Live Simply, So The Birds Can Simply Live

- photo credit Brian Sullivan

I wait for the return of the swallows every spring. For me, they rival the robin for the position of Official Harbinger of the season. 

On the west coast we lived close to a vehicle bridge under which many swallows nested in their little mud homes built on the girders. Now on the east coast, we live on an old farm that has old, open outbuildings, including a small barn, that provide perfect nesting sites for swallows. 

Over the years the wait for the swallows in spring has become troubling.

In Nova Scotia (like most of North America), swallow numbers are down dramatically since the 1980s. It is hardly an isolated case in the bird universe. These ancient descendants of dinosaurs are finally being done in by the new kid on the block, Homo consumericus. 

There are so many threats to the ecosystem that it is difficult to finger any one cause for the decline of birds. More than likely, these threats operate synergistically and therefore become a greater threat together than any one individually.

"The main causes of the recent decline in Barn Swallow populations are thought to be:

 

1) loss of nesting and foraging habitats due to conversion from conventional to modern farming techniques;

 

2) large-scale declines (or other perturbations) in insect populations; and

 

3) direct and indirect mortality due to an increase in climate perturbations on the breeding grounds."

- Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada 

And I would add: 

4) high consumption lifestyles.

Because of the above, each spring when I spot the first barn swallow of the year, my heart skips a beat. Each returning individual is cause for celebration.  

Before long, small groups of swallows are squeaking and hunting acrobatically around our house, in the yard, and over the fields. When successful breeding takes place, the numbers increase in a most joyous way.

Each barn swallow can eat up to 1000 insects every day. They are perfectly designed to inhabit a specialized niche, which happens to encompass the human world (they like us!), and they do so with balance and efficiency. 

Something else I appreciate is how they demonstrate fearlessness and confidence in their flying skills as they zoom through the air, seemingly recklessly, but in full control.

If only I could live as simply and efficiently as these wonderful birds, without doing any harm, being supremely good at what I do, while adding beauty and a useful service to the circle of life. 

I live simply, so the barn swallows, and other birds, can simply live. When it comes down to choosing between a high consumption lifestyle and the birds, I choose birds.

It would truly be a "silent spring" if the swallows and other birds continued their current vanishing act right into extinction. I would miss them dearly.

Our Earliest Garden Start Ever

This year's garden got off to an unexpected early start. It began with an enthusiastic and unrelenting knock at our door that didn't stop until we opened it.

As we approached the door we could see the top of a little head popping up at the bottom of the window. It was our next door neighbour's 4 year old, Andre, that I like to call Andre The Giant. 

On this day it was his heart that was giant, not just his enthusiasm. When we opened the door he was standing there with a container loaded with three tiny planters identified with what seeds had been carefully placed in each one. 

"These are for you", he said. "Me and my mom planted them." There was cauliflower, sweet pepper, cherry tomato, supplemented by a large amount of cuteness.

Linda and I don't usually start our garden early. We have never had the indoor space, not to mention a cold frame or greenhouse. All our gardens have been direct sown, and sometimes we buy seedlings from local greenhouses. 

Therefore, our gardening season doesn't usually get started until mid-May. But not this year. 

Thanks to the generosity of little Andre The Giant, and his mom, our garden is off to its earliest start ever. Our excitement is growing over the coming garden season.

Signs Of Spring

Nothing says spring like a roadside farm gate maple syrup stand.

I went for a ride down to the ocean today. As soon as I rolled my bike out of the garage and into the sun, I could feel that I had overestimated the temperature. It was much colder than it looked.

I put a toque on under my helmet. Halfway to the ocean I stopped and swapped my light gloves for a heavier pair because my fingers were getting cold and sore. 

But regardless of the cool temperature, there were signs of spring all around. 

When I got to the ocean I could see some diving ducks in the distance. While I brought my binoculars with me, it was too cold to relax and bird watch. 

I boogied back home, and bought some maple syrup on my way. Tomorrow morning - pancakes. 

It doesn't get more local than maple syrup from just down the road.

The cold can't keep these snowdrops down.

What's that? My first Robin of the year. Also saw my second, third, fourth, fifth...
it was a Robin-fest out there.

What are some of the signs of spring you are seeing in your area?

