Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Easy living

This morning's rainbow, seen from kitchen steps overlooking back yard
Yesterday a friend was telling me that when he was small his grandmother only ever went to the grocery with a list of three things: sugar, flour, oil. Everything else was grown in the garden, along with chickens for meat and eggs. In those days the neighbours also had their kitchen gardens and the community would trade with each other.  e.g. One gives potatoes and cabbage and one gives excess eggs and tomatoes, etc.

He said his grandmother raised 8 children single-handedly (her husband had died)—they dressed well and got a good education. They had no electricity. She would press their clothes every morning with one of those oldtime irons heated by coals. In those days there was no stress about money and material possessions. What you had was what was necessary. And, I'm sure, the things people wanted were simple.

Why do we live in such excess today? 
at

4 comments:

  1. UnknownDecember 29, 2010 at 12:31 PM

    I like the rainbow photo :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ElspethDecember 29, 2010 at 12:34 PM

    I thought of you as I took it actually. Only you would turn around on the highway and go back to get a rainbow shot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lynn CohenDecember 29, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    It is a lovely photo...and I see a whole new calendar with sky shots by Elspeth.

    The story of living simply appeals to me too. We do take so much forgranted and we are so fortunate to have what we have, our conviencences.All that said I do think we live more frugually than many. And do our best to recycle and save, etc.
    To answer your question about why we live in such excess today seems simply that we make more money and more things are available to spend it on and many people feel like they must have it all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ElspethDecember 29, 2010 at 2:53 PM

    True.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments. I love to hear what you think and feel.