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Seasonal Notes

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by A slow seasonal podcast from Our Little House in the Country

5.0(3 reviews)
8 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview

Seasonal Notes is a slow and gentle podcast about simple living, cosy rhythms, and finding beauty in the everyday. From our little house in the Irish countryside, Ciara shares soft seasonal reflections inspired by home, family life, daily rituals, and the shifting seasons. Each short episode feels like a warm winter letter — a quiet moment to pause, breathe, and reconnect with what matters. If you’re craving calm, craving beauty in ordinary days, craving a slower way to move through the world, this podcast is for you. New episodes are shared seasonally, with cosy winter reflections in November and December, and gentle new beginnings in January. <br/><br/><a href="https://ciarawinters.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">ciarawinters.substack.com</a>

Language

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Publishing Since

11/14/2025

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Recent Episodes

Episode thumbnail for The Unseen Years

March 11, 2026

The Unseen Years

<p><strong>Seasonal Notes</strong></p><p><strong>Season 2, Episode 2</strong></p><p><strong>The Unseen Years: When Being Needed Is Not the Same as Being Known</strong></p><p>In this episode of Seasonal Notes, I’m continuing the conversation from my new five-part Midlife Essay Series over on the blog.</p><p>Today’s reflection is inspired by the second essay in the series, “The Unseen Years: When Being Needed Is Not the Same as Being Known.”</p><p>For many women, the years of midlife are filled with responsibility, care, and constant presence for others. We are needed in countless ways — within our families, our homes, and the quiet running of everyday life.</p><p>But sometimes, beneath that sense of being needed, there can also be a quieter feeling.</p><p>The realisation that being needed and being known are not always the same thing.</p><p>In this episode, I reflect on that subtle emotional shift — the experience of moving through life fulfilling so many roles, while occasionally wondering where the deeper recognition of who we are as individuals has gone.</p><p>This conversation isn’t about blame or regret.</p><p>It’s about gently naming something that many women experience but rarely articulate: the quiet feeling of becoming unseen within the very lives we have built.</p><p>As with the essays themselves, this episode is simply an honest reflection — not a set of answers, but an invitation to recognise the complexity of this stage of life.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Midlife Essay Series</strong></p><p>This podcast season accompanies my five-part Midlife Essay Series on the blog.</p><p>Each week I’ll share a podcast episode reflecting on one of the essays — expanding on the ideas and emotions behind the written pieces.</p><p>Together they explore a journey many women recognise in midlife:</p><p>• Part One: When the “By Now” Story Unravels: When Life Doesn’t Follow the Original Plan• Part Two: The Unseen Years: When Being Needed Isn’t the Same as Being Known• Part Three: The Hidden Cost of Holding It Together• Part Four: Still Becoming: Why Midlife Is Not the End of the Story• Part Five: Midlife Clarity: Choosing Deliberately, Living Intentionally</p><p>While these essays are deeply personal reflections, the response so far suggests that many women see parts of their own experience within them.</p><p><strong>Read the Essay</strong></p><p>You can read the full written essay that inspired this episode here:</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/2026/03/02/midlife-loneliness-in-your-40s/"><strong>The Unseen Years: When Being Needed Is Not the Same as Being Known</strong></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Explore the Full Series</strong></p><p>All five essays in the series can be found on the Midlife Reflections hub page<strong>:</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/midlife-reflection-series/"><strong>https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com</strong></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Connect With Me</strong></p><p><strong>Instagram</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourlittlehouseinthecountry/"><strong>https://instagram.com/ourlittlehouseinthecountry</strong></a></p><p><strong>Blog</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/"><strong>https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com</strong></a></p><p></p><p><strong>About Seasonal Notes</strong></p><p>Seasonal Notes is a quiet podcast about:</p><p>• seasonal living</p><p>• midlife reflection</p><p>• slow and intentional life</p><p>• the rhythms of home, family, and self</p><p>New episodes are shared weekly throughout the current season.</p><p>If this episode resonated with you, I would love to hear from you — either in the comments here on Substack or over on Instagram.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Our Little House in the Country at <a href="https://ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe</a>

Episode thumbnail for The Return of the Light

March 3, 2026

The Return of the Light

<p><strong>Seasonal Notes</strong></p><p><strong>Season Two, Episode One</strong></p><p><strong>The Return of the Light: When the “By Now” Story Unravels</strong></p><p>In this first episode of Season Two, Ciara reflects on the quiet unraveling of the “by now” story — the blueprint many of us carry about where we thought we would be by this stage of life.</p><p>This episode explores subtle grief, recalibration rather than reinvention, and why midlife can feel less like an ending and more like transitional light — like spring returning slowly after winter.</p><p>A gentle, reflective beginning to a new season of Seasonal Notes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Welcome back to Seasonal Notes – Season Two.</strong></p><p>After a winter of short, quiet reflections, this spring season stays with each idea a little longer. Not dramatically longer — just long enough to breathe.</p><p>In this opening episode, I reflect on the first essay in my new five-part midlife series:</p><p>“When the ‘By Now’ Story Unravels.”</p><p>Many of us carry a quiet internal blueprint:</p><p>By now, I thought I’d feel more certain.</p><p>By now, I thought things would be settled.</p><p>By now, I thought I’d be more established.</p><p>But somewhere along the way, the straight line softens.</p><p>Not because everything fell apart.</p><p>But because life introduces variables we couldn’t have accounted for.</p><p>In this episode, I explore:</p><p>The “by now” blueprint and how it forms</p><p>The subtle grief of realising life hasn’t unfolded exactly as imagined</p><p>Holding two truths at once — gratitude and ache</p><p>Recalibration instead of reinvention</p><p>Why midlife feels less like summer and more like spring</p><p>Spring is not full bloom.</p><p>It’s transitional light.</p><p>And perhaps that’s what midlife is too.</p><p>This season isn’t a how-to.</p><p>It isn’t a manifesto about ageing.</p><p>It’s context — the quiet why behind how I live now.</p><p>If you’ve ever felt that subtle internal sentence forming —</p><p>“If I’m honest, I thought I’d be further by now” —</p><p>I hope this feels like companionship rather than instruction.</p><p></p><p><strong>📚 Mentioned in This Episode</strong></p><p><strong>🌿 </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/midlife-reflection-series/"><strong>The Midlife Reflection Series (Five-Part Hub Page)</strong></a></p><p><strong>🌼 </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/2026/01/29/spring-reading-list-seasonal-intentional-living/"><strong>Spring Seasonal Reading List</strong></a></p><p></p><p><strong>🗓 Coming Next Week</strong></p><p>Part Two of the series — exploring the difference between being needed and being known.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>If this episode resonated, you’re very welcome to:</strong></p><p>– Leave a review</p><p>– Share it with a friend</p><p>– Or simply sit with it for a while</p><p>We’re not behind.</p><p>We’re not broken.</p><p>We’re not late.</p><p>We’re living in real time.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Our Little House in the Country at <a href="https://ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe</a>

