Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sutherlin, Oregon
Sunny, McD's
Well, here we are at our new house sitting assignment. We are going to be here until next June.... unbelievable! This is another house sitting assignment that we found at housecarers. Spent last evening with the homeowners. Had a wonderful roast beef dinner! We will feel lost for a few days. We must remember that and cut ourselves some slack - let ourselves settle in. We hare having coffee and giving the homeowners time to pack up. This seems like a much better location that Seattle and the house is very comfortable. The bed is great! That is a very important criteria for us AND the bedroom is very dark.... another nice plus. Guess we will spend time unpacking today. It always helps me to nest.
Showing posts with label house sitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house sitting. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Regarding TUT - aka The Universe
I am wanting to share our message from TUT (thoughts become things) today.
Before you read it, I have to tell you a couple of short stories.
First, we are at Tuckaway Farm once again and for the last couple of days we have been watching a white-tailed kite hunting for food in the pastures across the road. We look out across a huge expanse of pastureland reaching to the far hills. He hovers and then moves on, hovers and then moves on, but then if he spots something, he dives to the ground. When he or she is successful, they fly back to the south and way up the ridge and into a grove of oak trees (yep, I just went to check with the binoculars - a grove of oak trees!). It has been fascinating to watch the hunt and the bird's long flight home and then disappearance into the trees. We've actually had conversations over the past few days about the whole process of the kite's flight.
Second: this morning we got up really early, thanks to Luna the pup, who just wants us to get up early and be with her. After we wrote in our journals, we shared some of our thoughts. Before I go there, I must tell you that we drove up to northeastern Washington, an hour north and west of Spokane on July 3rd to check out an 8 month housesit assignment. It was not as advertised; no cell phone service, only dial-up internet available in the area, a water bed, a 30+ year old mobile home (nice but..... full of ruffles, pink and turquoise and absolutely full of stuff and no place for our things), a white sofa and carpet which was really strange since it was so far out. And, there would be times we would be snowed in by feet of snow. The lady is a retired school teacher who was married to a Native American. He has died and she can keep her home as long as she lives and then it will revert back to a family member in the tribe. She practically begged us to come stay while she goes to Mexico for 8 months. She even had the place staged for the showing. We went there really excited, based on the description of the place and we didn't really believe there could be only dial-up anywhere. When we got there, we were crushed, after driving that far; but like I said, thank goodness we went because we might have accepted the assignment based on the description and photos. Sooooo, after getting that excited, we started talking about our ideal situation as we drove back to Portland. We each described what it would be! 8 - 9 months, possibly year to year, starting in October so we would have our summers free and in a nice place with cell phone service and high speed internet. We even said in our ideal housesit there would be no animals so we wouldn't be totally tied down and there would be a place for me to paint.
Please keep in mind that in all of the years that we have been signed up with this housesitting service there is rarely an 8 month housesit anywhere. So, on Saturday morning I get up and check email, where I get notices about housesits in the areas I have listed. There is a notice for an 8 month housesit starting in October in Sutherlin, Oregon which is 10 miles north of our storage unit. (We didn't include being near our storage unit but guess someone was looking out for us). I wrote to the people immediately and then we talked on the phone. We'll meet with them at 5 PM tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday. It sounds like a really nice house, 2 years old, 4 bedroom, 3 baths built by the husband, who is a contractor, up on a hill overlooking the valley and only 2 miles out of the little town of Sutherlin and there are no animals to take care of. We hate to get our hopes up but we are very hopeful and excited about this. These folks go to Mexico for the winter each year, leaving in October and returning by June.
We were blown away by this housesit assignment assignment in Sutherlin since it is exactly what we asked for. We spoke our wishes on July 3rd and never thought about it again. This is an 8 month housesit that starts in October each year until these folks move to Mexico permanently in a few years, cell phone, high speed Internet, no animals, the house is grand, the deck is grand and the view is spectacular and there is a place for me to paint. They have kept their piece of property mostly natural - a very small yard below, small flowerbed out back and 2 houseplants to take care of and they told us that we could leave for as long as a week from time to time if we just let their friends in Roseburg know. Did we play a part in manifesting this housesit? How did this show up right now?
