I don't know about you, but it seems to me the entire world is shifting...figuratively and literally. And it's hard to tell whether this is a sunrise or a sunset....are you wondering, too?
Even out here JOTOLR, we can't cover our ears and eyes and pretend the world's struggles against oppression and torture don't exist; we can't continue to ignore (and allow to go un-redressed) the economic plights of honest citizens right here in America who have lost homes, jobs, dignity and their means to sustain themselves through the fraudulent and greedy practices of the banking and financial industry; we can't take refuge in ignoring the horrific landscapes, the political unrest, and ecological disasters fermenting across the globe; and we can't continue to cede this world to the power barons who seek to own it all.
Maybe it's my imagination, but the blogging world --at least at my level-- seems at the moment almost as if it is holding its breath. Is it just me, or does there seem to be a hush out there....maybe a feeling that Pollyanna isn't appropriate for the moment? I know I feel that way. It's as if there are a thousand more shoes to drop...and that we're all spectators in a worldwide unfolding drama of change.
Selfishly, I'm beginning to view our world out here JOTOLR as a sanctuary, with problems that are so miniscule as to be laughable: the pigs' water barrel, for example, has developed a leak thanks to their playing with it; consequently, how best do we fix it? The chickens keep getting out and scratching in my flower beds and making dust baths of my Creeping Flox. I can't find the small pump I bought with which to make an artificial pond here in the yard, for the summer. Should I plant petunias in the hanging baskets this year or wax begonias. You see what I mean?
Living simply, we don't create any wealth that needs defending; our power (struggle) is over three dogs, three bovines, four turkeys, a dozen or so chickens and three pigs.
So, I am torn: do I chitty-chat lightheartedly about the beautiful, the simple, the humorous, or the tiny tragedies we experience here JOTOLR (like a turkey massacre)? To do so sometimes seems arrogant on my part. On the other hand, maybe it's good to have relief from an agonized world now and again...
So, perhaps I need to remember that a few words shared with a small audience, embellished with a few pictures, five times during the week, sharing another side of life--remote as it might be from "real life" is perhaps a gift to a needy world. It is in that spirit that I continue to write about life in the slow lane....out here Just Off The One-Lane Road.
Posts
Hi Elora I think it is a good thing too that you continue to write about the little things.There is so much horror going on out there right now, so much that when I turn on the news in the evening I just get jumpy and tense (and Italian news is certainly not the best right now - Thanks God for Internet!). But then I say I can't dwell on this, we all can't dwell on it, it will just make things worse, so I write about a hiking trip, I take a few pictures,write a funny story, or read about your pig barrel :) It reminds you that there are still good things out there in the world that are still worth looking forward to!
ReplyDeleteYes, please continue to write about your life in the slow lane--your cows, pigs, turkeys, dogs, garden, milking, farming...your daily adventures along with your beautiful photos. And I hope you will be able to encourage your NZ friend to resume her postings. Our daughter was in Christchurch on Jan. 30 at a sheep farm (her love) while here at home we work to try to keep the coyotes at bay from our sheep. Thanks from an admirer in SW VA, Wythe County.
ReplyDeleteI do understand your concerns. What will tomorrow and next month bring? But we need the break that blogs like yours bring to our own little country places. I wish we were as isolated as you. We are on a highway and an interstate is being built nearby. When I was young, I thought about how armies or hungry people could spread out in areas just by driving or walking down highways and I have been thinking about those thoughts again. But in today's world there would be no safety or privacy. linda
ReplyDeleteYes . . . "a gift to a needy world" . . . Blessings!
ReplyDeleteElora -- I have thought about your post since reading it yesterday. I too sometimes think that my posts are irrelevant to the problems of the world. But then I sit back and feel that calming and sincere posts are good for readers. They get enough dire news from the media.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say that one should only sit back and only observe. It is up to each individual to play their part by sorting out the good from the bad in society and deciding what part, if any, they want to play.
I find that I can stitch various blog posts together and find the worth of human society. Yet, not all people are fortunate to have a computer, a house, or car. Or enough food. We can't rule them out. We need to face them.
I think bringing the humanness of life to blogs, therefore, can range from simple pleasures to the madness of the world. All play a part in this ongoing tearing of our fabric.
I did read a very good post on TIME GOES BY this morning. It was wrote by the author of the blog Ronnie Bennett. She covered the corporate and political madness but in a very documented style. No unsupported remarks. I believe you would like it as it runs along with the current of your post.
I did like the "fire" in your post. It tells readers like me that not all is right in this country. We can post about simple subjects but when our country is falling into this abyss we need posts like yours to remind us that we have a good life but we might have one in the future.
-- barbara
Thank you all for your sweet and thoughtful comments on this post. I'm a bit slow to respond! Sorry for my tardiness!
ReplyDeleteElora, (my Canadian in Italy friend), your posts on your blog are delightful. And you're right: sometimes we must be held up by our suspenders, and kept afloat against despair. So we are careful to announce to others that indeed we do recognize the darker components of our world, at the same time, we must celebrate it's beauty and the love we feel along with the hope we share.
Thank you, Anonymous in Wythe County! So lovely to have you stopping by. I spent a fair bit of time in Wythe County, doing Pampered Chef kitchen shows a few years back! Beautiful country! And I am thrilled that your daughter loves sheep, and was lucky enough to go to NZ (despite the unfortunate timing!) (Glad she's safe!) Tell me more about your sheep. How many? What breed? Do you sell meat? Wool? Market lambs? And, more about your daughter and what she plans to do in the "sheep arena." And I do sympathize re: coyotes!!!
Linda, I know what you are saying, too. And I tend to be pretty glad we live way off the four-lane, or the six-lane roads. When my husband and I were much younger, it was I who advocated for "non-developable" land. I wanted a place that would be easy to farm, but difficult to populate with houses. Having come from the "Seattle area" I saw my homeland become a metropolis in twenty years time, to the point where I didnt' want to live there. Having a Nordstrom's and a Red Lobster in "downtown" Silverdale--a town which numbered perhaps 3,000 when I was growing up, was, to me, a tragedy. It now looks pretty much like every other cookie-cutter, Chamber of Commerce little "berg." And that's sad. Thankfully, we found a spot that the McMansion people don't particularly like (except for The Greenbrier folk). Population here is still pretty modest and will be for the foreseeable future.
Darla, thank you! And thank you for continuing to visit! We meet, occasionally, on Vicki Lane's site, too! Isn't she amazing?!
Barbara, You are my vision of idealism in the blogging world. You always have provocative things to say, your blog is timely, thoughtfully done, invites me to explore more, and comments are answered promptly. Thank you for all the hard work you put into Folkways Notebook! And thank you, too, for taking the time to reply so thoughtfully to my post, girl. Plain and simple: you're amazing.
All of you, again...thank you so much for honoring me with your thoughts, and your comments. I so enjoy hearing from you!
Elora