Passing the passion, tag

I just adore this recent post from Matthew at
an endless abundance
& thought that you might like it too : )

As a single parent and a full time student, sometimes my financial

means can become a little thin. Its not always comfortable,

but to have built my independent adult life from simple beginnings 

has nurtured something I now find profoundly rewarding. Although, 

it's also been partly inherent by nature, with parents as passionate

as I about the relics and often forgotten simplicity of those beautiful

lives of the past. I cherish my now well developed resourcefulness,

it has become a way of life that I would not change for all the money

in the world. It has coloured every element of who I have become,

and it greatly influences both my appreciation for the simple things

in my life; and the way in which I present my philosophical views

of life in how I raise my little man.

And then there are things like maintaining Leonard, our temperamental

1950's fridge. He's a jolly reliable old chap, ruggedly handsome for his

age, and was an absolute steal. Though lets put it this way; he's Not

equipped with a frost free freezer.

But there's something so fulfilling in emerging from one of my

friendly little secondhand stores, my meeting places with others

discardedness, tightly clutching something precious and helpfully

inexpensive. I rather dislike the disposable societies that are establishing

themselves all over the show; throw away packaging, throw away plastics,

throw away people... Although the one and only upside, is for those of us

who enjoy the excitement and reward of the forage. Searching for the
beauty amongst others rubbish.

It has become effortlessly part of most days for my little man and I. He knows where to look as well as I do now, and oh how that enthralls me. He disappears to his own little hidden boxes and tables before I've seen him gone. I can see that passion growing in his eyes. He loves doing anything I do, but I can tell with his few jingly coins in his pocket he's started to love it for his own enjoyment. So this week we went, as we do, and we found, as we hope, more of the things that fill our house with life, and character, and our beloved vintage. Being the school holidays, the best thing he could have found was something that would entertain him for a few moments at a time, while I wrote by very brief and small installments a lengthy politics essay...

But this Whizzer and

Chips Annual from 

1977 that he bought 

for a dollar full of quirky

 little comic strips, 

captured his attention

 for hours upon hours.

 To the point that it 

needed confiscating

so that he could eat,

 and he loves to eat.

I discussed with him a few weeks back about the production
 of things in China. A few days later as we foraged, he stopped
 himself in the middle of asking to buy a small plastic toy,
quietly returned it to where he'd found it and we left. 

As we walked away from the shop he told me he wasn't going
to buy it because he'd realised that on the bottom it said
'made in china'.

 Life's all about choices, even when you're a child.

 courtesy of the seventies. whizzer and chips.