L was really blown away by the whole thing. So, we talked about our Mannatech business and how maybe we work too hard at trying to MAKE things happen. Remember, the "how" is none of our business? If we manifested this housesit, how do we tap into that? We both agreed we needed to get back to reading the books about how we create our lives with our thoughts and the law of attraction. We even spoke specifically this morning about needing more "faith" and less "how" in our lives.....that faith comes from the spiritual side and "how" come from the ego and we can see how this applies to all of life and not just our Mannatech business. And, is Mannatech our true calling? What is for our highest good? Where is our heart in all of this? These last few days have been such a rich contemplative time for us..... slow and easy. It is just what we needed. We were so beat when we got here and then we had a lovely day of rain Sunday so we were forced indoors to stillness and quiet.
Before we decided to put everything into storage, we had reached a point where we had to generate more income, and it wasn't coming from Mannatech, or go into more debt and we simply weren't willing to do that. Douglas County has a huge unemployment rate and poverty so our recruiting efforts here have been challenged. We were talking about all of this when friends contacted us, out of the blue, about doing some work for them up in Oregon City, and then when we shared about that with our friend down in Grass Valley, she asked if we would come do some work for her. We had scheduled this farm sit back in May. Our friends in Oregon City insisted on paying us way more that we billed them for, the lady in Grass Valley has done the same and we are going back to paint her big barn and house, these folks on the farm paid us more than we agreed on and our management company returned our entire deposit on our apartment, which we understand never happens. It just feels wrapped up like a present by some divine plan that we are in the center of.
We don't want to go back to that place of judgement and failure around our business that we left behind when we left our apartment and "went back to work". We have signed up new people and renewed people and even had 85 points counting toward the incentive trip to Costa Rica before we left the apartment but it seemed like we never could get the train out of the station. We are totally resisting going back down the rabbit hole. We feel a positive, fun, easy energy at play in our lives right now and we want to stay in that place. And in the past 6 weeks we have had 2 All Star sign ups, 2 members and a retail customer - through no effort on our part. Are we making up the story that we have to be "working at it" for this business to grow? Apparently, we aren't an essential part. We have been telling that story and trying to make it true - work hard, make money.
With regard to our businesses, we do feel that our income will grow. How? We don't know. We ask, Are we in the wrong place? Are we talking to the wrong people? Do we say the wrong things???? Who knows. We are trusting in a knowing, that will show up at some point. We can almost feel it, if we stop trying so hard to come up with the right answers. If we stop trying to make something happen. It seems to be coming in pieces. It's like a dance. We take a step and the Universe moves, too.
So, here we are still in the conversation about all of that and we opened TUT. (We try to read TUT together each day) I am wondering about things, like what happened with TUT this morning? James Redfield would say it is a sign that we are in the flow. We really felt like this was a special message, just for us, especially, after watching the bird and our conversations of these past few days. The whole thing seems amazing.
I am reading a wonderful book by Marsha Sinetar. A few words from that - "Each day requires a bit of transendental dreaming, as John Muir put it. The workplace of assembly lines and pat answers is evaporating. Success now depends on thinking with a "whole brain", a full awareness. As suggested this is developed gradually - verbally and nonverbally - often through classic meditative disciplines, nature experiences or "peak" moments.
Author Anthony J. Wilhem touches on this issue in theological terms saying that our labors, (i.e., work, or struggle to find answers, etc.) become burdensome because we're divorced from our inner kingdom. Having lost ourselves, we lose our way.
Now our message from "TUT... A Note from the Universe
Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside. I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.
Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?
Larry & Charlotte, that little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course, the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.
Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho, The Universe
WARNING: Larry & Charlotte, staying the course is NOT the same as clinging to a HOW.
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! ® TUT
We wish you many blessings and miracles.
