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| A chicken in our garden, right outside the door. |
Fascinating Fact of the Day about Devon, Cornwall: From this site:
“Devon “invented” the first Jack Russell Terrier
The Jack Russell Terrier was created by the Reverend John Russell – born in Dartmouth, went to school in Plympton, rector of Black Torrington. He bought a dog with stumpy legs, huge ears and was great at digging around in filth. The white and tan dog was excellent at digging out foxes which had gone to ground.”
We often hear comments such as, “Live in the moment. Don’t dwell on the past or the future.”
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| Roses blooming outside our door. |
A considerable part of the joy we experience day by day is wrapped around our current lifestyle, our past travels, and the anticipation of experiences yet to come.
No, this doesn’t mean we forget about where we are at any given moment. As shown in today’s simple photos, a chicken looking in the door was an experience in itself. Even in our old lives, we would have giggled over a chicken looking into the house.
For those who raise chickens, which more and more health enthusiasts are tackling these days as interest in free-range chicken and eggs has grown, a single chicken looking into the house may not be as big a deal as it is for us.
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| She approached the door when she saw us inside. “You got any pellets?” she clucked! |
We found ourselves giggling over this seemingly insignificant event. A short time later, we captured more photos of the farm and its farm animals when the sun peeked out for a few minutes.
We started a walk with the sun shining, heading across the road where the Dorset sheep are located in a paddock. Alas, no more than five minutes from when we left the house, it started pouring again, and we rushed back to the house.
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| She was awaiting our reaction and the possibility of food. |
Are we bored hanging around the farm? Not at all. We love this simple farm life with little obligation other than keeping the house clean, gathering firewood, grocery shopping, cooking our meals, doing our laundry, making and changing the bed, all of which is not unlike what most of us do daily.
We don’t have a cleaner here for the three weeks on the farm. Sure, we have our fair share of clutter, including items on the kitchen counters where we often leave out bowls and pans we use frequently. But, we both work to stay on top of keeping the house spotless, exactly how we like it.
In our old lives, clutter was out of the question, but now, although we don’t have newspapers, snail mail, and work-related clutter, we have lots of adapters and cords cluttering our space lying all over the living room floor, including our HDMI cord. We always have to walk carefully around these cords when there are few outlets in most holiday rentals.
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| Although it’s very cool, flowers are still blooming. |
It’s not like the US, where there are often outlets on every wall. In many countries, there are only one or two outlets in an entire room. We’ve never had outlets in the bathroom. We work around it.
Tom figures all of this out upon our arrival at a new location and somehow manages to ensure we each have ample plug-ins for our digital equipment using our power strips and universal adapters.
Although we’ve assigned ourselves specific tasks, we’re always willing to help one another, regardless of the task. Tom is still babying me by not allowing me to carry heavy objects, bring in groceries or help with the firewood. I doubt this will ever change, but I do my fair share around the house, especially now that I feel well.
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| Colorful flowers in the garden. |
As more and more time passes, I think less and less about the problematic past seven months and spend more and more time reveling in the joys of past experiences and embracing those for the future.
We’re both very grateful for this life.
May you find gratefulness in your simple days!
Photo from one year ago today, September 27, 2018:
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| This was my favorite photo of impalas, taken in Kruger National Park. Impalas have exquisite markings on their faces and bodies. For more pictures from our self-drive in Kruger, please click here. |