City Girl Goes Home: 11/6/11

Welcome to my New Home!

I have moved back to my birthplace - a town of about 1800 in rural New Brunswick, Canada.

I have been gone for 20 years working in various cities, but not a lot has changed around here. People still leave their keys in their cars and their front doors unlocked...people still walk into your house without knocking and help themselves to a cup of coffee....and neighbors are both nosey AND some of the most helpful and wholesome folks you will ever find!

I am not sure if I will fit in here. I am used to "breakfast, lunch and dinner", not "breakfast, dinner and supper" which leads to all kinds of confusion when my friends show up at noon for a meal I was making at 6pm. I am also used to wearing $100 Lululemon yoga pants not $15 WalMart specials. (Not that there is anything wrong with WalMart!).

I have a convertible, which is completely inappropriate for a town that has snow 6 months of the year. I loved it when the old-timers would say, half-smiling, "So, you gonna be driving that car this winter?" like I might have just fell off the turnip truck the night before. I'd make my big blue eyes as big as I could as I would sweetly reply "Do you think I could....?"

Well, I WILL adjust, I WILL! One way or another, I want to be part of this town. I want to "be the me I was when I was child", not the one I created while living in the city.

So, let me share my experiences with you, as I adjust to this new, but old, environment.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

...and Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall....

Hello, friends. It has been a while since I have written here. Suffice to say I needed some private time to lick my wounds, heal my heart, and rekindle my writing soul. Sorry for my absence...I am thinking you might forgive me.

Fall (or "autumn" as my old city friends would call it) is my favorite season. There are 5 reasons why I love fall. I am gonna tell you what those reasons are, just because I can.

1. Fall is the only season where I don't sweat when I am walking outside. In the winter, I typically overdress, so I sweat. In the summer, it is just too hot, so I sweat. I don't go out too much in the spring since I don't like mud and I am afraid that spring fever thing they talk about will overtake me if I see too many young muscular men. That would definitely make me sweat.

I was walking through a fall scene.....

..and around the next bend it almost looked like spring....

2. I love Halloween! I was a child during the Mr. Dressup era, so my goal as a little kid was to grow up and have a "tickle trunk" just like Mr. Dressup. Although I don't have a tickle-truck per se, Mr. Dressup would be envious of my collection of ....ummmm....outfits. Here is me at the Elks children's dance a few weeks ago. Last year I was Tweety, but I had to put that costume away because it made me sweat. By the way, I went to see my Mum dressed like Snow White and I nearly scared the crap out of her. Oops.

Snow White (minus her dwarfs) with her cousin Abbie

3. I love trees, fresh air, and the leaves crunching under my feet. I am thinking in this pic I am loving this tree a little too much.

4. Cabbage, turnips and squash are abundant, and these are some of my favorite foods. I saw an ad in a paper recently where 50 pounds of turnips only cost $12. What a steal!

5. For me, fall is always like a "new beginning". I think it is because I used to love going back to school every year...a new school year, new clothes, new books, new ideas and new experiences. I have begun to embark on what I think is a wonderful new beginning, this fall of 2011. I am happy to be me and be in this place.