A Disturbance in the Force

I feel a good rant coming on. At first it was ‘bad luck’ when my printer died; then it became ‘really annoying’ when my cell phone followed suit. The touch screen had a complete meltdown on our trip to Baltimore and as a result, so did I. Next step on my emotional curve (when Verizon couldn’t remove an unknown password on my account to let me in to buy a new cell phone) was: “OK, now I’m mad” … only to be followed by “Murphy’s Law” when my laptop could no longer connect to the WiFi. It has taken me TWO whole months to get my new credit card from the bank after it expired in July. My husband got his right away. Meanwhile, automatic debits couldn’t go through, life got messy, and I discovered that my mortgage company doesn’t accept ‘Murphy’s Law’ as an acceptable excuse. Recently, almost every time I go to borrow my daughter’s car, it mysteriously won’t start. It cranks and cranks and cranks some more but it won’t turn over. (Yes-I-checked-the-gas, No-it’s-not-the-spark-plugs, and The-battery-is-definitely-fine). We’ve had it to the shop a few times, and it starts right up for them. Mysterious. Is it ME? I’ve started to get a complex and self-esteem is on the line here. I find myself looking over my shoulder in the evenings for shadows that might be saboteurs. Paranoia has set in. I finally asked my husband this morning if it is possible for a person’s energy field to become so out of balance that it might have a disastrous on everything electronic? True, I have been cranky lately about all this, but he looked me right in the eye and without missing a beat nodded his head up and down, saying: “I definitely sense a disturbance in the force.”

Rituals

There’s something really comforting and grounding about daily rituals … habits that become so second nature that life falls into a comfortable rhythm just like an old shoe. (Then again, spontaneity can be wickedly good for the soul, but that’s a different topic altogether and one best left for another day). Today I’m focusing on rituals, because today at The Lodge our son Josh and I are getting ready for the first day of school, which is quickly approaching. It brings back memories of the First Day of School rituals from my childhood. When I was younger, my mother and grandmother would take me shopping to get school clothes and new shoes, and all those lovely school supplies!! Strange kid that I was, I loved getting notebooks, pens and paper. As a writer, my favorite stores of all, even back then, were the old Stationery stores, and there were TWO of them on the same block in downtown Middletown, NY: Robinson & Cunningham and Hanford & Horton. (I still remember their names). Sadly, I’d be surprised if any Stationers in the whole state still survive today. Our old fashioned Stationers dated from the 1880’s when they originally opened shop, and probably still contained some of their original inventory. (What I wouldn’t give for a tour of their back store rooms today!). As a ‘browser’ in those days, I would be in my glory there, leafing through papers of every description, the fountain pens and lead pencils, the earthy smell of leather bound journals, sterling silver letter openers and beautiful hand-bound dictionaries. Purchases were wrapped in brown paper and tied with string; such lovely memories from a totally by-gone era. I was in heaven, proof that even then, I was a bit of an oddball compared to your typical fourth grader! After having my own children, we never had the urgency as a homeschool family to perpetuate this rite of passage from one grade to another, by doing the typical “back to school” shopping thing. (A fact that was pointed out to me by a New York Times reporter who did a big homeschool story on our family). In a way she was right, in the same way Meg Ryan was right in the movie, “You’ve Got Mail” when she waxed poetic, saying, “Don’t you just love New York in the fall? Bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils…” I knew exactly what both Meg and the reporter were talking about, and from that moment forward I always made sure that my kids were in on The Ritual. Today it is Josh’s turn. He’s about to turn 14 and is about as tall as a skyscraper now, although his voice has just plunged down into the basement. The two of us just had our little ritual of buying new sneakers, a scene right from Ray Bradbury’s novel “Dandelion Wine”. Josh’s feet have inexplicably expanded to a Men’s 10 ½. Yikes. Alas, with no Stationers to be found these days our next stop was Staples, where we made short order of the School Supplies list. Now we’re back at The Lodge, getting psyched for the First Day of School. Another Ritual richly reveled in!

Home Again and Back in the Groove

“Road Trip” ends here. This was a long day. After printing out my boarding pass for the airline, Noah and I took a walk about campus, ending up in a beautiful little park where we sat on the benches and soaked in some sunshine. As we left, we noticed that there was a sign near the adjacent house – a magnificent and historic structure – announcing it to be the “Official residence of the President of the University”. Oops … sorry, sir, but thanks for sharing your yard with us; we really enjoyed it! Noah dropped me off at the airport, where it was a comfort to know that a flight to and from NH to Baltimore is only 1 hour and 7 minutes!! That makes me feel not so far from my son. Unfortunately, since I didn’t have a car and decided to take the bus back to The Lodge, it took another 9 hours (between bus changes and layovers) to get back home, where I then felt more like, “Noah, will I ever see you again?” But tired or not, it was another great trip. Thanks, Noah, for letting me ‘tag along’!

