Thoughts on Life in Tennessee

It's winter-time in the Blue Ridge Mountains and while the mornings may be sunny the clouds move in pretty fast and then the gray skies are a reality the remainder of the day.  Of course, as one who has enjoyed lots about living in So. California for decades, I have enjoyed the rain but again, as was true in my growing-up years in the Mid-west, the fact that rain makes its appearance with little notice sometimes can become wearisome, to say the least.

But as people who are awash with moving mess, we pay little attention to what's going on outside.  In fact, on President's Day, we just hunkered down and wrapped up in robes and lap blankets, dozed and read, listened to music or did jigsaw puzzles (hubby), or maybe nothing at all.  It was a day away from the boxes.  Now, after cleaning out the office so I could set up my desktop computer, I have boxes piled on boxes once again in the middle of the kitchen.  Just seems like a revolving merry-go-round of mess.  Oh well, I guess one just has to accept that it took lots of energy to put in those boxes in the first place, and now it's just going to take time and energy to find a place to put stuff away in the new place.  At least, my realtor has found someone who can use the boxes for their move, and I am glad--I'm still in the "recycling" mode from So. Calif, and while people here in Tennessee speak of conserving, they don't have a clue what it is like to measure water out by the dribble instead of the gallon.  I'm always worrying about water saving shower heads and such, and folks around here still use hundreds of gallons of water to wash down their driveways.  People here use low-costs lighting lots of times, but there are still myriads of lights that are big gulpers of energy.  It's just a different culture.  Our little town is right on the edge of one of the larger TVA dams and reservoirs and energy is relatively cheap.  It certainly changes how people live and what they view as "normal."

All in all, it's beautiful, it's bare-root rose season and we're getting ready to dig the holes, and it's time for us to watch the fifteen or so fruit and nut trees in our backyard to burst forth in spring bloom.  There are about 75 pounds of pecans lying the grass outside, so we're going to picking those up, shelling them, and then onward to those glorious pecan pies and pralines.  Life is good . . .