The joy of being with people you know is not having to talk — or talking when you want to, about whatever you choose. Present time, past times… whatever…

But the silence… I love to live — for a while, at least —  in the midst of Nature’s grand silence. To sit long enough that the silence becomes filled with the Earth’s own movements and that of her creatures.

If you’re reading this, you know me, or you’re coming to know me. I am not an outside kinda girl. I live very happily celebrating nature from outside my window or alongside a creek. But don’t ask me to make big excursions in the out-of-doors! I must be a throwback to an earlier genetic mass, because everyone in my family likes to be out in the middle of it. Me? not so much!

But sitting on my friends’ porch, up at their little piece of loveliness in the woods is heaven (especially because i can recharge my e-book! What a great thing that reader is, last time I came on this vacation, I had to carry books. I’m a very fast reader. There were never enough. Now, just one tiny, little device.). The outside toilet and I made peace a long time ago.

I’m captivated by what looks like much of Sweden’s populations ability to sit still. Certainly, there are people lots of places with cell phones. But there are a lot of people without, who are just being. sitting, watching, appreciating. And who then hoist themselves out of their chairs to pack up some sandwiches and thermoses and go down to the lake to bob and float and swim.

It’s really pretty close to heaven and feels a lot like Peace. It’s good to have some familiarity with it, if you’re going to campaign for it.