Campus Bound

This is it, we said goodbye to my mom and headed south on a beautifully sunny day. Unbelievably, there was no traffic and we made it in 4 ½ hours, which included 2 stops. By 12:30 we had all Noah’s stuff in his room, a nice suite in which he has a single room. We walked around campus, got his parking spot in the garage, and had the afternoon to walk, unpack, read and just be lazy ( a novelty that neither Noah nor I ever have any experience doing). We also picked up his textbooks at the Barnes and Noble just around the corner from his apartment complex; a dangerous situation once again, but once in awhile it’s fun to play with fire. Happy to say I did not succumb to temptation. I was looking forward to eating at the dining hall, truly one of the great eating experiences in college history, but alas, it wouldn’t be open until tomorrow. Noah took me to a great little Mexican place called Chipotle which made me a great Mexican salad. Yum. We watched a movie and went to bed early. I crashed on his floor (and yes, he did offer the bed, but I’m much more of a floor-type person).

Arboretum

Second day of the trip … and just as yesterday was a rather grey and misty day for travelling, today is the perfect day for “vacation”! Not a cloud in the sky, totally clear with no humidity … temperature about 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Who ordered this weather? … it’s PERFECT! We were on our way to visit my brother at his mechanic’s shop this morning, as Noah needed to get the brakes replaced on his car, when my mom said, “Let’s stop by the Orange County Arboretum on the way”. Although I grew up in Orange County, New York, I had never been to the Arboretum before, which is a fairly recent addition. Once we got there, we discovered that it was obviously a very well endowed one as well! Oh my goodness, I was totally blown away by the gardens and the setting; the fountains, walkways, arbors, flowers, and foliage, all of which had been carefully chosen for colors, textures and to delight every one of the senses. It was a beautiful little side trip, and I’m so glad she mentioned it. Thanks, mom! The other big event, worthy of note here, is that after lunch, while Noah’s car was still being worked on, we sauntered over to Barnes and Noble, one of my favorite places to “play” when I visit my mom. The newsworthy thing, however was that it was the first time in the history of the world that I ever exited a Barnes and Noble without making a single purchase. Unheard of to be sure, but right in step with my personal commitment to my “Year of Living Frugally”. It was a dangerous experience to be sure, sort of like a former alcoholic hanging out in a pub, but I came through it all one ‘step’ at a time! Lodge Lady takes a bow!

Let's-Take-Billy-Out-To-Lunch-Day

Okay… car packed. Check. Breakfast out for the guests. Check. Cell phones charged; Snacks for the trip. Check! I think we’re ready to go. I’m driving this morning with our son Noah down to Baltimore, an 11 hour trip in all. We’re stopping in New York to break it up though, as neither of us like to sit for that long all at once. Not that I’ve ever done it, but I don’t think I’ve got it in me … too fidgety. We’ll stay for two nights with my mom, which has become our ritual, but before we get there though, we’ll meet Billy for lunch. (Billy, who used to work here at the Lodge for 3 years, and the one whom we ‘adopted’ and miss very much!) Noah got the idea as we were driving; Brilliant! He heard that The Olive Garden was advertising a ‘Bottomless Pasta Bowl’ and so we met him there. (Sorry, O.G … there go your quarterly profits). Anyway, we had a wonderful leisurely lunch, and a safe and pleasant trip followed by a fabulous dinner at my mom’s. Was it really only yesterday I was all stressed out about leaving? This is the life!

Ready for Take-off

Today is one of those days you have to brace yourself for; that day you inevitably have to put up with when you want to get away for a few days. Its one of those days when you wonder whether it wouldn’t just be easier and far more relaxing to stay home and not go away at all because of all the details you need to attend to before you can leave. And you fret and you worry … surely no one else can handle and run things as well as you … maybe you shouldn’t go … You make lists and check them off, and make longer lists yet, as fast as you can think of all the things you need to: Do/Call/Pack/Buy/Take Care Of … etc etc before you leave. But then, as you so well know, it’s always the same scenario: you’ll drive out of your driveway tomorrow, and by the time you make the turn and hit the road, all that is behind you. Suddenly, POOF! YOU’RE ON VACATION! Well, that’s what I’m hoping anyway, as I tackle this gargantuan TO DO list before I leave in the morning. Wish me luck!

Baking Day

It’s raining today (Thank God!). Poor Dana has been hand watering our verdantly abundant gardens on a daily basis, and as a result they look like a spectacular oasis of blooms. However, it is GREAT to get a day off from this and we welcome the much needed precipitation. We are VERY dry here in New Hampshire, and really appreciate this lovely rain. It was an “indoor” day for me anyway, as I prepare to bake up a storm in preparation for my big trip that’s coming up in a few days with Noah. It will be our Mother/Son pilgrimage back to school where he is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University. In order to get away, however, I must bake 16 dozen blueberry muffins and a dozen coffee cakes! Oven’s ready … ready, Set, BAKE!

