Things we take for granted

OK I admit, along with the beauty came some time to really stop and think of the many blessing I truly have. Or the many that I'm sure I take for granted.
Let me start with the food. Not that it wasn't tasty, it was. But here I feel like we put so much emphasis on what we are going to eat each day since we have such a variety. We can enjoy Italian, Mexican, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and the list goes on and on. They have the real purpose of eating to sustain life.
The staple foods there are bread with butter, warm milk with cocoa and sugar added, or strained tea, rice and stew. There were a few other things that we enjoyed like Farmers Choice Sausage, but since there wasn't any refrigeration we would eat that the first day after buying it, a tortilla like bread called Chapati,that took time to make, which I felt was very sweet that they made it for us the last night we were there. As you can see Savannah was enjoying helping as much as possible, a corn meal cake, and a scone like roll. Those three were used as a bread substitute. All were really delicious.
It was fun to have the bananas available to be picked fresh, or fresh grapefruit. Delicious!

One day one of the neighbors caught fresh Tilapia fish, which switched things up a bit. With the Lake so large, fishing is common for all. In fact late at night it was quite a sight to see just the lights flickering on the lake from all of the fishing boats that were out.Of course with that fresh fish came someone that had to clean, prepare and cook the fish. And it wasn't in the comfort of a kitchen with counters.

Next was the convenience of running water. Stop to think of how easy it is to turn the faucet, and viola! water for cooking, cleaning, laundering, Showering, using the bathroom, and washing hands many times a day.
Instead you must go down to the lake each day, carry barrels of water on your head back up the hill. Then first thing in the morning bringing two dutch ovens of water to a boil to be carried out in a basin to the bath house for sponge baths, or teeth brushing, or washing dishes after meals, etc.
Then comes the washing of the cloths from the day before to be hung out on the cloth line. Michael's cousin Molly was so kind to do all of our laundry, as well as prepare our bath water.  

The milking was done daily, part to be used each day, and the other was sold to some of the neighbors, or exchanged for other goods.

At night we all slept with a net over us to keep the bugs off, and kept a flashlight close by in case of needing to get up since there was limited electricity from the solar panel and small generator. What was stored up during the day was saved for using to prepare for bed. Naomi and I would usually do a close to midnight run out to the outhouse so that we didn't have to go out by ourselves later.
It was like a camping experience for me, yet they experience this each day. Am I spoiled? Yes. However, it was nice to feel and appreciate the simplicity of life without so much to get it complicated, and that is what "Things" do.