Life used to be simpler. We have gizmos, devices, technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier, but think about these things:

• Remember when your phone didn’t follow you everywhere, demanding continual response?
• Remember when you could just go to the doctor and get help without filling out reams of papers, and wondering if you would be able to afford the visit?
• Remember when you didn’t have to know the name of medicines and their possible side effects?
• Remember when you just ate food and didn’t think about glycemic index, cholesterol, gluten, veganism, or happy chickens?
• Remember when you had never heard of identity theft?
• Remember when people didn’t cuss on TV or talk about private body functions and then try to sell medicine for them?
• Remember when you had never heard of a “carbon footprint”?
• Remember when you never considered whether something was organic or local or sustainable?
• Remember when you could have a lawn without feeling guilty about it?
• Remember when a fire in the fireplace was a normal guilt-free way to add warmth and comfort to a cold evening?
• Remember when you only needed a password if you were playing a spy game with a friend? Something common, like “open sesame”?
• Remember when “carbs” were called “starches”?
• Remember when the only thing you backed up was your car, and you did it by putting your arm across the back of the seat and actually turned your head instead of watching a little television?
• Remember when you could ride in the back of a pick-up? Or drink from the garden hose?
• Remember when there were drinking fountains and no one carried around expensive bottles of water? You drank when you were thirsty, not when you needed to “hydrate”. . . “Hydrate”?? What is the matter with everyone?
• Remember when you wore sneakers for every activity?
• Remember back before you had heard of “plantar fasciitis”, “carpal tunnel syndrome”, “irritable bowel”, “acid reflux”?
• Remember when you got home from vacation, and all you had to do was collect the mail at the post office?

Yeah.

That’s why people like to color. It returns us to a simpler activity that we enjoyed in simpler times. It requires no special skill, no guilt, no medical terminology, no technology or user name.

This is why I made a coloring book. Easy. Simple. No password required.

Heart of the Hills: a Three Rivers and Sequoia Coloring Book  is available at the Three Rivers Mercantile, Kaweah River Trading Company, Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.

That last one probably will require a user name and password. If you see me around, I’ll have a few in the trunk of my car. We can do business that way. Simple.

$15 each plus tax. Easy.