Spring Memories

Every year about this time I step outside, take a deep breathe, and smell that smell. Each year it is a smell that triggers a memory almost as old as I am.

It is not of flowers, or gardening. Nor does it concern the balance between winter's dark and summer's light. It isn't about the exuberant energy about to wash over me, or a Saxon goddess, or fertility. Nope.

The memory that comes to me about this time every year is about playing marbles. 

This persistent memory etched into the folds of my brain was formed in my elementary school days. Life was good, and it was one of the happiest times of my life.

I lived 3 city blocks from school, so walked to and from there every day. That meant being outside and noticing things, like the light and heat returning. I felt safe traversing my neighbourhood, and knew that I could, if needed, knock on any door and get help.

Once at school, my dad was the principal, so the classroom and school grounds felt like an extension of home. It was a carefree and innocent time. 

At the end of every winter I would break out my big bag of marbles and count the agates, crystals, steelies, cateyes and boulders. My brothers and I would compare our caches of glassy globes, ready to bring to school when the time was right.

After long, cold winters, the student body became restless waiting for warmer weather. When we went outside for recess, it was that smell that you wanted to smell. 

It came in the moment after the snow melted, and the ground began to thaw. And then, after a few sunny days, the glorious time had arrived that everyone had been waiting for since the marble bag had been put away for the winter. 

That unique smell advertised the fact that the playing field had thawed, and dried out sufficiently. It was time for marbles again, and the joy in the classroom was palpable. We couldn't wait to get outside.

That is what the little boy in me thinks about every year when I am outside and smell that distinctive odour of the landscape waking up. It is a simple, powerful memory that never ceases to bring me joy.

Happy spring, everyone. It's time to play.

More Signs Of Spring

There are many deer in our area. In the Spring they emerge from the cover of the forest to eat fresh,
green grass in the fields.

Spring comes slowly to the east coast in the Maritimes. But Summer and Fall fade equally as slowly on the other side, so it is a trade-off. None-the-less, the increasing signs of spring are an indication that seasonal changes are indeed taking place.

One of my favourite signs of Spring in our rural location is when the white-tail deer venture out of the protection of the forest to eat the new green grass of the field behind our home. 

At dawn on most days through April and May, there can be as many as 10 deer grazing peacefully. They stay there munching away in the morning mist until the sun cracks above the horizon, when they fade back into the forest once again. 

This gentle sight is something I love to wake up to this time of year. Add in Robins singing, and other migratory birds showing up, and it starts to look pretty promising. Soon we will not have to heat our home, and we can start to shed our winter wardrobe.

Garlic sprouting - a sure sign of spring. Let the gardening begin.

Another sure sign of the warming trend taking place is occurring in our garden. About a week ago I pulled the mulch back from two 4 ft. rows of garlic, and to my delight, there were several spiky shoots poking up. 

Now after a few double digit warm days, more are popping up, and greening up, every day.

We officially started our garden of 2018 waaay back on December 1, 2017, when I planted out about 25 pudgy purple cloves in our raised bed. The garlic I planted was from our crop last year. 

We haven't bought garlic grown on the other side of the planet for a long time, and that feels great. It really is one of the easiest things to grow, and it stores beautifully in our pantry.

We won't plant the rest of the garden for another week or two. Before then I will enhance our soil with compost, and get it ready for everything else we will grow this year. 

Last year was our earliest garden ever, having planted a week BEFORE May Long Weekend, the traditional Canadian planting time. It is possible that this year's garden may be even earlier, if things continue to progress as they have been. 

I am glad that the deer don't raid our garden. Neither do the ground hogs, which are out of their burrows now, sunning themselves and looking for mates. However, anything that hangs out of the raised bed, like our squash last year, will be enjoyed by the neighbourhood mice and voles.

Or they haven't raided us yet. We will see during another season of being grounded in this place, while growing our own food. 

I hope Spring (or Fall) in your area is progressing nicely for you. 

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” 

- Margaret Atwood

Got The Winter Blues?

I took this picture outside our west coast home on Vancouver Island. Spring weather comes early there.

Got the blues? Is persistent winter-like weather getting you down? Or maybe the Robins just haven't returned to your neighbourhood yet.

For fast acting relief, administer these soul soothing sounds directly into your ears:

Robin Song (click me)

Repeat as necessary.