An Attitude of Gratitude

I just realized that we are in our last week of August. You might think I would have discovered that by now, but in my business, one which requires 7-day a week/24 hour a day vigilance, every day in the summer seems very much like any other. Realizing just now that we were nearly through the summer was a revelation for me. This is because usually by this time we are all very much ‘wilted’ and overtired, putting in such long hours with little sleep as we do. By the time mid-August rolls around, one of us has usually made a “countdown” calendar. This little device marks the number of days until Labor Day, which lets us know at a glance just how many more days we have to hold up for, until we can get some much needed rest! Amazingly, this was the busiest July and August we have ever had, and yet it never occurred to any of us to do the big Count Down! Why? Because it was also the nicest summer on record! Despite some pretty grueling hot days, our guests were all wonderful, everything ran like clockwork, the pool stayed crystal clear all season, and everything about the atmosphere here at The Lodge was delightful. We are thankful that the economy has perked back up, and feel nothing but gratitude for the opportunity to live and work in such a beautiful section of the country. We feel thankful and fulfilled.

"House-pitality"

I’m in the hospitality business. For the most part I love it. No, most of the time I adore my work, which I consider to be my mission, my ‘right livelihood’. I’ve always liked that phrase. As defined by rightlivelihood.org, it is an ancient idea that embodies the principle that each person should follow an honest occupation which fully respects other people and the natural world. It means being responsible for the consequences of our actions and taking only a fair share of the earth’s resources.
Living long enough gives one a sense of perspective, and from my current vantage point of middle age (how the @!!?%# did that happen?), I can see that every single thing I have ever pursued over the course of my lifetime has prepared me for what I do today. Lately that has come to include small housing, since my interest in tiny houses has blossomed since the arrival of the Tumbleweed. I guess you could say I’m in the ‘House-pitality business’ now. (Do you think that would be considered a ‘cottage industry’?)!

A 'Rime' and a Reason

(‘Twill soon will be the Season!) Believe it or not, there are less than 100 days left until the beginning of the Polar Express season; only 97 in fact! Lately I have been getting many phone calls that start off with the caller saying, “I know it’s kind of early to start thinking of this, but I want some info on the Polar Express.” Believe it or not, it ISN’T early at all; we’ve been selling packages since March, and they’re more than half sold already! We’ve still got most dates available, but if you’re thinking of this wonderful family experience for this year, you’ll want to call as soon as possible while there are still plenty of choices. (And if winter seems a long way off, here’s some proof that the seasons they are a-changin’: A low of 30 degrees—the coldest temperature on record this summer, has hit Mount Washington, although wind chill temps have been in the teens. Perhaps more exciting than the cold, however, is the omnipresent coating of rime ice that has resulted, providing us with a welcome reminder that winter is, indeed, on its way!

No Rooms at the Inn THIS Weekend, but ...

Our daughter Zia exhibited some of her work

No rooms at the inn THIS weekend, but we still have 6 left for the last weekend of the summer, August 27-29. This is a DELIGHTFUL time to be in the White Mountains, as many folks have switched mental gears and are back home getting ready for school. You’ll find that the traffic and the crowds will be less than they have been, but the weather is perfect and there is still much to do. It’s an especially GREAT time to be here because this is the weekend of Jackson’s annual Art and Artisan’s Festival at the town park. a Juried Two Day event... Sat August 21st and Sun August 22nd.

Our White Mountain Art & Artisan Festival is one of the Northeast's premier events for artists and artisans, and this year's juried exposition features works by more than 40 artists presenting sculpture, glass and wood arts, ceramics, fiber arts, fine arts and jewelry for sale at all price points.

There will be live musical performances throughout the weekend, including a local favorite, “Calico Slim”. There will be food and refreshments, including lobster sandwiches and a "make your own sundae" area for the kid in each of us... Join in on the arts and crafts activities for children, including sand sculpting, beading, temporary tattoos and t-shirt decorating.

Remember it was through the eyes of the artists of the White Mountain School of Art that the world first became aware of the beauty of Jackson. Many of the artists of the 19th century White Mountain School came to Jackson to view the lovely scenes we live with every day, from pastoral farms to the grandeur of Mt. Washington. In 1923, Wallace Nutting, author of "New Hampshire Beautiful" put it well when he said "People of Jackson can claim as their advantage to be in the immediate view of the best of the White Mountains. Jackson undoubtedly stands high among the more desirable mountain towns as a goal of visitation." This holds true today. Works of art from local and visiting artists who convey their vision of this spectacular area on canvas continue to be popular purchases. This event can be enjoyed by singles, couples and the entire family... with something special for each. For the few remaining rooms that are left as of today’s date, mention that you are here for the White Mountain Art Festival and receive your choice of a FREE White Mountain 1000-piece puzzle or a handmade ceramic pottery mug … your choice!

