where she comes from. A long line of women who valued connection and creativity. And joy. Look at me in that middle photo. Pure, in the moment, joy.

Wishes

We make wishes in so many ways.

A wishbone snapped between two people. This is my husband’s tradition. Everyone receives three wishes.

Stones thrown into water with your besties. A friendship tradition that continues to live on.

Of course, making a wish while blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

And writing wishes on paper, rolling them up, sending them into the heavens, and trusting.

It’s so fun to see that my wishes are coming true.

The Hummingbird Nest is real. I built it. And today, on my birthday, I can feel my becoming.

Come with me. There is more to come. An open house. A nest full of women finding their own bloom. I’ll share details soon.

For now, just know. I’m 69, I’m not in my birthday suit, just sweats and a hoodie (sorry Mom, I’m not dressed up as you’d wish I were), and I’m becoming.

Happy birthday to me.

Warmly,
Kathy xo

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

Just past the longest day,
a note from the Garden

The solstice has just passed.

The longest day came and went, and I hope you felt it. I hope you stepped outside at some point, or turned toward a window, and let that particular quality of summer light land on your face. There is a richness to it, a fullness, that won’t come again until next June.

I’ve been sitting with it for a day or two now. That feeling of being at the top of something. The year in full bloom, everything leaning into the light before the slow turn begins.

This is what The Hummingbird Nest is for. Not the rushing through. The noticing.

And there has been so much to notice this spring.

What has been growing in The Hummingbird Nest

When I wrote to you in April, I said I was tending this space the way a gardener tends her garden. Slowly. Layer by layer. Piece by piece. I told you something was being held here that wasn’t yet fully seen.

Spring has a way of making good on those promises.

On Friday evening, June 12th, a small circle of women came together around the Kitchen Table. It was the first gathering held in the newly reimagined Hummingbird Nest, and it felt like a beginning. Something that had been waiting a long time to be real finally was. I brought you into that space with us here.

A day later, we gathered again, this time in the Creativity Studio for the first Guest Creative session. Watercolour artist Chris Vabre joined us from Octopus Connection and led the most beautiful session. There was something remarkable about a group of women making art together, even across a screen. Chris brought such generous presence to the room.

Two gatherings in the same week, one around the kitchen table, one in the studio making something. It felt like the Nest had found its wings.

A few questions I asked, and why they matter.

I want to pause here for a moment, because it has always been my nature to bring you along with me.

Inclusion matters deeply to me. I think it has something to do with my value of fairness. I spent years working in environments where consultation was performed rather than practiced. Where the questions were asked but the answers didn’t really change anything. That always bothered me.

I remember years ago, I was a community facilitator for a provincial government program tasked with redesigning children’s services. On one particular day, we met with a focus group of single-parent moms receiving the services the government had designed and provided. The government workers proudly proclaimed, This is what we’re doing for you. The single moms pushed back hard. How could you know what we need, they asked; you never even asked us.

The government workers were in tears by the end of the meeting, having come face to face with a group of vulnerable women just trying to survive.

Looking back on it, it really was magic. Because it proved to me, also a single parent at the time, that consultation is critical to real community development. That the so-called experts can’t profess to know what others need simply because they think they are experts.

I feel passionately about this. So when I ask you something, I truly mean it.

Your answers shape what I create here. The experiences I plan, the themes I choose, the retreats I build. And I want to be honest with you about how that happens. Sometimes it’s a poll response that points the way. Sometimes it’s a comment that stops me and makes me think differently. And sometimes it’s something quieter. An intuition that arrives uninvited, the way the next Kitchen Table theme did. It simply came to me, and I knew it was right.

This is how the Nest gets built by all of us, together, and by the things that arrive when I’m paying attention.

With that, I have a few questions for you.

Where would you spend an unhurried hour?

I was thinking about the barn, the one I have been dreaming about building in the Alberta foothills for a very long time, and I found myself wondering about the women who will one day walk through the virtual door. So I asked in Substack Notes.

If you could spend one unhurried hour at a retreat, where would you be?

