Tag Archives: country living

Country living, the good and the bad

Posted on September 22, 2012 | Comments Off

If you’ve been following my blog then you know that I live in a 130+ year old

Seckle Pears, also called sugar pears

farmhouse in a county that doesn’t even have a single stoplight (and they’re proud of it.) This is a big change from the megalopolis that I lived in 25 years ago where I had to fight three and a half million people to work every day. Yippee for rush hour! Now my drive is about 25 minutes of beautiful rolling countryside. Yeah, the weather can affect that which is why I have 4 wheel drive. It’s a necessity out here.

I often have people say to me, How can you stand to be so far away from everything? Don’t you miss the services in the big city? What about shopping? I just give them one of those are you kidding me? looks. So…I have satellite TV. I have satellite internet which is faster than my high speed internet at work. And, well, UPS delivers. I’m only about an hour from an international airport but I live in the middle of my 90 acres. Taxes are low. I can’t see even a single neighbor from my house. And those neighbors that I have, I actually know. As an aside, did you ever realize that when you are packed in like sardines in the city, that you often don’t even know your next door neighbor? How sad is that?

My mailman will actually bring a package to my door and, if I’m not home, just stick it in my studio. My husband exchanges recipes with the UPS guy. If you need help, you just call someone. People actually show up! And much of the payment for services might be a basket of pears or some fresh eggs. Or an I’ll catch you later.

In case you’re looking for your own place in the country, I can tell you that property is usually much cheaper. My 90 acres isn’t in the heart of NYC or LA. It’s not actually enough to make a living on unless you’re doing some intensive farming, but it’s a nice place. In Texas this would just be a big back yard.

So, what are the disadvantages of country life? Well, you know those friendly neighbors? They really do want to know all your business, or at least seem to. I’ve always contended that it would be easier to hide in a city with a million people than it would to be in a place with a million acres. People out here notice things. Not in a bad way necessarily, but if your cow is out, they’ll stop and tell you. Or bring you a pie when you are sick.

There is also that shopping thing. When I run out of that essential ingredient for a recipe, it’s a long way to town if the local mom and pop store doesn’t carry it. (You learn to improvise a lot.) And restaurants tend to be a little more countryfied. You probably won’t find that goat cheese pizza at Sally’s Truck Stop. The wine offerings at Wal-Mart are certainly limited and the clothes down at the J.C.Penny….well, let’s just stick to basics. On the other hand, think of how much money I can save from impulse buys!

A trip to the city usually involves a good part of a day and lots of stops. I find myself saving up all my shopping for a single trip. Also, there is a constant list on the fridge of what I need to buy next time I go to the big city. But art supplies, books, even tractor parts can now be purchased on line at often cheaper prices than at the stores so what is wrong with that? I’m saving money on two fronts, i.e., not shopping as much and doing more internet shopping.

One really big advantage of living in the country is the stars! I just love to stand out in the dark gaze at all that magnificence. And just wait for a meteor shower! Wow! There are also the critters, for better or worse. Possums and skunks, rabbits (there go my new expensive perennials), squirrels, and chipmunks. Deer are pretty but very dangerous to vehicular traffic. We’ve had run-ins with seven of those rats with antlers, one resulting in totalling a brand new car. Coyotes running the creek beds on a frosty night will send shivers up your spine and make you snuggle deeper under the covers with their howls and yips. Whipoorwills are nocturnal and blasted persistent if one happens to take up residence in a tree outside the bedroom window. And very occasionally a bobcat which sounds like a woman screaming. OOOOooooooo.

But overall, the country life is the life for me. I love the peace. The decompression on the way home at night. I love the change of the seasons which seem so intense. I love picking fresh vegetables from the garden or fruit from my orchards. Yep, green acres is the place for me. (I can’t believe I just said that.)

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Posted in country living, garden, old house, opinion

Tagged country living, kit miracle, old house, orchard

Books. Books. Books. My secret addiction.

Posted on August 31, 2012 | Comments Off

When I was a little girl and first discovered the wonders of reading, I vowed to read every book in the world. I can’t tell you how old I was before I actually realized the impossibility of that. But I’ve been trying ever since.

