I've decided that I need to pay a great deal more attention to the way I'm living and impacting the world and people around me. I started a new blog to help crystallize my thoughts on the matter, but decided that since that's a part of me, why wouldn't I include it here? (It's easier to keep track of, too.) These are the posts that I had there, minus the pictures, which I will post separately. I'm sure there will be more to come.
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More with less, less is more, more or less... all of the simple blog names were taken (and most of those have never been updated since their inception). Hence the kind of long name. I was given a cook book called "More with Less" by a wonderful friend, and have been thinking about the philosophy behind it over the past few days.
As an educator, I like to think of education as the primary need of people around the globe, but really - if someone doesn't have food, water, shelter, and necessary meds, there isn't going to be much learning taking place. Being responsible about the food I consume may not have an immediate impact on a child's hunger in Banlgladesh, but I think it is certainly important to be a conscious consumer.
This is my journey, trying to figure out how.
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While I want my life to be relatively simple, I take issue with the marketing of simplicity with the goal of enticing people to buy stuff. Real Simple magazine, for example. While I enjoy the magazine, I hate it at the same time. The 'recipes' in it are combinations of prepared foods (for a 'homemade' dessert, take a box of cake mix, a tub of Cool Whip and some strawberry jam, for example) and there are whole sections of the magazine to tell you what to buy (the best pasta sauce, plastic wrap, etc.) While the magazine touts 'simplicity' it really means 'time-savers'. I like magazines in general because you can pick them up whenever and it doesn't generally require much thoughtfulness to read them. And I like ones about home, decorating, cooking, because those are things I enjoy. I would like to find one that actually encourages people to buy and waste less rather than more. Does such a magazine exist? Who would sponsor it?
This whole topic is such a war within myself - while part of me wants so badly to live simply and in an ecologically responsible way with every decision I make, there is another part of me that loves the way advertising presents things, and I think a tiny part of me even believes that if I buy this particular item, that says something about me. This is really scary - that I have been trained to think in this way! How do I undo it?
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This is an amaryllis I have started; it has begun its rapid growth spurt, which will hopefully result in some gorgeous red blooms before too long. I was taking some pictures of things I have growing around the house today, and was thinking about the pleasure that can be taken in them. The growth of them is beyond our capacity to control; we simply provide a conducive environment suited to the plant and hope for the best. Thinking about doing my small part to make the earth a little greener, a lot can be said for growing one's own food. Of course, it's not always possible, and I'm not planning on starting a greenhouse in my living room. But I've been thinking about how to go about growing tomatoes indoors over the winter, after suffering through one too many mealy overpriced ones from the grocery store. Not only will growing my own provide better tasting tomatoes, but that will be one less food item that has gone through who knows what process to arrive here. I'm not sure how well this will work out, since they require so much sun, but I can always give it a go.
Another small yet significant change I made awhile ago that I was thinking about today is switching from using plastic wrap to wax paper when something in the microwave needs to be covered. I always hated throwing the hot, shrinky wrap in the garbage, and I just don't like the idea of melty plastic sticking to my food ("Will you have some carcinogens with that soup, Ma'am?"). The wax paper can also be composted (Nova Scotia has a very good recycling program; they pick up everything, including compostable materials.) One thing at a time.
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A picture I took of the cookbook I mentioned in an earlier post, which has contributed to this whole blog and a new way of thinking about 'stuff'.
A few things have come to my attention over the past week (super busy with work and courses makes for a non-blogging Sherrie) that I'm trying to straighten out in my mind.
1. Wal-mart opened here a few weeks ago. As much as I don't like Wal-Mart for their greediness, treatment of employees, etc. I still have this inclination to go and see what they have (mainly for soap scents and a couple other craft things I can't find at other stores here). I don't want to spend my money supporting the corporation, so I figure the best way is to just avoid going in the first place. But part of me still wants to... here is that war within me thing again.
2. Adam brought a group pf people to my attention earlier this week. A group of people in the San Francisco bay area have decided that they are not going to buy anything new for a year (aside from underwear, groceries, and things related to safety.) It is so true that we don't need more stuff, and why not get it second hand? The Compact is what they're called, and I like a lot of things about their philosophy. Their blog is here.
3. The Freecycle Network is another thing of interest that came to my attention this week. The idea is that people in any particular area get connected online if they have free stuff to give away or if they need something. Everything's free, no payment of any kind. A neat idea, although I do see some potential for problems, like having strangers come to your house to pick things up, or having people who only post things that they want. I guess anything's got potential for problems, though.