40 percent answered: around a table, talking deeply. The rest were split evenly between sitting still in the garden, making something at a worktable and getting lost in a good book.

I loved seeing that spread. It told me something true about this community. You are not all one thing. Some of you come to be still. Some of you come to make. Some of you come to connect. And some of you just need to disappear into a page for an hour.

The Hummingbird Nest is being built for all of you.

If you didn’t answer this question over on Substack, I’d love to hear how you would spend your time here.

And then, about friendship.

I shared something that came following a conversation I had with a dear friend about how friendship changes in midlife, how some friendships fade, how others deepen in ways you didn’t expect, how you can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. How making new friends as a grown woman is somehow both harder and more tender than it ever was before.

One honest reply really hit home.

That landed. Because I think many of us know exactly what she means.

The poll on friendship in mid-life is still open. If you haven’t answered yet, I’d love to hear from you. Your input will help shape a half-day retreat coming in the fall.

What’s growing this summer.

We are spending this coming month in the company of flowers, and I’ll be writing more about that very soon.

July brings another Kitchen Table gathering. The theme is The Things We Carried Home, born from a trip to Italy that left me with more questions than souvenirs. Things about beauty, about slowness, about what we are actually hungry for. I can’t wait to bring it to the table.

We also have a Guest Creative session coming with Lise-Lotte Design. I’ll share details as the date comes together.

And something I have been looking forward to for a while now.

In Full Bloom

In Full Bloom is my open house, coming in early July, for everyone curious about The Hummingbird Nest. A chance to come in, look around, meet each other, and make something together. I’ll be leading a flower pounding session, which feels exactly right for midsummer. Flowers pressed into fabric or paper by nothing more than a hammer and a little patience.

All are welcome. I’ll share the date very soon.

Today I’m writing to you from the other side of the longest day, grateful that you’re here.

The Hummingbird Nest began as a dream. It is becoming something real, held by real women, shaped by your answers and your presence and the things you bring to the table.

You are part of what’s growing here.

Thank you for that.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

The Theme: Friday the 13th
Date: Friday, March 13, 2026

Introduction to the Theme

There is something quietly fascinating about the number thirteen.

Twelve has always felt tidy. Twelve months. Twelve hours. Twelve at the table. It fits. It resolves.

Then thirteen shows up. The extra chair. The unexpected guest. The well - now what?

Friday already had its own reputation long before the two collided. A day when things didn’t go smoothly. Not disasters. Just small things. The trip delayed. The deal postponed. The bread not rising. The weather turning. Someone saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment.

Eventually someone looked at the calendar and thought: maybe let’s not schedule anything important that day. And the idea stuck.

But here’s what I find most human about all of it. Instead of simply hiding indoors forever, people did what people have always done. They made tiny rituals. Not because they truly believed disaster was waiting around the corner. But because small actions make big uncertainty feel a little friendlier.

Cross your fingers. Carry a coin. Throw salt over your shoulder. Knock on wood.

This gathering wasn’t about bad luck. It was about the comforting truth that whenever life feels unpredictable, we instinctively reach for small magic to meet it.

Pull up a chair. I’ll take you through the menu, step by step.

Appetizer

Table Touch

Folklore We Carry

Every culture has small rituals. I share a few of my favourites.

Feathers. Across many cultures, feathers have been seen as small messages from the natural world. Because birds move between earth and sky, people believed feathers carried a sense of connection. Finding one unexpectedly was taken as a sign of protection, guidance, or quiet reassurance. Even without the stories, a feather holds something gently magical. It is something the wind has carried. Something that has journeyed. And when it lands at your feet, you can’t help but wonder if it arrived by chance… or for a reason.

Tossing Salt Over Your Shoulder. Salt used to be almost as precious as money. Spilling it meant loss. Folklore said that when salt spilled, spirits might gather behind you. Tossing a pinch over your left shoulder was meant to throw it into their eyes and chase them away. Today people still do it, a small playful ritual to undo a moment of bad luck.