Episode thumbnail for Seasonal Notes, Episode 6 — Leaning Into Winter

January 15, 2026

Seasonal Notes, Episode 6 — Leaning Into Winter

<p>Seasonal Notes</p><p>Episode 6 — Leaning Into Winter</p><p>Season One: Winter</p><p>Welcome back to <strong>Seasonal Notes</strong>, and to our first episode of 2026.</p><p>After a quiet pause over the Christmas season, this episode marks a gentle return — a moment to settle back into winter and meet it where we are.</p><p>In this episode, I’m reflecting on what it means to <strong>lean into winter instead of resisting it</strong>.On the darkness, the cold, the long January days — and how accepting this season, rather than wishing it away, can sometimes make it feel lighter and more manageable.</p><p>We talk about:</p><p>why winter can feel especially hard once the festivities are over</p><p>the difference between acceptance and giving up</p><p>what nature teaches us about rest and dormancy</p><p>how small, everyday choices can help us feel more grounded at this time of year</p><p>and why winter might not be the season for pushing, fixing, or starting over</p><p>This is a slow, reflective episode — something to listen to while walking, resting, or pottering at home. No pressure. No instructions. Just a quiet invitation to soften into the season you’re in.</p><p>🌿 About Seasonal Notes</p><p><strong>Seasonal Notes</strong> is a gentle, weekly podcast about seasonal living, slow and intentional rhythms, and finding meaning in the everyday. Each episode offers a calm, companionable space to pause and reflect as the seasons unfold.</p><p>✨ Continue the conversation</p><p>If you’d like to explore these themes further, you can find me at:</p><p><strong>Blog:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com">https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com</a></p><p><strong>Instagram:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourlittlehouseinthecountry">https://www.instagram.com/ourlittlehouseinthecountry</a></p><p>You can also subscribe to the newsletter over on the blog for seasonal reflections, gentle prompts, and slow living inspiration.</p><p>Thank you so much for being here — and for listening.</p><p></p><p>📖Winter Reading & Seasonal Inspiration</p><p>If you’re drawn to the quieter, slower rhythms of the colder months, these are some of the books I return to again and again during winter. They explore themes of seasonal living, rest, reflection, hygge, and finding joy in simpler days. I’ll leave the links below if you’d like to explore any of them further.</p><p>Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work.</p><p>📚 Winter & Seasonal Reading </p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3YFGLzH"><strong>The Christmas Chronicles</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3YFGLzH"> –</a> Nigel Slater</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qRQ9Mu"><strong>The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2026</strong></a> – Lia Leendertz</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3NB8TS5"><strong>The Joy of Wintering</strong></a> – Erin Niimi Longhurst</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qr554v"><strong>How to Winter</strong></a> – Kari Leibowitz</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4pKIY7Q"><strong>Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year</strong></a> – Beth Kempton</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3LwdILZ"><strong>My Hygge Home</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3LwdILZ"> </a>– Meik Wiking</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4jKqpPG"><strong>The Art of Danish Living</strong></a> – Meik Wiking</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3Lz8IpW"><strong>The Little Book of Hygge</strong></a> – Meik Wiking</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3LEswIg"><strong>The Little Book of Lykke</strong></a> – Meik Wiking</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qXBwqY"><strong>Wintering</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qXBwqY"> </a>– Katherine May</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/49LKSPO"><strong>The Self‑Care Year</strong></a> – Alison Davies</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4pFoQE3"><strong>The Happiness Year</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4pFoQE3"> </a>– Tara Ward</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qvMunR"><strong>The Wheel of the Year</strong></a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4qvMunR"> </a>– Fiona Cook & Jessica Roux</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Our Little House in the Country at <a href="https://ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">ciarawinters.substack.com/subscribe</a>

8 total episodes available

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What is Seasonal Notes?

Seasonal Notes is a slow and gentle podcast about simple living, cosy rhythms, and finding beauty in the everyday.

From our little house in the Irish countryside, Ciara shares soft seasonal reflections inspired by home, family life, daily rituals, and the shifting seasons.

Each short episode feels like a warm winter letter — a quiet moment to pause, breathe, and reconnect with what matters.

If you’re craving calm, craving beauty in ordinary days, craving a slower way to move through the world, this podcast is for you.

New episodes are shared seasonally, with cosy winter reflections in November and December, and gentle new beginnings in January. <br/><br/><a href="https://ciarawinters.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">ciarawinters.substack.com</a>

How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates daily.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.

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