My Town

This is how I started my day: 6:15 am and I see the view from the kitchen door, above the driveway.

And during the course of my day, I meandered with JB and our good friends along the streets of Northampton, where I live. My friend who has twelve sheep and lives two thirds up a mountain along side a dilapidated barn thinks my town is affluent.

There are pockets of affluence, yes, but mostly my town has a working class feel with an intellectual bent. There is a major college here (Smith) and that brings a bit of smart and hip to the area, but mostly the houses are modest and there are surrounding farms and to me the town looks like it probably did fifty years ago.

It is a liberal progressive tolerant, diverse and alittle-'hippie-crunchy- town. There are currently three "occupy" tents on the lawn of the Unitarian Church next to the City Hall.

Panhandling is allowed here, as long as it stays civil. This is a good place to be if you're down and out: the churches are active, the community helpful, the residents respectful.

And, although I rarely walk along Main Street because I rarely shop, the quarter mile strip o down town Northampton is looking good and ready for the holidays

It's feeling festive.

JB and I are looking for old color-rich bottles to perhaps (emphasize 'perhaps') make a chandiler out of them for over the dining room table. There are several antique shops here, this one beside a new cool coffee house, where you can sit and read or write for as long as you wish.

I had a good holiday. Our friends stayed an extra day and night because we were having so much fun. I am now in Provincetown beginning a week long vacation with JB that is overdue. We have brought fabric and books and colored pens and holiday cards and we will have some time. Our dog Stella is here too and we have just learned that if he hold her tail up and firmly she can walk without falling. She can almost run. It must look so odd to passersby, holding her tail like that.

I know the holidays are not easy for most of us and for sure I have had my share of wishing they were this when they were that. But this year I'm doing my best to be with people who are important to me, to buy or make little gifts that make me happy, and to let it all be what it will be.

I'll be reporting in on my progress, right here. :^)

with love, kj