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A Simple Life© Lori J. Seaborg
After all that is happening in America right now, I enjoyed recently having a chance to enjoy life at its simplest. My three children (6, 4, and 21 months) and I were on a trip with their grandparents (my parents) in North Carolina to see the beautiful fall foliage. I realize that many of you think that it is odd for someone to drive from Florida to NC just to see dying leaves, but they do my soul some good when I take the time to go see their brilliant colours!
An elderly lady was chopping firewood at a shed out back of the family cabin as we approached. Inside, her gentleman husband was stoking the fire. Later, the gentleman added ashes to a pile where the ashes are saved for making soap. As the lady added her chopped kindling to the fire, we looked around the rest of the farm where there was a vegetable garden, a cornfield, a barnyard full of animals like pigs, horses, cows, and chickens (my 21-month-old, whom I'm sure had never seen a rooster before that day, squealed with delight as he chased the poor bird in to a pile of firewood), as well as other odd farm buildings. My children were in their finest element as was I. The farm was surrounded by mountains that gleamed with the changing leaf colours. A rippling stream was nearby. I pictured the farm wife washing her clothing at the stream, while her children splashed in the water after chores when they were young. A sweet-smelling apple barn was on the property, where the farmers stored harvested apples to make a surprising number of things. There was also, of course, an outhouse, a corn crib, and a spring house, where the family stored perishable food items in a trough of water that flowed from an underground stream. My baby was especially delighted with this spring house, where he splashed in the cold water. It was hard to think of leaving the idyllic farm, but the afternoon was marching on. Before leaving the farm, however, I had to check in on the elderly couple. Their home was very simple. But I wanted to live there! It reminded me of how much stuff I have and how easily cluttered we get when we really need so little to survive and be content. To my utter delight, the lady was sitting on a chair near a corn-stalk bed mattress, quilting! The fire was blazing and the house was surprisingly dark for such a task (of course, you simply cannot have a Dazor light in a mountain farm in the late 1800s!)but there she was, happily content to squint and stitch on her large and colorful quilt. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article A Simple Life in Needlework is owned by Lori J. Seaborg. Permission to republish A Simple Life in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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