Knocking on Wood. This one goes back even further. In ancient Europe, many believed spirits and protective forces lived in trees. When someone said something hopeful, they might touch the wood to ask for continued protection. Later it simply became a way of not tempting fate. I’ve been healthy all winter… knock on wood.

Blowing Out Candles. In ancient traditions, smoke carried prayers and wishes upward. When a candle was blown out, the rising smoke was thought to carry a person’s intention along with it. This eventually became part of birthday celebrations. If you blew them all out in a single breath, folklore said your wish might come true. But like many small rituals, the meaning may be simpler and more human than magical. Blowing out a candle gives us a moment to pause. To name a hope. And send it gently into the unknown.

“Did your family have any little rituals or sayings growing up?”

The ritual I shared that night was remembering birthdays as a child. My mom would wrap nickels in waxed paper and bake them in the birthday cake. If you found one in your cake, it was such a happy surprise and was even thought to bring good luck and prosperity to the person finding it.

Main Course

Storybowl is truly the heart of the evening.

Each gathering, I reach into a bowl and draw out questions. One by one. And the women at the table answer. Not with quick replies, but with real stories. The kind that take a breath before they begin.

It is where we begin to truly know one another. Each woman told a story that allowed her to be known just a little more.

Simply download the questions for this theme, cut along the dotted line, and place them in a bowl.

Storybowl Friday The 13th

3.87KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Side Dish

The Shared Luck Jar

This gathering includes a creative activity to engage with.

Gather a small jar or container and a handful of objects from around you. Nothing precious. Just what is nearby.

The tutorial walks you through each placement and the quiet intention behind it. Not a spell. Simply a way of placing a gentle hope somewhere real.

Either way, this is simply an invitation to begin.

Shared Luck Jar Tutorial

5.04KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Dessert

I hope this changed the way you think about Friday the 13th, even just a little.

Warmly, Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

The Theme: Reservation for One
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026

This idea of a “reservation for one” is inspired by a phrase connected to Matthew McConaughey and his journaling companion to the book Greenlights. It’s really a gentle metaphor, an invitation to intentionally spend time in your own company, to reconnect with yourself.

For some, that might look like
a quiet cup of coffee in the morning,
a solo walk,
or an hour softly set aside just for you.

And for others…
it might be something a little more spacious.
A day away.
An overnight.
Even a retreat that’s been quietly calling your name.

What matters isn’t how big or small it is.
It’s the intention behind it.
A moment, or a space
where you choose to be with yourself…
and notice what’s been waiting there.

As always, we come together with such a beautiful range of experiences.
Some of us are single, widowed, or partnered.
Some have deeply nourishing experiences of time alone.
Some may be longing for a solo adventure.
And some may simply be craving a few quiet moments to themselves.

And there may be those quietly thinking,
I spend a lot of time on my own already.

All of that belongs here.

There’s a richness in these different perspectives,
and I have a feeling they’ll open the door to some meaningful conversation tonight.

Wherever you find yourself
whether this feels natural, unfamiliar,
or even a little out of reach,
you are so welcome here.

Pull up a chair. I’ll take you through the menu, step by step.

Appetizer

Guests arrived with a gentle breath.

Before we begin, let’s just take one breath together.

Wherever you are sitting, let your hands rest in your lap. Feel the weight of the chair beneath you.

Breathe in slowly. And out.

(pause)

If you brought a candle, you can light it now.

Let this be the moment you arrive.

A meditation followed. Take a few minutes to listen if you like. Then come back.

Table Touch

After the candle was lit and the theme was shared, I offered our Table Touch. A special detail brought to the table each gathering. This gathering, a poem…

Main Course

Storybowl is truly the heart of the evening.

Each gathering, I reach into a bowl and draw out questions. One by one. And the women at the table answer. Not with quick replies, but with real stories. The kind that take a breath before they begin.

It is where we begin to truly know one another. Each woman told a story that allowed her to be known just a little more.

Simply download the questions for this theme, cut along the dotted line, and place them in a bowl.