With love from Tuckaway,
Larry & Charlotte
Before you read it, I have to tell you a couple of short stories.
First, we are at Tuckaway Farm once again and for the last couple of days we have been watching a white-tailed kite hunting for food in the pastures across the road. We look out across a huge expanse of pastureland reaching to the far hills. He hovers and then moves on, hovers and then moves on, but then if he spots something, he dives to the ground. When he or she is successful, they fly back to the south and way up the ridge and into a grove of oak trees (yep, I just went to check with the binoculars - a grove of oak trees!). It has been fascinating to watch the hunt and the bird's long flight home and then disappearance into the trees. We've actually had conversations over the past few days about the whole process of the kite's flight.
Second: this morning we got up really early, thanks to Luna the pup, who just wants us to get up early and be with her. After we wrote in our journals, we shared some of our thoughts. Before I go there, I must tell you that we drove up to northeastern Washington, an hour north and west of Spokane on July 3rd to check out an 8 month housesit assignment. It was not as advertised; no cell phone service, only dial-up internet available in the area, a water bed, a 30+ year old mobile home (nice but..... full of ruffles, pink and turquoise and absolutely full of stuff and no place for our things), a white sofa and carpet which was really strange since it was so far out. And, there would be times we would be snowed in by feet of snow. The lady is a retired school teacher who was married to a Native American. He has died and she can keep her home as long as she lives and then it will revert back to a family member in the tribe. She practically begged us to come stay while she goes to Mexico for 8 months. She even had the place staged for the showing. We went there really excited, based on the description of the place and we didn't really believe there could be only dial-up anywhere. When we got there, we were crushed, after driving that far; but like I said, thank goodness we went because we might have accepted the assignment based on the description and photos. Sooooo, after getting that excited, we started talking about our ideal situation as we drove back to Portland. We each described what it would be! 8 - 9 months, possibly year to year, starting in October so we would have our summers free and in a nice place with cell phone service and high speed internet. We even said in our ideal housesit there would be no animals so we wouldn't be totally tied down and there would be a place for me to paint.
Please keep in mind that in all of the years that we have been signed up with this housesitting service there is rarely an 8 month housesit anywhere. So, on Saturday morning I get up and check email, where I get notices about housesits in the areas I have listed. There is a notice for an 8 month housesit starting in October in Sutherlin, Oregon which is 10 miles north of our storage unit. (We didn't include being near our storage unit but guess someone was looking out for us). I wrote to the people immediately and then we talked on the phone. We'll meet with them at 5 PM tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday. It sounds like a really nice house, 2 years old, 4 bedroom, 3 baths built by the husband, who is a contractor, up on a hill overlooking the valley and only 2 miles out of the little town of Sutherlin and there are no animals to take care of. We hate to get our hopes up but we are very hopeful and excited about this. These folks go to Mexico for the winter each year, leaving in October and returning by June.
We were blown away by this housesit assignment assignment in Sutherlin since it is exactly what we asked for. We spoke our wishes on July 3rd and never thought about it again. This is an 8 month housesit that starts in October each year until these folks move to Mexico permanently in a few years, cell phone, high speed Internet, no animals, the house is grand, the deck is grand and the view is spectacular and there is a place for me to paint. They have kept their piece of property mostly natural - a very small yard below, small flowerbed out back and 2 houseplants to take care of and they told us that we could leave for as long as a week from time to time if we just let their friends in Roseburg know. Did we play a part in manifesting this housesit? How did this show up right now?
L was really blown away by the whole thing. So, we talked about our Mannatech business and how maybe we work too hard at trying to MAKE things happen. Remember, the "how" is none of our business? If we manifested this housesit, how do we tap into that? We both agreed we needed to get back to reading the books about how we create our lives with our thoughts and the law of attraction. We even spoke specifically this morning about needing more "faith" and less "how" in our lives.....that faith comes from the spiritual side and "how" come from the ego and we can see how this applies to all of life and not just our Mannatech business. And, is Mannatech our true calling? What is for our highest good? Where is our heart in all of this? These last few days have been such a rich contemplative time for us..... slow and easy. It is just what we needed. We were so beat when we got here and then we had a lovely day of rain Sunday so we were forced indoors to stillness and quiet.