4. Conversation cafes - to me, the whole less is more thing kind of means moving away from isolation from other people as well as moving away from our habits of buying buying buying. Maybe because when you're buying from a farmer's market, you actually meet and talk with the person who grew the produce and it seems to go back to the way things were before box stores... anyway. Conversation cafes do seem a little strange (getting together with strangers to discuss issues of importance) - it kind of seems that we should be discussing these things with the people we love. I do understand, though that sometimes that just doesn't work - many people don't want to think beyond their everyday existence, so finding a group of people who do is pretty neat. Socrates cafe is kind of similar - very interesting.
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I'm certainly not an expert on the topic, but it seems that art (in general) has a lot to do with the connectivity of people. Perhaps because it connects people across space and time in a way that nothing else does. It's a way of represting ourselves that encompasses so much of who we are that you can't help but feel connected to someone when you experience their work.
I've been trying to figure out this 'connectivity' and not getting very far with articulating it. But I think that's a good start. On to supper.
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This is the point at which the amaryllis has progressed; no sign of flowerage yet. Kind of like my thoughts about art and connectivity and such - definitely making progress, but no grand finale yet. Which brings me to the book I started today. It's called Socrates Cafe (I think the author is Chris Phillips, I don't have it right here) and is an account of this guy trying to pursue the socratic method of inquiry in our current North American society. Very interesting. I'm eager to get into the book further - I wonder how a Socrates Cafe would fly in Yarmouth? I think some interested people might come out of the woodwork. Could be interesting...
Thoughts I've come to today about my thoughts: as with my possible dud amaryllis, maybe there is no grand finale. Perhaps it's a long series of questions and realizing more and more how little you know while coming to a fuller appreciation of the world and people around you.
My fabulous and very talented husband took these photos on our yard this week. Does anyone know what the tiny purply-blue flowers are called? They're very small and crawly and seem to be taking over a section of the yard. The coal scuttle was a yard sale find - I love it and think the geraniums look very nice in it! The woman who was selling it actually used it in her house when growing up in Newfoundland; they burned coal when she was a kid.
Another beautiful day, and our cherry tree is in bloom! How exciting. In other news, I gave blood this week and didn't pass out or even feel like it, for which I was thankful. And I filled the bag in 10 minutes, which I thought sounded quite impressive. Also in other news, my Mount Saint Vincent diploma, confirmation that I actually did complete my Master's degree, arrived on Friday. Ahhhhh.
Some of our many lilies of the valley have opened, and they are perfect. Adam dug up two tiny (and very dirty) bottles in the garden, and that's what I placed the flowers in. And they smell wonderful. I'm at home today, feeling pretty gross. I caught some kind of cold-y bug (from one of my students, no doubt) so I thought I'd keep my germs to myself. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow, and Adam won't catch it.
On the left is the Lemon Almond Hand Cream, on the right is the Coconut Olive Cleanser. I used the cleanser last night, and liked it. We'll see how it goes after using it several times.
Happy Earth Day to all! Of course, every day should be Earth Day, but it's still lovely to acknowledge it today. Rather than focussing on all of the negative issues of global warming, pollution, blah blah blah, I've decided to take a positive spin on today. I've been thinking about it lately, and there are so many opportunities we have to choose to look at issues from the positive side and we still take the negative. I do, anyway. For example: grumble, grumble grumble about the price of oil. Negative 'solution': continue grumbling. Positive solution: find alternate sources of energy (we're buying a wood stove - I'm excited!), drive less, put on sweaters instead of cranking up the furnace, etc. I believe that rying to do what I can a little bit at a time (buying environmentally friendly cleaning products, drying clothes outside as much as possible, using a reel lawn mower) to be kinder to the earth is better than being defeatist about the whole thing. I'm trying to take that approach to work as well - doing all that I can and knowing that I've done that much, rather than thinking "Well, it probably wouldn't make a difference if I did that anyway." So, in the spirit of my positive spin, here are some links to some earth-friendly and interesting things: 
Two of the many types of daffodils in our yard. It seems so miraculous that these bulbs just sit underground all winter without any intervention, and in the Spring, without any fuss or bother, emerge the most beautiful flowers imaginable. I'm especially taken with the first one; I don't remember seeing any like it anywhere else. 
I think this is my favourite of all my pictures. Easter lilies are beautiful, and I think they represent the triumphant nature of Easter quite precisely.
I thought this picture turned out well. More precisely, it turned out pretty much how I expected it to. The leaf (it's a peace lily leaf at my in-law's place) seems to have these tiny holes in it that let the sun through and make it look kind of grainy, but I don't mind. I love anything green, grainy or not.
