During our recent cold snap (dropped down into the 80's!), I woke up to my first beautifully dense fog of the season. As I sat on the porch watching the mists gradually lift, to reveal the idyllic scene down below, I found my thoughts drifting towards the blog Eyes of Wonder (http://eyesofwonder.typepad.com/my_weblog/). It's the one I always visit last thing each night, just before turning in, because it leaves such lovely images floating around in my head, as I ease into sleep.
The blog is written by a woman with 10 children, who lives in the country somewhere on the east coast. The children are all home-schooled, and the women all sew beautiful, long dresses from another century for themselves, and make precious smocks and pinafores for the littles. They raise animals and grow vegetables, and every last child participates in these endeavors. For entertainment they knit, read, paint, sing, and play games and the piano. For all intents and purposes, they could be living the life of a typical farm family of a bygone era - except for a few glaring exceptions: her blog and the computer it's written on, the digital camera with which she records her family's simple life so exquisitely, and the van that takes them shopping at Whole Foods and Ikea. There is no sign of a TV or any video games. Instead, the kids stay busy baking cookies, sledding and building snowmen, having picnics by the pond, or taking walks on the beach. Other than their neighbors and a small church group, which meets in one another's homes, and the father's job in town, they seem content with one another's company, which brings up a lot of questions. How much do the kids know about the world outside? Do they date, or even play with other kids who live in the modern world? If not, will the older ones choose their mates from the few families that make up their church circle? That's pretty slim pickin's!
I don't know why I am obsessing over this thing. There was a time not too long ago, when I would have said "Those kids are getting cheated. They are so ill-prepared for life in the real world today!" But are they really? With all the talk lately of our precarious financial situation, depletion and peak oil, global warming and climate change, who do you think will fare best if the plug gets pulled? Our gadget-addicted and wired up kids? Or those vegetable growing, cooking, sewing, building, self-sufficient and self-entertaining kids?
P.S. Don't forget, the drawing for this month's "Year of Reading Dangerously" give-away closes out Saturday night. Be sure to leave a note in the comment section, if you want your name to be included!
P.P.S. Thanks to mediabistro for the image.
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4 comments:
You turned me on to Eyes of Wonder a couple of blogs ago and I have really enjoyed it. Thanks.
You know, I noticed one of the positive aspects of the power outages in my neighborhood beginning around the 3rd day. As I was driving home from work, I noticed something you rarely see these days - kids outside playing. A group of young teenagers, boys & girls, had a ball game going in the cul-de-sac, and some younger ones were playing something that had to be hide-and-seek. Of course, now that the lights have come back on, they are all tucked away in their rooms, glued to their computers and video games again.
Kinda sad, huh?
hmmm, if 80 is a "cold snap" guess you wouldn't have wanted to be here when it was 45 this morning :)Maybe you could send some of your cool weather my way - I'm not ready for ours yet!
Yeah, there's a big gulf between your idea of cold and mine, ay?(That's Canadian speak, for your sake. In Texan it would be ",huh?"
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