Before we decided to put everything into storage, we had reached a point where we had to generate more income, and it wasn't coming from Mannatech, or go into more debt and we simply weren't willing to do that. Douglas County has a huge unemployment rate and poverty so our recruiting efforts here have been challenged. We were talking about all of this when friends contacted us, out of the blue, about doing some work for them up in Oregon City, and then when we shared about that with our friend down in Grass Valley, she asked if we would come do some work for her. We had scheduled this farm sit back in May. Our friends in Oregon City insisted on paying us way more that we billed them for, the lady in Grass Valley has done the same and we are going back to paint her big barn and house, these folks on the farm paid us more than we agreed on and our management company returned our entire deposit on our apartment, which we understand never happens. It just feels wrapped up like a present by some divine plan that we are in the center of.
We don't want to go back to that place of judgement and failure around our business that we left behind when we left our apartment and "went back to work". We have signed up new people and renewed people and even had 85 points counting toward the incentive trip to Costa Rica before we left the apartment but it seemed like we never could get the train out of the station. We are totally resisting going back down the rabbit hole. We feel a positive, fun, easy energy at play in our lives right now and we want to stay in that place. And in the past 6 weeks we have had 2 All Star sign ups, 2 members and a retail customer - through no effort on our part. Are we making up the story that we have to be "working at it" for this business to grow? Apparently, we aren't an essential part. We have been telling that story and trying to make it true - work hard, make money.
With regard to our businesses, we do feel that our income will grow. How? We don't know. We ask, Are we in the wrong place? Are we talking to the wrong people? Do we say the wrong things???? Who knows. We are trusting in a knowing, that will show up at some point. We can almost feel it, if we stop trying so hard to come up with the right answers. If we stop trying to make something happen. It seems to be coming in pieces. It's like a dance. We take a step and the Universe moves, too.
So, here we are still in the conversation about all of that and we opened TUT. (We try to read TUT together each day) I am wondering about things, like what happened with TUT this morning? James Redfield would say it is a sign that we are in the flow. We really felt like this was a special message, just for us, especially, after watching the bird and our conversations of these past few days. The whole thing seems amazing.
I am reading a wonderful book by Marsha Sinetar. A few words from that - "Each day requires a bit of transendental dreaming, as John Muir put it. The workplace of assembly lines and pat answers is evaporating. Success now depends on thinking with a "whole brain", a full awareness. As suggested this is developed gradually - verbally and nonverbally - often through classic meditative disciplines, nature experiences or "peak" moments.
Author Anthony J. Wilhem touches on this issue in theological terms saying that our labors, (i.e., work, or struggle to find answers, etc.) become burdensome because we're divorced from our inner kingdom. Having lost ourselves, we lose our way.
Now our message from "TUT... A Note from the Universe
Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside. I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.
Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?
Larry & Charlotte, that little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course, the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.
Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho, The Universe
WARNING: Larry & Charlotte, staying the course is NOT the same as clinging to a HOW.
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! ® TUT
We wish you many blessings and miracles.
With love from Tuckaway,
Larry & Charlotte
Friday, August 01, 2003
Notes from Georgia ~ August 1, 2003
Over The Rainbow
August 1, 2003 Notes from Georgia
Howdy ya'll! As many of you know we have been in Georgia the last 7 weeks.....as in the deep south and we do mean DEEEP south. How did we get to Georgia? Charlotte found a website called housecarers . You pay an annual fee to post a bio for homeowners to read and you get to read the ads listed there and then apply for house sitting jobs and so here we are in a place we have never been, housesitting for folks we met the day before they left home. So back to describing Georgia..... words that come to mind are humidity, fireflies, thunderstorms, mosquitoes, stinging scorpions, chiggers, poisonous snakes, poison ivy, American cockroaches, southern BBQ and hospitality. We have been staying in a northern suburb of Atlanta. Just imagine Los Angeles basin sitting in the middle of a jungle. One of the popular tour guides says that Atlanta is an island of sophistication in a sea of rednecks. We have been told not to repeat that too loudy in this part of the world. The small community just across the river from where we are is rich in history. The union officers resided in Roswell while they burned and destroyed Atlanta. They left much of Roswell as they found it. All around this area there are old old churches, homes and businesses.