Side effects include:

• elation
• a strong desire to be outside on a warm evening
• an increase in your resolve to make it through one more winter

100% all natural, organic ingredients.

All The Signs

The back roads around my home are the perfect place for a quiet sunset ride.

Let's see. Worms crawling on wet concrete after a gentle rain? Check.

Robins calling from tree tops? Oh, ya.

Getting the bike out to go for an evening ride? Yes. That, too.

Spring is here, and that's no joke.

Back Yard Bliss

It won't be long before these trees are leafed out in their spring attire.

After several nor'easters blew through, we ended up with just enough snow to get out the snowshoes. It wasn't the deep powder of early winter, but the wet, heavy snow provided solid footing for a couple of extended hikes in the back yard woods. As usual, it was blissful.

I didn't see any ticks (one reason I like snowshoeing so much), but did see lots of other signs of life. The only creature I actually saw was an owl, which is always a thrill. Owls are very elusive, and no doubt they have seen me far more often than I have seen them.

 It is good to know owls, and all kinds of other creatures live in the forests surrounding our home. They are evidence that the ecosystem retains the ability to support them, despite human intervention such as farming, industrial logging, trapping and mining.

First stop - squirrel cafe. These small rodents like to perch while they eat their seeds. The evidence of their snacking is hard to miss.

Next is the porcupine dining area. Early this winter while out for a hike I came across a porcupine holed up in a tree. It was snuggled down in its woody bedroom, quills laid back, hardly moving.

Then this week, I saw its kitchen. Or its pantry. Bark is the food of choice for porcupines, most notably the growing layer underneath, which is called cambium. It is rich in nutrients, unlike the tough outer bark.

The spruce forest provides cover from nor'easters for all kinds of furry friends, such as rabbits, hares, squirrels, mink, fisher, fox, coyote, bobcat and more. They all prefer to hide from humans, which is an intelligent survival strategy.

A secure water source, such as Acacia Brook (which is at the bottom of the valley our home is on), means that wildlife of all kinds can live here. I am still waiting to see a river otter.

There are lots of things for owls to eat in this forest. Barred owls can hear the squeak of a mouse from 46 m (150 ft) away, and can detect them under the snow. All owls have the ability to fly silently, due to their special feathers.

Snowshoe tracks, and what left that squiggly track? Mouse? Vole? Large worm?

And finally, the blissful track hunter himself saying, "Peace" to all. I wasn't sure if I should post this, but reasoned that, hey, I'm part of nature, too.

It's the wild life for me.

Goodbye winter, hello spring. There is rain in the forecast, so the snow will not last long. Soon it will be time to pull back the mulch and check to see how the garlic is making out.

Spring Joins Us Together

Replica of H. D. Thoreau’s 150 sq. ft. cabin at Walden Farm, where the author was born in 1817.

"The setting sun is reflected from the windows as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace." 

- Henry David Thoreau

Spring weather comes slowly to the Atlantic coast, but that today is officially the first full day of spring is undeniable. We have not had our first robin or hummingbird yet, but I have been watching the Sun slowly move from its winter resting place in the south toward where it is today - setting directly on the western point of the compass.

As the Sun continues its path north things will warm and our days will stretch out in a joyous northern celebration of not having to worry about your tongue sticking to cold metal objects any more.

Light, heat, and life return. We made it through another winter.

Spring/Fall equinox is always a special event, in that it creates a brief global photonic equality. Equinox means "equal night" which also means equal day. On the day of an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the planet.

It doesn't matter who you are, or where you are, you enjoy the same sunlight as everyone else today.

That joins us all together, and I like that.

Happy spring/fall, everyone.

Red Shift

Rhubarb from our garden space. First fruit of the season.

To borrow a term from astronomy, there is a red shift happening in my life right now. I can see it all around me as we shift from winter to spring, and from spring to summer.

Astronomers use the concept of red shift to ascertain how far away an object in space is from Earth, and to tell whether that object is moving toward us, or away from us. Objects moving away from us shift toward the red end of the spectrum, therefore, red shift. It is like a visual Doppler effect.

Red shift/blue shift.

Right now winter is moving rapidly away from us, and thank goodness for that. Even spring is moving away from the land, although that shift is a little slower here than other parts of Canada.

