The Simple Life

Do you ever wish you could go back to simpler times? I do. A few weeks ago our electricity went out and we were without power for a few hours. I must say I would rather go back to simpler days that include electricity. I think what I enjoyed most about those hours off the grid was the quietness. I didn’t realize how noisy my life is. There was no hum of electrical appliances, no tv or radio on, no hum of the AC (at that time it was the heater that was on); it was simply quiet. It seems that we have become accustomed to the constant hum of noise around us. We think it is quiet when the kids go to bed, the tv is off and we are sitting by the lamp with a book, relaxing after a busy day. But, have you ever noticed that the lamp gives off a slight hum? I remember several years ago moving from the city to the country. Moving into that little country house I noticed how much quieter it was; no traffic noise or kids playing in the streets; no loud music from the neighbors or sounds of construction. Peace and quiet until night fell. That first night we tucked our young son into bed, opened his window for a fresh, cool country breeze and turned off the light. Within minutes he came racing into our room, jumped over a few hurdles (unpacked boxes) and dived right into the spot in the bed between my husband and I. What in the world had happened? When we finally could understand what he was saying, we raced to his room to see what awful creature was trying to get into our house through his window. Our hearts racing, we searched the room and found everything completely normal; no scary monster present, no creature of the night present, no space alien present; normal, completely normal. After a few minutes we finally figured out what had him so afraid. The city at night has its own sounds but so does the country. There in our quiet little back yard were the sounds of nocturnal critters. Who would have thought a frog could be so loud? Add a couple of his buddies and you have frog in stereo. Katydids and cricket, wow! they have some vocals too! Our son was not accustomed to these sounds and he had built up quite a menagerie in his imagination.

I painted this Michele Deaton Brewer design on a 1” piece of pine board. This message board measures 11x18. I added a box at the bottom to make it a standalone piece but it also has 2 hangers attached to the back so it can be hung on the wall. I added a clothes pin to hold important messages, a hook for keys and a hand stitched bag for the chalk. The box will hold mail, bills (don’t like those), pens/pencils, tape, note pads, etc. Or add florals, fabric stars or a sweet doll peeking up over the edge. I’ve added this piece to my Etsy shop. You can visit my shop by clicking on the icon on the left. One way of simplifying is by de-clutter and organizing. What way do you simplify your life?