The magic of ordinary things is a concept that often goes overlooked. It is easy to become caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life and forget to appreciate the simple beauty that surrounds us. But if we take a moment to pause and observe, we can find wonder in the most ordinary of objects. Consider a tree, for example. It may appear mundane at first glance, but upon closer inspection, there is a whole world of intricacy and resilience hidden within its branches. From the vibrant green leaves that dance in the wind to the sturdy trunk that stands tall against the elements, a tree is a testament to the wonders of nature.

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From the vibrant green leaves that dance in the wind to the sturdy trunk that stands tall against the elements, a tree is a testament to the wonders of nature. In the same way, a cup of tea can hold a world of warmth and comfort. As we sip from the cup, we can feel the warmth permeate our bodies, soothing our senses and providing a moment of relaxation.

Preview — The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel

“Memories are fragile things to hold, but many times, it's what we have.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“I’ve often wondered, even to this day, why during painful times some people seem to step away from themselves and make decisions that fall far out of their usual line of character and behaviour. Perhaps a natural reluctance to sit still is central, or perhaps, like the lesser animals, instinct forces us to go on even if grief has left us not up to the task…. In one fleeting moment, I stripped away the petals of my future, let them catch wind, and fly away”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“He touched me as if I were the curved and delicate handle of a china cup, but he held me tightly just as I was, flesh and blood and full of human flaws and fears. In his arms I wasn't a girl dreaming of sailing the high seas, and I wasn't a farm kid jumping the train, either, but a fully grown woman riding the soft side of a crescent moon.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“Sometimes you do find what you're looking for closer than you think”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“Livy: Don’t you ever wonder what else is out there…beyond the farm?

Livy: Aren’t you curious how other people lived?

Ray: I enjoyed the drive, but i like coming back to my place. Sleeping on my land.

Livy: Your land. Ha! Seems every war in human history is about owning a land. I liked the Indian view that we’re just temporary guardians of the land where we lived.

Ray: It’s not temporary to me.

Livy: But your family just owned this land for less than a hundred years. In a span of a history that’s nothing.

Ray: In a span of a life…that’s near everything.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“As a child, when I first heard the story of Creation, I’d closed my eyes and pictured the earth as a ball rolling off the palm of God and into dark space, then drifting around until it found its home in sunny orbit. Never perfect, but ever spinning, and holding on to her course, despite it all.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“In the past, I would’ve listed things such as common interests, mutual attraction, worldliness, and higher education. My freedom above all else. If I had found love, it would have had to be the kind that overwhelmed and overpowered all else.

I passed a hand between Ray and Me. “Once you told me that this,” I said “is a beginning.” I searched his face. "But how do you know, Ray? How do you know it’s the beginning of something good?”

“I know.” His breath was warm on my face as he moved in closer.” Because someday, you’re bound to forgive yourself.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“We’d save up a penny or two, bring them down here, and set them on the tracks. When a train comes, it flattens out that penny, leaving it thin as paper and shaped long, like an egg. But it happens so fast, you can’t see where the train sends that penny flying… We’d look all around, in the sage brush and the prickly pear cactus, until we found them.. And you know what?”

He stopped walking and turned to gaze at me now. “We always found them closer than we thought.”

“After we’d looked all over Creation, we’d find them somewhere near the tracks, after all.”

He said, “Sometimes you do find what you’re looking for closer than you think.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“Words of kindness had always been more difficult for me to handle than harsh reprimands. Ever since I had been quite young, I could resist those who went against me, had been able to deny their opinions. My inner strength came from an ability to handle, then separate myself from, adversity. Compassion, however, brought up more raw emotion than judgments could ever stir.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“All over the world, people are looking at the same stars, the same moon, the same sun, every day. Somehow, I didn't feel so isolated when I thought of it that way.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“Rose spoke up softly beside me. 'It's how you handle the unfairness of life -that's what matters, I think.'. In this city of imprisonment, I had seen faith and optimism, strength and fortitude in the face of adversity.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“[Ray to Livvy] Aren't you used to people meaning what they say?”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“When I'd headed out here on my wedding day, I hadn't realized I'd bought a ticket to my own history, a different one from studying Akh-en-aten and Horizon-of-the-Aten, maybe, but a living, ongoing one.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“A classroom of students may read the same piece of poetry or the same passage in a novel, and each person may interpret it differently.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“At the university the professors who genuinely loved their subjects were always the most interesting teachers. Enthusiasm for a topic made it enticing to others.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“[Livvy and her father] Neither of us had been as strong as we'd wanted to be.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“[Livvy's Mom to her three daughters.] "Who better to tell my stories to than you girls?”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

“It’s how you handle the unfairness of life—that’s what matters most, I think.”
― Ann Howard Creel, The Magic of Ordinary Days

Poetics – magic of ordinary things

Hello everyone. Welcome to Poetics! Gina here ready to pour your drink of choice, be it a warm winter favourite or a cool calming beverage as you ponder over today’s prompt.

We approach the end of another year. For a lot of us it is time for reflection and writing resolutions. As we get busy with year-end festivities let us not forget the important things in life, the ordinary things. It is not the large events that inform us of the beauty of our lives, instead it is the magic of ordinary things that will do that.

I found this poem such a delight, the poet writes about the ordinary things in her daily life and gives each one such loving care.

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?

