Wisdom from Pa

It's no secret that we are Little House on the Prairie freaks around here. We're not all as freakish as the girls, but we do all enjoy reading a chapter together before the girls' bedtime at night. Currently, we're reading The Long Winter, which isn't necessarily the best choice in the midst of your own long winter, but we are enjoying it nonetheless. I find it fascinating to imagine raising my family in the harsh winter that Laura describes in the book. I also love thinking about housework, homemaking, and home educating in a house that was approximately 300 square feet. I like to ponder the ultimate simplicity of their lifestyle. Three knick-knacks, five cooking utensils (including pots and pans), hand sewing all the lace to edge their voluminous petticoats (OK, that part doesn't feel simple at all!).

Anyway, this quote really caught my attention a few days ago. The Ingalls family has moved to town to survive the winter, the worst in three decades, and they are slowing running out of every "convenience" they have become accustomed to. The kerosene is gone, and the train is not coming until spring due to 100 foot drifts blocking the railroad line.

"If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light, "Ma considered. "We didn't lack for light when I was a girl, before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of."

"That's so, " said Pa. "These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves- they're good things to have, but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em."

How would you survive without your modern conveniences???