Spring has sprung! It's an amazing day outside, and I just did one of my all-time favourite thing to do in the summer - hung out laundry on the line while in bare feet. Ahhhhhh.
Our big purchase of the summer was made today - a reel mower! We assembled it and tried it out today, and it's great! It's loud (in a strange, high-pitched kind of way) but it cuts the grass very nicely and kind of flings the cut bits up in a jovial sort of way. And it's certainly not louder than a gas mower. So we don't need gas or electricity to cut the grass - this is great! It has a 20 inch width and 4 wheels for stability, and it was 64.00 off at Canadian Tire. And it's nice and light with a cushy padded handle for easy manoeuvring. I'll keep you posted on how it goes once the lawn really starts growing.
Periwinkle's trails, actually. "Snail's trails" sounds much better. Husband and I went for a beautiful sunset walk on the beach this evening, and there were thousands of trails in the sand, most of them seeming to not really go anywhere, but with no periwinkles in sight. Perhaps a mothership beams them up after they've made a requisite length of trail in the sand.
I'm enjoying my first Saturday without any assignments to do! Truthfully, I feel a little lost. Virgil seems quite content, though.
The crocus party is well underway in our yard. Adam did a bunch of cleaning up outside today, which is awesome... we brought out the BBQ and I set up some trellises for clematis. And it's supposed to be sunny all week. And our group paper for my course is 99% done. And I should be done everything by next Wednesday. I'm so excited I think I might burst. :)
It's interesting when you realize that unbeknownst to you, someone else's life is somehow progressing in a similar way. When I was staying with friends over the break, we were chatting and discovered that both of us are changing to a more environmentally friendly way of keeping our living space clean. Using natural products for cleaning and personal care makes sense; it's kind of scary to read labels on commercial cleaning products. As my friend said, "If I have to lock the cupboard to keep my baby out because the products in it are so dangerous, I don't think I want it in the house." I'm currently in the process of using up what I have left of a few cleaners (I think it's probably better than pouring them down the darin) and looking for more natural skin care products. My soap making friend and I have lots of recipes for those types of things, so maybe I'll give some of them a go. I'm very content with my life moving in this direction.
...person! I had a fabulous March break with wonderful friends and family. Thank you so much for taking me in... it was a really relaxing week. Mostly because I got to play with this phenomenal little person! We had an excellent time together. I do have some more interesting thoughts about children's development, visual and otherwise... but who wants to read about that when you can look at this face?
Spring has sprung! It is the most beautiful and incredible morning ever - it's sunny, the birds are singing their heads off, and yesterday I discovered that there are snowdrops popping up all over our yard. This morning when we were out taking pictures (and I did some yard work, yipee!) I discovered some purple crocuses that have made their appearance. I cannot contain my excitement!
I laughed when I saw how this turned out - Virgil looks so abashed. I'm sure his mental state was somewhere else in the far-off regions of kitty land, dreaming of strings to chase and real mice rather than the lame-o wind-up one we provide for his entertainment. 
Since I seem to be into taking plant pictures this week, I thought I'd throw this one out there. I have a love / hate relationship with Christmas cacti... I think they are beautiful and I love their blooms, but I seem to be unable to sustain one long enough to get to the blooming bit. Actually, I seem to be unable to even get the buds on a cactus to not fall off when I bring it home. At least there are some new leaves on this one, so that's promising.
When I was a kid, I spent countless hours on the beach, playing with seaweed, looking for "washglass" as my sister and I called it, and skipping the best flat rocks I could find (shale works great if you don't cut your hand). Adam and I had a great time at the beach yesterday, mostly taking pictures. His are much better than mine. Anyway, he spotted this rock almost as soon as we stepped onto the beach - the hugest piece of fool's gold I have ever seen. I guess you really can't tell from the picture, but it's a good inch and a half in diameter. When I was a kid, I thought that someone went around to all of the beaches in the world and cut out little squares in rocks and filled them with fake gold, just for a joke. I guess I was wrong, but it would make a good joke.
The quince buds have started to open! I had never tried forcing branches in the winter before, but I think it's one of my new favourite things. That and these squares that I made up yesterday with chocolate chips, oatmeal, dried cranberries, walnuts, and everything else that I had leftovers of in the cupboard. I just melted a bit of margarine and some marshmallows, mixed in the stuff, and voila! Instant squares. No sugar, and very tasty.
My thoughtful and hopelessly romantic husband bought me un-Valentine's tulips (my absolute favourite flowers!) the other day. This one is the only one that has opened so far; the others are waiting until they don't have so much competition, methinks.
After a bit of frowning, brow furrowing and lip chewing, I finally got the Braille Blazer successfully working in my little 'work' room at our house. 
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