...only it's 74 degrees at 6 a.m. with 67% humidity. Still, I opened some windows to exchange the air in the house.
Papa and I talked about the house discontent. He feels it too, only isn't sure that we can afford to leave his job. I do think we will go eventually, though, even though it means leaving a climate we like (most of the time) and our extended families. Southern California just isn't sustainable. It's a desert, no matter how much water flows from the north to help make it otherwise. It's densely populated, and I don't mean a really dense big city - Los Angeles is all sprawl. Even our once small and way out there town now has a population of over 65,000, and over the last 100 years every bit of land between here and L.A. has been developed along the freeway coridoors. We may have stood alone at one point in time, but today we are just part of suburbia.
Still, we walked last night, and the good things came to mind (well, not walking in humid 90 degree weather at 8 p.m.). Our proximity to the library. The outdoor amphitheatre we've come to love (they were rehearsing "Beauty and the Beast" last night). The old houses, the big trees, the post office and other old, beautiful buildings (the library itself is gorgeous). Our street, with its smaller homes that were once an upscale subdivision where the fire chief and police chief could live. The old grove homes, and the availability of year-round citrus. A farmer's market 3 blocks from our home.
So we stay for now, with gratitude, and we make the best of what we have. Knowing what we like about where we are helps us choose a new destination. We'll research areas that are close to nature, environmentally sound, have local food sources, are near at least one river, are progressive, etc. We also need a place where we can get by on human-power when oil becomes scarce.
To tie this all to Enki, proximity to real nature is a vital part of growing and learning for children. I highly suggest reading Last Child in the Woods; I'm almost done with it and it is so in tune with Enki.
I understand what you mean on this. We left an area where nature was abundant, but we were so tired of watching it all getting stripped away to build more McMansions. The beautiful horse farms were literally selling and leaving town to make the millions of dollars they could off their land. Not that I blame them, the traffic had become so bad you couldnt run to the city for anything anymore, it was a major trip anymore.
ReplyDeleteAlbuquerque is a very progressive place for us to be. We love that we can buy most of our foods irectly from the farmer. The ironic thing is that we used to live near farms, but there was no real farmers market, only a couple people who sold some herbs and home baked breads. I think the demand here is so high that people are responding to it. Our CSA now not only has veggies, but they also help other farms by making available local milk, local breads made from local wheat, local grass fed beef, and salmon caught by Kenny, the local guy who goes up to Alaska each summer and flies his catch down here. All at wholesale cost. I love that. We have chickens, but ifwe didnt the kis can gather their own dozen from the roosting boxes from Farmer Monte's coop. I LOVE this! I love being near the Rio Grande and having the mountain watching over us. I drive a TERRIBLE gas hog of a car, it is embarrasing, really!!! But because of where we live I barely use a tank of gas per month. We live so close to all the things that matter to us. Technically we can ride our bikes to 90% of the things we do. If only all the kids were good at it. :-)
It is ironic to me how much more in tune with the environment people here in the high desert are. You have to be. Also there is a very real and important tie to the Native American traditions here because the town is literally surrounded by 19 pueblos. I think that brings some reverance into the city.
I hope you find what you are looking for one day, or maybe that you rediscover what you love about where you are. It is hard when that seed starts to grow. We had that for years in Virginia. We loved so much about it, but somehow knowing it wasnt our "forever" or even our "long term" made us discontent.