I love being woken in the morning by the dawn chorus. I do not like to be woken by a chorus of dogs! Somehow it doesn’t have the same musical quality.
It’s now 10am, and the little bastards are still at it. I have dogs in home theatre, one on each side, and the main barkers in the park.
It’s enough to make a saint swear.
Last Saturday my two students, who are brothers, brought me a present. it was their last lesson for two months. They brought me a half dozen farm fresh eggs. Now that doesn’t sound like much, does it? But it was a marvelous present, absolutely wnderful and welcome
50 Shades of Yellow
I had bacon and eggs for breakfast two days in a row.
Talk about 50 Shades of Yellow…
Normally I don’t have access to farm fresh free-range eggs, I have to do with the ones from the botequim (local bar), or the sacolão (fruit & vege shop).
I had forgotten what real eggs looked like.
I had forgotten what real eggs tasted like.
.
Just take a look at the difference, it’s unbelievable.
I don’t need to explain which is which, but just look at the insipid yellow, compared with the rich orange/yellow of real eggs.
Oh, bring back the days of real food.
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This week’s CTWW is different, it’s philosophical, most unlike Small’s usual challenges.
This week, imagine what a perfect green life would look like … or perhaps a perfect green world. Write down your ideas and then see if there are any on your list which you can turn into reality.
Think big … think wild … be creative.
I would begin by turning the clock back 50 years.
- Get rid of the dairy companies, go back to farm milk.
- Get rid of battery farming, go back to free range.
- Get rid of the pesticides and herbicides, go back to real (currently called ‘organic’) farming.
- Get rid of plastic, go back to paper, but recycled.
- Get rid of corporations, go back to small business.
- Get rid of artificial foods and additives, go back to the real McCoy.
- Get rid of TV dinner-style foods, go back to the kitchen.
Get rid of canned & frozen foods, go back to preserves in the pantry (larder).
- Get rid of microwaves, go back to real stoves and ovens.
- Get rid of supermarkets and malls, go back to the corner store and butcher.
- Get rid of video games and social networks, go back to talking and playing outside.
- Get rid of concrete jungles, go back to dirt.
- Get rid of fashions, go back to functional clothing.
- Get rid of infant formula, go back to breastfeeding.
- Get rid of Wall Street, go back to honest banking (is that an oxymoron?).
- Get rid of antidepressant medications, go back to getting on with life.
- Get rid of psychologists, go back to dealing with it.
- Get rid of BigPharma, go back to natural remedies.
- Get rid of junk food, go home and eat.
The list could go on and on
Half my list will never happen, because the corporations own the government.
But you can make a difference.
There are small things that I do to make my life better, there are other things that I would do if I was more mobile and had transport, there are things that I would dearly love to do.
How many of you have a bank account? I have one, but by necessity to transfer my modest funds from one country to another. But I don’t have a local bank account. Basically, I don’t trust banks. I get my pay in cash and keep it ‘under the mattrass’. I go and pay my bills personally, I don’t have to go to the bank to get my money.
How many of you grow something for food? I imagine many that read this type of blog do. I live on concrete, but I have a modest garden.
How many of you cook or make preserves? It is rare for me to buy pre-prepared food? How many of you preserve something for later? I currently have beetroot and pickled onions in the fridge.
How many of you have bought fast food in the last week? I haven’t bought fast food in over two years.
Fashion and models as useless as tits on a bull
How many of you buy clothing because it’s fashionable? I buy it because it’s functional.
How many of you Facebook, Pin or Tweet and spend hours doing it. I Tweet, yes, I’m a twit, but for me tweeting is automatic on my blogs, I don’t spend hours wasting my time.
How many of you shop at supermarkets or malls? I do, but only for things that I can’t walk to the store and buy. I much prefer the corner store and grocer.
I do little things, but I yearn for the days when those little things and more were normal everyday things.
I would love to see a world where the useless things like fashion were eliminated; but man is such a vain creature.
How much land is used to grow crops like cotton, how much petroleum is used to make fabrics, how much energy is used in manufacture and transport, how much time is wasted in fashion shows and the ilk, how much press and paper is dedicated to this absolutely despicable aspect of life?
