I met an old friend while I was walking tonight...

I met an old friend as I as walking tonight.  We were on our way home from a good walk and there she was just walking around the corner.  She didn't remember me at first, but then it all came back to her when I re-introduced myself.  We ended up dumping the dogs so that I could talk and watch nature boy (who seems to not know what a car is). 

We walked a long ways.  And it was getting dark, so we turned around.  And we walked and talked some more.  What did we talk about?  Well, mostly about body mechanics, and counting our blessings about being healthier than we were the last time we saw each other.  We talked about food and how organic is so much better...but growing it yourself is even better than that.  And we talked about the neighbors.  Who still lives in the neighborhood.  Who has chickens.  :-)  Who has kids. 

And we walked her to her house and she gave us green beans...of course ones she grew herself.  And then she walked us home because she didn't want our lovely, spontaneous walk to end.  And we promised to chat more some other evening. 

And I came in here and thought, "Hmmm...I was looking for community out there because it was near a small town and it was in a farming community.  And I came home and was reminded that I had it here all along."  It was a good reminder. 

Love to you and yours on this lovely Fall evening.

Going Home

Hello.  It has been some time since I wrote on here.  A lot of changes have been happening and some of them were tough and I had to go through them before I could write about them.  In explanation, we decided to move after some time living out on 5 acres out in the woods.  It was a tough decision for many reasons.  It was a down-size in the amount of land we had access to and it was a down-size in the amount of living space.  And it affected others.  Hard choices...

SO...we did it!  We made the tough decisions.  We did the packing.  We gave away a bunch of stuff.  We took a bunch of stuff to the dump and we donated a bunch of stuff to the Goodwill.  It was freeing and still it wasn't quite enough.  We still have so much!!  So what we did was we moved most of it into the garage first.  We are going through each box as we move it into the house.  We are questioning whether we have the space for it and whether we have a place for it and then questioning whether we need it.  It makes for a slow unpack, but it seems to be working.  Less clutter, means less things to take care of.  Less to take care of means more time with family (one of my most important values in case you couldn't tell). 

So the things that I have found through this move are that smaller sometimes is better.  The house seems bigger than I thought it would be.  In that we each have our own space and can retreat to those spaces when we need time alone.  I loved it when I saw Carl laying on his bed reading by himself the first time.  So sweet!  And we don't have to yell to find someone anymore. 

The yard is big and there is plenty to do to get it in shape.  I mowed the lawn with the push mower yesterday!  It was great fun and good exercise.  The chickens have lots to peck at and clean up for us too.  And the dogs and the cats seem to be settling in well.  We got a cat tree from our sister and her fiance and the cats love to climb it and feel like they are on top of the world.  And the cats only hid the first day.  That was a relief!  Everyone kept telling me that they would be hiding for weeks.  Maybe it is because there are fewer placed to hide here.  :-)  The dogs need more exercise than they did when they could run free, but that is good for us too.  Dogs needing exercise equals us getting more exercise.  Win/Win. 

Carl is enjoying the pavement.  Sounds weird, but where we lived before we just had gravel.  So he gets to ride his bike and his scooter.  That is fun for him.  And of course his friends are closer too.  That is a plus. 

Our neighbors have already been over asking about when we are going to take care of this or that.  It is a good lesson for me, as I learn to just tell them that we are taking care of one thing at a time, as we can in our time.  That is the blessing of owning a home.  We get to decide when and we get to save the money and plan for when. 

In the meantime, we are working on not getting used to living around boxes and remembering to upack them and not make them our friends.  :-)  I feel like we have been guided to this decision.  It wasn't easy, but it seems to have been the right one for where we are right now.  I am getting the feeling that this is just the beginning.  Love to you on this Fall day.