Becoming A Homebody
by James Glaser
April 15, 2011

I don't know how or why it happened, but these days I would rather stay home and work in the studio, yard, or garden than go to town and do something.

First off, our yard has gotten big, about three acres. It is filled with large oaks, and every day it seems I can spend some time picking up fallen branches or Spanish Moss. The vegetable garden needs tending to all the time, and working in the studio is fun.

Wanda and I try and do as much as we can together, and when I am working on my garden she has her flowers to tend, and then we are always planning new projects.

It has gotten to the point that when I do go to town to just sort of goof around and talk to people I start feeling a bit guilty. That isn't bad, because all the work at home is by choice, and I do feel better after getting things done.

Every once in while we will look at a picture of the yard before and after and see how far we have come. It sort of gives us a shot in the arm and pushes us on to do new things. New things like, tell me does this sound like being old or what, we are now putting together a bird feeding area with flowers the humming birds like, so that we can see them out our home office window.

Really it isn't such an "old" thing to do. It is something you probably thought of years ago, but you had kids at home and no time. Now the trick it getting the energy together to do those things that would have been a snap thirty years ago.

I guess you stay at home if your interests are fulfilled and you feel comfortable there. For me, it is almost like meditation to work in the yard. You can hear the wind, the ground animals and the birds singing. Oh yes, you can hear a tree fall in the woods, and in the past year and a half I have heard two fall and got to see one of them do just that. It was pretty exciting.

I'll tell you though, it isn't less expensive staying at home, because when you do go to town you are buying things for your home and yard. Trees, shrubs, and plants can get pricey, and then you need those bags of potting soil, that new compost container that spins on a framework. Lawn mower, power weed whips, hand tools, garden carts, rain gauge, and some outdoor furniture.

Of course with all that stuff, you need some place to keep it so you ether buy or build a storage building and to be a "real" gardener, you should have a potting shed. And for me, a tree house, too.

So, I now stay at home. And you know what? I like it!

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