Saturday Ramble

Mei-Ling was the first to have a slight cold, then Melanie and now its my turn. I should have taken my herbs and vitamins. My eye are watery, my nose stuffy, my throat sore, but no time to feel sorry for myself, well, at least not beyond the time it took for me to list my symptoms : )
The goats are letting me know they are hungry, their bawling can be heard through the open window. I suspect the chicks, ducks and hens are all fine. They are less demanding than the goats. There is laundry to be done, and I have huge plans to take massive amounts of stuff to Goodwill today. Thought a lot about the role playing clothes and then realized that that mentality has been carried through into the very things I have in the house. So with a shedding off of the mantle of role playing, and getting real, I am moving on the things that are NOT part of me in honesty, but just there for when I chose to play a role, which by the way is a different thing than something that is an interest, something one has to examine in themselves. Something for a role, is just that, something we use to put us in a place to receive some sort of accolades, food for the ego type thing. I am seeing now that living the simple life has so much to do with being in the moment, being real and letting the role playing be left for actors and actresses. This sort of purging feels very freeing to me. An example might be, the extensive book collection I own. Some of my books are like dear friends and there are a few, after having read them, I hold on to them just because I am aware that when people come to the house, they scan my bookcases, forming an opinion of me by what I have read. I hold on to books that I have read, but will never read again, just because they make me look smart.
I have a huge pile of cookbooks to get rid of too. We eat super healthy 99% of the time so the cookbooks that are maybe not so healthy need to stop collecting dust and let someone else have a go at them. Melissa and I share a love of three cookbooks. We use them all the time, they are the cookbooks of Sarah Kramer Vegan cooking at its best. Stuff you actually enjoy eating and cooking/baking. I can't say which of the three I like best, because I like them all.
Next I am moving on to the linen closet and doing some major weeding out. By the end of the month I suspect the house may rise up a few inches from the difference in weight !
No worry though, not getting rid of heirlooms etc, just the stuff that isn't the real me. The me that is left when you get down to the basics, living life without worry of what people are expecting you to be like, or when you are comfortable in your own skin but yet not so bold as to say things like, " I don't care what anyone else thinks", that's not compassion, that too is ego full blown. An example might be... I am not about to use profane language around people even if I felt like it, (by the way, I hate swearing so I don't) just because others might be offended. There has to be consideration, but yet not this being made of pliable plastic that makes us want to conform our character to what others expect. I have done that far too long, even in blogging. I know some people would love for me to be "plain", its so neat to know a plain person, but I left that world and glad of it for a multitude of reasons, but yes, there are things from that place in time that had tremendous value to me and I carry those things with me still. But from time to time I find myself taking steps into those same worn out plain shoes, just so people will like me more. Laugh if you wish about that, but I suspect each of us has some bit of the same role playing in our lives, even if its the one that says so loudly, " I don't care what anyone thinks about me".
Its time for me to get some work done. By the way, that exciting news may just be even more exciting....stay tuned !

Emery and I, a long time ago....1978 to be exact, the reason I am sharing the picture is that at that time in my life, living in the moment, being who I was at that moment, was to me, a time when I felt so defined. No role to play.