Storybowl Reservation For One

4.16KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Side Dish

This gathering includes a creative invitation to plan a Reservation for One for yourself.

The printable is yours to fill in at your own pace. Print it out and tuck it somewhere you’ll return to. Or open your journal and let the questions find you there.

The tutorial walks you through each step, including a gentle cheerleading practice if you’re doing this with a group. There’s also a link to a YouTube video worth playing while you settle in.

Either way, this is simply an invitation to begin.

Reservation For One Tutorial

4KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Reservation For One Worksheet

121KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Keeping the Reservation

Before we close, I’d like to invite you into one final quiet moment.

Return to your reservation.

And gently ask yourself:

What is one small way I could begin this?

Not the whole thing.
Not the full plan.

Just the beginning.

A first step.
A small honoring.

Something you can carry with you beyond tonight.

Dessert

Closing Blessing

As we close tonight,
may you remember
that you are worthy of your own time.

May you find small moments
to sit in your own company…
without rushing away.

May the spaces you create for yourself
be gentle,
and nourishing,
and enough.

And may you carry this knowing with you -

that even a small reservation for one
can open something new within you.

(pause)

When you’re ready,
you might blow out your candle.

I hope you enjoyed this taster of another amazing Kitchen Table gathering.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

Gatherings in The Hummingbird Nest always begin with an arrival practice. Before you continue, I invite you to press play and join us.

How The Hummingbird Nest Found Its Name

The Hummingbird Nest grew out of research into hummingbirds themselves. They are in constant motion, beating their wings dozens of times per second, yet they still need rest, nourishment, and shelter to survive. That truth became the heart of this work.

Like the hummingbird, we are not meant to live on motion alone. We need places of rest. Moments of nourishment. Spaces where we can pause long enough to hear ourselves again.

The nest image followed naturally. A nest is small, tended, and built with care. It is not a destination you stay in forever, but a place you return to when you need rest. For those of us who have spent years caring for others, in our families, in our careers, in our communities, and who have often forgotten ourselves along the way, it feels like a beautiful place to return to. A space to land, to breathe, and to be nourished, before we take flight again.

The hummingbird also carries personal weight for me. Hummingbirds are often seen as messengers of joy, playfulness, and living life to the fullest, and I have always felt that connection. Two hummingbirds are carved into my wedding band, so the symbol was already woven into my story before it became the name of this retreat center. Using it as the logo connects my own history with the larger purpose, creating something that feels both deeply personal and easy to recognize.

Together, the name and the image carry the whole message. Rest is not the opposite of motion. It is what makes motion sustainable.

About the Guest Creative Series

Once a month, I open the doors of The Creativity Studio and invite a guest artist, maker, or creative practitioner to share with us. A skill to learn. A demo to watch. Something to make together.

Think of it less as a class and more as an afternoon in someone’s studio, where you are welcome to pull up a chair and try.

Some sessions will be live on Zoom, where we gather in real time. Others will arrive as a recorded video you can return to whenever the moment is right. Either way, the studio is open, and something is always being made.

For the creatives who join us, it is also an opportunity to share their work with a warm and growing community of women who appreciate handmade, thoughtful, and beautiful things.

If you are a maker, an artist, a teacher of something creative, and you would love to be a guest in the Studio, I would love to hear from you. Reply below and tell me a little about what you do.

June: We Painted Hummingbirds

This was the very first Guest Creative session at The Hummingbird Nest. And it felt right that we begin with this.

We painted a hummingbird.

Artist and watercolor coach Chris Vabre guided us through a 45-minute watercolor session. We began with the arrival practice, and then I shared the hummingbird story before we picked up our brushes.

Chris has a gift for helping students who don’t think they’re very good become confident painters. She believes your uniqueness is your superpower. And in that room, with brushes in hand and hummingbirds taking shape on the page, that felt entirely true.

Watch the Session

Guest Creative Sessions will eventually be part of The Hummingbird Nest membership. For now, you're warmly welcome to join as our guest.

