Renew

 Once again I come to ya'll with the tired ol' excuse of  "well, I really meant to post again before now!" LOL!  I really did have good intentions and actually had something to write about but stuff just kept coming up and today has been especially long.  I'll get into that in another post.
At any rate,  I did have something I wanted to write about so we'll get on to that.  And yeah, I finally got this orchid to bloom again after 2 years of barrenness!  Yay me!!
I think ya'll may have gotten the idea that for the past oohh, 6 months I had been discouraged about continuing this blog and you would be right if you did have that idea.  I really couldn't put my finger on why exactly; I enjoy writing, even if just for myself and I still felt the urge to continue blogging in the back of my mind.  So, I rolled this over in my head for some time and then finally got distracted by all the crap happenings of this year.  As is usually the case, the answer then came to me after I quit thinking about it.  I've always been pretty fortunate to have supportive readers on this blog and rarely get the "trolls" that I have seen, or at least heard about, on other blogs.  I also publish all comments; I don't censor like some bloggers, so if someone is ugly to me, everybody sees it.  However, I seem to attract trolls in real life, some pretty nasty ones, and I guess I had just gotten kinda tired of being beat upon for advocating the hideous ideas of recycling, growing your own food, non-consumerism, independence etc. etc.  It seemed like every time I turned around someone was calling me an elitist, a snob, delusional, cruel and scary.  Now, I know I'm supposed to be Ms. Strongly Willed and Super Liberated Woman but sometimes anybody can get discouraged.  I have very few friends (in real time) that live like I do AND hold certain personal beliefs.  I know lots that beat me hands down on environmentalism etc. but we hit a wall on matters of faith.  I don't care what people believe in that regard but many today kinda sneer at anything that even resembles Christianity or a faith and can't resist giving their opinion on the subject.  For example, I had someone who I thought was a friend, tell me I had a mental neurosis because I choose to believe in God.  That was just uncalled for.  And conversely, most religious people I know find my lack of consumerism and recycling to be well,,, stupid..  Yes, I know lots of people who don't mind others with differences, thank goodness, but many people today apparently love to attack anyone who doesn't agree with them.  Our society fosters that type behavior in my opinion.  I think a lot of things I encounter also are the result of people assuming that because I hold myself to a high standard on my art, house and such that I will actually look down on anyone that doesn't fit my guidelines or do things the way I would!  Yes, I wish more people saw the importance of good local food (for example) but I really couldn't care less as far as treating people decently.  I simply feel that if I claim to believe in something I better back it up with action or my "beliefs" are not worth a hill of beans. So, I said all that to say I had just gotten sick of the BS.  Just figured it would be best to quietly live my life like I want to and keep my BIG mouth shut.
Then, lo and behold this week I was making my blog rounds and saw several other posts about the importance of people interested in the same things that I am sticking together.  For the exact reason that real life can be...discouraging, shall we say, "weird" homesteading/ sufficiency bloggers must stick together and provide an environment that fosters our ideas and lifestyles.  Green living and that sort of thing is becoming more and more popular but, by and large, we that actually attempt it to any real degree are still waaayy in the minority and often ridiculed in 'real life'.  Now, as I have been told, there are much better references, blogs, etc. for info on gardening, green living etc than my blog but hey!  I'm in there!  I have a few ideas and experience and I have a renewed desire to show how I do things and encourage others to step away from the box.  To realize that you don't have to live like most of society, if you don't want to, and that there are others out here that share those ideas.  That there is a real, ultimately fulfilling, rich life contained in simple living.
So, I will endeavor to persevere, and extra brownie points to anybody that can tell me where that saying comes from! LOL!  And don't worry, I still intend to post about just the silly things in life and maybe some old work stories, travel and stuff like that. Speaking of such though, I have noticed I have a number of new followers lately so if anybody has any questions about any part of my house, gardens, animals etc. or would like me to post on any particular subject please feel free to speak up.  I welcome all comments (even anonymous ones!), suggestions for posts and all that and really do try to respond to all.