Oh... How easy it is...

How easy it is to become complacent.  Life gets busy and all conviction goes out the window.  Certain members of this household have become complacent.  We run the water a little too long for our shower.  We use too much TP.  We forget to turn off the water as we brush our teeth.  The biggest and most harmful practice we have not altered enough, is our use of plastics.

Plastic bags harm the environment.  They do not biodegrade.  They hurt animals.  They become litter.  Petroleum is used in their manufacture.  We have become pretty good at staying away from using them, as our local program does not recycle plastic bags.  Unfortunately, our wood pellets come packaged in plastic bags.  Fortunately my daughter can recycle these bags at her curbside.

Another great culprit is the plastic containers that ready-made chicken and certain fruits are sold in.  Hubby has been tossing these in the recycling bin and they have never been left...however...our program does not process these containers.  Our eating habits are going to change...now.

We live a distance from stores, and farmer's markets now.  Fruit is not quite in season.  It is too hot to cook.  I forgot my plastic bag.  These are the excuses I often use when I become complacent. 

What excuse do you use?

How do You Cool Off?

Let Mocha Show You How!

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Thoreau Part 2

Posted via email from wendyytb's posterous “Simplify. Simplify.” I am sure that Thoreau once sat here... ...dipped his feet here.... ...and gazed upon these waters. He visited his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson here. We journeyed to his final resting place where he still keeps company with his friends. They are buried in the spot they used to visit when they were alive. Henry David Thoreau. Louisa May Alcott. (“Little Women”) Ralph Waldo Emerson Nathaniel Hawthorne.... All had small and unpretentious markers....their choice. This is the spot where those great Philosophers, Naturalists and Transcendentalists communed.  Did we find Henry David? I don’t believe we did...however..we came close. We saw where he had spent two years of his life. We walked on ground once walked upon by him. We dipped our feet in Walden Pond. We visited his remains.   Where is he then?...You'll find him in  his writings and musings... in the stillness of any forest at dawn, and at dusk...and in the call of a bluebird.... He resides in the hearts of like minded souls who have the same intent...to live small "with only the bare essentials." Our journey has come to an end, but I will always remember standing within the "walls" of his cabin, and gazing upon his Walden Pond.

Journey to Walden Pond Part 1.

Hubby, Dad, my nephew and I made a pilgrimage last week, to Concord, Mass. to find Henry David Thoreau. Having read “Walden Pond” my father, (who was an English Literature teacher), wanted to visit the area where Thoreau had lived for two years. My motivation was to reaffirm the the belief that we all can live with much less. The cabin has long gone. and now stone pillars mark the location of the original cabin. This journey touched my dad’s heart. It had always been his desire to visit this area. This is the view that Henry David woke to every morning while living on Walden pond. This was Thoreau’s motivation. The pile of rocks behind the sign are brought by tourists, and laid at the site. It is my understanding that Thoreau’s friends started this tradition many years ago when they visited his cabin. Another view of the site.... The highlight of the trip for all of us was watching as dad dipped his feet in Walden Pond. This is the layout of the cabin, as suggested in Henry David’s notes. The cabin measured 10 x15’. Could you live here? And THIS is the cabin as described by Thoreau and his friends. Could I live here? I think I could...as long as i could bring along some handiwork, or paints...and a good book. More pictures to come...

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