My Old Shandaken Home...

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I have been too busy to blog. Work, Union stuff, house and garden things to do. Bills. Laundry. Allergies which bring on lethargy. Lethargy which brings on naps. I have done nothing in the studio which is making me very sad, but I am hoping that I will get some time once the weather turns colder and I won't be gardening or tooling around the Hudson Valley enjoying some last ray of sun.

On my trekking around the countryside last weekend, I had Larry drive up to my old house, the one that I grew up in as a teenager, when in 1969 my parents moved us from Long Island to a little town in the middle of nowhere.

The house is bounded on three sides by state land, and the other side has an acre or so that my father bought and attached to the deed of the house. It is a small house, some 1300 sq. feet, smaller than the house I live in now. It sits at the base of a mountain, and has a view of another mountain from its wrap-around deck. It is a simple house in a lovely setting, 30 minutes from being deep into the Catskills, or 30 minutes from the city of Kingston.

However, it is another world. In addition to the wild life I have here in the city, there are fox, porcupines, bobcat and bears to contend with. Think I have problems with critters in my garden now?? And then there is the snow factor. It snows much more and much worse up there, and would make winter driving 45 minutes away a nightmare at times.

Why am I telling you this? Because the house and property are for sale. I could probably exchange this house for that house. And, if I could put this house on THAT property, I might seriously consider it.

Though I have a lot of horrid memories from my teen years, I choose to remember the good ones. Feeding the deer and chipmunks. Hiking through the woods. My favorite tree. The old stone walls. Art, writing, communion with nature. Peace and quiet, save for the call of the foxes, the hoot of the owl or the scream of a rabbit being caught by something larger than itself.

I envision a studio on the property, big enough to teach in. No screaming neigbors. I can have garden parties. I can have a freedom that I can't have in a city home.

From the Lovesong of J. Alfred Proofrock

“Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—....
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

Patti O Memories

Comments

Judy Vars said…
That is such a beautiful old house too bad you can't have them both.
1:29 AM
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