Initially, I was seeing un-sustainability everywhere around me here in and around the summer house. Waste is not sorted, the garden is not used for growing food. As days have gone by, I began to notice many things that are inspiring. Many objects have been in this summer house for generations. The towels belonged to my partner's grandparents, and must be 40 or so years old. The house itself serves as a summer home for some weeks to my partner's mother, her friends, my partner's child, brother and his family. It feels humbling to share a space and prepare it for my partner's family's arrival.
In the picture above is a "shopping list". It might be from the 50s, when all kinds of pasta in Denmark was referred to as makaroni. The shopping list is fascinating. It made me think about my own sufficiency list that I've written about many times here in my autoethnography. It's a playful list that I've maintained for many years and that outlines my needs and everything that makes my life comfortable. The list is very short, and it feels good to have it while the market is overflowing with goods, and every day there is a new must-have and a new trend.
And, to some extent it's up to us what practices we bring here. A few times, we walked to a supermarket. Most fellow humans would probably drive there, but we decided to combine the need to visit the supermarket and walks on the beach, in forests, through the local town.
We will be going home soon, and as souvenirs we will only bring pasta that is made on this island and a few stones that we found on the beach. With us, we will take plastic packaging that we can recycle on the ferry.