Library Thing
I like this idea. Just like you can comment on and rate books on sites like Amazon, this site lets you catalog and comment on the books you read. The difference is, you can catalog everything you read, regardless of where it might be listed, and it leads you to other books you might like. It is a book lovers community. It also has a feature that leads you to books that are totally opposite what you would normally read. I think that is way cool. I always look for reviews, ratings and comments before I buy a book and I am really looking forward to getting into Library Thing.
A new beginning
Well, part of our new more sustainable life is to become self-employed, at least part-time and hopefully, some day, full time. My husband and I are both very creative people, we love working with our hands, we both have more than one creative hobby and we both have jobs that fall well below satisfying in the grand scheme of things. We both got tired of following our careers to places (big cities) where we really didn’t enjoy living, and now that we have found a place that we love and want to have more time to enjoy, we want to have careers that we love that will allow us to stay here. So here we go–Janji Crafts and Janji Web Design.
Steampunk Jewelry
I have to say, I love this trend of steampunk jewelry. Especially all the little gears that look like the inside of a watch. Very cool. This is an article about it on Fire Mountain Beads, my favorite bead store.
Lightninghorse
Meet my friend, Leroy, aka Lightninghorse. He is an artist who specializes in Native American style rattles, beads, sculpture and silver work. He makes wonderful jewelry patterned after nature and things unique to the west. I’ve watched Leroy work on his Ojibwa style rattles and I can tell you that he takes great care and puts painstaking detail into everything that he makes. He is a delight to talk to because he is something of a sage, living and working at his studio in Nogal, NM. I admire people like Leroy who can cut loose from the daily rat race that buries us all and live life on their own terms. I think Leroy is a unique soul and a real inspiration to those of us who know him.
Learning to slow down
When I read this article on Slow Living, some of what it said about living sustainably really hit home. How many of our communities are built for rapid transportation, around cars and trains, rather than around people? How often do we sit down with the family and eat a home cooked meal? How often do we take the time to just sit and chat with an elderly relative? Browse our favorite bookstore? Sit and sip a cup of coffee and read the paper? Take a walk through the neighborhood?
One thing I have tried very hard to do as I’ve gotten older and wiser is control the number of hours I devote to work-related tasks. That is often easier said than done, but when I have a day off, I really try hard to keep work-related projects out of my day and focus on family related projects or hobbies. I wonder how many of us live super busy lives by choice, without really stopping to examine those choices and how we might make different choices? My husband and I make a point to sit on the deck, sip a glass of wine, and watch the hummingbirds and just talk whenever we get the chance. We both have jobs that require different shifts, so sometimes we don’t have any days off together for many days in a row.
When you reach your last day on Earth, do you really want the defining memories of your life to be “Well, I had a really busy life”?
Words of Wisdom
I was surfing around and came across this poem. As a mom of two, I thought it had a particularly good message for raising kids. It is written by Dorothy Nolte, but this is not the full version. The full version can be viewed at Children Learn What They Live.
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty,
If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance and friendship,
They learn to find love in the world.
Seeing Beauty in the Every Day
When I read this article on the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, it really resonated with me. I see, what to me, is so much excess in the way some people live. Spend, spend, spend on what is new and shiny and expensive, with no reverence for what is beautiful because of its history and its familiarity and the caring that it represents, something hand made and passed on from one member of the family to another. It may be nicked and scarred and stained…but each of those marks has a memory attached to it, no matter how small.
So look around your office or house or shop today and try to see what you have through new eyes. Try to see the beauty of the history and memories that live in an object and not just what is on the surface. Learn to look deeper, with people and with life, to appreciate the beauty of simple living.
When one door closes…
When we moved to a small town in rural New Mexico last spring, I knew I was taking a chance that I might never find a job that would allow me to use my experience and education. But, we loved the lifestyle and the country and we were really burned out on the big city (Houston). After 20 years of working at a major research university, I was ready to try something else–something that made me feel like I was making a difference some how. So when the opportunity came up for my husband to transfer to southern New Mexico, I just said go for it…I’ll find something to do with my career when we get there.
Food for the mind
One aspect of living more wisely, at least for me, is to spend more time on things that feed your mind and soul. I’ve tried to do more reading and writing and less watching of the boob-tube. Or, if I am in front of the tube at night with the hubby (who collects movies), I have a knitting or crochet project in hand and work on creating my own designs.
Not your Grandma’s quilts
As a would be fiber artist, I think I sometimes forget that you can take the oldest techniques and methods and give them a completely new twist. This guy has done just that with solar system inspired quilts–jimmy mcbride.
