On Wednesday, I’m headed out West to more… wholesome parts of the country for a little purple mountain majesty and some amber waves of grain. I know that after a few days in all that clean air I’m going to be pining for my filthy city streets, but right now I’m really looking forward to it. I will see stars. I will hear crickets and I will drink water from a garden hose. I might even catch night crawlers and bait my own hook. Pfft. Who am I kidding? I didn’t even do that before I became hopelessly citified. That’s why god invented fishing lures.
After years of lusting for city life, I still have this strange little dream about owning a little house in the middle of a field somewhere green. A white house with tall windows and a porch that wraps all the way around. A porch swing. A hook in the kitchen for aprons that I will wear because there’s plenty of room for cooking. A middle stair that creaks. A yellow dog and bare feet and perennial gardens.
It’s my middle-America dirty fantasy and it comes with excellent cellular reception and wi-fi in every room of the house.
You want Yellow Dog?
Just avoid the lamb fries, if you know what’s best for you.
i’m sure the stars, crickets, and clean air will be nice, but i’m sure after a few days – you’ll be ready to be back in the city. have a great, relaxing time!
isn’t ben out west right about now too?
If your house is in the middle of a field, good cell phone reception is easy enough, and wifi’s just a matter of setting it up. Not only that, but you could probably get a little house on a few acres for less than half of what you’re paying in New York.
If you don’t mind a 45 minute drive to the nearest grocery store, that is.
do. not. leave. me.
I’m all for the tall windows and wrap-around porch. Nice dream… especially with the wi-fi.
Mike’s right about the wi-fi. More and more rural places are getting broadband access. However, the cell phone access is trickier. If your field is flat and the landscape around it is flat, you might be able to get a signal. I have some friends in central Kentucky who live about four miles away from wireless reception and the closest grocery store due to the landscape of small but big enough rolling hills. If you want to climb to the top of the ridge, I know exactly where you can pick up a weak signal on their farm.
My dreams include a complete absence of ticks.
You can move the girl out of the country…
Laughing out loud, while reading – not that common for me…..
Last paragraph worked well!!!!
I was lucky enough to get away from the city for a while. I’ve spent the entire summer in the Tennessee mountains. However, I’ve been missing my own dirty streets and choking smog filled air. Oh how I long to be stuck in traffic immersed in the billowing black plumes behind a city bus.
brando: lamb fries! lol That’s one of my favorite movies (Funny Farm).
eclectic librarian: Forget about the ticks. It’s the chiggers that are a problem! (And no, that’s not racial slang. The chigger is an arachnid that is nearly microscopic. About three or four hours after it bites you, the itching begins. And it doesn’t stop for weeks. No cure either. Google it. Be afraid. Be very afraid.)
It’s the porch swing that gets me…..but DEFINITELY with homemade lemonade.
i have the same fantasy…with thunderstorms to accompany the porch sitting and hard-wood floors on which to twirl.
Have fun. Breathe deeply. Come back soon!
Yuck. Things about everywhere else I don’t like: Bugs (I’ve never had a roach in NYC), people who talk slowly, people who walk slowly, allergies, being in a car all of the time, chain restaurants, religon…the list goes on. Nice place to visit though.
Just move to Texas…you can get cool houses like this!
http://welcometodallas.com/content/NTREIS/listing.asp?listnum=10346028#
Well, Zen42, just move far enough North and no chiggers! Here in Western Massachusetts, I can sit on the grass anywhere/anytime and not worry about the consequences. Especially if the dogs have run through the area recently…then no ticks either!
Wifi is easy. Cell phone reception…well that is another matter. You’d better have REALLY good batteries in your phone and not have a model that heats up when the signal strength is low.
All other parts of the dream are easy to obtain. And we don’t live more than 15 minutes drive from three very lovely grocery stores.
Just down the street, fresh-picked corn, raspberries, blueberries, etc. …………
I’ve lived in rural areas and in big cities. The things I love about rural you described well. The puffy white clouds, knowing the name of your mailman, baking sweets for the new neighbors, etc… But I miss so much from the city that has become part of who I am. Like ethnic food. I love being able to have Turkish cuisine for lunch and awesome sushi for dinner. Or local music. Or great bakeries and great shopping and Nordstrom.
The beauty of Arizona is you can have all of these things; you just have to love to commute.
Your fantasy comes close to my childhood reality. Except the mobile phone and wi-fi services. Now my parents get great mobile service (they live ON a mountain top), and IF they wanted it that badly, DirecTV provides high-speed satellite internet (set up fee is down to $100.00). When my book makes it big, I’m retiring and moving back. 3 hours to enjoy the comforts of home is too long to drive.
My formative years were spent on my family farm in Nebraska. When I was there, I couldn’t wait to get out of dodge. All we did was work. And, contrary to Tanya’s perspective on rural living, people worked harder, talked faster and more intelligently than most of the people I know from the city. They really knew / know how to make things happen and take care of each other. There are lessons to be learned from that. When I lived there, I didn’t appreciate it.
Now, I realize that rural living is the foundation of my character and sense of self. Living away from the crowd, you learn who you are, what you want and how to get it even when the resources aren’t right at your finger tips. But, you also learn that everything you do affects the person next to you… and when you live in a small place… that is usually someone you know. I really miss the humility of that.
Someday, I’d like to get back to the country, too.
So, let’s hear it for the middle-America dirty fantasy that comes with excellent cellular reception and wi-fi in every room of the house!
When that utopia exists… I’m there.
I am in complete agreement. When I get sentimental, “barefoot and pregnant” is not a dirty phrase, it’s that for which I long, but then I come to my senses and realize how blessed I am to have the life I have. Good luck on achieving that house with the wrap around porch. My dream house is the one in Field of Dreams. Have a safe trip.
I think we all long for that at some point.
Until we get it.
Then? We can’t sleep without the honking of horns, and the din of a never-ending night-life forever in the background noise as we fall asleep.
Ahhh, one day you might do like me and get so sick of being squished on trams, being bumped into by people more concerned with texting while driving their cars or watching Oprah on their mobile phones, and escape back to the fresh air. LOL!
A matchbox of our own.
A fence of real chainlink.
A grill out on the patio.
Disposal in the sink.
A washer and a dryer,
And an ironing-machine.
In a tract house that we share,
Somewhere that’s green.
He rakes and trims the grass.
He loves to mow and weed.
I cook like Betty Crocker,
And I look like Donna Reed.
There’s plastic on the furniture
To keep it neat and clean.
In the Pine-Sol scented air,
Somewhere that’s green.
Between our frozen dinner,
and our bed-time nine-fifteen.
We snuggle watching Lucy,
On a big, enormous, twelve-inch screen.
Oh, his December bride,
He’s father, he knows best.
The kids play Howdy-Doody,
As the Sun sets in the West.
A picture out of Better Homes
And Gardens magzine.
Far from Skid Row,
I dream we’ll go…
Somewhere that’s Green.
wow. little shop of horrors lyrics. although they brought back great memories and you really made me smile, now i have that damn song (sung with an incredible lisp, of course) stuck firmly in my head.