Saturday, April 28, 2012

Celebrate Earth Day








 

When you live in the wilderness there's not much to see except, well....wilderness!! Mother Nature makes some of the prettiest things, doesn't She? So, in celebration of Earth Day I offer up a selection of some of Her creations. Take the time to plant a seed or encourage something pretty to grow in your life!!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

On Living Alone......

Living alone has it's ups and downs. The ups......
No one is ever in a hurry for dinner, except maybe the cats.
No one ever complains when I leave my shoes under the table.
No one hogs the covers.
I don't have to share anything, except with the cats. They always want to share my dinner....and the warm spots. But, that's the nature of a cat. Golly, that's almost enough to make me sound like a crazy cat lady, isn't it? But, I'm not. I only have four of them. The fifth one belongs to Katie so I don't count her in with the pack. Holly and Katie make their own pack, and pacts as well, I think.


But, the downs of living alone are just as numerous.
There is no one to help with the hard chores. I greatly dislike having to carry in wood all by myself. Katie provides moral support, but even that is tiny. Katie is rather small herself, ya know.
There's no one to share my day with. Katie also listens, but her feedback is nil. She doesn't have much of an opinion one way or the other.


I suppose it all evens out and I have discovered during the long, cold winter that I really like being alone. I've had the chance to learn what I really like, what I really want, without having to take into consideration other's want or needs. I find that I have more time to devote to the things I really want to do.

I've been trying to improve my photography skills and I think I do pretty darned good, considering the camera I have to work with. Little Pink Camera got to go on vacation to Chicago while I had to stay at home, but she brought back lots of photos of the Big City. Katie and I decided that we really like living out here in the country after all and if it means we have to be the ones to carry the wood in by ourselves, then so be it.


In my efforts with Little Pink Camera, I find myself challenged by those who have really, really nice cameras that can photograph a flea on a bear's nose from a mile away. How can I compete with National Geographic caliber photographers? I can't, so I don't. But, it still inspires me to try harder, photograph more and look for the interesting shots in odd places. As if I don't do that already.


Spring has moved at a very rapid pace this year. Flowers that normally don't bloom until May or June are already in bloom and some are already gone. I've planted seeds for many different flowers and they are beginning to poke their tiny heads out of the ground. Soon I expect my gardens to be full of glorious patches of color.


The vegetable garden is coming together and I am looking forward to fresh tomatoes and green beans. I'm not much on gardening because I greatly dislike putting so much effort into feeding the deer and turtles, but I have friends that don't have garden space so I'm having a communal garden this year.
 

So, I suppose living alone is not so bad. I can go spend the day outdoors with Katie, with friends, by myself. I can be the one that picks the freshest beans and I can eat them all! I'll be the one that has the first tomato, but I won't have to be the only one pulling weeds. I have the best of both worlds and who could ask for more??