The Bloodcurdling Truth Revealed

I read the classic novel Dracula when I was in college. I wasn’t into vampires like kids are today, I was just trying to read through my set of the Harvard Classics and that was one of them. I found it to be very good reading, but I remember also being terrified to go out at night by myself to the outhouse.
Today, (even if you’re my age), you’re probably hip to the vampire mania that’s sweeping like an epidemic through the Young Adult section of bookstores. Sacrilege! … it’s even hit the Jane Austen-type books. Is nothing sacred?! My two youngest kids are (unfortunately) fans of the genre. Ah well, this too shall pass.

The other day, apropos of nothing, I happened to mention that I had some very unusual bruises on my arm, and I couldn’t imagine how I got them. Funny little dots, in fact. “Let me see that!” my son Joshua said with mock alarm. “Mother, I think you may be a vampire!” Today I see on his Facebook that he has posted a Quiz for kids that he made up, on how to tell if your Mother is a Vampire. (No wonder he was asking me so many personal questions the other day!). At least he is writing voluntarily and he wasn’t forced to do it for homework. It turns out, by the way,  I’m an “8” on the Vampire Scale. Hope you fare better than I.

Is Your Mother A Vampire Interview
By Joshua Belcher

This is basically an interview to determine if your loved mother is a blood sucking animal. Now some people might be confused if she only gets half the answers checked off, because of this I have put together a rating chart.

Question 1: Mother are there any two small dots or scars on your body?
For instance two mosquito bites can be mistaken for vampire marks.

Question 2: Mother have you been very thirsty lately?

Question 3: Mother has your mouth ever watered when looking at someone?

Question 4: Mother, have you been getting pale lately?

Question 5: Mother have you been cold or chilly lately, or just want to put a sweater on?

Question 6: Mother do you wake up when its dark?

Question 7: Mother do you take naps or go to sleep sometimes during the day?

Question 8: Mother do you sleep in a confined space or coffin?

Question 9: do you often try to avoid sunlight when you first wake up, or just stay out of it all day?

Total ______ out of 9
Add up the points, you should have checked off the questions that apply to your mother. After tallying them up, now for the rating.

1) no.
2) highly unlikely.
3) keep surveillance on your mother, these are the early stages of becoming a vampire.
4-6) yes.
7) go to your local supplies store to get wooden stakes and holy water just for safety.
8) start stocking up on cages and chains.
9) RUN!

Our path to the Simple Life & How We Embraced It

My husband and I have a long history together. We knew each other as babies, but didn’t start dating or fall in love until I was 15, and he a freshman in college. One day not long afterward, we visited my mom’s classroom; she was a 4th grade teacher in the elementary school I myself had attended. We were her ‘guest speakers’ one day helping to demonstrate Colonial Crafts – grinding flour for bread and churning butter – and we asked the kids if they knew where butter came from? Back then our birthplace of Orange County, NY had until recently been 90% farm land (and dairy farms at that), but sadly not one student knew the answer to our simple question. How quickly we lose connections to our roots! In fact, the only response we got was from one little boy who queried back, “The grocery store?” Not what we were looking for … but it started us thinking of getting back to the roots in our own lives … and asking ourselves basic questions, such as where did things really come from? Did we truly know the sources of the all the things that we used on a daily basis, such as our water? And electricity: it didn’t just come from the switch on the wall. How did it get there? We had an insatiable desire to understand all the things we had taken totally for granted as we were growing up in middle class households. On our quest for such knowledge, it wasn’t a far mental leap to start questioning other things too, such as what constituted the ‘necessities’ in our lives, and what things were actually ‘luxuries’. We really wanted to know.

That was back in the 1970’s … and everyone’s awareness was suddenly focused on personal environmental responsibility. I had just taken part in the very first Earth Day at my high school, where our class had created an artistically shocking display. For the event we had created numerous fully-clothed papier-mâché human forms. All wore gas masks and were strewn in various positions on the hallway floors, along with garbage and litter of every description. Large quantities of dry ice created the illusion of pollution, with it eerie, vaporous, smog-like effect. It was a powerfully graphic image that jolted many of us on that very first Earth Day into a state of sudden environmental awareness and a desire to be better stewards of our fragile planet. And so, a few years later when I joined Dana in college at Alfred University in western New York State (after a year at Goddard College in Vermont, where I also had the good fortune to meet Helen and Scott Nearing on several occasions), we started our own Thoreau-like experiment to determine what we really needed to live ‘the good, simple life’, as defined by Helen and Scott in their classic book. We also made a commitment to one another to become part of the solution instead of the problems of modern life, and for the last 40 years, this quest has continued to evolve.

When I say we got ‘back to basics’, I mean literally that. We were young, idealistic, and wanted to make our own way in the world, paying our own way as we went. Food, Shelter and Education, we decided, were on the top of the ‘Must Have’ list, but dorm life and cafeteria food appealed to neither our social sensibilities, our appetites nor our wallets. And so we sought a rather radical alternative. We decided to take ‘Housing’ literally into our own hands.

