Tango and I are settled into my friend Gennie’s house in the Williamette Valley, in Central Oregon. She is making the transition to becoming a full-time RVer and needs some help making forward progress. Sorting through things and making decisions about what to keep for this next phase of life is so difficult. What goes…
I am flirting again with the issue of needs vs. wants as the ability to satisfy my wants shrinks. Needs should be as simple as food, shelter, clothing. In our complicated culture, basic needs include insurance, cell phone service, gasoline and more. Everything else, though, is a want. Our consumer culture has created the relentless desire…
I finally bought the Kindle edition of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I waited for several reasons: I knew it would consume me, and my book wish list on Amazon is a mile long. Finally, the book rose to the top of the list and it did consume…
Small is Beautiful, Small is High-Tech. Now I want to propose that small is also low-tech. Why not have the best of both worlds while reducing your carbon footprint and creating a simpler life. However, thanks to my recent posts, my definition of small is getting large, so I will clarify what I am talking…
Simplifying. Minimalist lifestyle. Slowing down. These pursuits involve getting rid of excess possessions that choke our body and soul. Ask any empty-nester, recent retiree or minimalist officianado how destuffing leads to a new freedom. Some minimalists may also be anti-technology, although I am not. In fact, high-tech helps me to get RID of often burdensome possessions. The…
After a weekend of living big in Denver, I am pondering the character of small. Thesaurus.com informs me that synonyms for small include scanty, shrimp, stunted, and insufficient. I talk back to the website: no, small is beautiful. I remember the book Small is Beautiful, written by EF Schumacher in the 1970s and the concept presented there:…
Several years ago I shared my day-to-day experiences about returning to a simpler, healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. By definition, rural living suggests simplicity, but that is not always true. For example, Wheatland had recycling drops at the dump for only some items. When I decided to get serious and create a zero-waste home, I had to…
The relentless fall winds blow in today as if they never left; instead, waiting and gathering strength deep in the prairie dog holes. Free now, the winds oddly sound like heavy ocean waves, and their ferocity ebbs and flows like the breaking of those waves near the shoreline. The remnant summer flowers bow down at…
In my last post, I mentioned that I want to radically simplify. What a luxury to ask such questions, especially if you consider how 80% of the world’s population struggles to find clean water each day. Anyway, now I must figure out what radical simplifying means. I am pondering the following: Will I measure my…
Well, I will have lots of adventure to share in the upcoming months. I am leaving my minister job here and moving on! I have not decided on my next landing spot but am pursuing several options. I loved my time here, the people I served. I will miss my beautiful yellow house and gardens…