I can see this shift in slowly rising temperatures, and in the life that is returning as the cold and grey of winter recedes into distant memory.

Trees are leafing out, seeds in the garden are germinating, and colour returns to the land. Some of that colour is red, indicating another kind of red shift.

Rhubarb is an early spring plant, and one of the first to emerge in the garden. While everything else is slowly waking up, rhubarb bursts forth out of the ground to herald the shift in seasons. Before long its greenish-red stalks are holding up giant green leaves letting us know that the first fruit of the season is ready to harvest.

Some of our summer neighbours enjoying our feeder.

While that is going on another bit of red is flying into the scene. This year we got our hummingbird feeder out early to attract these beautifully red-throated visitors as soon as possible. And did they come. So far, the record is five hummers at the feeder at the same time.

After months of a cold, grey and white landscape we can see winter red shifting away from us. As that happens colour returns, and red is one of the most beautiful, and tasty. Today I watch hummingbirds from my kitchen window as I bake up a stellar rhubarb raisin custard tart.

I can see summer moving toward us (that would be blue shift), meaning heat and clear, blue skies.

First Garlic

We have been off imported garlic for several years thanks to garlic growers in the family (thanks, mom). Garlic by mail has saved us from the low grade bulbs at the grocer. Who knew that Lethbridge, Alberta was a prime garlic growing region?

Seed Garlic. Photo credit: Campbell Garlic

This fall we decided to grow some of our own. We took several large, firm, purple organic bulbs and planted them on a warm fall day in November. We covered them with mulch, tucking them in for the winter.

More have come up since I took this photo.

Warm spring weather allowed the mulch to come off, and look what was happening underneath.

Our first ever garlic crop is up - let the 2017 gardening season begin.

Spring Firsts

Having a fire in winter is nice, but not needing one in spring/summer is even better.

Spring awakens. Life returns. This is a time of firsts, and we have had a few over the past couple of weeks.

First morning we didn't have to heat our home. We usually start the wood stove as part of our beginning of day routine. On winter mornings our home is usually between 12 and 15 degrees C (53 - 57 degrees F) when we get up, so a bit of heat is nice. It is a nice change this time of year when we make the shift from burning tree energy to enjoying the sun's energy.

First bike ride. I was looking at my photos and noticed that my last bike ride was December 21th. On that ride, I sat in a clearing in the forest and watched an early sun set on the shortest day of the year. Now instead of having to be home by 4:30, I can start a ride at 4:30, and stay out till 8:30.

First flowers of Spring.

First snowdrops. Neighbours down the road toward the ocean from us have a beautiful perennial garden along the road. On my bike ride I stopped to admire the little white bells leading the way into a new, warmer season. A sight for sore eyes after months of cold.

Soon robins will be nesting. For the enterprising robin, this will be the first of two broods.

First robins. Mobs of robins, everywhere. Lawns and fields covered in foraging, red-breasted modern day dinos. I was happy to not be a worm or bug. And its not only robins returning.

A flock of geese has been hanging out in our neighbourhood fields, honking and hailing me as I ride by. I give them the nod. All is as it should be, and their presence reassures me.

Turkey vultures, eagles, gulls and more are joining the birds that stay year round, like pileated woodpeckers, blue jays, crows and ravens. Is it time to put out the hummingbird feeder, or am I jumping the gun on that one? How exciting.

Soon our forest and field will be host to a chorus of winged wonders.

Let the concert begin. We, and the birds, lived through another winter. It is a rising note from here to summer solstice. Enjoy your spring firsts... or fall lasts, depending on where you are on this amazing planet of ours.

Spring Is A Good Time To Celebrate All Life

All of Earth's life forms are from the same Tree of Life.

People around the world are celebrating life this week. Whether you are celebrating Eostre, the Mother Goddess, Easter, Passover, or Spring Equinox, it is all about rejoicing in the exuberance of life.

Life is something that has been woefully cheapened these days. Human beings are disturbingly expendable, and many thousands are sacrificed every week at the altar to the military-industrial complex and the lust for power, money and glory. 

How we treat non-human life is regrettably worse. We are nasty to each other, and we are deadly to the life forms that are either tasty, or that get in the way of our plans and ambitions. Billions and billions of Earth's creatures are slaughtered every year to feed humans. Many more die as a result of basic human greed.

