Window latch, my farmhouse. Beauty in small things

One reason I don’t pay too much attention to politics or the news is that it makes me angry. A friend of mine works for a U.S. Rep in Washington and she told me about the health care, pension and travel allowances and tax benefits that people in Congress get, and you do sometimes get the feeling that if they lived like the  rest of us – and I am a lot luckier than some – it might be possible for them to accomplish something other than squawk at one another all day. Don’t go there, I always tell myself. It doesn’t do any good. Stay positive.

So liberated from politics, I am paying more and more attention to the many interesting ways in which people are changing their lives, reconnecting with things that are important, learning to live on less, want less, think more about their lives. Most of us know now that we will not ever be rich, or even particularly secure, and since we are all in the same boat, there is some comfort in that. There is also comfort in the many ways in which I am changing and rethinking my life. I am on a budget, and staying more or less within it. I have changed a lot of my work to reflect the times, and I like what I am doing. I am even selling notecards, not that that will make me secure, but is perhaps something I wouldn’t have done a few years ago.

I am not sure if and when I will sell or leave the farm. But I am clear that I want to simplify my life. I want to spend less, live more simply, need and use less. I love the idea of buying local, and I am doing it. I am thoughtful about my credit card, thinking before I click. I haven’t got a new lens in many months, will keep my truck until it disintegrates and I actually check prices online before I buy plane tickets or get hotel rooms. I bargain all the time, and I love it. An Inn that Maria and I stayed in last year for $212 a night is offering rooms this Spring for $89, dinner included. I signed up.

Vacation will be a few days in a motel off-season, not a rented house. It will be nice. The dogs get bones with frozen peanut butter, not new treats. I am still buying four or five books a week, but I can’t help that. I don’t really need an Iphone, although I would love one. I shop on a tight food budget, and I use coupons.

All of this is taking me in a direction, new to me, although perhaps not to many of you. I want a simpler, meaningful life. I want fewer things in it. My love. My work. My photography. My dogs. Eventually, this will lead to selling the farm, and a smaller, easier-to-maintain place. In the meantime, I am loving my work more than ever, and working harder at it. I have no interest in retirement, and never did. I expect drop right here at the keyboard.

I find that people are more open, and appreciative of one another. We see that depending on banks and politicians will get us nothing but headaches. Depending on one another not only works, but feels good.