Welcome to My Blog!

We came to our place on the mountain almost 40 years ago, two adults with two young children and two cats. We had wanted to get away to our own quiet place for a long time, in my case probably since I was a high-school student. I had admired Henry David Thoreau and his intention to move to a place on Walden Pond where he might live more deliberately, a place for thinking deep thoughts, taking meaningful action, and living more fully conscious of the world around him.

That was our plan also when we moved to this beautiful spot on the mountainside. We had found a place with hardly a level spot on it, mostly hardwood forest with native rhododendron and mountain laurel mixed in, the rest a once-farmed meadow covered with daisies, black-eyed Susans, wild strawberries and blueberries, and other wildflowers too numerous to name. There was no house, no running water, no electric supply, and no other amenities or “necessities” we had lived with during all of our lives. But there was almost ten acres of gorgeous mountain land with views for miles and no other homes within sight. Living in two small tents and cooking over an open fire, we began our grand adventure.

We all survived, experiencing many of the most enjoyable times of our lives. Even the cats were happy, since they had been city cats confined indoors until we made the big move. The cats are no longer with us except in fond memories of those two who were the first of a number of wonderful feline and canine friends who shared our home over the years. The two children have grown into strong and capable adults now living away with families of their own. The two adults have grown also: stronger from learning there are so many things we are capable of doing for ourselves; richer from knowing we can count on each other to be there; wiser, hopefully, from many years of life experience; and older with both the positives and negatives long lives inevitably bring. We are forever glad that all those years ago we were daring enough and perhaps crazy enough to make the leap into the unknown that brought us here.

In this blog I intend to write about some of the experiences I have had and continue to have in this mountain homeplace. I also expect to share thoughts, beliefs, and dreams of mine, both those that helped lead me to come here in the first place and those that have been shaped and influenced by time and this place. There will probably be many pictures because observing and imaging are an important part of my being. There will be a mix of the serious and the not-at-all serious for I am both. I’ve mostly been a very private person, so I look forward to a greater degree of sharing . I hope you will find things of interest when you visit here.