I’m not quite sure why I took to reading so well. I wasn’t a particularly precocious child. I didn’t have parents who pushed me to read at age two or anything. But I did have a parent who read to me every night and we always had books around the house. We had a three-volume anthology of children’s poetry and stories, plus my father had a complete set of the classics. You know the kind. The ones all bound in red. Probably one of those order by mail deals.

When I finally learned to read for myself, I was off like a horse at the Kentucky Derby. I haven’t stopped since. I had my first library card at the town library. These were the days where you were issued one of those cardboard cards with the numbered medal plates that made an impression on the card in the pocket of the book. After I’d gone through most of the children’s section, I was given the privilege of moving up to the adult section of the library. This was a really big deal to me at the time. It was a very old library of many floors with steam radiators, high ceilings, dusty corners. Later in high school, my friends and I would haunt the study rooms in the overheated atmosphere. Yes, even before computers.

In college, I actually had a campus job of working in the library which was wonderful. I could cruise the stacks, get first dibs on the newest selections, and really learned how to research. By the time I graduated, I had been promoted to the reference desk. Sigh. What fun!

Just a small part of my secret addiction.

In the past many years, my interest in reading has only grown. It continues to amaze me to realize that we can still share the thoughts of people who have been dead for centuries. It’s as if they are still here, whispering to us.

My interest in acquiring books has never waned either. I still want to possess them. I love the tactile feel, the smell of the ink, the heft and weight of the books. I love to see them on my shelves. Most of the online booksellers know me very well, as well as many of the used booksellers. I love to cruise bookstores, both old and new, and often ensure that I locate the nearest bookstores when I’m traveling. Going into a bookstore for me is akin to an alcoholic visiting a bar. It’s a very dangerous (and expensive) proposition.

But what about electronic books, you say. They take up much less space and are easily transportable. Humph! My son bought me a Kindle for Mother’s Day. Well…..it has its uses. I can download nearly any book in the public domain and can often read a book for much less than the price of the “real” book. But it just isn’t the same.

And then to further feed my addiction, several years ago I was invited by Amazon to participate in their Vine program. I’ll write about that another time but the jist of the program is that they send me free books every month and all I have to do is review them. I don’t even have to give them a good review! How cool is that?!

So, thank you Ms. Kuhlman way back in first grade for teaching me to read. You probably didn’t realize the path you set me on then. And I’m really sorry I stole that Little Golden Book from the classroom library. It was my first and only foray into crime. I think I’ve more than made up for it since in the many many books that I’ve donated to libraries wherever I’ve lived.

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Posted in books

Tagged Amazon, books, country living, kit miracle, library, Vine

Handmade bricks

Posted on August 20, 2012 | Comments Off

New sidewalk from very old brick

This old house is at least 130 years old that we know of and, we think, about 30 years older. The front half is log, yeah, the REAL old logs, and we think it was part of an original land grant in these parts.

Even though we’ve lived here for over 25 years, we are always uncovering surprises. This summer, my son who was home from college, decided to replace the brick sidewalk we had in front. (All without any prompting from mom. Thank you, Ben!) A few years back we had the old metal roofs replaced (subject for another post). In the process, it was more expedient to take off the old chimneys which were no longer used. That pile of bricks was behind my studio. So…my son took it upon himself to clean off all the century-old grout from the bricks. Upon examining them closely, we realized that they were all handmade. And if we looked really closely, we could even see the fingerprints of the maker. That person is long gone but his legacy lives on.

This is why I often feel the history of the old place. Many times we get caught up in our own little immediate problems but they don’t seem so big when put in the perspective of looking back over a 150 years of births, deaths, droughts, storms, wars, and all manner of other “immediate” problems. Makes ya think, doesn’t it?

: New sidewalk from very old brick

: Closeup of the fingerprints left by the brick maker

: One of the handmade bricks with arrow pointing to maker’s fingerprints

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Posted in country living, old house

Tagged country living, handmade bricks, old house

Art. Books. Country living

Posted on August 12, 2012 | Comments Off

I thought I’d combine my primary loves all into one website. I live on a 90 acre farm in Southern Indiana. I’ve been a professional artist for 30 years. And everyone knows that I’m a true book addict. What better way to pull it all together than through this one place?

In the coming months, I’ll put up some of my art, entertain you with my very opinionated views of books and art, and some of the funnier (or not) things that go on here in the country.