Weather? What to say about the weather. Well, it usually rains every day...not all day but we usually get at least one shower. This morning when we left on our walk, the weather channel told us it was 78 and humidity was 93%. By time we got back to the house it felt like we had been hiking in a sauna. They say this has been a mild summer with only a few days above 90. We can only imagine what it would be like if we were having a real summer. I suspect we would feel like beans that had been left in the steamer too long. We have noticed that it is more difficult to breath when we walk. The air feels thick and heavy. They have gigantic fans blowing on the golf course. We suppose to dry the grass? We seldom see folks out and about so there's no one to ask questions of.
We are staying in a neighborhood that surrounds the Cherokee Country Club. This area was home to the Cherokee Nation until they were all moved to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears". We are in an 1800 sq. ft. basement apartment. The main house is 5600 sq. ft. and is small by comparison to most of the other residences in this area. The west side of our apartment has a few windows. The east side is underground. It is cool and dark and probably a good place to be during tornados. We sit above the famous Chattahouchee River. Locals refer to it as the Houch. We can barely glimpse the water here and there through the trees. The same is true of the sky. The thick canopy of the forest keeps us from seeing out. It is very dark in the apartment and we must keep lights on all day. We had once thought we might like an underground house but have now decided against that. We have never been so affected by our environment. The humidity and darkness have sapped our energy. We are tired every day. Lots of people we have encountered have problems with allergies because of the high mold counts. That may also contribute to fatigue. We have always been morning people. We awaken with eagerness but not in Georgia. You've heard the song.....summertime and the livin' is easy. Maybe everyone is tired. It has been our observation that people tend to move slow, talk slow and think slow. Could it be the weather?
We have seen many homes in this area that are well over 10,000 sq. feet. All anyone can tell us is that they like to build 'em big in Georgia. Huge homes, mostly brick, with expansive lawns.....enormous mowed and manucured lawns. We are living in a dense, dark forest.....all of the Atlanta area is like that. It is old growth forest overgrown with vines and bushes. Sometimes it is inpenetrable. It is amazing. We imagine it is much like the Amazon jungle since it is a rainforest. We honestly don't know how the first settlers ever got here. There are some pine but mostly it is hardwood. The trees are full of birds and insects and who knows what else. We must say we have had a good sampling of southern food. We have even ventured to the world famous Blue Willow in Social Circle, Georgia just east of here. They serve a southern buffet that has been featured in USA Today, Southern Living, Gourmet Magazine, Food and Wine and CNN Travel. ... It is located in a magnificent Greek Revival mansion. We sat in enormous rockers on the front porch while we waited for a seat. We went on a Thursday for lunch because who would drive out to a little bitty town on Thursday? We found quite a crowd waiting for their turn. It proved to be worth the wait.......fried chicken, seafood casserole, liver and onions, homemade meatloaf, greens, peas, macaroni and cheese, baked onions, sweet potatoe souffle and fried green tomatoes.... homemade cornbread and biscuits, pecan pie, peach cobbler, peanut butter pie, to die for chocolate cake, lemon pie and on and on.....too much to list everything. After that we drove to Madison for a walking tour. Madison is referred to as the Antebellum Jewel of Georgia - the city General Sherman refused to burn. The old homes and churches are impressive with many dating back to the 1830's and 40's. We came upon the minister of one of the black churches mowing the lawn and he took us on a private tour of the Calvary Baptist Church....build in 1833 by the white congregation and later sold to the black congregation.
