Another place and time

I just love days that are filled with relaxing and enjoying life. Some days are just so rushed and hurried that you actually forget to just take a breath and enjoy being alive. One of the disadvantages to growing up and becoming an responsible adult is that we are often so weighed down with our load of responsibilities, our worries, and all the "necessities" of life in our society that we forget to just enjoy living.

I remember the simple pleasures of being a child. Waking up each morning with a renewed sense of adventure. The thought that anything was possible and fun waited on every turn.

I think that feeling of endless possibility and the sense of wonder are the two aspects of childhood that I most miss. I can almost remember the point when I crossed over that threshold, the place of feeling anything was possible to the new reality of adulthood, feeling limited by life and its circumstances. Fully understanding the weight of reality and the fact that dreams don't always come true, no matter how hard you wish it to be.

But there are moments, although they are only fleeting now, moments that it seems as though I am breathing the same air and have been transported back to the 1970's when I was still a child. I can feel that feeling that is free of the load of life, free of the responsibilities of adulthood, and the capacity to believe that anything is possible...

I was reminded of this when I saw Noah sitting in the chair mindlessly watching TV, with Bentley the guinea pig on his lap. I was for a brief moment caught up in the wonder of childhood and enraptured by the simple art of enjoying each little moment that life offers.

Last Saturday Megan and I drove to Cameron to the Antiques Festival they hold there every May and October. This was our third time to attend. We had an enjoyable day although we didn't find much that caught our attention and even less in which to spend our money.

I did end up buying a wire basket with Farmers Market painted on it. I really didn't have anything special in mind for it, I just liked the way it looked. I thought it would be a good basket for gathering the veggies from the garden when it is harvest time. I also decided to purchase a sign that I had seen both times I had attended the festival previously. It is a framed sign that says:

Help Wanted

No Irish Need Apply

I plan to find a better frame to put it in and hang it in my bathroom upstairs. I don't know exactly why, but it caught my attention last May, and I saw it again in October. So I decided to finally buy it this time.

Here are a few more images from Cameron that caught my eye:

A little boys dream! If I had several hundred extra dollars to just blow, I would have brought this home to my little man, even if he is nearly to big to fit in it. But I figured there was a more sensible way to spend that much money...

Here are a whole fleet of boy toys

This house was actually the most interesting thing I saw

Unfortunately, it wasn't for sale

I loved this old gas pump. The colors were great!

This brought back some memories. We use to fight over who got to crank the handle. I also loved the blue color. Would have like to have had this to put on my front porch. But it is hard to have a minimalist lifestyle if you keep bring things home.

Old roller skates

An old tricycle

I don't know why I like old things so much. I suppose it has to do with being nostalgic for the past. The memories of another place and another time. An attempt to bring back those days and the people with which they were shared and enjoyed.

When I am around these relics from the past, I can conjure in my mind the life that these items have had and seen. I can for those fleeting moments be carried away, back to my childhood, back to that place when life was simple and carefree, when I was young and unencumbered by the weight of life and the adult world. When my mind was not burdened by the reality of a world that is full of hate and unhappiness, mistrust, lies, hurt, pain, and loss.

I lived a very sheltered life, a life full of love and peace. I was around adults that were kind and loving, who would never think of hurting a child. I feel very fortunate to have lived in a place and time where children could run freely about, playing and enjoying childhood without the worry of being exploited or abused.

We grew up in a idyllic world where we were able to dream good dreams, and have pure thoughts and not know of anything bad or fearful. A world before all of the modern day conveniences but also a world absent of our modern day perils.

My Front Porch

Welcome to my humble abode!

Come on up and sit a spell!


This is what I was doing most of yesterday evening.

Just sitting on the porch with my feet propped up on the rail...

Watching the clouds, reading magazines,

...and looking through my basket of treasures...

These are some of the treasures Megan and Noah and I picked up from the shoreline on the Outer Banks...

The colors and textures are amazing...

especially for a colors and textures freak like myself...

God is such an amazing artist! His work is so beautiful! The colors and lines and textures excite the senses and delight the soul!

The weather was perfect for just sitting on the porch, catching the breeze, listening to my chimes sing their song...looking at the cloud formations, and watching two humming birds flutter around drinking from the feeders...God offers such and array of delights and gifts for us if we would just slow down and sit quietly and open our eyes...

But I don't want to be pirate...

My husband is telling me that I am going to have to buy a new vehicle...

But I don't want to get a new vehicle!

Normally, in my previous life, I would have raced out immediately looking for a new ride. But that was the old me, the before I simplified my life, me. Before I opened my eyes to the reality of the myth of the "American dream", me. That me, was racing through my life, trying to accumulate stuff, because we all know that the more stuff you have the happier you are, Right?

That was the me that just thought that car notes were something to be expected, the me that sought part of my identity through my possessions. Shallow you say, yes, I suppose I was shallow, along with millions of other Americans... But I am shallow no more! I have seen the light, opened my eyes, and realized there is a whole world of peace and joy and happiness without all of the---stuff. This is the me that could care less what the Jones' do, who are these Jones' people anyway? And why did I want to keep up with them???


Anyway, this me, the me that discovered the ***key to real happiness, and peace in my natural life, is fighting the prospect of buying a new vehicle. I happen to love "old Blue". She has been a great vehicle. And the best part about her is she is paid in full. For a year now we have been car note free...all four of our vehicles are debt free. I just don't want to think of throwing away good money on a vehicle, when I have a perfectly good one now that belongs to me... and no car note. Why would I want to give away a three hundred or so dollars a month just to drive a vehicle. Never mind the money for insurance and gas...When "old Blue" runs just fine and gets me where I need to go...and I don't have to pay someone to drive it...I did that already and now she is mine...debt free...


I do admit that Old Blue is a bit aged, she is a 1998 model. That makes her over ten years old. And she has over 100,000 miles on her...(which isn't much considering her age). If it weren't for the fact we were moving 900 miles away from my oldest child, I would never consider buying a new one. However, I know that old Blue won't make to many trips back and forth without trouble. Hard highway driving wouldn't be good for her. I will need to have a vehicle that I can depend on to travel many highway miles, because most of the time it will only be Megan, Noah and myself on the highways alone. Andrew will be working and unable to make many trips back and forth. Due to this reason, and this reason alone, I am consenting to look for a new vehicle. However, we have agreed to sell Blue and the jeep and put everything we get for them toward the purchase of the new one, so we can knock down some of the debt off the top.


Now I have to do some research and decide what kind of vehicle I want. My tendency is toward Ford's, I have always had good luck with a Ford. I have owned a Mustang, an Expedition, and two Explorers, along with a couple of Ford trucks, and a Ford Mini-Van. Never a problem with any of them. They were all great vehicles. I know I want an SUV, I need the space, and I don't really want a mini-van, but I don't want a gas guzzler either. Yes, the car I really want is a Harvest Moon Beige convertible Beetle, but, I don't think that would work well with two kiddo's and traveling, so I will forgo the Beetle for now.

But isn't it so cute? I can see me in that. It would get great gas mileage!

If you know anyone looking for a great older Ford Explorer that would be great for running around town and will probably last another 100,000 miles with a little care, send them my way, I'll give 'em a good deal.

***The key to real happiness and peace in my natural life is living a more simplified life and enjoying what I have. I hate to use catchy phrases that so often or over used in our society. However, I have adopted one that I hear a lot lately.

Use it up, wear it out, or do without!

I kind of like that concept. I read an article recently that said,

Live with what you love, and get rid of the rest!

I think that will be my mantra while I am getting ready for this move. If I don't love it, it goes...

mmm...someone have a dump truck I could borrow to haul off this stuff?