More of My Town

I need to cheer myself up. No explanation, it's just true. So I'm shelving my own plans for this Thursday's 13 and instead posting more photos of my surroundings today. Plus I want to share this with my dear friend Human Being, who today posted one of her poems with me in mind. It was a gift, and in return I think she will like seeing more of where and how I live. Of course I hope in some small or large way it's also of general interest.

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For starts, I just love this wall in my living room. My partner JB weaved the five wall hangings, and I loved hand-selecting every book in the bookshelf. The "flowers" in the tall vase are from the backyard rhubarb, thanks to Chewy telling me to get them off the plant.


I spent a small fortune for this planter, but it should last all summer on the kitchen steps. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and make yourself happy. This arrangement makes me happy. I'm not apologizing.



This is my view just before I turn into the driveway. I live on a circular cul-de-sac with four houses and plenty of mature giant trees. My house is not fancy. It's a seven room ranch with a sweet four season porch and room for sleepovers, which at my age you'd think I'd have no interest in, but I love having company overnight.


So now we're leaving the cul-de-sac and driving one mile to my local cafe. This is the kind of place that has poetry slams on Wednesday nights and old couches squeezed around one long community table. Not often enough I take my laptop there and cuddle into my favorite booth by the window and I write. I like the self-that-I-am whenever I do that, and I appreciate when I am that self. (say, what?!)

A half mile down the road this sign is at the entrance to the community hospital. This is in line with a federal law that says 'drop your newborn off, no questions asked'--an alternative for desperate women who either cannot or feel they cannot keep their baby.
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And here's the town hall--in my opinion a structure that doesn't fit in with the quaintness of my town at all. But it was designed by a well known architect. Personally I think it belongs in a different continent.

The local bread store,

The local fruit store,

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A sweet restaurant that barely seats twenty people,
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a local pub that wasn't afraid to express a prevalent opinion in my town,

the local copy shop,
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and finally, every day on my way home from town, the field of the local vocational technical school, which includes agriculture in it's curriculum.
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So... for someone who lives in a nice house, and a nice town, surrounded by good and loving people, who has a wonderful job, and has published her first book to good reviews, what exactly is my problem?