I must say a few words about something referred to as the American Cockroach. If you want to see one for yourslef, click on this link. http://pested.unl.edu/amerroa.jpg These might be a little bigger than the ones we have encountered but not too much bigger. Our first encounter with these creatures was in the Panhandle of Texas. They come out after dark. They don't like the light. If you flip on a light switch, they scurry for cover. The other night I thought I say a mouse run across the floor. Larry got up and opened the screen as it headed for the door.....it was a roach. Don't read too much about these creatures. They like it dark and humid and they can be found in clean homes, contrary to popular belief. There are also huge beetle-type insects that land on the screens. And then there are the mosquitos. We have not been able to sit outside because in very short order they swarm all around you in a cloud. We can't forget the lowly chigger or red bug... tiny insects that live in the grass and burrow into your skin. Itch, itch, itch, itch, itch. Warning....if you are in the south, do not be lured into the lush green grass while barefoot and socks are in order if you are going to leave the pavement. I have firsthand experience in this area. And whatever you do, DO NOT sit down in the grass. It will be so tempting. Another insect that folks talk alot about but we have yet to encounter is the fire ant. We we can skip that one but we still have a few more weeks in the south so who knows. Bigotry and racism are still alive and well. It is not uncommon to hear folks use the "N word". Things have changed a great deal since I was a young girl in the south like, "white folks" and "black folks" use the same restrooms and eat in the same restaurants. There are even some nicer mixed neighborhoods but generally speaking, the ethnic groups congregate in their own little "villages" or neighborhoods. Atlanta is probably the most ethnically diverse area we have ever visited. There are people here from all over the world. Things will change a great deal in this part of the country over the next decade or two.
Now let's talk about a few of our favorite things......we love the fireflies.....some folks call them lightning bugs in this part of the world. They come out at dusk and spread their little twinkling lights throughout the trees until the next light of day. Are they there during the day and we just can't see them? It is quite magical. This is home to the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly as well as 4 other species of Swallowtail. My personal favorite is the black swallowtail. They float on the air from tree to tree and flower to flower. On warm summer afternoons the forest is alive with the sounds of the cicada. In the evening we are serenaded by the tree frogs, crickets, more cicadas and the call of the great horned owls in the neighborhood. This is home to the Cardinal, perhaps the most beautiful bird in the east. They are like bright red beacons in the green leaves of the trees. By far our most favorite natural wonder has been the spectacular thunderstorms. We are sitting in the most perfect location for a storm. This house rests atop a high bluff above the wide river canyon of the Chattahouchee and the thunder rolls and rumbles up and down the canyon. It sounds like a giant somewhere in the clouds.... bowling. We have heard claps of thunder that vibrate the house and hurt our ears. The rain pours down and and the wind whips through the trees. We stop everything just to watch until it is over. The air is filled with the smell of raindrops on hot pavement and steam rising up. The insects and birds fall silent until it is over. For the history buff this is a great place to visit but we would recommend the early spring or fall. The summer is just too hot to enjoy touring around. If your favorite color is green, this is a definite destination.
We barely scratched the surface of things we would have liked to do and may come back this way again someday. It won't be in the summertime. What I can say, we are glad we came but we wouldn't want to live here. We head west next week via Alabama and Texas. From there we will head to the state of Oregon for our second housecarer assignment in Beaverton which is near Portland. We stopped and visited briefly with the next two homeowners we'll be housesitting for. Actually, the third and longer assignment will be a farm sit... out in the country. We are really looking forward to that. We will report from the road. Every library we have visited has had great internet access and they have been kind enough to let someone passing through have a bit of time. Happy trails until next time. Larry & Charlotte
August 1, 2003 Notes from Georgia
Howdy ya'll! As many of you know we have been in Georgia the last 7 weeks.....as in the deep south and we do mean DEEEP south. How did we get to Georgia? Charlotte found a website called housecarers . You pay an annual fee to post a bio for homeowners to read and you get to read the ads listed there and then apply for house sitting jobs and so here we are in a place we have never been, housesitting for folks we met the day before they left home. So back to describing Georgia..... words that come to mind are humidity, fireflies, thunderstorms, mosquitoes, stinging scorpions, chiggers, poisonous snakes, poison ivy, American cockroaches, southern BBQ and hospitality. We have been staying in a northern suburb of Atlanta. Just imagine Los Angeles basin sitting in the middle of a jungle. One of the popular tour guides says that Atlanta is an island of sophistication in a sea of rednecks. We have been told not to repeat that too loudy in this part of the world. The small community just across the river from where we are is rich in history. The union officers resided in Roswell while they burned and destroyed Atlanta. They left much of Roswell as they found it. All around this area there are old old churches, homes and businesses.
