Older isn't always better.

This past weekend my hubby and I visited the past. Walking along restored colonial streets and touring old mansions was amazing! You see, I love old stuff, like antiques and even old things that aren't really antique...just old. Some would look around at the things I tend to collect consider them...at best obsolete and outdated...at worst, just plain junk. But I love the feeling that something has a history, that it proceeded me and was a part of another time, belonging to a world that existed years ago, before I was born. It's crazy, but I really groove on that kind of thing. Anyway, my hubby says that just 'cause something is old, it doesn't mean it's better...like old movies for instance...(another thing I love), just because it's black and white, that doesn't mean it's worth watching. Now normally I would beg to differ, but today I want to admit that sometimes newer is better. Above is a picture of the "kitchen house" on the grounds of the Berkeley Mansion. This is where all of the cooking took place...in the old days cooking was a HUGE fire hazard. Seriously, everything eventually burned down due to the wood construction and the open flames that were a part of everyday life. So the rich folks sometimes would have a separate house for cooking...and if it burned to the ground...oh well, at least you still had a home. At this particular mansion, there was even an underground tunnel through which the food was delivered to the main house. Now that's luxury! But really, there wasn't much in the way of luxury back then. Life was seriously hard. Everything was work...hard work. A few hundred years of hindsight makes colonial times seem romantic and wonderful in a simple, uncomplicated sorta way, but in actuality, no one in their right mind would want to go back in time and live like that.
Why am I rambling on about this? Welllll, I am thinking about all that I am grateful for on this Thanksgiving Eve. Even though I hold in high regard all things ancient, let me list for you the more modern things I cannot live without.
1. hot showers
2. gourmet coffee
3. mascara....SERIOUSLY..have you ever seen me without it?
4. my wonderfully deep and soft mattress
5. automatic washing machines, for clothes dishes and cars, lol
6. devices that play music
7. air conditioning ( i think I could survive on fireplace heat in the winter)
8. ovens and microwaves....and food that is already grown, harvested, delivered, etc. Goodness knows I hate to cook as it is. My family would starve real quick if it depended on me to start from scratch everyday!
9. medicine and vaccines...babies died back then...a lot of babies died.
10. friends and family that live near and can readily communicate with me whenever I want. Loneliness was a real issue back in the day.

So there you have it. Thanks goodness for 2010. Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!