Simple Abundance-The Wolf and the Hammock

Mom got me a book called Simple Abundance. She read it when we were young(er). In our teenage years my sisters and I made fun of her and her new "Simple Abundance" attitude. Oh boy...if I'd only known. She gave me this book a few years ago, and I started reading it, but obviously wasn't ready for it yet. It's a day book (of comfort and joy), where you read an entry for that specific day. So, I tried again January 1st of this year...still not ALL the way ready. I did get as far as March, and I loved what I read, I really connected with it. But then somehow I got distracted and stopped reading. My mom called me the other day, I was having a rough day, and she told me to read July 12th. It was about the Wolf at the door. That specific bad day I found out we have to move....the home we're renting (that we absolutely love) has been turned over to the bank and they want us out....fast...like Aug 13th fast. The Wolf was at our front door, and our back door. And he was huffing and puffing.

There's a whining at the threshold-


There's a scratching at the floor-


To Work! To Work! In Heaven's name!


The wolf is at the door!


~Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Well, on this specific July 12th entry, the author of the book shared stories about M. F. K. Fisher, who is a famous food author and believes eating good food to be an "art of life", but who also had many difficulties and trials to overcome in her life. She figured out a way to outsmart, catch and cook the wolf at her door. (She also wrote a book called..How To Cook a Wolf) She concentrated on the good at hand. A good tomato, a good loaf of bread, a beautiful sunset, a loving relationship. She knew life does not depend on extravagent indulgences. The good life does not deprive. It exults. "You can still live with grace and wisdom if you rely on your own innate sense of what you must do with the resources you have to keep the wolf from sniffing too hungrily through the keyhole."

That was just what I needed to hear at the moment. I really connected with that entry. So, I've kept reading because I have really been loving it. I'm definitely not keeping up with it daily, and I'm a bit scattered, but I can tell this book will be by my bedside for the rest of my life, highlighted and page-folded, just like my moms. Maybe you have to be a certain type of person to get so much out of this book, or maybe you just need to be in a certain place in your life, or maybe we all would love it, go read it and tell me!

Today I read July 13. It was about Nell Nichols who was the Martha Stewart of the 20's, 30's, and 40's writing as a columnist for the Woman's Home Companion. What really stood out to me was some advice she gave to our grandmothers in the summer of 1924:

"Just one word more--please STEAL time every day, if you cannot find it in any other way, to lie on the grass, or in a hammock, under a huge tree this lovely month....and relax. What a tonic this is for the soul! What a rest for weary nerves! Our husbands, children, friends--yes, and the nation--will profit by our relaxation. The greatest need today is for calmer homes, and no fireside can be calm unless its guardian is at peace with the world." ~Nell B Nichols

She also continued to say..."Won't you agree with me, as you lie looking up at the leafy canopy above you, that a home now and in every other month must be a haven to the spirit as well as a place in which the physical needs are supplied?"


Yes, I agree Nell, and don't mind if I do!!!