Africanaussie

I read a blog post today that got me thinking:   littleecofootprints  started a very interesting discussion about enjoying what we have, living with less, and living simply.   I love the quote she started with, I cannot find absolute proof that Socrates wrote it, but whoever did write it has encapsulated the way I would like to live my life. "The secret of happiness, you see,  is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." Socrates wrote this 2500 years ago. Wow!  how come we still have not got it? One of my neighbors made me this little chime/hanging made with scallop shells.  Its little tinkle is very calming, reminding me to stop and smell the roses - Oh wait! I don't have roses :). I know that this weekend with the grandkids, when I asked them on the way home what they had enjoyed the most, it was planting seeds.  We had talked about it for weeks.  There was a lot of anticipation, and I made a poin...

I mentioned that next Saturday is earth day and that we should turn off the electricity for an hour.....   mmmm -  maybe just the lights?  Not the TV surely :)  that doesn't use much power..... So how sustainable is my lifestyle really? I wouldn't consider myself a "greenie" as they are called here in Australia, but the more I garden the more green I become.   As I watched five caterpillars eat half of the leaves on my lime tree I thought about the butterflies that this would produce.  If I was greener I would probably have left every Caterpillar I ever saw, but I do recognise the orchard swallowtail caterpillar and so they got to stay (just five of them mind you, I would like some limes in my future).   When you have seen a butterfly emerging out of its chrysalis something changes deep within you: We compost everything we can and I so enjoy digging that black gold into the earth and finding my soil wriggling with earthworms...