The Changing Lifescape

~Like water eroding stone, idle contemplation erodes tensions~

Veronique Vienne, from " The Art of Doing Nothing"

As the years accumulate for me, there are changes in my "Lifescape" .   I am not one to swim upstream for no real reason.  Its exhausting and so often fruitless.   It often is just so much better to rest on banks and contemplate the hows and whys of change.  Embrace it, and fly with it.   Our lifestyle is changing from one of country homestead, to a gentler, easier life of country charm.   We have our vegetable garden, and what once a pasture, now sports rows of corn, potatoes, leaks and the like.  The other garden spot is now under consideration for a nice green croquet court.  The house is taking on a different look too, a more sophisticated look, that seems to suit our ever growing enjoyment of afternoon tea, gatherings of friends and meal times that linger for hours.   The pleasure of gazing on fine art, and smelling the roses I lovingly grow in the formal rose garden Emery made for me.   We are slower than we are 15 years ago.  It happens.  Its normal.  Its natural, its good in so many ways as we are living more simply than ever before.  Just differently than during the years we had children home, that we needed to keep busy and teach.   Life then was all about the work it took to run a home with 6 people, live on one income, and homeschool.   Life now is slower, living with the rewards of our hard work.  I like it.  We still work harder than most of our friends in some ways, but it seems like easy going kind of work.  8 hours of gardening on Sundays, side by side, stopping to listen to the birds or watching the clouds go by.  Laughing, enjoying each others company.  It feels a bit like dancing to natures music, cheek to cheek by some unseen connection that comes from being madly in love for over 3 decades.    Life is abundant and so full of good things and the best of all, every single corner of my world is filled with love.  

Photos of my morning breakfast, on the porch...gentle time of "idle contemplation"