MeInMaine Blog

Tag: simple me self sufficient lifestyle

  • Cartoons Not Just Saturday Mornings And The Breakfast Menu Works All Day Long.

    Natural Maine Flowers Are Prettiest.
    Discovering Wild Maine Flowers On A Trail Walk Prettier Than Store Bought Cut Ones.

    We live in a time of more is available but have turned the corner to simpler is healthier, easier, less hassle.

    No longer are the choices for ice cream just chocolate and vanilla. Or grape nut was a crowd favorite years ago all because all there was for flavoring. Seasoning when the crank started.

    Something really special was not the norm, unpredictable. Did not happen all the time. The real diary cream that was sold not consumed by the farmer was carefully poured. Mixed and wrapped in an iced cylinder to rotate by hand. Take one or the other flavor and be glad there is any new ice cream at all to enjoy kids. Did not occur often. Limited selection caused less chaos or scrambling to provide a larger array of choices too. No stainless steel three door Frost Queen with a full armament of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey or Cherry Garcia at your beckon and call. Do you think our problem is too much of a good thing and being spoiled? Expecting the whole nine yards as a given, a right, automatic privilege with money to burn to make it happen?

    And cartoons not just on television Saturday mornings.

    Their own channels, pick your pleasure. Any time. Not just one day a week. And like restaurants that only offer breakfast similar to how McDonald’s still does, with set, limited just over certain hours. Slowly all that is being blown open. Stripped away.

    Because people want, can pay for a longer run of what they want. And because the set time available for when it was offered does not always dove tail with their busy lives. They started to miss out on the short windows of opportunity they always made time to catch because it was hit or miss. Snooze and lose. But now it is we may doze, but we are always open. In business, recreation, anything. Available when you are. Like twelve minute speed dating.

    Round the clock, twenty four hour availability of a product, service is expensive to pull off. Especially when adding the extra stress of just in time inventory. Businesses have to be lean, mean, well run and without slack or wrinkles. Or they cease to exist. Their doors get nailed shut, interiors go dark. They get gobbled up, swallowed whole by other fish.

    How did it happen?

    The shift from what made you happy being home made, natural, easy does it moderation. To drive through quick, want it now and step on it. No matter the cost. Hurry. Learning how to relax out in natural surroundings was easier when most people made their living outdoors. Heck not that long ago, 96% of Americans were farmers. Owned a patch of dirt or worked for someone that did. Breaking even was considered a good year. Money was taken out of the equation as the end all fuel to drive the consumption. Grown your own, not peel off a couple twenties to buy what you make your own. With a squeak squeak of an overloaded wire shopping car headed for the express lane of nine items or less.

    It was not a case of ignorance is bliss. More a combination of not having a slew of other options or the extra money stuffed in the pocket to exercise them. So more reliance on your own wits. Perseverance to obtain something you wanted by a beefed up do it yourself skill set called into action. And the take away a feeling of self sufficiency.

    Not died to the dollar. And a greater awareness of the natural beauty around us. And gratitude that so much was good in your life. With the counting your blessings exercise performed several times a day as a constant reminder. A habit that all you had was more than enough. Especially if the people around you were healthy, alive. That was enough.

    When we started pulling away from family first, needing each other for support and a helping hand, replaced with the financials to buy whatever we want, something happened.

    There were missing elements. The joy of being in the moment, all caught up with our chores and space, time created for less leisure, it was more delicious. Intoxicating. Than having the world is your oyster at your finger tips, your beckon and call. Think money corrupts, creates less sensitivity for others? Christmas is available all year long in stores dedicated to the big Ho Ho Ho day.

    Daily I hear the same whine, complaint that life is flying by and the person out of state is feeling left behind.Trapped, and not happy. For a long time they did not know what was missing. Where they are has to change because too many pushy, honking, hollering people that don’t have smiles on their face. Too much non stop pushing and shoving. Delays, deadlines, rush rush rush. It’s not healthy.That’s not Maine. You’re not you unless you squeeze in more time in a place, with the space like Maine.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • Maine, Rinse, Wash, Repeat.

    Clean living, a simple honest approach to life is what Maine is all about.

    New Animals, Plowed Empty Fields To Plant With A Sense Of Hope, Promise Means Spring Is Here.
    Spring Time Hope Of New Births, New Fresh Beginnings, Chances To Plant Maine Crops Again.
    Not flashy, not presumptuous or pedantic but down to earth, family and God based. The clutter of material items to impress is not the way a true Mainer rolls. Going head over heels in debt and spending way way beyond what a person can even begin to think of repaying in their lifetime is not the Maine tradition.

    Frugal, not cheap. Generous to worthwhile local causes, supporting the local church parish and creating low or no cost recreational amusement the norm. We are lucky to live in the state the license plates proclaim is “Vacationland”. Our fun is in our own backyard. Only a gallon or two of gas and a picnic basket of home made food delicacies away. Any time no one is looking. And we can sneak away to enjoy the wide open, natural outdoors Maine is famous for around the world.

    With the Maine four season beauty everywhere you turn it is not hard to be continually reminded what we believe in.

    The feeling that fills your heart, mind and soul as you peer, gaze out over the unspoiled landscape, the waterfront in Maine makes you feel close to God, our creator. We are reminded daily, continually of what we believe in. It surrounds us, is unavoidable.

    Mainers have their heads screwed on straight, are hard working, their feet planted firmly on the ground under them. We try to keep a child’s heart with a grown up’s head. We occasionally stumble but persevere to do our best to lead a Christian life. We realize others are doing the best they can and cut them some slack, because we have been in positions when grace was extended to us.

    We practice the art of forgiveness because we need to grant it, have it extended in return as we spend a lifetime seeking to improve ourselves.

    Struggling with the generational burdens we inherit and the baggage we develop, take full credit for on our very own. And knowing our neighbor down the road does not judge us but is Johnny on the spot if we need help. That we could get the sharp elbow in the ribs to get over there to let him know you care. That you are there round the clock to give assistance in any shape or form if needed.

    In small Maine towns, and most of them are, there is a connection. A strong sense of all the local members of a community having a unique role to fulfill. There are only so many of us so if we don’t band together, we die on the vine. Everything is home grown, volunteer not store bought.

    The option of hiring it done, bidding it out for a commercial operation to do the heavy lifting of local events is not going to happen. Not in the cards, not in the budget. And what would be the fun in missing the involvement of your friends, family, neighbors to make the event special, memorable. A tradition to carry on year after year.

    I think Mainers are more involved in their families, communities, schools, churches and civic groups.

    We have a keener sense of what life is all about, where the priorities should be. We build in to our waking hours time to get our hearts and minds ready for the day. And through out that day count our blessings, work at finding joy, areas of our life to be grateful and appreciative. An always seeking an inner peace. The secret to a happier life.

    We try not to take the credit for successes. Are not all that wild about compliments, or being made a big deal, fussed over. Just doing out part to contribute to the greater good without the need to be in the spotlight or get credit for our role in making the local area a better place to live, work and play.

    If this is the approach to living you could warm up to, seriously consider making the move, relocation, retirement to Maine. I know a good Maine real estate broker who can help with the ins, outs, details. (Smile) Maine, get here quick as you can.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com