pennies and peace

The simplest life

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:14:30 -0500

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need to be able to touch souls.” — Mother Teresa

Photo

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:21:00 -0500

Roscoe one of The Basset Boys i love

Brewtas my other Basset Boy

A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and the top five are:

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:32:00 -0500

A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and the top five are::

kateoplis:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Read on.

Worth pondering.

The First Step

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:58:00 -0500

Last fall I moved from the 3,000 square-foot house built in 1910 that you couldn’t have told me a year ago I would leave. Five fireplaces, beautiful hardwood floors, a southerner’s front porch to die for complete with a wooden swing to pass the time on a lazy day, and electric gates that opened with the touch of a remote button each time I returned home. I loved that house. It was fun to live there.

Until I realized I was just treading water trying to stay afloat of increasingly high utility bills. If I just worked more, I told myself, I can make it here.

It’s quite stressful to tread for too long.

I was driving somewhere one afternoon last summer and saw a “for rent” sign in the front yard of a little house. I couldn’t do that, could I, I thought, move? Why of course not, after all, this was my dream house.

Yes, it was.

But I could still move, couldn’t I? Yes, I can move, I thought, why not?

And so I moved.

The house I found to rent is newer than the dream I left. She was built in 1920, a Sears Roebuck Catalog made-to-order house with a bit of history to her; 1,100 square feet, two bedrooms, one non-working fireplace, hardwood floors too, pull chains from lights in the ceiling instead of light switches (there’ll be no dimming here unless a bulb blows), what looks like the original sink in the only bathroom with a spicket for hot, and a spicket for cold, running water.

And I can afford it. The first step in getting back to the basics, finding those pennies again for peace, those simple things we seem to crave nowadays, for me was moving my dream just a bit.

Actually, just a couple of blocks over.

— Wendy

Pretty Petunias in winter. These were still hanging on for...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:33:00 -0500

Pretty Petunias in winter. These were still hanging on for spring in an outdoor pot a few weeks ago. Cut back, re-potted and moved to a sunny inside window and they are blooming again! Amazing what a move and some TLC and sunshine can do!

Gardenias in bloom in Georgia and smelling so sweet tonight. I...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:40:00 -0500

Gardenias in bloom in Georgia and smelling so sweet tonight. I found these for sale in a grocery store here last week, brought them home and have them on my mantel for now. Once they stop blooming I will move them to a sunny window then out to the garden in warmer weather. I once bought a container of gardenias at a grocery store, planted them in the sun by my front door, and had six-foot tall blooming, fragrant, bushes! I shall try it again.