sustainability

CHALLENGES AND PASSIONS

Challenges can be invigorating, but they can be irksome and exhausting. My 100dayproject is labour intensive. I chose to make a quilt block a day. Not only that, I chose the Log Cabin pattern. It involves 17 logs of different lengths, starting with 2 logs that are an inch square. That involves a bit of cutting, sewing and pressing but I never get mentally blocked.

Writing challlenges are quite a different thing. First you have to come up with a topic or storyline. Then you have to come up with the words. There are many road/mental blocks. On this 10th day of the UBC, I’m looking at one. I’m using our moderator’s suggestion of sharing a video. It’s on what we have/ am doing in pursuit of our passions. We are passionate about the sustainability of our planet. We are doing the best we can to leave the smallest carbon footprint as possible.

To this end we have 40 solar panels on the roof. We have switched to LED lightbulbs. We are trying to grow as much of our own food as we can. We have been a part of a community garden for about 4 years. We have 6 self wicking raised garden beds. There are 3 of them in the backyard and 3 in the front, much to our neighbour’s displeasure. She calls them coffins. We also have a rainwater catchment system. We only use city water for the garden if absolutely necessary. We thought we could still do more. Last fall we took down our 2 spruce trees and built a passive solar greenhouse.

WHY I BOTHER

Why I Bother

I often wonder why I bother with a lot of things. I get into these mood sets. It’s habits that keep me moving. I’m feeling quite blasé with my November adapted NaNoWriMo writing. I wonder if my readers are feeling as bored with it as I am. But then I came across a post in Brevity, Write Anyways and I feel heartened once more. So here’s on with the show.

This morning the U.S. election results are still the same with Biden at 264 and Trump at 214. So why is America so great? It takes them forever to run the election and forever to get the final results. Why am I talking about it anyways? Habit, a bad one this time. I have many of them. I should be focusing on important issues but my mind is wandering – I would like another cuppa, I want to do my cross stitch, I should put away my laundry. The list(mental) goes on. At least I can say I am aware of it. Now I can settle down to the heart of this post.

It’s really not as easy as that. I couldn’t settle down to the heart of things. I was restless. I wrestled with myself for awhile. Then I had to move around. I wandered down the stairs. I settled my restless energy on cleaning and tidying an area. I have many of those throughout the house. I have to match each area to the state of my mental and physical energy. Do you know what I mean? No? Well sometimes one spot is too hairy for me to deal with. So I move onto a different one. On a different day, I can come back to it.

Now the day is almost gone. I did have another cuppa. I got 2 rows of cross stitch on Jesus in. I’m ready to get back to the heart of this post which is contained in this video. I was excited by it this morning. I have always been passionate about sustainability. I am interested in living with as little as possible. I don’t mean in a self depriving way. I want to find meaning without ‘meaningless’ consumption. We each have our own idea of meaningful and meaningless. I’m not here to judge but to find my way.

Finding and knowing my passion gives me fuel on days when I’m feeling ‘why bother’. There are many moments in my daily life when I just want to sink into the couch/chair and while them away. I think it is part of our ‘natural’ inclinations. Then something gives us a spark. We get up and chase after it. It’s how I am anyways.

Today was warm but not an especially sunny day. I was feeling maudlin gathering up the lunch dishes. I thought of cancelling my daily without-Sheba walk. But then the sun came out. I feel myself perking up like a drooping flower. Well, I had to go for my walk. It’s time with my puppy girl though she’s not here. I was just leisurely strolling but it was still good for my heart.

Our greenhouse now has a real door with a latch. The raised beds are built. The soil brought in. Tomorrow I shall plant some onions and seed some greens. Snow is coming on Saturday. It shall be an interesting winter.