Friday, July 31, 2009

Readers, say hello!


if you're a lurker around my blog, please, i'd like it if you could leave a comment on my page and let me know you're here -- a little about you, too. i don't get as many comments as i would like, so i'm wondering just whose eyes are seeing this and what they think. i don't blog as often as i want to, nor do i have the time to make the gorgeous blogs that are in many of my links. but i do the best i can with what i have, and hope that it makes for somewhat nice reading.

thanks~!!

karen

Thursday, July 30, 2009

My nighttime walks

So much to be grateful for that my heart sings.

old houses

big, very wise trees that reach up everywhere into the sky on a strong, immovable trunk

singing tree bugs

barking dogs

shadows

the smell of lingering grilled food

the cozy glowy lights in other people's beautiful homes

cool temperatures

free kitchen chair cushions, new, in someone's recycling!

airplanes with their lights, landing, the people on them safe

the overall smell of summer

breezes

being aware enough to recognize the specialness of it all

the gift of hearing

the gift of breath

the gift of health

the gift of love

the gift of life

the gift of special friends

i do love my walks, especially on nights like these where it really is *just* a walk -- not thinking, or planning (which all come together wonderfully many times, to my happiness -- *just*, and yet so much more than words can convey.

and, randomly, here are pics from the yarn sale in Louisville that i should have posted ages ago. the back of my car has been slowly filling with goodness all summer. here is some of it.





and some loveliness from the Missouri Botanical Garden.












tomorrow night i'm going here.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

thoughts, after oatmeal.




Apparently, I've gained 5 pounds in the 6 weeks I've been in St. Louis, despite walking a good brisk walk nearly every day. Oh, well. Must be all the carbs I've been craving for more expenditure of mental energy.

I'm very excited to come home to life in Louisville again. I'm going to clean my apartment out and sage smudge it from my subletter being there -- just give it a good airing-out and changing the energy. Then, I settle back into being home for a bit before making a few energy-saving changes in the kitchen.



I'm pretty sure I've decided on a fairly easy, low-maintenance christmas knitting plan, though I still have to map out who's getting what. For the people who aren't getting knitting, I'm not sure what they'll get, but it will be something simple and as homemade as possible. I'd love to try and incorporate fruit preservation and homemade soap/cleaners into it somehow, but we'll see what time allows. I'll have Montessori materials-making to do over the course of this coming school year, in addition to about four weeks' worth of student teaching at other Montessori schools. On my Christmas list to be from mom and dad this year, I'd like a large stockpot for ... well, stocks, and canning, a chef's knife, a rice cooker and maybe a pasta maker. One or two of those would be great, too. I get much use out of both the blender and food processor they've given me in the past.

This winter, I'll educate myself on cold frame construction, and the process of growing greens. If any of you readers have advice for me, please share it. I'm also looking to plant a blueberry or raspberry bush, though the latter might be better for where I live because my "yard" (i'll call it that for lack of a better word to describe the very small strip of grass behind my apartment building) does not get full sun enough for blueberries, I believe.

I was recently reading through some old posts from when I first started this blog about a year and five months ago. I was feeling kind of down about things, but then I started reading and realized in that 17 months, my whole attitude toward life has changed. So while I may not be in the house with chooks/garden/clothesline/craft room/huge kitchen yet, and while I may not have my finances where I want them to be, and while I may not be a stay-at-home worker just yet, I can be proud that this time has been a HUGE success in terms of laying the emotional foundation so that when all that does come -- and it will, in time, i'm sure of it -- my houses won't be built on sand. I don't want to be rich anymore, I don't want a lavish wedding. I just want to live in a peaceful, happy space where I can invite others into its warmth. Build community through the strength of a loving, frugal home. But we must remember, our homes that become this way are really just an external manifestation of the home we've built up first in our hearts. So for now, I'll work on building the home of my heart, and doing what I can externally with the little that I've got -- for it's so much more than what most of the billions of people in this world don't have. I think it's important to keep those others in your perspective whenever you shop (or decide you don't need this pile of...), whenever you spend maybe a little more than you would like on the healthiest food you can, whenever you worry that you'll never "get where you want to go." Think of those others, and give what you can toward relieving their suffering. Giving not only your time, or money, or both, but you can also give by not wasting, not hoarding, not desiring more. Breathe, and realize you already have everything you need. And if there are things that come up, learn how to make/mend/cook/sew/knit/bake/establish an interdependence system with others in your community to trade, barter -- not just things, but information. We are all of greatest resource to each other.

Thanks for letting me go a little philosophical today. It slows me to do so, it reminds me of my priorities. It reminds me how far I've come, and while i still have far to go, that it's okay to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. But do we ever truly "arrive?" I think, no, but we do always evolve. So enjoy your evolution, and don't forget to bring others along for the ride. It's a life of hard work and dedication, this simple living thing. It goes against the grain from how many, dare i say, most of our fellow humans, have begun to live. But the rewards ... well, even with the baby steps I've taken, I've reaped them. I'm overall calm, positive, optimistic, healthy, able to help others around me. I'm a better friend, I'm a better lover. Learn to live from the inside out, and you'll see, too.

Peace,

Karen

Saturday, July 18, 2009

coming home .... soon.


$2, thrift shop, proceeds for children in foster care.


hello, sweet readers.

only 20 more days here in st. louis. it's been wonderful teacher training, but i'm really ready to get back into my everyday life at home. i have big plans, big plans to simplify even further than what i've already started in the last year and a half that i've had this dear blog. a couple of days ago, i watched the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." It really got my wheels turning a lot faster. If you haven't seen it yet, may I kindly recommend you do so. The information is just what I needed to impel me to greater action. I'm going to implement two lights-free nights a week when I get home. These are nights I may go to bed earlier than usual, or read by candlelight. I'm also, as I've mentioned before, going to move my refrigerator away from my stove, burn more fireplace fires as opposed to turning up my heat, and I may wind up moving up to more than one car-free day a week. I wish I could sell it, honestly, but I'm not really living yet in a place where it's sensible for me to do so. So I'll just try and use it less.

I also have a big money plan that I'm definitely going to put into action, but I'll stay quiet about that another couple months still till it's all set up, and then I'll share the changes with you. I'm very excited about it, though! What a year this should become for me, financially!

here are my near-future plans: "nesting" at home -- friends over for simple homecooked dinners. learning to sew. practicing the guitar. knitting christmas gifts. possibly .... learning how to make soap. reading books. cooking...of course! (hello food processor ... how i've missed you!) learning about cold frames so I can build one and start greens in early spring. fall hikes and camping with a new ..... boyfriend (!!) ... yes. it's a good time for me to come home and have a good few months of all of it to look forward to. no living room to do this time, just time to focus on the inner life and to get my ducks in a row for the future i can't wait to move into, a future of radical simplicity.

i love you all for being here and for helping be like little sparks that have changed my life and my outlook so significantly over the last 18 or so months of my time here on Beautiful Earth.

peace, love, namaste.

karen

Sunday, July 5, 2009

colors.



rainy weekend here in st. louis but this is some of what i saw, regardless.













vegan pizza = happiness





and hope you had a happy 4th, americans!