So you’ve heard of Slow Food and Slow Money. But have you heard of the Slow Homes Movement? Janelle Orsi, author of The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Build Community, shares her vision of what the Slow Homes Movement might look like this week at Shareable.net. She argues that the…
I first learned of the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi many years ago. It is a tool for contemplation, or a philosophy of life, that finds beauty in things that are impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete. In other words, it’s the notion that patina; wear and tear; chips, cracks, and fissures; assymetry; flaws; and defects actually…
It’s the first week of October and something is up with Emily. The hens usually wander around the yard together, pecking and scratching, but Emily is hanging out by herself. And she spends a lot of time sitting on the back step, staring into the sliding-glass patio door, crooning. When we’re outside, she follows us…
The ducks are flying low, black vees swooping between the trees. “Ga ga,” Ezra calls as they pass. He’s toddling along beside me. He weaves into a neighbor’s yard, and I reach for his hand to veer him back onto the sidewalk Ezra took his first solo steps this week at seventeen months old. Most…
We’ve been doing a lot of grieving these last few days. Our kitty Ajax died on Thursday. He got very sick very suddenly when we were away for a couple of days for my birthday. Our cat-sitter called on Tuesday morning and said he wasn’t doing well. By the time we got home an hour…
*I’m taking the week off for my birthday. This post was originally published back in March. I’ll be back with new posts next week, including an update to the Hen Diaries. We’ve had some dramatic ups and downs in chicken-keeping lately, which I can’t wait to share.* Every year I used to buy a pocket…