Connections

Perceiving and establishing connections is a Chariklo skill. Chariklo is the lady centaur, married to Chiron the wounded healer, whose superpower is weaving grace into creation. Perceiving and establishing connections is basic to weaving. 

The art of making connections, which is kind of existential darning, weaving, spinning, plaiting, is supportive to living simply. "If this, therefore that," advances simplicity.

Here's an example.

It's cold. This is natural, because it's winter, and I am so glad it's cold. Year on year the government money I earn, by my solar panels feeding electricity into the national grid, is steadily creeping up — and while I am grateful for the extra dosh, I feel profoundly uneasy about it, since it's obviously a measure of the climate changing. I try not to bury my head in the sand, I try to be clear-sighted and brave about the mess we've got ourselves into, and live in such a way as to be part of the solution rather than contribute to the problem, but in all honesty, I also feel very scared about how this is going to pan out. Therefore, when it is cold in winter, when steady soft rain falls in February, when icy winds blow in March, where once I'd have hated it now it makes me happy. One more year to be grateful the seasons are exactly as they should be and we aren't stuffed yet. 

So it's cold and I am glad. I don't want to turn on the central heating, except every now and then to dry out the house, because I'm not a big fan of central heating. I prefer the woodstove, and a cold bedroom with a hot water bottle in the bed. 

There are a two principles to observe in keeping warm, if you want to live simply. One is to insulate your large blood vessels. These pass close to your skin surface at your ankles, wrists and neck. So if you wear a roll-neck sweater or a scarf, and gloves, and thick woollen socks with roll-over tops, you will insulate the arteries through which heat is otherwise lost, and stay a lot warmer. The second thing is to wear a hat. The brain has to be kept at a more or less constant temperature, and the body will rob other organs of warmth to protect the brain. So if you wear a hat and insulate your brain, your entire body will get less cold. 

In winter I also wear merino wool tights, which are brilliant — reasonably breathable, so not suffocatingly hot, but nice and warm.

These last few days as the temperature has been dropping and the air damp, though, my legs have been cold out walking. I have a wool skirt, but it's the one I keep for best, and my everyday skirts are linen or cotton. So I decided I needed an underskirt. I looked on eBay to see what I could find second-hand, and then — ding! — I remembered something.

In a box under my bed I have some skirts I feel a bit guilty about buying. They are full skirts, very pretty, made of stretchy jersey fabric, lined, and the fabric is gathered onto a yoke close-fitted around the waist and hips. The problem with them is they not quite long enough. They're 33", where I prefer my skirts to be 34" or 35". So they are just that bit shorter than my everyday skirts, and because of the style they will make perfect underskirts, and because of the fullness they will keep my legs warm. Ha! Bingo! Ready-made underskirts! 

One might think this re-purposing would have been immediately obvious to me, but it wasn't — and I think that is in part symptomatic of being steeped in consumer culture. On every side I am encouraged by corporate forces to buy new items specifically designed for one purpose only, rather than own fewer items useful for multiple purposes. 

I think part of living responsibly in 2020, which offers us the last chance to put the brakes on carbon emissions, is to give myself the time and space to look creatively at what I already have, and save some money to help the many, many people who are struggling and could use a little extra support.

Talking of which — I wonder if you remember my telling you about Mama's Healing Salve? 

Here she is, the Mama of Mama's Healing Salve:

And this is her son Micah.

Micah is what I think of as a sunshine person. Loving, kind, supportive — in general a blessing to his family and everyone who knows him. He is, unfortunately in a spot of bother.

The day before Christmas Eve, Micah was driving home in his truck along a road with a line of seventeen cars coming in the opposite direction. An impatient driver at the back of the line decided to put his foot on the floor and overtake them all. His car hit Micah's truck head-on at speed. As a result, Micah's legs and arms and jaw were broken, part of his gut has had to be removed and his spleen lacerated. Extensive surgeries were required and a long, slow, painful road of recovery lies before him. He's been doing well, but has a fever today. In due course he will be able to come home, but for the time being the only place for him to be is in hospital.

With characteristic cheerfulness and courage he has been doing his best. Here he is, still smiling, courtesy of his mother's Facebook photos:

Micah's family is not rich. He has health insurance, but it's not yet known how much of the therapeutic support he needs his insurance will cover — you know how eye-wateringly expensive hospital bills can be.

So his friend Leah has set up a crowd-funding page for Micah, to help cover the bills for his recovery. 

It has occurred to me that if I keep making connections — instead of throwing away one thing and buying another — then I can free up a pleasing financial margin to help when things go wrong like this. Our present political climate is deepening poverty and removing safety nets for the people who most need them. Perhaps the connections we make to weave the fabric of simplicity protecting the Earth can also weave a delicate — but at the same time almost unbreakable — fabric of love. A Chariklo shawl.

Help Micah if you can, my friends.