Well, I write this now sitting in a little house on a street in a country town. Not a teeny tiny town like where we were before. A country town, complete with supermarkets and a Target Country and numerous op shops and parks and plenty of takeaway food joints. And a library, and a pool, and a selection of gyms now [could have done with this kind of choice last time I lived here..]. Our backyard is small, but manageable. On Saturday morning, I mowed the backyard - all of it - in about 20 minutes, while William sat in his Daddy's arms watching with interest. Already there is the change. Our old backyard took hours to mow. Hours. So it's fair to say we have downsized significantly.
It's an adjustment for all of us, no doubt. I think Pepper cat is probably the worst affected, she roamed far and wide through the paddocks before. Now she has a small backyard to call her own [well, her and Motlety cat have to share]. She already brought us a mouse offering, clever girl. The chickens look happy, insofar as chickens can look happy. Just Frankie and Gloria are here, the other three going off to a new happy home. They have a little chook house to sleep in, and roam the backyard during the days. We still need to build them a permanent chicken enclosure. Amongst many other things. The dogs are fine; they don't care where we are as long as they're with me.
As for us humans, well, life is easier. The house is easier to care for a baby in. I guess it must be the layout, it is more open. But beyond that, I don't feel alone. I mean there were people around in our old tiny town, but here, I know my husband is only 5 minutes away at work. And I know my mum is only 10 minutes away if I was desperate. There are more activities to do with a little baby, and I'm happier at home with the baby. It's not perfect by any means, but what is? It's good for me. It's good for my husband - a new job, a change that was well needed to breathe fresh life into his work days. And we walk everywhere! I walk to town, he walks to work, we walk the dogs, there is very little need for the car. This is one of the things we really wanted out of life, and in the week that we've been here, we've already seen that change.
Downsizing. I don't know how long we'll stay here for but I'm not keen to move again anytime soon. When we decided to have a year of consolidating, we didn't envisage a move, but here we are, and we are going to make the best of it. I have some major decluttering ahead of me too, there is nothing like moving house to highlight how much excess 'stuff' you have. How much I have, anyway. A few big steps in the direction of a simpler life, again. What is interesting is how much I have changed since we were last here. We both have. Our teeny tiny town life was good for us, even if it did lead us back to... here? I wouldn't have picked it. Life hey.
Oh that's so nice that you can walk everywhere. I'm glad you got to bring some of your chickens with you, I was wondering what would become of them. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the walking everywhere part. Yes I was wondering what would become of the chickens too! Especially George, but thankfully even he found a home.
Deleteall roads lead to home. success in organizing stuff :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, this unpacking and organising part is taking a while... :-)
DeleteLife is a spiral really; we return to the same figurative place again and again, with new knowledge each time. I am glad you are settling in to your new place and finding it easier living. I'm also glad you are keeping the self reliant attitude; it will serve you well wherever you are.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved back to the bush (after 6 years in town), we got rid of all electrical stuff (no electricity out here), downsized to four place settings of plates and such (not many visitors) and I got rid of everything in my wardrobe that wasn't tough enough to survive the bush (we don't go out much). The only thing I kept from my old life was my books (thousands of them), it was very refreshing and I feel like a new person, even after 15 years.
Very true. I know what you mean about the wardrobe stuff, I feel out of place here because my usual daily attire is jeans and work boots. Which was fine strolling around our old town but feels a bit strange here! And now I have too much space for books in this house, so I guess I'll have to get more..
DeleteSo very sad when you are forced to buy more books because it's not socially acceptable to have the space for more and not get them (tongue in cheek). I am looking for more book cases at the moment too (maybe I should just make them).
DeleteBy the way; thanks again for the banana bread recipe (previous post), it's the first thing I have made in years my family have actually liked.