One man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure
At the end of the school year when students went home for the summer, we discovered that there were many of our generation who did not share our passion for ‘making do’ or recycling. Rich, wasteful college students left hordes of perfectly good stuff lining the streets for the trash man, knowing that ‘Mommy and Daddy’ would buy them new furniture and new toys next semester … no need to hassle packing it up or taking it home! Our disgust at the blatant wastefulness soon turned into a personal recycling effort that provided us with two wonderful bicycles, a slightly cracked fiberglass kayak that needed only a small patch – and which we still use to this day!! -- and all the furniture a couple of college students could ever want or imagine. We made out like bandits! But now, where to put it?

One of the most easily overlooked trash-treasures turned out to be the most valuable find of all: some old canvas tarps we found in the woods, no doubt left over from a raucous weekend college ‘campout’. We soon found ourselves in the college bookstore once again, and another book that changed my life had the immediate solution to our housing needs: The Indian Tipi by Gladys and Reginald Laubin. It was the ‘bible’ of Native American Tipi living, and costing all of about $1 back then, this ragged, little dog-eared volume is today one of my most treasured possessions. For the cost of a spool of carpet thread and the loan of a friend’s Singer sewing machine, these tarps were quickly sewn into enough fabric to create a 17’ diameter tipi. A gallon of paint disguised the fact that they were old and stained, and voila! our very first home was born! We lived in it until the first snowfall on a corner of an old farmer’s field. Our ‘refrigerator’ was an old metal milk can we buried in the stream (a simple, low-cost solution, by the way. The food stays cold inside, but the tight fitting lid keeps stray wildlife out). But Alfred winters are notoriously cold and snowy, with lots of lake-effect snow from Lake Erie, and even though we had a fire pit for warmth and cooking, our little tipi just wasn’t going to cut it once winter flew. My husband had been reading about a guy named Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic domes, and since we thoroughly enjoyed living ‘in the round’ of our tipi, we thought that a circular permanent structure could be easily built to house us through our college years as well. We were right. And then another opportunity presented itself to us, this time in the form of building materials. The old village Town House needed to come down, and we got the job to demolish it. When I look back on it now, that was a rather crazy, time consuming thing to do, but it provided us with most of our building supplies. The following year, a major flood in western NYS gave us everything else we needed to complete our home, as lumber yards were practically giving away water-damaged goods. Between that windfall and the generosity of the retired farmer on whose land we had pitched our tipi, (and who allowed us to build what turned into THREE geodesic domes by the end of our college years), we were sitting pretty! We ended up bartering the farmer use of his land throughout our school years – 5 years in all -- in exchange for giving him the structures when we were through. He rented them out for many years after). Alas, this was 40 years ago in a very rural area, before building codes or permits … Doubtful whether this could be done many places today.

For the first couple of years, we lived in our domes without plumbing or power. We had a woodstove for cooking and warmth, a gas refrigerator, and kerosene lamps. We took showers at the school gym and lugged in water from campus. But gradually we added both running water and electricity after learning how to install them ourselves. We then re-joined the modern world, much the wiser, and also very appreciative of these things we had formerly taken for granted.

After graduation, we moved back to our roots in the Hudson Valley on the family farm, established in 1790. We reclaimed the old orchards, bought a couple horses and some cows, put in raised bed gardens, got a pig, some chickens, a goat … and started a big restoration of the farmhouse that took us many satisfying years to complete. I worked at a local museum demonstrating pioneer crafts … everything from blacksmithing to spinning & weaving to open-hearth cookery. Dana put his environmental science degree to good use as a scientist doing environmental impact statements on the power plants along the Hudson River. We got involved with Peter Seeger and his Clearwater Festivals held each year, which were bringing attention to the pollution of this beautiful waterway. During these yearse grew our food, cut our own wood, ground the wheat that made our bread. And we discovered that while the ‘Simple Life’ is not always ‘simple’, it affords a way of life that is wholesome, honest, sustainable and very healthy and satisfying.

Make Your own Sunshine

My Husband and I own a beautiful 32-room upscale Lodge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Being in the Hospitality business in a very outdoor-oriented, 3-season destination area, we are obviously extremely weather dependent. Like other business owners in our area, we have had to create Cancellation Policies that allow us to remain in business from year to year, and these do not include guests making last minute cancellations due to weather. Prior to the establishment of our current policy, most of our reserved guests would cancel when a weather forecast predicted ‘bad weather’. At first we wrote a policy that required at least 7 days notice, but trying to be nice and accommodate our guest’s needs, it let people off the hook if they had a family emergency. Funny thing was, each time it rained, we found that dozens of families had “sudden deaths in their families”. This happened only on rainy days. Odd!!! We didn’t want to be responsible for any unnecessary deaths due to bad weather, so our 14-day cancellation policy went into effect, without the exceptions clause. Suddenly people stopped dying on rainy days. Everybody won … especially the dead people.

