Living, wondering, laughing...

Early this morning, for the first time in what seems like forever, I contemplated lifestyle change. It's funny because I don't even consider my lifestyle something that really needs all that much changing...some tweaking maybe, some increased awareness, perhaps, but changing, no. I'm not exactly extreme in any of my habits. Today, however, I was meandering in and out of other people's lives via blog, and stumbled upon some interesting lifestyle choices.

I suppose first one needs to assess their life and what it looks like, and second, you need to establish just what it is that you want, and what you might be trying to achieve, and lastly, I guess you need to figure out the best way to get to those places that you want to get to, and to do so while still honoring your values and beliefs. That sounds like a giant pain in the @$s, really.

The ingredients for this idea con carne in my early morning mind today are readily available on the shelves of my psyche...I'm not stirring an empty pot, so to speak...

I've been following Ashley and Scott over at TWWLY for awhile now, and have suddenly stumbled into Sara's blog, Farmana just today, and the idea of self-sufficiency is bouncing around my head with vigor. I like reading about these families. They're traditional and alternative in the same breath, and I like seeing little pseudo-hippie Berkeley type funsters running around through fields and in forests, dreds full of fallen leaves and bellies full of Mom-made food. It's smile inducing (and of course, I'm just being ridiculous, they're not pseudo-hippie kids...they're just kids. I could noodle around their blogs for hours. It's interesting.

My Aunt Cheryl has been farming and selling her version of the best things this earth can grow for years now. Her and her husband, Barry, live a uniquely farmcentric life in which feeding the goat and harvesting the organically grown tomatoes take equal precedence. People drive in from all around to buy Cheryl's lovingly nurtured produce and I'd wager a full year's salary that the grocery stores see less of her money than they do mine. It's cool. She's cool.

We've always laughed at the way in which we affectionately describe June's parents to people...they're Canadian, oh so Canadian, despite Mihoko being oh-so Japanese. They listen to CBC Radio all day, and watch CTV and CBC at night. They're environmentally conscious and work hard to be fairly low impact and relatively self-sufficient. Gerry's goal is to be largely self-sufficient (within reason) someday. They're what I imagine David Suzuki would like to have as neighbors. They're PEI to BC. They're roller skates and sewing machines. They recycle, they re-purpose and re-use. They listen to classic rock and don't shy away from holistic medicine. They're fun, and vibrant and aware. They eat right. They know what they put into their bodies for the most part. There is sewing and building of things and canning and honest to goodness attempts at living their way in spite of the world spinning trends and trial sized versions of life past them like a tornado. June's parent's live quietly beside a creek. They notice things.

I have a friend, Kate, who I met in California. She and her husband, Nathan, are caretakers of a ranch property in Colorado. They are aware, to say the least, of their impact, of their practices, of their beliefs and living by them. It's amazing to see. They're happy. Life is simple in Telluride if you want it to be. I see their photos and smile at the life they've carved out for their family. They don't ask for much but seem to have it all.

I read about these families, or talk to them or love and appreciate them from my little, somewhat raucous spot on the plent, and I wonder if I could alter a few things, change this or that, make some conscious decisions, and change the way I live a little...just a little. Major change is for addicts avoiding ice bergs, I've learned. I like the idea of living better by living with less. It's not a new idea, and I'm not even sure if I could manage it...I like my stuff...but I enjoy thinking about the possibility. I grew up on a farm, and although I don't miss that lifestyle, I do miss certain things. I don't ever recall the fuss I find all around me now. I don't remember too much hullaballoo that wasn't inspired by Mother Nature herself. Although I can't imagine going back to that, and I'm not exactly interested in being Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams (I'm much too inclined to like cities and all of that accessibility etc...) it does remind me that we could live a little more deliberately.

I cook badly. I flip and I flop. I loathe cutting my lawn. I'm aware of what I like and don't like, of what I am and am not, but I'm intrigued by the notion of self-sufficiency and alternative choices. Maybe I'll just keep reading Ashley and Sara's blogs, and maybe I'll just feel a quiet pride at the way my Aunt Cheryl lives, and in the choices Gerry and Mihoko make, but the idea is there, just like seeds in a basket, that I could live differently.

I'm just sayin'...