Celebrating the Season

Rejoice! The Winter Solstice has arrived.  Now, the minutes and hours of daylight increase as our earth moves towards the renewal of spring. It's going to be cold for a while here in WNY, but we've turned the corner, in the larger scheme of things, and now we can pore over our seed catalogs and garden books and plan for the warmer days ahead.

On another level, most of us are preparing to celebrate Christmas (whether in the Christian sense or the more pervasive secular one that our consumer society has taken to extremes) and it's easy to get overwhelmed with "stuff" at this time of year.

We've dialed back our consumerism significantly here--speaking for myself,  I've always experienced the most joy from giving to others and being with family.  In my family, that means sharing food and each others' company, and it's a warm, fuzzy time that is eagerly anticipated.

Sadly, our adult children live on opposite coasts and are not able to be physically present for this year's holiday celebration, but we are together in thought and spirit. Thanks to the modern wonders of technology (which we have at this time anyway, though there are concerns about the future of the internet), we can also communicate across the miles.

But getting back to the "stuff"--there is definitely more stuff in the house these days. Gifts, boxes, wrappings, ribbons, we even have a small "Charlie Brown" style tree, and stockings hung over the fireplace. The comfort of some traditions outweighs the inconvenience of continuing them in small spaces.  Soon, the gifts will be shipped (I always manage to be a little late) and the seasonal clutter of wrappings, etc. can be returned to storage in the garage.

Then we'll be back to our usual conundrum of deciding what is functional and what is just "stuff" and how to best rearrange our lives in a new normal.

Peace to all.

More on small houses and stuff

I like snow, but I usually prefer to enjoy it from the the cozy comfort of my living room, near the fireplace.

I've had plenty of opportunity to do that this past week, as the lake effect snow machine has been mostly stuck in the "on" position. The dog loves it.  (Maybe not as much as these guys.)  I like my winter outings in small doses. So this is a great time for reading, crafting, and cooking. 

I've been reading a fascinating book called Little House on a Small Planet and it's helping me navigate my ponderings on how much living space we actually require.  

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why we Americans think we need so much space that we seldom use and then proceed to fill it up with stuff we don't need?

How many plans for home improvements and modifications have been scrapped because, although they are perfectly suited to our tastes and purposes, are not statistically desirable enough to the majority of potential home buyers in the event we want to sell the house?

When did our residences as investments and symbols of our social status supersede the concept of our houses as our homes?  And must we be so lemming-like in embracing this dysfunctional groupthink?


Once you start to ask these questions, the dominos start falling.   I'm no advocate of asceticism, I think design and art and ornamentation are important expressions of who we are and how we see the world.  But, those things come from within ourselves, not from House Beautiful and HGTV. 

It's liberating when you can let go of how things should be, because that's what "people like us" do, and we won't be held in high esteem if we are too unconventional or, God forbid, unfashionable.

WOW. Maybe it's time to throw out the magazines and turn off the TV and find ourselves. We get this one, short life and we allow other people so much control over it.

If that sounds like an anti-community sentiment, it isn't. Communities of strength are voluntary, not coercive.

Supporting local business--the exploration continues

We did a little exploring over the weekend in our continuing quest to discover the "local" community. The Chautauqua Ave. merchants in the village of Lakewood held their "Christmas in the Village" holiday open house event. It was the perfect opportunity to check them out.  We've had lunch at Hungry Hannah's a couple of times, since we prefer the little moms and pops to chain restaurants, but we really don't do a lot of shopping.

So it was very pleasant to discover Off the Beaten Path, the indie bookstore owned and operated by Holly Richardson at 28 Chautauqua. We've seen most of our favorite little bookstores fold, as giants like Borders, Barnes and Noble, and especially Amazon.com have taken over the market. We're really, really fans of the local library.  But knowing that there is this welcoming space with a friendly and knowledgeable owner who has the most interesting selection of books makes me feel inclined to visit again. There are author events, and now, there is coffee next door (in the same building), as local  RydersCup Coffee has relocated from their former store on Fairmount.

I now feel obligated to also give a shout out to the Labyrinth (their website seems to be under sonstruction but they have a Facebook page here) at 12 E.4th Street in Jamestown, which was an instant favorite the first time we visited.  This place has a gritty urban funk vibe in the sense of the old coffeehouses where people hung out and listened to live music. In fact, Labyrinth does host bands and poetry and movie nights, but Tom and I really aren't night people. We go there because the coffee and soup are the best in town.

Back to Lakewood. A small craft fair in the community center building  had an impressive array of refreshments and offered free photos with Santa. We had our first taste of locally made (for almost 80 years) Peterson's Candies and it was good. And I met a very talented jewelry designer who is also a neighbor. Susan Hedberg  operates An Added Touch, and makes her own ceramic pieces for use in some of her designs,which she sells online at Etsy and at local art/craft venues. You can see some of her work on FlickR.

We drove by George Gustafson's place at 2505-07 Quaint Rd. in Falconer on our weekly trips to pick up our CSA shares over the summer. George has been producing pure maple syrup for more than 30 years and offers a whole range of maple products in addition to his "Chautauqua Gold" at several locations in the area.

Good discoveries. And of course we were already fans of Southern Tier.

Holiday Magic

Winter doesn't check the calendar before it decides to show up, and show up it did this week in western NY. You probably saw the news about people stranded in cars on the NY Thruway for up to 15 hours as the Buffalo area got buried under three feet of snow.

It's winter here in Chautauqua county too, minus the horror stories. Our world has become a Currier and Ives winter wonderland scene with white fluffy stuff cosmetically coating every surface.

