On the Mend

This illness has been a long one...this is my 5th almost 6th actually, week of dealing with this infection. It seems that the medications given to me at the Emergency Room are working, I am slowly feeling better. The medications have more side effects than I like but if they do the job I can bear with themThis morning I wandered outside for the first time in days. The air is cool and damp, not a ray of sunshine in sight, but just a lovely gray overcast sky that speaks softly of autumn. There is an ever so slight change in the leaves on the trees, an underlying yellow ochre, another sign that fall is really here.
Emery spent some of the day yesterday stacking wood. It won't be long now until the wood stove is working to heat our home, with smoke rising up from the chimney like dancing ribbons of the finest gray organdy. I am anxious for that extra coziness that comes from a warm fire burning in the stoveOn the news this morning they were talking about how with the recession and so many folks dealing with unemployment and such, ladies are not having their hair and nails done very often.

Many have opted to do it themselves. Choosing to save their money for other more important things. How To web sites covering a wide variety of subjects are being visited at high rates at this time. People are wanting to learn to do things themselves. Take a step back from being only consumers. Tonight on one of our local news channel, they are going to talk about the popularity of raising some chickens in your own back yard, Urban and City Chickens. We are a changing nation, a changing people. So many by force yet so many are saying that for the first time in their lives, they are realizing just what matters in life. Its not the rush to acquire more that makes you happy, it sounds like such a cliche, but really the new message is an old one, "its the simple things that make you happy." Game night with the family, reading books together, growing a little garden, discovering the beauty in nature and the freedom in natural beauty for yourself. It's hard work and in reality a loosing battle to try to stay young when you are naturally growing older. Its so much easier to just embrace where you are in age and not try to be younger than you are.

This past week, being sick, being tired and worn out, made me grateful for the simple life we have. Emery did my chores with joy, knowing he was helping me. We are fine eating simple food, its what we eat most often, although I do love cooking a fancy meal now and again !

Life is good, even when I am not feeling 100%. Living simply makes that all possible