Weather? What to say about the weather. Well, it usually rains every day...not all day but we usually get at least one shower. This morning when we left on our walk, the weather channel told us it was 78 and humidity was 93%. By time we got back to the house it felt like we had been hiking in a sauna. They say this has been a mild summer with only a few days above 90. We can only imagine what it would be like if we were having a real summer. I suspect we would feel like beans that had been left in the steamer too long. We have noticed that it is more difficult to breath when we walk. The air feels thick and heavy. They have gigantic fans blowing on the golf course. We suppose to dry the grass? We seldom see folks out and about so there's no one to ask questions of.
We are staying in a neighborhood that surrounds the Cherokee Country Club. This area was home to the Cherokee Nation until they were all moved to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears". We are in an 1800 sq. ft. basement apartment. The main house is 5600 sq. ft. and is small by comparison to most of the other residences in this area. The west side of our apartment has a few windows. The east side is underground. It is cool and dark and probably a good place to be during tornados. We sit above the famous Chattahouchee River. Locals refer to it as the Houch. We can barely glimpse the water here and there through the trees. The same is true of the sky. The thick canopy of the forest keeps us from seeing out. It is very dark in the apartment and we must keep lights on all day. We had once thought we might like an underground house but have now decided against that. We have never been so affected by our environment. The humidity and darkness have sapped our energy. We are tired every day. Lots of people we have encountered have problems with allergies because of the high mold counts. That may also contribute to fatigue. We have always been morning people. We awaken with eagerness but not in Georgia. You've heard the song.....summertime and the livin' is easy. Maybe everyone is tired. It has been our observation that people tend to move slow, talk slow and think slow. Could it be the weather?
We have seen many homes in this area that are well over 10,000 sq. feet. All anyone can tell us is that they like to build 'em big in Georgia. Huge homes, mostly brick, with expansive lawns.....enormous mowed and manucured lawns. We are living in a dense, dark forest.....all of the Atlanta area is like that. It is old growth forest overgrown with vines and bushes. Sometimes it is inpenetrable. It is amazing. We imagine it is much like the Amazon jungle since it is a rainforest. We honestly don't know how the first settlers ever got here. There are some pine but mostly it is hardwood. The trees are full of birds and insects and who knows what else. We must say we have had a good sampling of southern food. We have even ventured to the world famous Blue Willow in Social Circle, Georgia just east of here. They serve a southern buffet that has been featured in USA Today, Southern Living, Gourmet Magazine, Food and Wine and CNN Travel. ... It is located in a magnificent Greek Revival mansion. We sat in enormous rockers on the front porch while we waited for a seat. We went on a Thursday for lunch because who would drive out to a little bitty town on Thursday? We found quite a crowd waiting for their turn. It proved to be worth the wait.......fried chicken, seafood casserole, liver and onions, homemade meatloaf, greens, peas, macaroni and cheese, baked onions, sweet potatoe souffle and fried green tomatoes.... homemade cornbread and biscuits, pecan pie, peach cobbler, peanut butter pie, to die for chocolate cake, lemon pie and on and on.....too much to list everything. After that we drove to Madison for a walking tour. Madison is referred to as the Antebellum Jewel of Georgia - the city General Sherman refused to burn. The old homes and churches are impressive with many dating back to the 1830's and 40's. We came upon the minister of one of the black churches mowing the lawn and he took us on a private tour of the Calvary Baptist Church....build in 1833 by the white congregation and later sold to the black congregation.