The recording is available below. Come paint with us at your own pace.

What You’ll Need

Gather these simple supplies before you press play, and you’ll be ready to paint right along with Chris.

1. Watercolor paints

2. Watercolor paper. Chris uses a 5x7 sketchbook, which works beautifully. Any size works, though very small sizes can be tricky for beginners. Look for 140 lb / 300 g paper if you can.

3. A medium round watercolor brush. About three-quarter-inch bristles is a good guide.

4. Pencil and eraser. A polymer or kneaded eraser is ideal as it won’t leave marks on your paper.

5. One or two cups or jars of water for rinsing your brush.

6. Paper towels or a rag to wipe your brush between colors.

Gather a few friends, make a pot of coffee or tea, and paint a hummingbird together. It’s a beautiful way to connect. You might even serve a slice of Rhubarb & Orange Coffee Cake (recipe below).

If this session has sparked something in you and you’d like to explore watercolor painting further, Chris has a wonderful online community called The Watercolor Journey where you can continue at your own pace. You can find more of her work at octopusconnection.com.

Coming in July: Lise-Lotte Loomer

Our July Guest Creative is Lise-Lotte Loomer, a woman who has built her life around helping women find connection through creativity.

She lives with her family on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, on an urban flower farm where she grows specialty flowers for people to show their kindness in the world. She is the founder of Lise-Lotte Design and GEMs (Gathering Experiences that are Meaningful), an online community membership for women who want to be more creative and more connected in their everyday lives. She is the author of the book Greenhouse Hygge and creator of many courses, including her most recent, Creative Again. She also facilitates workshops and makes cyanotypes, a form of sun-printed art that came to her, as she says, Out of the Blue.

She is someone who tends things quietly and beautifully, flowers and women alike. I cannot wait to welcome her into the Studio.

Date and details will be announced soon.

It’s Rhubarb Season Where I Live

My creativity will take me to the kitchen this week; that is just as soon as I find someone willing to gift me some of their rhubarb.

I hope you enjoyed this peek inside The Creativity Studio. See you next month.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

What are Taster Notes? They highlight the details of a gathering. A little taster for you at home. My hope is that you’ll escape, even for just a moment, and that it will feel like you were there with us.

On Friday evening, June 12, a small circle of women came together around the Kitchen Table. It was the first gathering held in the newly remodelled Hummingbird Nest, and it felt like a beginning.

I want to bring you into that space with us.

Imagine knocking at the door and being greeted by a warmly lit room. The hostess welcomes you and invites you to pull up a chair. It’s your time to slow down.

Candles and wildflowers. A linen runner in warm, earthy tones.

Immediately, as so often happens when women gather, a hum of conversation begins.

The hostess presents the menu. Tonight’s gathering has a shape to it. An appetizer to ease us in. A table touch. A main course. A side dish, a dessert, and something sweet to carry home.

Before the gathering, new members receive something called The Kitchen Table Truths. Not rules. More like a quiet understanding of how we hold one another here.

Appetizer

To arrive and settle in, the hostess offers a small blessing before we light our candles together.

And then, from different rooms and different corners of the world, we lit our candles together.

Our theme for the evening was Taking Flight.

I shared how this theme arrived through a short video. I’m happy to offer it to you here as well.

Table Touch

After the candle was lit and the theme was shared, I offered our Table Touch. A special detail brought to the table each gathering. This night, a quote…

I love this quote because it speaks to the truth of taking flight. It changes us. Once we have known what it feels like to soar, even briefly, even quietly, we carry that knowledge forever. We walk differently. We look up more. We know what is possible.

I wondered if that was true for each of the women at the table that night.

I think it was.

Main Course

Before we moved into our Story Bowl conversation, I offered a meditation. A way to arrive more fully. To set down whatever the day had been and be present at the table.

Take a few minutes to listen if you like. Then come back.

Storybowls is truly the heart of the evening.

Each gathering, I reach into a bowl and draw out questions. One by one. And the women at the table answer. Not with quick replies, but with real stories. The kind that take a breath before they begin.

