BONNGG!

Claudia, over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage asks, "But how do you stay in the loop and still lead a life that is filled with quiet, meditative moments, time for the imagination to soar, time for good conversation?" in her post entitled: Yearning for a Simpler Life - Is it Possible in this High Tech World?


 I have few thoughts on that, myself!




My mother and most of her brothers


1. Simpler was not easier.  My mother worked very hard and her mother used to say to me, "What would you have done, if you had lived back when I was young?"  -or words to that effect.  Now, my grandmother had seven children and not much for income.  Her counterpart, my fathers mother, had seven children and was widowed with all of them still at home. 

I like automatic washers and dryers.  We did not have them at our house and I do know how to use a wringer washing machine.  I'm glad I don't have to use a scrub board, as my father's mother did.  Her children got her going on a used machine as soon as they could.

We had a taste of this life when we had a power outage for nine days.  Life became very basic.  In the short winter days, we scrambled to get heat, food and cleanliness while the light lasted.  Later, with the power back on, my eight year old son said, "I miss the ice storm!"  I think it was playing games and reading aloud by the light of the oil lamp that he was missing.

I think people might have been healthier, both physically and mentally.  I have to admit, I enjoy being pampered with modern conveniences. 

Mom and Dad entertaining themselves

2. In some ways, a simpler life was narrower.  My mother did not have time to even consider much for "outside" activities.  School functions, church and all that went with that, occasional shopping trips (beyond the neighborhood store) and vacation time divided between her parents' and Dad's parents' home was about it.  If I read the photos correctly, after child number two, the "big" trips to see relatives in another state stopped.  When the youngest was about ten, or more, we did start going to some sights, sites and attractions.  By then, I think we had a gas range, as well as the wood burning one, in the kitchen.  There was a furnace in the cellar, too, instead of the coal stove in the living room.

my mother, about the time her job was helping another mother

3. Roles and jobs were more defined.  I do think that many people felt they knew their "niche" better.  As opportunity increases, so, also, uncertainty, in some ways.

Hard work was more interesting when done with others.
That's an old friend, my dad, an uncle, another uncle and another old friend.

4.  There was not so much for which to have the "wants!"  Of course, this has been happening for at least one hundred years.  I remember poring over the "toy" catalog -- Montgomery Wards, Sears Roebuck and Alden's, at least, while my mother would marvel, "You kids have so much!"  Compared to the kids at school (and some in the neighborhood) we had very little.  Compared to what Mom and her siblings and Dad and his siblings had, we were rolling in toys, books and clothes.

my father and his mother

5. Contemplation does seem to require quiet.  I get contemplative over the sink, while doing dishes.  This quiet, I have often found, is where I meet my Father God. 

Work and fun could go hand in hand.  This is my father.

I guess this is rather long.  I guess it's a bit of a bore.  That's what you get when you ask me a question like: But how do you stay in the loop and still lead a life that is filled with quiet, meditative moments, time for the imagination to soar, time for good conversation?

My mother had her baby and I had my doll!
This was taken at my grandmother's house.
That is an old ice chest, on the porch.