I must say a few words about something referred to as the American Cockroach. If you want to see one for yourslef, click on this link. http://pested.unl.edu/amerroa.jpg These might be a little bigger than the ones we have encountered but not too much bigger. Our first encounter with these creatures was in the Panhandle of Texas. They come out after dark. They don't like the light. If you flip on a light switch, they scurry for cover. The other night I thought I say a mouse run across the floor. Larry got up and opened the screen as it headed for the door.....it was a roach. Don't read too much about these creatures. They like it dark and humid and they can be found in clean homes, contrary to popular belief. There are also huge beetle-type insects that land on the screens. And then there are the mosquitos. We have not been able to sit outside because in very short order they swarm all around you in a cloud. We can't forget the lowly chigger or red bug... tiny insects that live in the grass and burrow into your skin. Itch, itch, itch, itch, itch. Warning....if you are in the south, do not be lured into the lush green grass while barefoot and socks are in order if you are going to leave the pavement. I have firsthand experience in this area. And whatever you do, DO NOT sit down in the grass. It will be so tempting. Another insect that folks talk alot about but we have yet to encounter is the fire ant. We we can skip that one but we still have a few more weeks in the south so who knows. Bigotry and racism are still alive and well. It is not uncommon to hear folks use the "N word". Things have changed a great deal since I was a young girl in the south like, "white folks" and "black folks" use the same restrooms and eat in the same restaurants. There are even some nicer mixed neighborhoods but generally speaking, the ethnic groups congregate in their own little "villages" or neighborhoods. Atlanta is probably the most ethnically diverse area we have ever visited. There are people here from all over the world. Things will change a great deal in this part of the country over the next decade or two.
Now let's talk about a few of our favorite things......we love the fireflies.....some folks call them lightning bugs in this part of the world. They come out at dusk and spread their little twinkling lights throughout the trees until the next light of day. Are they there during the day and we just can't see them? It is quite magical. This is home to the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly as well as 4 other species of Swallowtail. My personal favorite is the black swallowtail. They float on the air from tree to tree and flower to flower. On warm summer afternoons the forest is alive with the sounds of the cicada. In the evening we are serenaded by the tree frogs, crickets, more cicadas and the call of the great horned owls in the neighborhood. This is home to the Cardinal, perhaps the most beautiful bird in the east. They are like bright red beacons in the green leaves of the trees. By far our most favorite natural wonder has been the spectacular thunderstorms. We are sitting in the most perfect location for a storm. This house rests atop a high bluff above the wide river canyon of the Chattahouchee and the thunder rolls and rumbles up and down the canyon. It sounds like a giant somewhere in the clouds.... bowling. We have heard claps of thunder that vibrate the house and hurt our ears. The rain pours down and and the wind whips through the trees. We stop everything just to watch until it is over. The air is filled with the smell of raindrops on hot pavement and steam rising up. The insects and birds fall silent until it is over. For the history buff this is a great place to visit but we would recommend the early spring or fall. The summer is just too hot to enjoy touring around. If your favorite color is green, this is a definite destination.
We barely scratched the surface of things we would have liked to do and may come back this way again someday. It won't be in the summertime. What I can say, we are glad we came but we wouldn't want to live here. We head west next week via Alabama and Texas. From there we will head to the state of Oregon for our second housecarer assignment in Beaverton which is near Portland. We stopped and visited briefly with the next two homeowners we'll be housesitting for. Actually, the third and longer assignment will be a farm sit... out in the country. We are really looking forward to that. We will report from the road. Every library we have visited has had great internet access and they have been kind enough to let someone passing through have a bit of time. Happy trails until next time. Larry & Charlotte
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