It is where we begin to truly know one another.

The questions for Taking Flight were drawn from three places: looking back, looking within, and looking forward. I won’t share them all here. Some things belong to the table. But I will tell you this.

Each woman told a story that allowed her to be known just a little more.

Side Dish

Before we closed the evening, we made something together.

Wings & Words is a simple creative practice. Two colours for the page. Five lines for the heart.

Each woman chose two colours and let them move across the page first. No plan. No right way. Just colour and instinct. Then five lines, beginning wherever the colour took her.

There is something about putting colour down first. The hand finds things the mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

One of the women in our circle gave me permission to share what arrived for her. She painted a sunshiney sky and ocean blue, then wrote her way into it.

I am standing on the edge of a new life.
I am holding peace in my body.
I am releasing expectations.
I am reaching for the sunlight.
Waiting in the air surrounding me is knowing.

If you’d like to try Wings & Words yourself, the tutorial is included below.

Wing & Word Creative Practice

114KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Dessert

We ended as we began. With our candles.

As we extinguished them together, I offered this blessing.

As we extinguish our candles and return to our lives, may we carry with us the stories we have shared, the wisdom we have received, and the connections we have strengthened. May we leave this table encouraged, inspired, and reminded that we never journey alone. May we trust the next step, however small it may be. And may we continue to gather courage, one twig at a time.

After-Dinner Mint

We ended the gathering with a brief walk together through The Hummingbird Nest. The Garden. The Creativity Studio. The Kitchen Table. I’ll be sharing a full tour with all of you very soon.

July at The Kitchen Table

I arrived at July’s theme in a very unusual way. Let me explain…

There’s a place at the table with your name on it. We’d love to have you join us!

Register for July's Kitchen Table

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website

Something is happening in The Creativity Studio next Saturday, June 13, and I wanted to make sure you knew.

This is the very first Guest Creative session at The Hummingbird Nest. And it felt right that we begin with this.

We’re going to paint a hummingbird.

Artist and watercolor coach Chris Vabre will guide us through a 45-minute watercolor session. We’ll begin with a short arrival practice to settle in, and I’ll share a little about the symbolism of the hummingbird before we pick up our brushes. Chris helps students who don’t think they’re very good become confident painters. She believes your uniqueness is your superpower.

You don’t need any experience. You just need to show up.

Saturday, June 13. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm MDT. Free and open to everyone.

Register Here!

Can’t make it live? The replay will be available afterward.

What to bring

• Watercolor paints. Chris will be using mostly pink and aqua, with some brown or gray.

• Watercolor paper, preferably 140 lb / 300 g. Chris will be using a 5 x 7 sketchbook. Very small sizes can be tricky for beginners.

• A medium round watercolor brush, about three-quarter-inch bristles.

• A pencil and eraser for sketching. A polymer or kneaded eraser works best.

• One or two cups or jars for water rinsing.

• Paper towels or a rag to wipe your brush.

About the Guest Creative Series

Once a month, I open the doors of The Creativity Studio and invite a guest artist, maker, or creative practitioner to lead us through something hands-on. A skill to learn. A process to explore. Something to make together.

Think of it less as a class and more as an afternoon in someone’s studio, where you are welcome to pull up a chair and try.

Some sessions will be live on Zoom, where we gather in real time. Others will arrive as a recorded video you can return to whenever the moment is right. Either way, the studio is open, and something is always being made.

For the creatives who join us, it is also an opportunity to share their work with a warm and growing community of women who appreciate handmade, thoughtful, and beautiful things.

If you are a maker, an artist, a teacher of something creative, and you would love to be a guest in the Studio, I would love to hear from you. Reply below and tell me a little about what you do.

Guest Creative sessions like this one will be a regular, once-a-month offering inside The Hummingbird Nest membership, launching soon. This first one is my gift to everyone.

I hope to see you there.

Warmly,
Kathy

A little about me

Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.

For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing myself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.

There’s a place at the table with your name on it.

Visit The Hummingbird Nest Website