The Greatest of These Is
After an excessively long day during which nothing extraordinary happened, nothing particularly bad, nothing particularly good, just a very long long long day of putting one foot in front of the other and doing the mundane things that it takes to have a life at all, I had finished the evening milking as evening fell. I was late as milking goes.
Still, I did what I always do; I carried the milk through the tall gate, set it in the grass (excessively tall since it hasn't been mowed at all this year), turned to shut the gate and take in my moment. The new cat came through the slats of the homemade gate meeping at me. I picked her up and she purred. The cow went to picking, and her bell to dingdingdingding in rhythm. A bat few overhead to eat a few of the insects that I now felt feeding themselves on my bare arms. Fireflies started twinkling in the grass and in the woods. The after supper sounds of my family drifted down the hill from my handbuilt house. A star came out. The air was so still.
And as I so often do in those moments that I turn around to catch the curve of my knoll, the rise of my mountain, the verdancy of my rainforest, I thought, this is my life. So little of it matters "out there". Maybe none of it.
We came home to homemade food, after this excessively long day. I love to eat out, and if I travel one of the things I do is eat, local specialties especially. I have felt like I could well eat my way around the world. But we rarely eat out -- we cannot afford it and the earth cannot afford it.
So my deep thought for the day was about how for us, homemade food is a way of life, what we do, our default. We eat out only as a treat, and only when we can afford it. It is a luxury that we mostly live without.
I've seen that for other people, they cook at home only when they have time, and for them a home cooked meal is a luxury.
For us, money is what we don't have a lot of. For other people, it seems to be time they don't have.
Priorities.
LOVE
7 comments:
Money is a factor too with a lot of people that don't grow their own food, if they do eat at home, they have to eat cheap, which means food loaded in cholesterol and trans fat.
So their health is wrecked, and the lack of time and the constant daily grind and fast paced lifestyle takes up all the rest of their time, which further wreks their nerves, and their health.
You are lucky in a lot of ways. Happy fourth to you.
not lucky. It is a matter of choices.
hey cg,
you're always on my mind. i'm not the best at blogging around anymore, but every time i see my neighbor's melons and greens growing two yards down i think of your voice saying, "finally! someone is growing some food."
i hope all is well with you. xx
OH! justRose! kisskisskiss! I still stop by your place now and again. I think about you and my "Philly friends" too. Blogging is such a funny thing!
Now, grow you some FOOD girl!
And have you met my celiac friend madcap? Madcap, justrose's daughter is allergic to everything too. Find her at anonymousrowhouse.blogspot.com . I used to link to her but she kept deleting herself. If you are over that jr, I'm back! Luv ya!
i deleted again last week but i'm back again. it's a crazy writer thing. ;)
Will do!
How beautiful the capturing of the moments at the end of a day. We all could stand to put down our milk pails once in awhile and breathe deep. Thanks for the slow-down.
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