Just Wondering...

I have been sitting on the couch kind of surfing/lurking on different sites, mostly blogs. I am so amazed at the number of people that are my age or younger who have really taken to handmade items. Gosh! It must be a really attractive option for folks in the Gen X-straddling Gen Y- demographic. And while I was drooling over the life of a family of 5 somewhere in Maine, who knit their own cute stocking caps, hang out at country fairs, go on family trips to pick organic apples and carry them home in beautiful handwoven baskets, I was wondering where this desire had come from? Certainly, not everyone in my age group has gone nouveau hippy, but it seems like a lot of them have. And I kind of like it. As long as I can still take a bath and I'm not required to hug everyone I meet. But anyway, I'm thinking back on my own upbringing. Moldy, cold days in a town kind of near the ocean in beautiful Oregon - mismatched corduroy pants, thick cable-knit socks, cheeks red with cold, nose most likely running, running the cider press in the back yard. And I miss it. And I'm betting that there are many people my age who have been so turned off by all the commercial crap thrown in their faces from the time their parents decided to get cable tv, that they just want to slow it down, make something with their own two hands, and make sure their children aren't having the toxic childhood that they had. And I'm NOT making a statement against our parents. Good grief, it doesn't all go back to that. I'm just saying that, I think, people around my age were bombarded with so much in the way of a sensory assault, that we're kind of tired. Think about it, we were really the first generation to use computers in school, MTV was the background to our adolescent years, we wore shoes made of plastic and bracelets to match, we watched the ME Generation grabbing all they could, bad perms and even worse clothing. Is it any wonder that people are fed up? All this to say that I'm really admiring those folks with their organic applesauce and handmade, hand-spun clothing. I really hope they keep it up.