A Winter Walk on a Sunny Day

 

Our New Year's Day was relatively warm and sunny here in the Alleghenies.  After Mass and lunch, I decided to go for a little walk through the woods and experiment with my new camera.  Thanks goes to our teenage daughter for the above shot; I made her come with me.

 

 

The pond was still partially frozen and looked mesmerizing with a layer of ice floating on top.

 

 

I took so many pictures that it was hard to decide which ones to include and which ones to delete.

 

 

 

We are so fortunate to have both a creek and a pond just below our property.

 

I don't know why, but I loved the way the leaves looked as if they were fossilizing in the melting ice on the creek.

 

 

On the way back up to our farmhouse, we stopped to see our goats, but they ignored me to eat the grass that had been covered in snow and ice for a week or so.

 

 

As I walked, and sat, and peered through my camera lens at this microcosm of my world, I knew what my New Year's Resolution would be.

And it's not to write more lengthy to-do lists.  It's not to stuff my mind with more news updates and images from social media.  It's not to have a greater number of projects to fill my days.  And it's not to come up with more events to fill our calendar.

It's to spend more time being still, reflective, and noticing the beauty in the simple things around me.  To be completely present in each moment.  To not be thinking of my checklist while I'm playing with my children or walking down to the mailbox or petting our goats.  To just be at peace where I am and still enough to feel the presence of God.

This will be a huge challenge for my busy mind and rather noisy house, but that is going to be my daily focus for 2017.

Summer Alternatives to Childhood Electronics

Last week I viewed a video by Buzzpo.com ("So Incredibly Sad: This is How 3 Generations Answer the Same Question") that was shared on Facebook.  It interviewed three generations of Americans and asked them how they spent their summers as children.

The grandparents mentioned berry picking, fishing, and helping in the garden.

The middle-aged parents said they gathered together neighborhood children to play baseball or build forts.

When today's children were asked how they spend their summer days, they described their love for video games, texting, and hours spent on their tablets.

They said they wouldn't know what they would do with themselves if they couldn't have their electronics.  

Their video games relieved their stress and made them forget about everything and everyone else around them.

While I agree with the message that was sent from this video---that children should spend more time in nature---I think that American families were misrepresented.

I know that my children are not the only ones who spend their summers building forts, making sailboats, and wading in creeks.  One of the blogs that I like to read describes what a summer day at her house was like when the children spent their afternoon and evening outside instead of being plugged in: thistlewood farms.

Amongst my friends, I see teenagers baling hay, raising animals for the fair, fishing, and kayaking.  Younger children are designing their own comic strips, sewing their own clothes, decorating cakes, reading numerous books, camping and swimming.  Some families are going to foreign countries to give aid to the needy.  The children that I know personally are not spending 6 hours in front of a screen daily.

While it can be challenging for parents to pull children away from their electronic devices, it is being done.  There are plenty of American families living a summer alternative to the hollow gaming and texting filled days portrayed in the video shown by buzzpo.  Even if the media doesn't show us, there are plenty of us throughout our nation.

The Mountains Beckon Us

This time of year is busy for us all, but it is especially so for those of us with farms.  We need to till and plant the gardens, mulch and trim the flower beds, shear sheep and muck barns,  and that is just the beginning of it all.  Add to that the many repairs and updates needed to maintain old farmhouses, outbuildings, and fences, and the list of chores seems unending.  Yet, here I am spending my days out in the woods, next to the creek, visiting the pond, and hiking up the mountain.  It is as if the mountain is calling me to wander the trails, listen to the flowing creek, smell the blossoming fruit trees and just be still.  I admit that I cannot resist.