Some things that have come up in discussions on other threads have got me thinking about this phrase:

"Living simply so others might simply live"

The lifestyle that JtS and I are living at the moment would, at the very least, be described as "unusual" (we're living in a portable house on a little bit of rented land). But I've been enjoying the minimal footprint we've been leaving on the Earth lately. "Living lightly on the Earth" is how I like to put it. We use a lot less of almost everything than we would in more "normal" circumstances. A lot less water, electricity, LP gas, gasoline, etc. Because of my many chemical sensitivities, we use mostly earth friendly cleaning products, and less of them, as well (we have less stuff to clean).

And because our wee hoose has very limited space, we've had to expand our living space to include a fair bit of outdoor space. JtS built a privacy fence around a patio area just outside, and I use that as an outside living room, work room, dining room, artist's studio, and place to entertain people (sitting around a fire in the chimenea of an evening, playing music with friends, is something we're looking forward to doing very soon).

I'm really enjoying having such a big part of my living space outdoors. I would probably spend far more time indoors if this living arrangement didn't force me outside. But this lifestyle is, in a way, the fulfillment of a fantasy. I've long had a fantasy of living somewhere like Puerto Rico, where I could do most aspects of my daily living outdoors. This isn't Puerto Rico (it's Alabama) but, for now, it's not too bad.