What we have found is that being in the mountains near Mount Washington, our weather is extremely changeable. Weather forecasts mean very little here. The prediction of a rainy day more often than not turns out to be gloriously sunny later in the day, and vice versa. Mountain weather is fast-changing and unpredictable; if you don’t like it at any given moment, just wait a bit and it will be great. We always try to tell our guests that; but we also like to share our personal philosophy with them that “No matter WHAT the weather, make your own Sunshine”. As a society, we have become soft; we expect perfection, but let’s face it: we’re not going to melt from a few drops of rain. In fact, one of the best hikes I’ve ever taken was on a misty day. While I would have loved it to be clear, it was the ‘place’ and the ‘people’ that made it memorable for me. Unless weather is so bad that driving is dangerous, my advice to everyone is ‘not to put your life on hold’ until the sun comes out! Live life to it’s fullest, and as Thoreau said so well of his year-long experiment on Walden Pond: “ I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to drive life into a corner, reduce it to its lowest terms, and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it … or if it were sublime, to know it by experience …” I love that! Showers in the forecast? I say, bring it on! It will only rain on our parades if we let it.

The Road to Simplicity

From the many comments I’ve received from people on the topic (both on my blogs and also in person), the concept of ‘Simplicity’ seems to be a theme that resonates deeply within most of us. But simplicity is a relative and elusive term, and those of us who are on its path are on varying legs of the journey, many of us even with different definitions of the word itself. It is, I’ve decided, a subjective process rather than a destination, and our travels on the road to simplicity are as varied as those of us who are traveling on it.

For some, the decision to simplify is a gradual, steady process of slowly purging the burdensome details of everyday life and physically ‘lightening up’ on our possessions, whether that means ‘buying less’, giving away things we don’t need, taking on fewer outside responsibilities that eat up our time and energy, or growing more of our own food. For others, it may be a cold-turkey process, a conscious ‘Stop-the-World-I-Want-to-Get-Off’ decision to get out of the rat race before its too late and to live differently starting right NOW! Simplicity for me started almost 40 years ago and continued up until the time we purchased our Lodge … when life suddenly got very complicated!! However our ever-present desire to live a more simple and ecological lifestyle has been an interesting catalyst for our business as well, helping to introduce simplicity and ecological practices into our very public field of hospitality – one in which consumers have invariably come to expect ‘More and More’, rather than ‘Less is More’. How to reconcile the paradox, demonstrate that ‘simplicity’ and ‘elegance’ are not necessarily contradictory terms?

For me, the draw of simple living started on a very particular day when I was in the 10th grade, and I can still picture the moment as vividly as if it were yesterday. My future husband and I were in a bookstore together (a favorite pastime even then) and a book called Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing practically flew off the shelf right at me, changing my life forever. Tomorrow I’ll write about the intervening years on our path to simplicity and self-sufficiency, however today’s little pearl will be focusing on how to begin the downsizing process, since this is something vastly more relevant to those wanting a place to start the process for themselves.

I’ve been thinking about all this for some time, and the catalyst for me recently (as I mentioned the other day) was the arrival of the Tumbleweed tiny house here at The Lodge. My thoughts and desire to get back to basics have been bubbling through my brain at such a fevered pitch, that on August 8th I had an epiphanic moment and decided right then and there that all ‘the muck stops here’. Like a diet, tomorrow is always on the horizon, and a line of a song I like suddenly blared in my head: ‘If not me, WHO? If not now, WHEN?’ I knew then and there that I was committed to make the changes to simplicity that I had been dreaming about and espousing most of my life. It started right then and there, simultaneously at my computer and in my heart.

But even if you don’t go cold turkey as I did, deciding not to buy anything that wasn’t an absolute necessity (and these things I clearly defined), here are some easy ways to help eliminate temptations in your life, which I’ve been doing for some time:

1. Subscribe to websites and blogs that help support your simple living philosophy, giving inspiration, encouragement and practical tips on how to do it. They re free.

2. UN-subscribe from emails that come from companies that constantly bombard you with tempting offers to buy more, More. MORE! (Out of sight, out of mind). It will save time having to sift through all that chaff to get the few kernels of good emails, too.

3. Buy locally and pay cash. Cash hurts, plastic doesn’t.

4. Cut out pictures of things you would like to buy from catalogs instead of buying them. Don’t buy anything on impulse. I used to write the name of the company and the item # and price right on the photo (so that I knew I could always get it in the future if I really wanted it). Stash them away in a folder or a little “Wish List” box. You’ll find that most things won’t be so alluring a month from now and you can discard them; in fact you’ll probably wonder whatever made you cut them out to begin with. 90% of the rest you can most likely make yourself from looking at the pictures, and the other 10% you can give to family and friends who want to get you something for your birthday (or save up for a little splurge once in a while)!