How can one celebrate life and do it justice, while engaging in its destruction at the same time? Those fluffy yellow balls of chicks are cute, but many more like them are going to be debeaked, warehoused, then killed after short lives stuffed in cages while we steal their eggs.

Unless they are males in which case they are "quickly macerated" shortly after birth. Not exactly an image you want to think about during a celebration of life.

Like us, chickens and cows and pigs and turkeys and fish just want to live and be free. Like us, they are sentient, and that should give us pause. Spring is a good time to consider that reality.

In an article called "After 2,500 Studies, It's Time to Declare Animal Sentience Proven", cognitive ethologist Mark Bekoff writes,

"The animals will be grateful and warmly thank us for paying attention to the science of animal sentience. When we listen to our hearts, we are recognizing how much we know about what other animals are feeling and that we owe it to them to protect them however we can."

Whether the animal in question is a human or a dog or cat or fish or cow, let us reflect on how we are treating the life around us, and how we are protecting it. All life is sacred.

Listen to your heart. Celebrate Life.

Happy Spring.



Note: This is an updated and reprinted post.

Spring Eating

Our fridge purged and cleaned after spring eating. No bad food surprises hiding here.

Spring cleaning our home is something we do most years around this time. We also usually do a bit of spring eating. Occasionally the two go together.

Last week our menu consisted of whatever was in our fridge. We vowed to not go food shopping till our fridge was purged of all aged food items. It is a good way to make sure that you have a 100% circulation of food so as to minimize waste and maximize nutrient content.

When doing our spring eating we eat what needs to be eaten rather than what we want to eat. It makes for some interesting cooking when sticking to only what is immediately available. Old apples? Apple crisp. Carrots, celery, green pepper, onions, tofu? Stir fry. Or add a can of tomatoes and make pasta sauce.

It lasted longer than we expected, too. We hadn't been to the food store for over two weeks by the time we ate through everything.

After we noshed our way through most everything in the fridge, I cleaned it from top to bottom. Being mostly empty, it was fairly easy and fast. When that was done we stocked up with fresh munchables.

Now the fridge is clean and fresh, just like the food it contains. Here's to new beginnings. And home cooked fresh, whole foods.

Spring Is A Time To Celebrate Life

The millions of species of life on Earth are all part of a sacred spiral that binds us all.

Billions of people around the world are celebrating life this week. Whether you are celebrating Eostre, the Great Mother Goddess, or Easter, Passover, or Spring Equinox, it is all about rejoicing in the exuberance of life.

Life is something that has been woefully cheapened these days. Human beings are disturbingly expendable, and many thousands are sacrificed every week at the altar to the military-industrial complex and the lust for power, money and glory. 

How we treat non-human life is regrettably worse. We are nasty to each other, and we are deadly to the life forms that are either tasty, or that get in the way of our plans and ambitions. Billions and billions of Earth's creatures are slaughtered every year to feed humans.

How can one celebrate life and do it justice, while engaging in its destruction at the same time? Those fluffy yellow balls of chicks are cute, but many more like them are going to be debeaked, warehoused, then killed after short lives stuffed in cages while we steal their eggs.

Unless they are males in which case they are "quickly macerated" shortly after birth. Not exactly an image you want to think about on the first day of Spring.

Like us, chickens and cows and pigs and turkeys and fish just want to live and be free. Like us, they are sentient, and that should give us pause. Spring is a good time to think on that idea a bit.

In an article called "After 2,500 Studies, It's Time to Declare Animal Sentience Proven", cognitive ethologist Mark Bekoff writes,

"The animals will be grateful and warmly thank us for paying attention to the science of animal sentience. When we listen to our hearts, we are recognizing how much we know about what other animals are feeling and that we owe it to them to protect them however we can."

Whether the animal in question is a human or a dog or cat or fish or cow, let us reflect on how we are treating the life around us, and how we are protecting it. All life is sacred, and all life just wants to live.

Just like us.

Listen to your heart. Celebrate Life.

Happy Spring.

Spring

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”

- Henry Van Dyke


“No matter how bad a state of mind you may get into, if you keep strong and hold out, eventually the floating clouds must vanish and the withering wind must cease.”

