Certain people in our world that have power and wealth have caused much turmoil and uncertainty for the majority of people. It has spilled over into politics and religion and really most everything. When we study history we find that it has always been this way. It makes me realize that it is time to stop waiting for things to change.
When I did history studies about home life long ago I could see how people concentrated on their family and home, they made sensible choices and did the work that was needed to care and maintain their home and they seemed to have had a better chance to make it through difficult times than most people would today.
I was very fortunate to have lived around sensible people from long ago. I was around families that farmed and raised their large families from the produce, meat dairy and eggs from their own soil and the extras came from the crops that they sold. In the winter they lived on the food that was preserved during growing season.
I have only personally raised one calf to cow, two hogs and piglets, we had a chicken yard with hens and a rooster, we had a horse and colt. I won't count the goat because it died from Pneumonia. There is something about living on a farm, small or large, that grounds us and makes life more real than it feels living in the city.
The other day the termite man came and like many people, the conversation seems to drift to the way the world is today. I feel that many people are living on pause and are either waiting for something to happen or to get better.
Understanding that there has always been threats since early in time, I feel it is best to focus on what we can make better in our small place wherever that is.
Our home is our refuge and it is what we make it.
Chicken, brussels sprouts and I baked a butternut squash.
We have the power within us to make change in a good way. We have the power in us to affect others in a positive way and to change attitudes by not reacting to what is going on around us and focusing on our home, our family and someone else that may need our help.
I have lived a long time now and I realize that the most lasting impressions in my life have been people that are the most calm, steady and sensible people.
We need to resemble this to make change. We start at home and then we share the love in our own way. Maybe it is a smile, a pie, a slice of cake, a bowl of soup. Maybe it is placing a hand on a shoulder of someone that does not get touched anymore. First though, we need to stabilize home.
Our slow steady changes at Myrtle gives us time to do a lot of thinking when we are driving back and forth.
I am having to relearn simple skills and it is not easy to do without the tools they had long ago to make these tasks less complicated. So I am pulling out the old tools that we do have.
I have given much thought about this situation of how we have made life so complicated that we cannot do basics anymore without a lot of effort. Jumping from everything modern to simply basic is quite a challenge. The only way to learn basics is to do it over and over.
When I was young, my elders around me were doing much the old way as the world around me was turning modern. I saw how it was done, I helped while it was done like this but years of becoming modern I have lost my skills and I want them back. With our studies I have brought back many of the old ways of doing things but only using them temporary. This is something that needs time and regular doing.
When we leave from Myrtles to come back home I feel a little sad to leave but when I am sore and exhausted it is so good to be home. I feel torn between very simple to living like the old way in a modern house. I was not sure how to settle until now.
The other half of the butternut squash to go into a small pie.
I keep working my way to a simple life, resembling the old way and only use what we "need" from modern things of today. But the most important thing is to get good at that one thing so we can share with others. My other reason is to keep down expenses.
I do not mean to be good just at one thing, but when we have something that we do over and over it can become our best. The best is what we share.
As my Grandmother became older she would crochet doll clothes and then when she was quite elderly and before her stroke, she enjoyed making dresses to go over dish soap bottles. She gave me her small Bible that was filled with lovely notes and underlined verses, and I was given a crochet dress to cover our liquid dish soap bottle.
I never needed or wanted a gift from my Grandmother, what I needed was her. She would take my hand in her palm and pat the top of my hand. Such a simple thing but so enduring. I loved to hear her little quiet chuckle and the familiar homemade soup that always had okra and tomatoes and her cold biscuits and butter was a feeling of being in a stable place. When she did have something to say it was always kind. We do not "need" anything when we are in the presence of love.
With all of the things we have around us today, these simple things seem to be most forgotten. If parents today would raise their children with this type of love our world would be such a better place.
We really should not waste our time waiting for frustrating times to change and do like our generations before us and keep moving forward in a sensible way such as focusing on making homemade meals, growing a small or large garden and maintaining our home.
Once again I find knowledge and strength by looking in the past. If we have experienced this kind of love, wisdom and simplicity, then we need to bring this forward so others can see and feel what it looks like. For those that have never experienced this kind of love, I am sharing what it was like so that you can decide if this is what you are looking for.
We must not forget that sometimes it is the most simple things that we do without even realizing that people remember. Keeping a simple home can be inspiring too.
I have finally posted a new youtube video, if you would like to watch it click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKz1K92FDJc
Grandma Donna