I would also like to share an excerpt from Margaret Wise Brown’s little-known, Quiet Noisy Book. In this illustrated story a little dog named Muffin, who is awakened one night by “a very quiet noise.” You see Muffin “hears everything” and so he sets out to find the source of the quiet noise. She writes it with such lyrical prose.

Was it a little blue flower growing?
Was it a muse sighing?
Was it a cow putting on her petticoat?
Was it a fish breathing?
Was it a grasshopper sneezing?
It was a wheel turning halfway round.
It was an alarm clock springing to ring.
It was a butterfly unfolding his wings.
It was the milkman whispering to his horse.
It was a new leaf uncurling.
It was the flies opening their million-cornered eyes.
It was all the flowers blooming on that day.
It was the sound of an early bird catching a worm.
It was the sound of the dew rising up to the sun.
It was a balloon about to pop.
It was a man about to think.
It was a slow fig ripening.
It was the day.
It was a new day.

Aren’t those ordinary things made magical through a sensitive understanding of their presence in our lives? What do you hear, see or feel in your day or night?

So dear poets, think of ordinary items that have always held a fascination for you. Like a fork could be an elf’s hair comb or a leaf is a ladybird’s magic carpet. Like how a bird starts its flight with a tremble, or how a honey bee deliciously scans a flower.

Sometimes the ordinary thing can be so ordinary that we never notice it till it’s gone. And in our hustle and bustle world we forget how these ordinary things present themselves to make our lives a little easier and a lot happier.

So let’s appreciate the ordinary things today.

Today you are the creator, pick an ordinary everyday thing (or things!) and write it into something extra ordinary. May the end of year magic be your muse as you look at these ordinary things with new eyes and childlike wonder.

Turn it into something, magical, whimsical, or inspirational in the poem you will write. Describe its relationship with your world and how the magic of ordinary things has made your heart sing today.

And let Maria from The Sound of Music sing you some of her favourite ordinary things in this movie clip!

Once you have written your poem on your blog, link it up to Mr Linky below. Then have a walk through the poetry trail and read the other wonderful poets. Come back to visit as often as you can, the prompt is opened for a few days.

THE MAGIC OF ORDINARY DAYS

This is the first adult novel by an author who has written two well-received YA books. Livvy Dunne is a thoughtful 24-year-old with yearnings toward archeology, who in a rash moment in WWII Colorado becomes pregnant by a dashing officer and is forced into a marriage of convenience by her sternly puritanical minister father. She goes off to Ray Singleton's remote farm knowing nothing about him except that he is lonely, utterly inexperienced around women and touchingly devoted to her. The relationship between the two, graced by some delicate, perceptive and fine-boned writing, is at the heart of the book, and Creel gets it all just right. She is also skilled at evoking the peculiar remoteness from the war of the high plains country, where farmers were regarded as an integral part of the war effort and even got enough gas to drive around for pleasure, a rare privilege in 1944. Lonesome Livvy yearns for more communicative companionship, however, and grows close to a pair of charming Nisei sisters at an internment camp—and this is where plot devices begin to play an unwarranted role. For Rose and Lorelei, it turns out, will do anything for love and involve Livvy in what develops into a dangerous (and inherently improbable) exercise in deceit and manipulation. The book recovers its stride for a poignant if rather hasty finish, but the calm spell cast by the tale of Livvy and Ray, which would have been perfectly satisfactory to maintain the book, has been broken. (July)

Reviewed on: 06/11/2001

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The steam that rises from the cup carries not only the aroma of the tea but also a sense of tranquility and peace. Even something as seemingly mundane as a pencil can hold a sense of magic. With just a few flicks of the wrist, a simple pencil can bring to life a world of imagination and creativity. It can give shape to ideas, create art, and leave a lasting impression on paper. The magic of ordinary things lies in our ability to find joy and wonder in the everyday. It is a reminder to slow down and appreciate the small moments that make up our lives. It is a call to notice the beauty in the world around us, to find solace in the familiar, and to embrace the magic that lies within the ordinary..

Reviews for "Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Experiences"

1. Jessica - 2 stars - I found "The Magic of Ordinary Things" to be quite underwhelming. The plot lacked depth and the characters felt incredibly one-dimensional. I couldn't connect with any of them, which made it difficult to feel invested in the story. The writing style was also lackluster, with descriptive passages falling flat and dialogue that felt forced. Overall, I was disappointed and would not recommend this book to others.

2. Robert - 1 star - "The Magic of Ordinary Things" was a complete waste of time. The story was predictable, the pacing was slow, and the resolution was unsatisfying. The author's attempt at creating a whimsical and magical world fell flat, as everything felt forced and contrived. The characters were forgettable and lacked any depth or development. I regret picking up this book and would advise others to avoid it if they're looking for a meaningful and enjoyable read.

3. Sarah - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "The Magic of Ordinary Things," but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The premise had potential, but the execution fell short. The writing was mediocre, with clichéd descriptions and dialogue that felt awkward. The characters felt like caricatures rather than real individuals, and their actions often seemed illogical. Overall, I found the book to be a letdown and would not recommend it to those seeking a captivating and well-crafted story.

4. David - 1 star - "The Magic of Ordinary Things" was a disappointing read that left me feeling dissatisfied. The plot felt disjointed and lacked cohesive storytelling. The dialogue was stilted and unrealistic, making it hard to engage with the characters. Additionally, the book failed to deliver on its promises of magic and wonder, with the magical elements feeling forced and unimpressive. I struggled to finish this book and would not recommend it to others looking for a compelling and enchanting tale.

The Allure of Everyday Objects