old fashioned love said well

 

I recently got a book called Handmade Home which I suspected to be my kind of book; same lifestyle dream and same dream home environment.  It turns out it is exactly what my kind of book!   I wanted to share an excerpt from the introduction which is related to my previous post about my old fashioned love.  The author relates this perfectly:

"We need only to look a few generations back to find people who out of necessity were able to make new things from old, people who had an ability to see a second life in something once its first purpose was finished.  Like most women of her generation, my great grandmother Florence [...] would buy fabric to make her clothes herself and later turn them into clothing for her children.  When the clothes no longer fit the children, they were deconstructed and remade into dolls' clothing and toys.  Ultimately they ended up as quilts and rugs and rags.  Things were truly "worn" until they could be no longer."

Perfectly said.  I get my same ideals from my upbringing and the wonderful grandparents and parents I had.  I love so many things about my modern existence but I just feel like my favorite things about these older times were too shortly lived.  I want to allow them to live their course in my lifetime, too.

*  This image is from our trip to Iceland.  This hand embroidered pillow was a picture of the artist's home.  How's that for handmade home!  I was so inspired by the Icelandic heritage but, more on that is coming.

old fashioned love

image

 I would say that I am not necessarily a lover of vintage things but rather the old fashioned.  When I speak of things old fashioned, I am thinking of a lifestyle, like that of my grandparents time and their parents time and... you get the idea.  I love the simple things of the old fashioned way of life.  For example, the letter writing, the hanging clothes to dry, the homemade bread and goodies, the visits with neighbors, the manners out in public, the simple evenings at home, the elegance of a women, the goodness of a hardworking gentleman, how leisure time was spent, walking and riding bikes (or even horses), how traditions were celebrated, how etiquette reigned, how minimalism was normal, how art and whimsy were vibrant, how life was lived in a healthier and more simple way, how relationships were tended to more closely, how children played, how homes were kept, how learning was sought, how the earth was respected, how people just made do.  I love many things of this way of life. (Wow, this is sort of a granola moment for me  and it might sound like I am taking some sort of stance or sharing my political views but, truly I am just compiling my favorites bits to form my "whole".)

I like this old fashioned sort of lifestyle because...........Maybe its because I am seeking more meaning and depth in my life.  Maybe its because becoming a wife and mother has struck a chord in me.  Maybe its because of the way I was raised by a very frugal mother.  Maybe its because certain perks of our time are eating away at my life. I want to feel like my days have substance, like I am working hard at living. Its not important why  I just have always preferred the simpler less competitive lifestyle.  I am not obsessed with a certain time or era I just love particular things about all of time.  I even like things from my own time.  (That's good right, that I can appreciate and enjoy my own time?  I would not be writing this if I didn't.  I love so much about my time but I am struggling trying to find a good balance of the kind of lifestyle I want for me in my future and for my family.)    

*  I look forward to sharing how I am applying old ways into my modern life.