A Morning Ramble

Golden shines the sun on the greens of left over summer. The still faint hues of fall embracing the rays of the morning sun as if they know it makes them look more glorious. Tree tops stand naked, the wind carried off the remaining leaves last week. These veiny finger like branches reaching upward, raised arms held high in the blue sky. The smoke from the wood stove lingers, lazy like, holding on to the roof and at times floats past my windows. It makes me think of winter days in Oregon when our wood stove would send up smoke that curled into the air, just like in a child's picture....do children draw chimneys with smoke in them when they draw pictures of houses now or have we moved too many generations away from the time when smoke filled chimneys were the norm ? At times I miss our little mountain home, pine trees standing like silent giants along the driveway, mountains purple gray in the distance, snow in winter, top soil a foot deep. Memories are profound, yet the now of life even more joy.

This morning is the kind of morning when I believe that heating the house with wood is a bit romantic...it stirs emotions, it reminds me of the things I have read and loved in books about the old days. My rocking chair beside the stove beckons me to sit a while, coffee in hand. Dreamy thoughts of the good things about the "old days". Dreamy thoughts about the future, when Grandchildren will come to visit and we will make cookies, read stories by the fire, and I will teach little hands to spin wool, milk goats and dip candles. I will connect them to the pleasant pastimes and plant seeds of loving the simple things.

It will soon be time for me to read my favorite winter books. I read them every year. Knowing the outcome has not taken from the joy of the words. "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder and "Safe in His Care" by Lily A Bear. Different time periods but both stories share the same kind of work together for the family foundation. "Safe in His Care" is a Mennonite book (available through catalog or from this web site http://www.rodstaff.com/ ) This book really tells of what life is like in a plain family. This book was pivotal in our decision to seek out a plain life. This book still holds within its pages all the best of what we learned and of what we were seeking after.

The morning feels gentle....quiet and easy going. Cinnamon scented pine cones in a basket in the corner, fill the room with their scent. I like to purchase pure cinnamon oil at the pharmacy and put a few drops in the simmer pot on cold days, it smells like I have been baking !

The rocker calls....so I must end this post. There is peace in this life, there is freedom from all the stresses so common to folks these days, but in order to have life simple you have to want it more than wanting to fit in what we think society demands for us.

Not long ago they did a study, asking school age children what they wanted most....the folks doing the study were fairly certain they would get answers like an ipod, new computer, cell phone, things in general, but no, the greatest response was to have more time with mom and dad. Parents are out there working so many hours, two income homes, so they can buy the kids stuff, give them lessons and yet never hearing that the children really want more of them. More time with the parents. There are husbands and wives lonely in the same house because they are worn out from chasing the "American dream", stressed and can't relax enough to enjoy and nurture their love. Big houses with lonely people in them. Dining rooms that sit like store displays, no family meals, no lively conversations or family stories. Refrigerators are frames for schedules that would tire you just to read them. Color coded for each child. There will be no time scheduled to just play. The children live their own lives on the computer and the parents soon find they are strangers to their children. The general rule, there are exceptions but they grow more rare. Television shows make it all seem normal.

Home foreclosures are at an all time high, people loosing their houses in record numbers. Ruined credit and ruined lives. I often wonder if truth be told, if a child would rather have mom and dad around more than to live in a fancy house and wear brand name shoes ?

We have lived debt free for many years. Single income, and not a big one at that. Lived meagerly, simply but with so much fun. We understood about peer pressure in schools so we homeschooled. Now, looking back, it worked for us. "The proof is in the pudding". On this chilly morning, fire burning bright, my children are a source of joy, our family is close, we are not ashamed of our lifestyle and the very best part is, there is love all around us without the self inflicted stresses to steal one moment of joy. No, its not perfect, but pretty close to it.