I love where I live

Today as Em and I were driving to the grocery store, I was reminded why I love living where I do. As I took a right out of my road and drove maybe a quarter of a mile westward, I came across a young deer standing in a cow pasture with a mess of geese. As I drove past, two large dump trucks towing large equipment behind them came lumbering up the other side of the road. The young deer picked its head & ears up, but went about its search for sustenance.

I drove down the road a bit and turned around at the next road to go back and get pictures. The deer never flinched or looked concerned. I then turned back around and took more pictures including one which shows more geese coming in for a landing. If I thought it out better, I would have remembered to snap a picture of the amazing beaver hut on the other side of the street. It's been in the swampy area since we moved in over 3 years ago and it seems like it gets bigger each year. Even more amazing - the deer was still in the pasture when Em and I returned from our shopping trip 45 minutes later.

I like, no LOVE, living in our rural area. Sometimes I get stuck on the fact that everything is a 20 or 30 minute drive away and that it's been hard to make friends here, but then something like this happens and I am reminded what drew hubby and I here in the first place.

I love watching a flock of wild turkeys run across the road (and have you ever seen those babies fly? FUNNY stuff!). I love seeing deer all over the place and how many people do you know have sat in the sanctuary at church and watched a young bobcat chase leaves in a empty, snowy field in the winter? I love hearing the tales of the black bears that are sighted every so often and how there is a possibility that moose are even in these parts. I love the red leaves of the sugar maples every fall and I love knowing that when I drive a couple miles away, I am getting maple syrup that came from some of my sugar maples - that I can watch boil down while munching on free maple candy. I also love taking the big acorn caps and teaching people how to whistle with them. Something my own Dad taught me as a young girl.

It's a quiet pace here. There is only one traffic light in town and it crosses a major thoroughfare that links Connecticut with Rhode Island. I love that we have a park that was donated by land owners in an adjoining neighborhood and that neighborhoods are few and far between here. In fact, most people share driveways instead to cut down on the amount of disturbance to the land. I love that the roads are only plowed once maybe twice during a snow storm and that I need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get around in the winter. I think the biggest surprise about living here is the fact that when hubby and I got home from New Hampshire this past vacation, we didn't feel the same "scenery let down" as we did when we lived in our old house/town.

I'm thankful for my almost 2.5 acres of land. I'm thankful that I can have a garden and fruit trees. I'm thankful that I've finally made some friends in this small town of just over 4000 people. This is where I belong.