Getting accustomed to the simple life

Making tea by the light of the rising sun.

We're accustomed to camping, but there's something quite different and delightful about waking up in a building where candles provide all the light and a wood stove most of the heat. We boiled water on the Magic Chef stove for tea, and retrieved our soy milk from the cooler. The silence was more profound for the lack of appliance hum. No refrigerator, no furnace blower, just birds singing outside the windows.
Shawna and Leon's house was a short walk down a moss-covered path through a stand of trees, or along a wood-chip path that took us past their compost pile, organic garden and outdoor hot tub. Either way, we passed the whale-friendly lawn. We didn't see any whales, but we're sure that they would have approved.

Over the hill and through the woods.

The pesticide- and fertilizer-free lawn benefits creatures of the sea.

The simple house is built of wood milled on Orcas Island, with a steel roof common to the area.

When they don't have visitors, Shawna and Leon are voracious morning-time readers. With no internet access in their house, they are able to satisfy their curiosity reading books and discussing what they've learned. It was a reminder to us of how distracted we are by our 24/7 access to the internet and the expectations of uninterrupted communication, which often prevent us from delving more deeply into topics of interest to us.
We worked hard during the day. But that didn't keep us--or them--from taking advantage of the beauty of the area. We were able to get out for walks as well as paddles, and it was clear that they had not lost track of how remarkable it is to live in an area with such natural appeal.

A walk just outside of East Sound.

 A paddle to Obstruction Island offered opportunities to play in eddy lines and ferry across current.

This little guy was hanging on by a thread.

By the time we returned to our home in the barn, the sun had set and it was time to light the candles again. It's a life we could get used to, and over the course of a week we started to feel as though we had.