I ‘do’ my life through the lens of silence, solitude and simplicity. But I also have another lens, that of conversation, community and complexity. At the cottage my life is weighted with the 3Ss; at home the 3Cs come into play. However, it’s not 50-50. In order to keep balance at this time in my life, I organize with more solitude, silence and simplicity.
The other day a friend emailed that her commitment to rescue horses “has had a profound change in the way I 'do' my life and the way it is organized.” Very powerful. Her dedication to give life to horses who might be put to death because they are not ‘useful’ (or for horsemeat), has given structure and purpose to her life. This gives me much food for thought. It’s worth pondering how I do my life, how it is organized. As a start, I have to think about organizing my life rather than just have it go randomly along. The very word profound suggests that this is important, that it matters. In fact, just using the word changes everything. There is no way that I can act trivial, although I can laugh and have fun.
I ‘do’ my life through the lens of silence, solitude and simplicity. But I also have another lens, that of conversation, community and complexity. At the cottage my life is weighted with the 3Ss; at home the 3Cs come into play. However, it’s not 50-50. In order to keep balance at this time in my life, I organize with more solitude, silence and simplicity.
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By the time I arrive here at the cottage and settle in every week, I hardly every leave, but yesterday I took a field trip to Ocean Point. Maybe the timing had to do with today, my last full day, as a way of weaning myself from the silence, solitude and simplicity that has fed me so well all winter. I’m sure that’s true, but I also went to remember and drink in some of the love and contentment that nourished me for so many years when I visited my Aunt Bow and Uncle Don who summered at Grimes Cove at the very point of the ocean. From them I experience unconditional love. Yesterday was a day of remembering and of being grateful. First I stopped at L.L. Bean, where I did a little shopping and bought a delicious sandwich, which I enjoyed while sitting on the rocks in front of their cottage. I then took an hour long walk around Ocean Point, remembering the times over the years when I visited—as a ten year old, during college days, getting married, having children, teaching. When my aunt and uncle retired they moved to a house in Boothbay Harbor. I remember when my uncle died and I remember visiting my aunt during her widowed years. Before her final move to be near her children and grandchildren in California, I remember many visits with my mom, sisters and cousins. Yesterday was definitely a walk of gratitude. Today I have cover the clocks, turn off my email and washed the windows. I am so grateful for my time here, for all the big moments of gratitude. And then there are the little gratitudes; it will be low tide when I set out for my final walk on the beach; I am ‘very grateful’ for that. When you live simply, you clean simply. At least that’s what I want to believe as I get ready to leave the cottage—and it seems to be true. I keep my outdoor shoes in the entry way and wipe the sink as I go along. I use so few surfaces here, just a few tables, and those will be easy to dust. Speaking of tables, there is the dining room table, which I dusted a while ago as I dismantled a partially completed jigsaw puzzle of a box of candies. The individual candies were fun to piece together but the hundreds of little brown wrappings were more of a challenge than I had interest in. When I realized I wouldn’t have time to finish it, my interest dwindled, and voila, back in the box it went. Maybe I just don’t like candy enough. If it had been potato chips, I still be working on it. Um, I wonder if one of those exists? Here at the cottage I don’t have to think about the dishwasher. I wash my dishes right after I use them and store them on the drain board. I’m talking simple here: six pieces of cutlery, two plates, two bowls, two mugs, two glasses, two pots and a slotted spoon and a spatula. At home, when it’s just the two of us, I follow the same washing procedure, but I use more dishes and pots and pans. I like being a hermit some of the time, but not all of the time, which is a good thing because this is my last week here. Although life is extremely simple here at the cottage, we do our best to keep things simple back at home. What a fool I was to think that my dishwasher could make life simple for me! I usually wash by hand, which I figure takes about five second more than rinsing and loading, but with company for the weekend, I decided to give my seldom used dishwasher a run. After all, that’s what sensible, modern people do. The first wash went off just fine, but when I turned on the next load--nothing! After checking the fuse box I decided the best thing was to start washing by hand. It took forever, for I had really pack it well, and food was stuck to the forks and plates. I doubt that I’ll get the dishwasher fixed, and I’m certain that I won’t replace it. The entire dishwasher procedure is too complex for me; I always have to retrieve a favorite spatula or bowl waiting to be washed, and then of course I have to wash it; invariably I run out of glasses; and unloading takes forever. Washing by hand suits the simpler life that I am seriously trying to cultivate. Oh, I use hot water, but it’s my muscle power versus electricity, and that feels very green and healthy. Ironically, just before I discovered the powerless dishwasher, I had come up from hanging the laundry in the basement. It took time, but it felt simple and definitely green. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to use that old scrubbing board. That would not feel simple. |
Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com
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