Friday, May 23, 2008

HOME

Spring has finally, FINALLY, arrived in Minnesota and stuck. I'm not usually one to complain about the weather - I choose to live here, after all - but this winter, after three that were decidedly wimpy, was downright brutal.

So I was walking my dog earlier this week, and it was perfect as it could be. All the flowering trees are blooming, and the violets are up, purple and white peeking out amongst the green. The warblers - can't identify them, but they're fun to watch - are migrating through, and all the baby geese have hatched, hustling frantically for the safety of the water when the dog and I come around the corner. There's a pond on our walk, and we startled all the turtles sunning themselves on the logs into plopping back into the water. A pure white egret stalked the far shoreline, and the swoop of pileated woodpecker made ME jump. (Those are some big birds!)

There weren't even any mosquitos. THIS, I thought, is why I live here. For days like this.

Until I got home and plucked three ticks off my dog (so much for the Frontline commercials) and two off of me.

I guess nothing's perfect. But it occurred to me that I'd have a very difficult time living somewhere there's NOT four seasons.

My dh's job is such that we could live just about anywhere, if we so chose. He'd go in a heartbeat - he misses the ocean. But I'm pretty firmly planted. I could live a lot of places for six months or a year, and I'd love to do that, but not many permanently. And priority #1 for me is proximity to the people I love - the rest is pretty flexible, though the four seasons is high, and I'd have a terrible time in someplace where it was HOT a good part of the year. I like green, and water. In the best of all possible worlds, I'd live in the mountains, but very close to a major airport. I don't think I'm going to manage that one. Beyond that, I wouldn't like traffic that's much worse than what I already deal with. But that's about it for me.

How about you? If you take jobs out of the equation, what's the most important thing about choosing a place to live for you? What do you like, and not like, about where you are? Where would go if you could go anywhere?

Susie

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I need lots of green space. Doesn't it seem that a state as cold as Minnesota shouldn't get so buggy? Ticks...I once picked 54 off myself. 54!! Off me! But if you decide to sleep in the woods...

Helen Brenna said...

Okay, Lois. I got the creepy crawlies all over me on that one! Yikes.

I don't think there's one place that would do it for me. Minnesota or Wisconsin in the summer and someplace else, preferrably lots of other places like England, Spain, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Thailand, Australia, etc ... during the winter. That'd be just perfect for me!

Now that I'm feeling something crawling on my leg, must go check it out! Here ticky, ticky!

Anonymous said...

I've lived in pretty much every corner of the U.S. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. Lived on a boat in Hawaii. In a loft in Greenwich Village, NY. In Dallas. In and around Minneapolis (three times!). In a teeny, tiny little town in New Hampshire. In Bend, Oregon (skiing!). In Louisville, Kentucky. Voorhees, New Jersey. Both San Diego and Santa Rosa (vineyards!), CA. And now, Fort Wayne, IN, where the DH and I will likely stay in our...um...golden years.

What I've discovered from all those moves is that I can pretty much live anywhere. Each place had its pleasures and its inconveniences.

That said, if we hadn't settled in Indiana, we'd have gone back to Minnepolis. I do like the four seasons!

AuthorM said...

I'm also a four seasons sort. I love going to the beach but wouldn't want to live there -- nor would I want to be someplace hot or cold all the time. I like Fall the best and here in PA, in the woods where I live, it's so beautiful. I've always said if I never had to move again, I'd be happy. I love my house, I love my neighborhood (each lot is several acres of woods, and we all blend into each other -- in the summer I can't see my neighbors' houses at all.)

I love to go other places, but I like being home the best!

And ticks...we have them here, and bad. I got Lyme disease, as a matter of fact, and it was NOT pleasant, and I'm forever paranoid the kids will get it. We do tick checks all the time. The worst part was, I never even knew I had a tick on me...talk about disgusting AND creepy!!

Susan Kay Law said...

Ooh, Lois, I'm not usually bugged by bugs, but wow, that's an awful lot. I just shuddered.

everytime I find one, I suddenly feel them EVERYWHERE.