Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Sunday, October 23, 2022

La Dolce Vita

I'm in soup mode. It may be mid 70s Fahrenheit but it's soup season by my reckoning. I had some pork bones in the freezer along with the toss-away parts of a leek, some fennel stems and celery ends. I get an enormous amount of pleasure making stock from items normally put in the bin.


I read a longtime friends blog this morning. I met her in 2008 from blogging. She is an American who has lived a long time in Denmark. She had gorgeous photos of a sunrise she took while over Paris. She was stopping in Paris and then going on to Valencia. What a life! I also know her in person from her several visits over the years when she returned to the US. It's amazing what technology has allowed, not all of it good, but much is. I got to know a smart, fun woman, her lovely Danish husband and her beautiful, intelligent daughter because of technology. Imagine!

As I looked at the photos, read where she was and where she was going, the phrase La Dolce Vita came to mind. Indeed. 

I thought as I was making soup this morning about how we are truly the sum total of our existence, our experiences. We choose some and some are chosen for us. I chose a life that precludes travel. I did travel some before I chose this life, but having upwards of forty horses, three stallions and a bunch of youngster of varying ages does tend to keep one home. It has been interesting, frustrating, awe-inspiring and heartbreaking. Looking back, I realize I forget how wonderful that life was. How I did something most people don't think about, ever. And don't want to. But I spent the second half of my life immersed in magnificent creatures who had the ability to kill me, but who listened to my words, nickered when they saw me and allowed people to climb aboard and ride off.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to travel again and truthfully, I don't think I care. I enjoy the escapades of others, I have wistful moments and I'm glad I do. It means I'm still human. It means I'm still curious.

My La Dolce Vita is here. 

12 comments:

Lori Skoog said...

And my La Dolce Vita is here.... Choosing to have horses is life changing and I do not regret one moment. 40 horses!!!!! How did you do it?

Boud said...

I do agree about the satisfaction of using scraps to make a wonderful broth. And about enjoying other people's travels. I don't enjoy the endless dislocation of travel,though I've had to do a lot of it. Very happy to be an armchair traveler.

Sandra said...

Lori, I worked a lot! Sometimes I had a boarder who would work off some of the board. I had 3 different people over the years who worked here part-time, but my life was in the barn. I didn't have another job, this was it. Seems totally insane, now!

Sandra said...

There's something about knowing you can feed yourself with very little on hand, Boud. Traveling when I was young was one thing, although for most of my adult life I was tied to one thing or another. I also enjoy being an armchair traveler. So much less complicated.

Pixie said...

Soemtimes I think I would like to travel but I also like being home. I have travelled some, but not a lot. I figure I've got ten more years to travel so I need to get serious about the places I want to visit. I can never leave here, you have your horses, I have Miss Katie.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Making soup from scraps is something I am doing as well, Sandra. I have some chicken bits and veggies in the freezer which will become chicken soup in the next week or so. The rising cost of most things is making getting back to basics a good thing. Being content with your life is wonderful and you certainly seem happy with your own. Technology is indeed wonderful for the connections it allows. It is wonderful that you have maintained in touch with your traveling friend and to have met her is even better.

Sandra said...

Pixie, I have always been a homebody, so I understand. I was more adventurous in my youth but it didn't take long to change. Anchors in our lives is not a bad thing, they are steadiers.

Sandra said...

Beatrice, Making soup and bread are too of my favorite things to do. Seems weird, but there it is! I am content. I'd be more content if I knew why I am losing mobility, but that's another story.

Far Side of Fifty said...

You have to go with the flow! I wish we had time for travel before my husband got so ill, but we were both working! Now we have $ but not the health to travel...so we stay at home. Most of the time that is okay with me, sometimes warm weather calls me...but I get over that in the Spring:)

Sandra said...

Far Side, life isn't always fair. At least you can do what pleases you near home without worry over money. My first mother-in-law told me to travel while I'm young. She said it's not the same when your are old. She was a wise woman. I wish she could have stayed my mother-in-law without her son!

julochka said...

aww, thank you for the kind words about my sunrise photos. I'm still amazed that I got to travel again. It definitely makes me feel alive.

And I do still hold out hope that you will travel and visit me. I am so glad that I met you in this bloggy world and that I know and have visited you several times in real life. I'm so happy that we're friends. <3 And your life and home are indeed la dolce vita.

Sandra said...

Those photos were gorgeous! You are a traveler.

I also hold out hope. I need a diagnosis before I can think of going anywhere. Mark has some health problems so I'm on hold right now, I can't deal with it.

You are the only person I have continued with all these years. We just get along!