By five o'clock on Friday, beautiful fluffy flakes were gently falling everywhere, and it was time for the magic to begin.  So we layered up and went dashing through the snow down to Third Street for the Jamestown Christmas parade and other festivities. A good time was in the air, and  even the neighborhood deer seemed to be heading in that direction.

The sight downtown answered the question: yes, Virginia, there are, still,  communities where people, thousands of them, leave the cozy sanctuaries of their homes and come together in the streets to celebrate. We arrived at the stage in front of City Hall, where the crowd was jammin' to the beat of the hometown band, 10,000 Maniacs. It was the first time I've ever seen a band performing in parkas, but hey, when in Rome...!

There was the official tree lighting, and the national anthem, ending with fireworks and a "Starflight" helicopter flyover in tribute to our troops. We may not hear much about them on TV, but in towns like Jamestown, they lead the parade.

Ah yes, the parade. It was magical, like something out of  "A Christmas Story."  The high school band, the scouts, churches, community organizations, local businesses, and almost every fire department in the area (some of them dragging their antique trucks out of mothballs for the occasion)--diverse segments of the community all came and participated, with  floats they spent hours lovingly creating, and all manner of vehicles decked out in holiday decorations (lemme tell ya, you ain't seen nothing until you've seen a line of construction vehicles, decorated from head to toe in lights and garlands). There was candy distributed, and a release of helium-filled balloons, and the peculiar cacaphony of firetrucks  flashing their lights and sounding off, which children seem to love.  And, of course, Santa Claus.

I have to say...we had FUN! Without spending a dime. Though the street vendors were there with coffee, hot chocolate, cookies, and the usual light wands and gewgaw for those inclined to indulge.

This stuff never happened in the suburbs, but echoes of my small town childhood were there on Third Street.

I'd love to share some of our winter beauty with you in photographs, but I'm not all that talented with a camera. Therefore, I'd like to introduce you to  Jennifer Schlick, a teacher-naturalist at our local Audubon center, and her amazing nature photography.  Click here and enjoy!

Buying Local

I have mixed feelings about this promotion by the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce. On the surface, it's a great idea--shop locally, support businesses in the community (as opposed to spending your dollars in some other city--and with the popularity of internet shopping these days, some of those other cities are pretty far away), help your neighbors prosper. Awesome.

On the other hand, it comes down to the question, what exactly do you mean by LOCAL?  Geographic location, local ownership, locally produced goods and services? Naturally, the more "local" you get, the greater the benefit to the local community. The chamber's definition of local is the most broad definition, since participants include the local Wal-Mart stores.

In defense of that, these stores do employ local people and in that sense do contribute to the overall well-being of the community.  However, these stores are obviously not owned by local people and offer very little in the way of locally produced goods.

We've been lulled into complacency (like frogs in a pot of boiling water) about our gradual slide from a self-reliant, production centered society to a consumer-centered one, helplessly dependent on goods produced elsewhere and delivered to us via a long and expensive (soon to be much more expensive) supply line.  Thus overextended, very little is being done to dial us back to a more sustainable level of living.

I think it's important for the frogs who have managed to jump out of the pot to begin looking around now for local, sustainable sources of needed goods and services, and beat the stampede. Even as someone new to this community,  I'm probably not starting far behind people who have lived here for their entire lives.

By the way, the chamber's list barely scratches the surface of local.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holiday season is upon us, and I don't feel that I have any brilliant insights to offer.

We spent an unfortunate amount of time last week in the car in order to spend Thanksgiving with our grandson and his parents. We had a wonderful time with them, but the geographical distance separating us from those we most want to be with is depressing. Reality bites.

Now I am busy gathering goodies (not shopping for useless "stuff") for the packages I will ship to the family that won't be home for Christmas this year.

Truth is, I'm not even sure where "home" is right now. For the past twenty or so years, our home in Cleveland was the bustling gathering place for the whole extended family to eat, drink, exchange gifts, and be merry together. I would wake up on the morning of the 24th and spend the entire day in eager and purposeful preparation of a feast for the eventful eve.

But that isn't happening this year, and our move is part of the reason for that, as well as the reality that children grow up, move, have their own families, and life changes. My siblings and I will still have a family gathering, this time at my brother's house back in Cleveland, during Christmas week, and it will be a good time. But, for the first time ever, I will have only a tiny Christmas tree, because there's really no room for a larger one in our small house.

Adjustments...and wondering when we will arrive at a new normal and what it will look like.

Straight Talk about Peak Oil with James Howard Kunstler

No, I didn't speak with him---I can only wish. I've long been a fan of Kunstler's pull-no-punches social criticism, and this interview with Chris Martenson is so good that I am compelled to share it with you. Enjoy!

The Questions:

1. When will the average US citizen wake up to the perils of Peak Oil?

2. There seems to be no political will to tackle the reality of Peak Oil. What might tip that balance (before we hit the proverbial wall)?

3. If you were President and had free reign, what would be your energy plan?

4. Now take out your crystal ball. What is the most likely scenario you see playing out in global energy supplies over the next few decades?

5. The economy's a mess. What's the best possible outcome to this and how does it come about?

6. What steps are you currently taking in preparations for the upcoming “post-peak” years? What do you advise to those simply looking to protect the purchasing power of their current wealth?

7. Are you able to tell (either based on your website viewership or book sales, or from any other source) in which parts of the country/population your teachings are gaining the most traction?

8. You speak to a lot of audiences and groups. What has shifted over the years and what, if anything, gives you hope in those trends?

9. It seems inevitable that the suburbs (with 60-mile commutes) and places like LA will suffer badly in a Peak Oil future. Do you still hold the view that some regions are going to fare substantially better than others?

10. What question didn’t we ask, but should have? What’s your answer?

The Answers.