The Time of Simple Pleasures

 

What a strange and different time it has been these last few months.

First, I hope you're healthy and well. I'm good.

But while some things are the same, my world in many ways is much smaller. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As I mentioned in my last post, life is simpler and closer to home now.

I've been walking and bicycling a lot. In the last 2 months, I haven't refilled my gas tank or driven
 more than 12 miles from my home (there was that trip to the ER for stitches in my finger).

Life in lockdown has not been that difficult for me. I hope it hasn't been that tough for you, either. I recognize that I'm very fortunate to have semi-steady work, and many others aren't so lucky.

But the current reality has required a shift in expectations and activities. If you've read this blog before, you know it's about exploring this special corner of the world and being outside as much as possible.

But for now, well, it's about paring things down. Appreciating the everyday and close to home.

Yippee! Spring sunshine!

It's about simple pleasures. Like spotting this millipede on my walk in the woods last night.

Or pulling out my grandmother's teacups and using them for sipping my morning tea while I work, instead of saving them for a special occasion.

As Janelle, the lovely co-proprietor of Stokesberry Sustainable Farm said in her latest email:

Lately I find myself celebrating when I find the kind of laundry soap that I like to use or making an especially good dinner in spite of not having the certain ingredient I ran out of. One less trip to the grocery store!!

So I've been noticing spring flowers in my neighborhood that I'd not noticed before, despite walking by many times.

Or finding and exploring a new trail that I'd overlooked for years in a much-visited park nearby.

As our state is easing out of the lockdown and reopening trails, parks, and national forests, I'm not jumping out there quite yet. I've heard stories about super crowded trails and overflow parking at trailheads; these are things that have put me off anyway the last few years from some of my former favorite places.

I'm still simmering on what this all has meant and what a new future might encompass. After all, our planet has been breathing a metaphorical sigh of relief with so much less pollutants and emissions spewing into our atmosphere. I'm going to think more about this before I ramp up again, and perhaps I'll continue to keep it simpler, with fewer trips.

So for now I'm appreciating what's within a bike ride or walk from my home. 

I'm grateful to live so close to the Salish Sea, for the spectacular sunsets that can be swooned over and quietly appreciated. I'm grateful for the wildflowers in the park or the cultivated flowers in my neighbor's yards. I'm grateful to have space for a vegetable garden and raspberry patch and have been harvesting fresh greens for salads already.

From last season; about a month away still.

And of course the simple pleasure of texting, but even more, talking to friends and family over the phone. And regular Zoom meetups with some friends.

And how are you doing? I'd love to hear in a comment below.

Take good care, be safe, and considerately distance.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! 
  
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