5. Don’t Clip Coupons, Buy Raw Ingredients: I have rarely seen coupons for anything I would ever want to buy (there are exceptions of course) … of course there was that Olive Oil, but that turned out to be a hoax. Basically coupons are for prepared foods, highly refined and chemicalized, and I wouldn’t want that stuff in my house anyway. However if I do take the time to clip coupons, they tend to sit around taking up space until long after they are expired. Maybe you’re different, buy it doesn’t make sense for me. When in a grocery store, I’m mostly a peripheral shopper: fruits and vegetables, cheese, fish, occasionally bakery bread (when I don’t make it myself), etc. I prefer to buy most of this at local farm markets, where they’re usually cheaper, fresher and more helpful to the local economy.

6. ‘Loaves and Fishes’ Meals: I’m a Master at this, if I do say so myself! I’ve always had a knack for making really great meals (without a recipe) from leftover things we had on hand. Sort of like “Iron Chef” before that was ever invented. Rather than going to the grocery store to buy specific things for a particular meal, I try to shop very infrequently, and then get creative with whatever we happen to have on hand. Sometimes there are pretty slim pickins, I must say. It’s a personal challenge that I really enjoy, and it has saved us lots of money. I have hardly any food waste and very low food bills. I also eat low on the food chain: fruits, vegetables and grains … no meat.

These are a few very easy ways to begin the Simplification process that will help reduce our ecological footprints and make life simpler… and they’re painless. It’s an easy way to begin.

Holy Habanero -- We've Got a Bear of a Problem!

Now it’s not so funny … and I’m getting a bit hot under the collar about it, too (hot as habanero pepper sauce, in fact). Once again, the resident bear got into the garbage, a nightly occurrence not only at our dumpster here at The Lodge, but in everyone else’s in town as well. In fact the Jackson church, normally a loving, non-discriminatory, all-inclusive congregation that welcomes folks of any persuasion, has lately been known for its anti-bear sentiments of late. I guess even Divine patience has its limits.

Today, not only was the garbage strewn all over our pavement as usual, but the iron bars that keep the lids from being lifted by scavenging wildlife and marauding bears were still intact! However, a corner of the very strong plate-metal dumpster lid was bent perpendicular to its normally horizontal orientation. Not an easy feat. These metal lids are so heavy, it takes a heap of energy just to lift them up to throw the garbage in, let alone bend the heavy metal of which they’re made. When Dana called the garbage company to tell them about it, we discovered that not only would they send someone right out to fix it and weld on a new lid, but that they actually have a full-time employee on the payroll to do that very thing. I guess it must be a problem of epidemic proportions. Tonight I’m gonna fix his wagon, though. Don’t get me wrong … I LOVE wildlife, and even have a NYS Wildlife Rehabilitators License. But now we have a public property here in New Hampshire, and we’re darn proud of our appearance. Nightly garbage raids that take 30 minutes a day (or more) to clean up are not on going to be on my busy summer agenda. My proposed solution? Hot Sauce!

A Slight Detour:

Our oldest son Chris loves hot food; the hotter the better. When he eats at the local Thai Restaurant, where food is ordered on a ‘Hot Scale’ of 1-4, he’s always a show-off and orders a “20”. (A propos of nothing, once we ordered takeout food – everyone ordered the same dish -- and I ordered a “2” and he ordered his ‘usual’. The numbers were written in magic marker on all of the lids. I was the last to get mine. Chris got a big glass of water. “Tasy, but hotter than usual” he said. Ahhh, the power of the mind. I ate mine, barely able to swallow it, but heck, I ordered a #2 so it couldn’t be THAT hot, could it? … Turns out, the guy in the Thai kitchen mixed up the lids, and I got the HOTT one!! I couldn’t eat anything for days after!). I tell you this story so that you know that Chris is a notorious Fire Eater. And what does one get a notorious ‘fire eater’ on birthdays, holidays, etc? Hot sauce, of course! Things with names like: ‘Smokin’ Hot XXXtra Reserve Jalepeno’, ‘So Good You’ll Want to Slap Your Mama Hot Sauce’, ‘Mad Cat Hot Sauce (Not for Pussycats)’, ‘Howlin’Hot Cayenne pepper Sauce’, etc. You get the idea. I even had to sign a disclaimer once for one of the super duper HOT bottles I bought him once. Anyway, when using this kind of hot sauce, you use it one drop at a time, even if your name is my son Christopher! Consequently, I have dozens of bottles of the stuff on my shelves taking up lots of room. After we picked up today’s garbage, we decided that it might be a little too bland all by itself tonight and that it needed some spicing up. In fact, it needed a whole bottle of Habanero Hot Sauce. We’ll see tomorrow, if our friend likes spicy food (or not!).

Ground Rules

This is a continuation of my blog on Simple Living, and how I am going to take it to the next level in my life. To live simply and frugally, there need to be some ground rules of things to buy and those not to in my ‘Year of Living Frugally’… Without guidelines, it is all too easy to convince ourselves that ‘luxuries’ are really ‘necessities’, even when you have an iron will like I usually do. Human nature, after all …
Here are some categories I’ve thought about so far:

1. Health
On the OK List: Doctor and dental visits, medications when needed, vitamins.
Not OK: Gym memberships or expensive equipment/ gadgets that I could talk myself into but don’t need; spa treatments, pedicures, massages. (rats!)

