A Blog of Personal Thoughts
I Live in Rural US
October 2025
Eighty percent of the US population lives in urban areas. That leaves 20% of us to live quietly. I live in the rural US. I prefer it to living in an urban area. It’s quiet, peaceful, holds room for thought and wandering and feels good. It doesn’t matter what the season where I live. I love the silence.
By chance, I listened to Rainn Wilson today. He’s an environmentalist and a star in a TV show. His name meant nothing to me, but his words did. Wilson spoke of the spirituality of nature, the awe of the natural world. He suggested spending more time outside. His 20-5-3 made me laugh, not because it’s a poor idea, it’s an excellent idea, but to me it’s minimal.
Nature is “profoundly sacred, spiritual even,” he said. Yes, I agree.
I often think I’ll write a poem about silence, fog, the ocean, snow, the forest, kayaking in the wilderness. Goodness! How many times have I written about such events already?
The 20-5-3 rule he suggests—spend 20 minutes outside three times a week. Spend five hours a month “somewhere a little wild.” Go off the grid three days a year.
I share my rural life that fits his 20-5-3 rule. My husband and I live this way by choice. He laughed and said he’s lucky to spend 20 minutes inside each day, a bit of an exaggeration. Rule 1: Spend 20 minutes a day outdoors. For both of us, 20 minutes a day in the wild is minimal. His is about four hours a day and mine is at least one. Rule 2: Spend five hours a month somewhere a little wild. We live in a wild place except when we take a trip to Juneau or some city Outside. Even when we go to southeastern Oregon, we walk an hour or four in the forest or desert. Rule 3: Go off the grid three days a year. A kayak trip. A camping trip in Lake County, Oregon. Live without a cell phone for three days. Sometimes and some places I have no reception. Again, that one is almost too easy to do.
I give a glimpse of the seasons.
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View out the door of my house in winter |
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Storytime in rural Alaska |
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Rhododendron and azaleas in Hendricks Park, Eugene, OR |
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Husband relaxing on the deck on a spring day |
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Kew Gardens, London. August 2007. A quiet place to when you live in a busy city. For some, this is their place of “a little wild.” I went there when in London, or the Royal Botanic Gardens when I lived in Edinburgh. In New York City, my wilderness was in various art museums. |
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Our garden in summer. |
I lived eight years in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eight years in Eugene, Oregon, 22 years in Lawrance and Topeka, Kansas, a year in London, two in Edinburgh. Other than that, I’ve lived eight years in small New England towns, but home in Gustavus is the most off the grid I’ve lived. It is wonderful here. We used to have a lot more moose and black bear wander through when they were more numerous. Hunting cut our moose from about 400 to 100. Black bear used to wander our woods, but with the brown bears moving in, the blacks seem to vanish. I miss them both, although I don’t have to look over my shoulder when going between the house and studio these days.
One thing about living here…. As a friend said, I know a moose or a bear when I see one. When I’m in a city, I don’t know who a mugger might be. I’ll take the moose or bear as they always wear their own skin.
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Autumn view out my study window 2012. I miss New England’s variegated colors of deciduous trees. |
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