Pursuing Peace

 I've been quite busy lately, and remiss about blogging. Isn't the cooler weather delicious? I'm outside a bit more now. I've also had a significant positive change in my health -- I've cut sugar and many carbs out of my diet. Oh My Goodness! It's been about two and a half weeks now, and I feel like my old self (nearly). 

One of our healthy meals

Gradually, I was feeling more and more fatigued, so much so that I could not function well after lunch. I pushed myself, but I had minimal energy. And I hurt so much. My back and torso were achy, and often my legs also.

Now I have good energy all day long and don't hurt anymore. Apparently the pain was caused by inflammation, a result of the sugars and processed foods I was eating. What a difference!

All that to say, I was able to do some real work today. I'm refurbishing a lovely chair that we nearly put on the burn pile. It's large, solid wood, and very loungy. I'll have to buy foam for the cushions, and upholstery fabric, and sew it all up. Quite a challenge! I've never done that before.

I'm also getting a handle on my front porch, which has been wrapped in heavy plastic for years, and is packed to the gills with junk.

I have a new, large storage closet in the little house, and much of this junk is going over there. (It's not junk exactly, of course. The true junk is being thrown away.)

I moved much junk off this side of the porch today!

Here's a youtube video I posted today.

It's about trying to find a bit of peace in a tumultuous world. I've often been told to read Scripture to find peace. And that can work ... but the purpose of Scripture is often to convict me of sin. I'm not sure that its purpose it to give me peace. The Holy Spirit gives peace, but He also convicts. It's a thorny subject. 

I do feel peace when I go outside and walk in the pasture or watch my chickens or fiddle with some project out there. Perhaps summer is difficult because I don't go out in the heat. Spinning is also a lovely, peaceful activity, and my spinning wheel is my new peaceful friend.

I've been walking each morning in a neighborhood, listening to music as I go, and reminding myself that, even though I dislike exercise, walking in a beautiful, peaceful spot is not really exercise, right?

Perhaps I'm better at knowing what doesn't give me peace, than what does. And if I avoid the things fraught with discord, I will be a few steps closer.

The Pleasure of Achy Muscles

 I was commiserating with a friend recently about how horrible it's been to be housebound for the past 4-6 weeks. We've been confined in our homes because of the summer heat. By the end of August I begin to question whether I love the outdoors, because I don't go there. I think longingly of farm work on chilly days wearing a barn coat.

The other sad effect of hibernating in front of the air conditioners is a softening of the muscles. I've always been a rather strong girl, from a line of strong West Virginia women. We're an outdoorsy lot and enjoy a bit of physical labor. I enjoy tearing things down, hauling brush to burn piles, clearing limbs, raking leaves, and yanking out weeds -- as long as it's 70 degrees or cooler!

We're nearly there! The last two mornings I've hauled all kinds of debris from our old, massive burn pile. I've dragged tree limbs to a new burn pile location (in the big field). I've dug out lots of rusted metal scraps from items we burned in the old pile. I've dug out and wheel-barrowed away many loads of old ash. It was fun! I wish my body would let me do more of it. 

Why clear out our farm burn pile location? Because we want to transform it into a NICE fire pit, the kind with paving stones around it and camp chairs, where you can safely sit and roast marshmallows. This would be a lovely addition to our pecan grove area, and if we ever do turn that part of the farm into a Hip Camp location, the guests would enjoy it also.

Do you remember the Great Mysterious Hole we found in our house lot? Here's a link, if you want to read about it. In the end we concluded that it was probably a boot-legger's hole from years ago, but we're still not sure. It's become unsafe for Adam to drive the riding mower over, so we decided to uncover it again, fill it with all that metal debris from the burn pile, plus the ash, and close it up again. 

So that's where I've been hauling all the stuff too. Shovel, haul, dump, repeat. I came inside an hour ago and my muscles were not screaming at me. They were humming, awake, saying, "Ah! I remember this work! I've missed this!" It's that gentle achiness that actually feels good, so long as you don't push yourself too far.

I'm much too old for heavy work, but I don't want to become a couch-sitting ball of mush either. I'm ready for the days of barn coat and burn piles and geese calling overhead.

Hello, autumn.