JEWELRY

old-fashioned

Every once in a while it’s nice to do things the old-fashioned way, It might be harder, take more labor, take more time, but it’s nice to do simple tasks in simple ways, one thing at a time, no technology.

I like to sweep the floors. I don’t do it very often, because with all these cats, a vacuum is pretty much essential (I use that every day). But I kind of miss it. There is something soothing and methodical about sweeping up all the dirt that life tracks in.

I like to write in a journal with a pencil. The keyboard is faster, and it’s much easier to edit and make corrections, but the act of handwriting itself calms me, changes the way I think, allows me to think faster than I write, rather than the other way around.

I like to make oatmeal using old-fashioned oats. I add my own goodies, nuts and berries and brown sugar and milk. It takes longer, but it’s so much better than the instant kind, and the process is a calming ritual.

A couple of times a year I make pierogies from scratch. It takes a whole day, but it is a labor of love, it is another ritual, and yes, time is lost, but it is good time, uncluttered time, there is no multi-tasking. I stand there, mixing, filling, boiling, buttering. I play music and sing and don’t worry about how much I have to do, because I am only doing this one thing on that day.

Starting plants from seed. It is a whole different process than buying plants and sticking them in the ground. You are so much more invested when you have nurtured them from the start. It is also a process that soothes me, the planning, looking through catalogs, waiting to see those first little bits of green poking up through the soil.

Gardening itself is like that for me, it requires patience and simple, physical tasks that become meditative. I like old-fashioned flowers, hollyhocks, sweet peas, roses and kiss me over the garden gate. I love the name of that one as much as the plant. And love in a mist, the same.

We use modern technology most of the time as a convenience. And that’s okay, that is the world we live in.

But every once in a while, it is nice to take a break and do something the way our parents did, or even our grandparents.

It’s nice to be old-fashioned, old school, straightforward.

That way of doing things got us where we are today.

What do you like to do the old-fashioned way?

Comments

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mrs mediocrity, Kelly Letky. Kelly Letky said: sometimes, simple is best. new post: old-fashioned http://bit.ly/cBwduc […]

This is a great post ! I’m an old fashioned girl. I always loved making pierogies with my mom. ( miss her) I have only ever made them from scratch once without her.
One of the biggest old fashioned desire of mine is to communicate via telephone. I love to talk to people. Sure it’s great to be able to email or text or tweet. But given a choice I would rather make a phone call.

I am a sweeper – I admit that. Of carpets, sidewalks, kitchen floors. The sweeping is, as you say, soothing – I find it meditative.

I still use CDs – does that count as old fashioned? I have an empty iPod in a drawer – a gift. The people I know who use them just fill them up and I don’t get that – I just don’t. If I wanna hear a little Lyle Lovett, I wanna hear Lyle, and I like CDs. (I like CDs and I cannot lie – you other sisters can deny . . .) 🙂

Right on! I cannot understand the appeal to scrolling through a viewscreen on an iPod to pick a CD or song. I want to LOOK at them, pull it out of the jewel case & pop it in. Don’t get all the little strings hanging from ears either. Bleh!

Haha, I have an ipod, I use it when I run, but mostly, I like my CDs too, I don’t like how you can switch around the order of the songs on an ipod, the songs were meant to be listened to in a certain order… Now if you said use still use eight-tracks, THAT would be old-fashioned!

Oh, I love this & it is so true!! There is something about taking the time to connect with a process, rather than “getting the job done”. I like to sweep my (extensive) driveway by hand. The neighbor on the left (we are on big, long lots here) uses a blower. Efficient. The neighbor on the right used to offer her push broom, but no. Me & lots of concrete lying under lots of oak trees, sweeping away w/ my small broom. It IS meditative & I love it!

I love hanging my laundry outside, a highlite of summertime in Montana…love the smell of sunshine on our cloths.
I also love washing my floors…very therapeutic….and of course having my garden, even though there is much work, my children love picking tomatoes and herbs for dinner.
I get supersaturated with my puter a lot…so it’s nice to sit and knit.

I secretly like to read real books even though my husband bought me a Nook for my birthday 🙂

Love this post!! Perogies from scratch is the ONLY way to eat perogies! My Polish grandma has taught me how to make them. I sure hope I can keep the tradition alive. For now… she makes the best ones ever! 🙂

I write by hand, and cannot imagine doing it any other way. My words simply do not flow as well when I am typing them.

Aww give me ‘old fashioned’ any day – always think I was born in the wrong era LOL. I too enjoy doing things by hand and ‘the long way’: sweeping, writing letters, chatting face-to-face, cooking/growing things from scratch, hand-sewing… love the meditative rhythm of it all, the connection and intimacy. All the modern stuff seems to strip us of these simple,wholesome pleasures somehow, causing us to hurry and flit through life without a care or thought. Maybe you should start a Revolution!!
Hugs xxx

Great post and a great reminder that we all need to slow down and savor the moments that you get from doing things the sometimes longer old fashioned way.

Funny enough I bought a CD yesterday and it got me thinking that I was old school. My husband loves downloading music onto his ipod but for me I can’t seem to move away from the thrill of buying a CD and popping it into the cd player waiting for the new tunes to unfold.

love this post!
i bake and cook but i do love my crock-pot, especially on hot summer days.
folding clothes is therapudic it’s the putting away that i mind.
i write in my quote books almost daily but all else is done on the computer because i love to type.

Hi Kelly.. I love this. So absolutely love this.

For me, it’s the dishes. I have not lived in a house with a dishwasher for almost 20 years now. I know G. would like to have one, but I don’t budge. There’s something about doing it by hand that is soothing, gives me a sense of a beginning and an end. Plus, I have this need to stack them creatively and high – and that drives G. nuts. I have a need to do that sometimes too. 🙂

I think I would like to be called old-fashioned now and again. I’m comfortable with that.

Thank you Kelly for such a wonderful post and a beautiful photo!

~Tracy

lots of hand written things over computer…love clothes /sheets hung outside … cooking from scratch..I am very OLD~ fashioned and i am ok with it

Oh, how I love this post. I like to sew. I like the sound of a sewing machine–its so rhythmic and relaxing. I think my body adapts to its tune–my heartbeat, etc…I love clothing styles of bygone eras…when everything was more formal. I love to garden and is there really such a flower as “kiss me over the garden gate”? I’ve never heard of it–now that I have to get! Lovely, lovely post!

i also like writing in a journal. it feels weird when i start typing a blog entry from scratch! i hardly ever use my dishwasher. i like washing my dishes by hand. i like how methodical it is and how i can only hear the running water.

Pretty photo, is that a hollyhock? Reminds me of days gone by.
I’m an old fashion oats Oatmeal in the morning girl. Love the aroma and taste, with a little vanilla yogurt and strawberries. Yum! I also like doing dishes by hand. Like the feel of my hands in warm water and gazing out the window at the neighbors backyard rose garden. Very relaxing. Sweet post…

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