widow’s tale :: Small Pond Graphics

Archive for widow’s tale

Recklessness and The Barbarian Way

· December 27, 2025

Am I running away from myself? That’s the question I started to ask when I finished The Barbarian Way, a short read from Erwin McManus. I have read a couple of other books by the founder of Mosaic Church, and I picked this one up somewhere along the way. It’s been sitting on my shelf, and I finally decided to check it out during our Christmas break.

The holiday break was sixteen days, and now, the day after Christmas, I’m down to ten. I know this because I’ve been marking time. I set aside the break to ask questions of God, to search for His truth after a particularly hard season. A hard year. Sixteen days. Just over two weeks. Amid holiday festivities and traditions, I asked myself… Is two weeks enough time to hear, to understand, to make a change? Because my heart is ready for change. I want peace. A deep and abiding peace that transcends fear and the specter of loss. I want purpose. A clear and present purpose that brings order to my steps and infuses my days with hope and joy.

And so, as most divine interventions are, The Barbarian Way seemed to come at an appointed time.

Categories : reading log, widow's tale

Every Good and Perfect Gift

Posted by haley montgomery

· January 12, 2025

“Every good and perfect gift”

Sometimes I don’t believe good things.

People often encourage me to write about my experiences, and this is a thing I’ve noticed. Sometimes I don’t believe good things.

It is a trauma response, or so I read. A tendency or response when you’ve lived trauma — moments strung together in a hyper-sensitive fight, flight or freeze response to circumstances when you can’t see beyond survival.

No cause for alarm. I’m not living in those moments now. But sometimes it feels like I still am. Because our hearts and minds form habits. Tendencies. So sometimes I don’t believe good things or good people. Even when they’re staring me in the face, in all their faithfulness and trustworthiness. And goodness. Sometimes I still can’t believe. Through no fault of their own, the gifts stumble into the spiral of my history. And the habits I’m trying to break. Desperately.

Categories : widow's tale

Reflecting on 10 Years

Posted by haley montgomery

· September 20, 2022

Today marks 10 years since my husband Mike’s death. This is one of my favorite pictures. I like to think of him with this smile and the children climbing on him, not sure if he might break out in an Elvis voice or John Wayne. For years he wasn’t able to find this smile or anything carefree. It’s taken a lot of ups and downs for my heart to move past his troubled soul and settle on this picture of him in my memories.

Today is a day that largely lives in my memory as last conversations and fears and numbness. As a conversation with my children that I know overpowered their innocence with uncertainty and grief.

I feel like I had one golden moment of wisdom before that conversation. It came from God, I guess, because I sure didn’t know how to do anything in such an overwhelming moment. Except to love, and I committed my heart to being honest with my children in all things, right from the very start. I committed to being sure our story was rooted in truth, as hard as the truth was for all of us to understand.

Categories : widow's tale

Shedding Familiar Skin

Posted by haley montgomery

· October 29, 2020

It started with an insomnia-induced binge of Hallmark Channel programming. Then a discussion of orthodontics at dinner. Chapter two in a book on moon symbolism I’m vetting for Maggie. Decorating with scarecrows. Somebody’s instagram post on gardening. A 13th century mystic. Psalm 34. And Fleetwood Mac.

It’s an odd collection of voices, but I’m finding when God wants to say something, He doesn’t play. Or rather, He’ll play anything and everything. On repeat. No herald is disqualified.

Categories : on faith, widow's tale

On Grief, Four Scarecrows, and Letting Go

Posted by haley montgomery

· October 5, 2020

Grief is so weird. Of that I am sure. The trick seems to be figuring out what to hold on to and what to let go. And, for me, learning how to honor a person’s place in your life — as challenging as that place was — and giving yourself permission to move on.

I put out “the scarecrows” on our porch this weekend. They’ve been part of our fall celebrations as long as my kids have been alive, sitting right there by the window with their same disproportionate smiles. And this year, there are only four.

Categories : widow's tale

Hello & welcome! I’m Haley Montgomery, and I’m the designer and owner of Small Pond Graphics. I sometimes fancy myself a frog kisser— a documentarian coaxing poignant moments from unexpected places. This blog has evolved from those moments.

The small Pond FIELD GUIDE is part diary, part sketchbook, and part wish list – an archive of ordinary wonders. For years, this space has housed my stories – creative ideas, vintage inspiration, our forays into curious places, and the simple artifacts of quiet of conscious living. Through watercolor, photography, and illustrated tales, these pages uncover the blessing of ordinary days and the wonder found in authentic places and pursuits.

I invite you to open the boxes.
Peek into the drawers.
Rustle through the pages.
I’m honored to have you here.