Winter Blahs

View Outside my Kitchen Window

Seems to me that 'bout this time every year, I get the winter blahs--that "when-is-winter-going-to-end" feeling ( see here, and here, and some here).  Doesn't help that we had a wallop of a storm yesterday that disabled my internet connection (I can live without TV, but please don't take away my interwebs!).

Winter Wonderland

Granted that all that snow looks pretty as it coats the branches and blankets the world in a quiet hush . . . but still . . . its winter!


So whilst the snow falls and swirls outside my window, I dream about springtime, garden beds  and seeds.  Oh the things I'll grow!

Seed Catalogues

Gardening Magazines

Hope your weekend is less snowy than mine.  Have a good one.

With the Arrival of Fall . . .

Even under a blue sky, the air is crisp, the sun is not quite as warm and the shadows are just a little bit longer. The wind picks up, rustling the leaves. . . change is coming. Autumn is here.

And with the arrival of fall, my mind reflects on the past year; my thoughts turn to the plans and the dreams I have had.  Remember my dreams?  Like the leaves which soon must fall, so too must my dreams.  Like the leaves which will sprout anew in spring, so too must my dreams wait--on hold until the spring or perhaps even the summer.  We thought we might have been able purchase a property where we could pursue our dream, but such was not meant to be--at least not yet.

Change is coming whether we want it or not.  Funny how as the first leaves turn, I think of the first grays in my hair, the lines around my eyes . . . guess I'm in the autumn of my own life (or at the very least I'm in late, late summer).  Change is coming.  And while it might not bring the new life of springtime, autumn still holds hope.  The toil of summer comes to fruition in the last harvest: crisp red apples, big round pumpkins and the last of the potatoes.  One last hurrah and then everything winds down.  Then the world will sleep under its blanket of snow, waiting for whatever dreams may come . . .

Where the Country Road Leads . . .

So hot the last few days . . . we've been on little jaunts through the countryside to catch a cool breeze.
And maybe stop for a little picnic lunch or snack.

The air can be as much as five degrees cooler, depending how close to the ocean you are--a very welcome cool, indeed! I guess ya never know where the country road leads (well, dear hubby knew where it led, but I didn't and that's okay since I wasn't the driver--ha!).

And this countryside got me thinking . . .and dreaming . . . **sigh** Some day, we'll be living on a country road--at the very least, in the country on a little farm.

We visited a little place last night. It needs work--a lot of work--but its a definite possibility. We'll have a huge vegetable garden and also a greenhouse to extend the growing season. Definitely need a cow (to fertilize that garden--nothing like cow poop to make things grow!), some chickens (for eggs and meat) and a few pigs ('cuz who doesn't like pork?). Eventually, we'd have goats (and they better stay out of my flowerbeds!) and of course sheep. I'll need to learn how to spin . . .

It's fun to dream . . .
:)

Dreams Part II: Explanations and Interpretations

Ever thought about NOT working for "the man"? What if you could do what you most absolutely love and make a decent living at the same time? What if you could be totally green and reduce your carbon footprint? What if indeed! A crazy dream?

What if I could do all of the above by living the Dream? My dream includes life on a farm, homesteading, in a big old farm house with a lovely greenhouse, lots of veggie patches, fruit trees and livestock (must have sheep of course). We'd be totally off the grid with solar power and perhaps a few small wind turbines.

The country life has baited and taunted me for a long time. My childhood was spent amid cracked sidewalks and sticky asphalt playgrounds, with the constant din of traffic in the background (even at 2:00AM I could hear the city bus zooming by).

Then this past year, dear hubby and I came across The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers by John Seymour. We searched further online and found many others going green, organic and homesteading. My brother-in-law had been interested for a long time. We knew we couldn't do it by ourselves, but maybe together we could make a go of it.

We had always planned to make the big move in 5 years. Then it got pushed up to 3 years. But what if we could do this within a year or sooner? A beautiful opportunity is calling us. Right now we're just putting our financial ducks in the proverbial row and then hopefully we're gonna take the big plunge. Sure it would be a lot of work (a lot of hard work), but we'd be working for ourselves, working with our hands and in tandem with nature. If you could, wouldn't you take a chance?

Dreams

Ah, how precarious these dreams be! Woven from the threads of our innermost wants and desires, sprinkled with hope . . . always waiting, but never coming true.

To be so near the possibility of bringing a dream to fruition--perhaps even just barely seeing it come true . . .so close, yet still not real. Almost. Maybe.

Still dreaming . . .