― Dōgen


Time for a walk in the world outside
And a look at who I am
Originally I had no cares
And I am seeking nothing special
Even for my guests I have nothing
To offer except these white stones
And this clear spring water.

- Zen poem

Simple Gifts: Spring Colour

Fiddleheads splash green along the banks of Pine Brook, a short walk from our new home.

After a bleak winter of black and white (mostly white) it is nice to have a bit of colour creeping back into the local landscape. Fern fronds called fiddleheads are part of that colour, and are excellent evidence of Spring's exuberant pallet.

Fiddleheads are a nutritious wild food that have been eaten in Nova Scotia for hundreds of years. Scientists have discovered that this green delicacy contains omega 3 fatty acids, and more anti-oxidants than blueberries, another wild food that grows here.

The trees in town are greening out, but up here on the ridge the buds are just beginning to break with the green applied sparingly at the moment.

A few more warm, sunny days and 50 shades of green will flush across the valley below, a pen and ink drawing of tree skeletons no more. 

Spring Blessing

Spring Blessing

One day you wake up

able to name the weight 

you’ve been carrying.

Realizing it’s not part of your body or your being,

not essential in any way to journeying or joy,

you set it down gently, without fanfare

in the long soft grass at the side of the road

and walk on

surprised to find yourself

smiling in the warm sun

for no particular reason.

- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Spring Is Possible

A bit of salal from the British Columbia Pacific forest starting to flower in Nova Scotia.

What a difference a few thousand kilometres make. Our previous home on the west coast has experienced what someone has called the "winter without winter". At the same time the east coast is still recovering after one of the coldest and snowiest on record. What a time to move!

Here in Nova Scotia gardeners are keen to get some of their plantings outside which I am told, would normally be happening around this time of year. But big drifts of snow persist and there is little ground showing.

After 9 years of living in our west coast Mediterranean climate (which could see signs of spring in January or February), I had to take evasive action to assure me that the season is changing.

I had bought some cut flowers a couple of weeks ago and they had some west coast salal in them. After a while I noticed flower buds breaking. Spring. There it is. It's inside, but it is happening.

Salal flowers - one of the only signs of spring so far, but I will take what I can get.

I had also collected a bit of branch off of a deer-browsed tree while on a snowshoe hike. I wanted to try to identify the tree that the deer were eating, but had little luck without leaves to help out. Linda suggested we put the branch in water and see what happens.

Another bit of spring is what happened, and we were rewarded with one tiny white flower. I still haven't identified the tree it came from, but I recognize spring when I see it.

So small, so significant, so reassuring - "Spring is possible".

Simple Living Soul Mate

Canoeing and kissing at Matheson Lake near Victoria, BC.

After researching simple living for years I have come to realize that one of the biggest challenges a simple living individual has is meeting someone who is compatible with such a lifestyle. Time after time on websites and blogs I have seen people lamenting the lack of potential mates willing to embark on a life of voluntary simplicity.

I am happy (and relieved) to say that I do not have such a problem.

I first met Linda 28 years ago in a chance encounter at a breakfast with mutual friends. I knew that she was special when on one of our first dates she agreed to go camping with me. Shortly after that we were backpacking through grizzly territory in the Rockies, then through the ancient trees in cougar territory on the west coast.

Anyone that goes camping (and likes it) has already planted the seeds of living simply. Linda was an awesome camper from the start. I quickly learned that she is tough, handling the harshest weather, muddiest trails, and most punishing kayak paddles with determination and good cheer.

At the time I didn't know any other women that enjoyed the kind of extreme camping that we were doing together. I felt very fortunate to have found a simple living soul mate.

We went on to enjoy 2 decades of camping, hiking and paddling together in joyous experiences of an unforgiving simplicity immersed in nature.

Like me, Linda enjoys stripping life to the barest of essentials and living as close as possible to how nature intended, whether in the wilderness or at home.

Today I celebrate not only the first official day of Spring, but also the anniversary of marrying a life partner who willingly chose the challenges of voluntary simplicity with me. What a rare and unique treasure - someone who only wishes to live a beautiful, simple life unencumbered by all the conspicuous consumption and posturing.

With Linda what I saw that first day was what I got. And what I got was a total honesty about living as good a life as one can, without doing harm. Thank you for 28 years of simplicity. I look forward to 28 more.