My view is get these skinny, underfed, malnourished creatures off the catwalk and have them tilling the soil, doing something productive, getting their perfectly manicured hands dirty instead of poncing around the fashion world full of their own self importance. These are bludgers on society, the whole industry are leeches. There is nothing at all green about the fashion world, it is a total waste of resources.
The same could be said of many aspects of modern life, I just chose fashion as an example.
We need to become more pragmatic, we need to turn the clock back, we need to think about what we have lost in the name of ‘progress‘.
Eco-Crap 
Posted by Alex Jones on July 3, 2013 at 11:51 am
Most people won’t change until change is forced upon them. It is amazing how healthy food is when it is allowed to come into being naturally.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 3, 2013 at 2:23 pm
>Alex, anything natural is good.
AV
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Posted by livingsimplyfree on July 3, 2013 at 12:55 pm
It looks like I need to think a little deeper for my dream as you have most of what I planner to write about. “tits on bulls” love it. No, I don’t buy what’s fashionable, I buy what’s available at the thrift shop that will be comfortable. As for dirt, I haven’t met a child yet who isn’t drawn to any open spot of dirt. My grandkids prefer dirt and weeds, the only use for concrete is to play hopscotch on, otherwise they complain about it.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 3, 2013 at 2:26 pm
>lsf, the ‘tits’ was an expression my late father used. Like father, like son. I have long dressed myself from the op shop (thrift). Dirt and kids are a magnet.
Sorry about stealing your thunder, my post was pretty all-encompassing.
AV
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Posted by Pearl on July 3, 2013 at 4:18 pm
I’m with you on the keeping it simple principle. Small, local, low fat, low salt, less perma-excitement frenzy of media and flavours. It’s a matter of organizing ourselves one by one before the poor city design and less useful food system isn’t economic by the power of the wallet.
But “just deal with it” vs. antidepressants sends off my alarm bells. I’m not convinced pharmacy is always a part of the answer, along with being useful. but that’s dismissing chemical issues as something that is just imagination and laziness with commerce taking advantage. Getting at the root of things, even if you have to pay someone to listen, surely can’t worsen the world. There is a time for action and moving along. Everything can be done poorly or well but let’s not advise making hell a few degrees hotter unnecessarily.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 3, 2013 at 4:40 pm
>Pearl, A lifetime has taught me not to trust ‘do gooders’, psychologists I put in that category, along with the speech therapist I was sent to at the age of ten because I spoke fast, it was never considered that I spoke fast to keep up with my thoughts, it was just considered curable. I have seen psychologists follow the status quo and not even consider the truth behind an issue. No, I have no faith in ‘do gooders’. I don’t subscribe to the heaven/hell theory, but appreciate the analogy.
I agree everything can be done well or poorly, it’s a pity that most is done poorly.
I am totally against antidepressants in people under 18, when you read of the number of childhood and teen suicides that have occurred through their use, they are poison.
I disagree with low-fat, low cholesterol, for one every cell in your body needs cholesterol to reproduce, the recommended levels are too low, but ideal for selling more cholesterol-lowering drugs. Natural fats are good for you, it’s the low-fat companies and the makers of margarine that tell you it’s bad… motif, profit.
There’s too much bullshit out there, there are too many people swallowing it hook, line and sinker, too many are too gullible. These are the issues I am talking about.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment, appreciated.
AV
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Posted by Sml Footprints on July 3, 2013 at 6:47 pm
Well said, AV! We’ve lost a lot in the name of progress. Sometimes, with all the “conveniences” of our world, it seems like nothing is real … that we are totally out of touch with life. My fear is that if people don’t get back to “real”, things will fall apart. And then, what we’ll be left with will force us back to basics but not in a comfortable, free-choice kind of way … more like a hardship and dire consequences kind of way. Thanks for sharing your perfect world … my hope is that we can find a way to turn some of your dreams into reality.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 3, 2013 at 8:01 pm
>Small, you are doubtless aware of my views of the coming global collapse, people who have been living in the comfortable unreal world will suffer terribly. It is imperative that we take a grip on reality, and quickly.
AV
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Posted by Change the World Wednesday, Catching Up | Living Simply Free on July 3, 2013 at 8:50 pm
[…] had more things in my head when I read this week’challenge, but then I read this which pretty well covered most of […]
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