2. Food
OK: Good wholesome home cooked food, locally grown, organic and in-season produce.
Not OK: Going out to eat more than once a month; buying something when it can be made at home (such as Starbuck’s iced tea, etc)

3. Clothing
OK: If something breaks or wears out and I absolutely need it, I will replace it with something from a consignment or thrift store.
Not OK: Buying something on a whim or because I ‘would like to have it” or ‘it is pretty’.

4. Shelter:
OK: Mortgage payments and taxes (unfortunately); utility bills, plans and materials to build a Tumbleweed Tiny House
Not OK: furniture or household decorations.

5. Education and Books
A gray area, to be sure. This is always my biggest line item expense because I am both addicted to books, and I love to learn.

OK: Classes or seminars that will further my education, both professionally and personally; books that cannot be gotten from the library or inter-library loan that I really need will be bought used; making use of books I ALREADY have..
Not OK: Buying books on a whim.

6. Transportation:

I currently do not have a car since the lease ran out on my Mazda; I walk and use my bike instead. But as a business owner, a car would be really helpful once winter comes, and I have been looking at a Smart Car as my next choice. I’ve been considering whether I should try to ‘go without’ for a year before I jump into it. Hmmm… undecided.

7. Technology:

Besides my laptop, camera and cell phone, there is very little ‘other’ technology in my life. Each of these are about 3 years old and perfectly suit my needs. I won’t be replacing them this year unless one of them crashes and can’t be fixed. However as a writer and business owner, these have become necessities in my life which I couldn’t do without.

8. Entertainment:
I do not go out much, mostly because I am always working and don’t have much free time, but also because when I do have some, I just want to unwind and be quiet. I do not foresee any entertainment expenses on my horizon, except those that I can make myself.

9. Travel:
The only travel I foresee involves visiting my son Noah down at Johns Hopkins this year once or twice; going to Buffalo to my oldest son’s wedding in May of next year, and a trip each to visit my mother/aunt/friend back in New York and my sister. Family attachments being highest on my list, these are precious connections I can’t live without.

10. Gifts:
Gifts this year will all be handmade with love, from supplies I already possess.

11. Hobbies:
I love to draw, knit, sew, do calligraphy, play my instruments, read, write, hike, etc etc etc. I will never be bored as long as I have a breath left, and NONE of these things will require me to purchase anything! Yea 

12. Spiritual:
My religion asks that I tithe 10% of my income which I will faithfully do this year.
13. Donations and Contributions:
IRA contribution money toward my retirement; up to 10% of my income to worthy causes; tax preparation services (I couldn’t do this if my life depended on it).
14. Misc.
Postage for mailing letters and writing manuscripts, Post office box fees, checking account fees, my subscriptions to my 3 favorite magazines.

So off the top of my head, those are my initial guidelines for living simply in the coming year. I will, of course, be honing them as time (and situations) arise.

The Year of Living Frugally

I seem to have gotten away from my ‘Simplicity’ theme the last couple of days … I guess because life just became too complex - Ha!! But if you had clicked through to the link to my latest MaryJane’s Farm blog (where I write as the Mountain Farmgirl), it was all about getting back to a simpler lifestyle. As I mentioned in that post, while these musings may have been precipitated by the arrival of Jay Shafer’s Tiny Tumbleweed House here at The Lodge, they very quickly became seriously life altering. After writing that post I became personally convicted that it needed to be much more than a few verbal ramblings whose heart was in the right place … it needed to be a very committed simplicity walk. And so, on August 8, 2010, the Year of Living Frugally (and Simply) was born.

Dana and I constantly talk about scaling back, putting ourselves on a budget and living a simple life. For the most part we do pretty well, but there is always some temptation to which we succumb, and we are pretty good at rationalizing our purchases. On August 8th, however, I had an epiphany, and I knew that I was being called to put my conviction to the test.

‘The Year of Living Frugally’ is my current personal experiment for taking the concept of ‘simplicity’ at face value and putting it into practice on a daily basis. I have decided to live a whole year without buying any non-necessity. I will either use what I have, make what I need, barter, buy essentials used or second hand, and as the saying goes, either ‘make do or do without’. When our children were young, I got very sick, my husband lost his job, and we had some pretty lean times. I know what it is like to struggle, and I also know how to live simply with such style that it doesn’t seem like any hardship. (Our kids never knew we were ‘poor’ during those years). I know that many folks these days are in a pretty tight place, and I would like to show 1) that living simply and frugally can be done – and done well; 2) I’d like to show how to do it; and 3) I’d like to be an encouragement to others who may be considering a very simple lifestyle either by choice or by necessity.

The day I made this decision, I knew that it had to start right then and there. No waiting until the first of next month, no waiting until 2012 to start with a clean slate. I did not want to suffer the temptation of ordering or buying things before I officially ‘started’, because what is right to do, it done best right now! And so, it has started …