View Full Version : I'm bummed..........and overwhelmed, and mad, and sad.........
I'm having a bad day/week/month. There's becoming a bigger and bigger split between how I feel life should go and how this country (and world?) are going.
I live out in the country, but live close enough to a couple of people who ruin my precious solitude.........or farmers who use too many chemicals......or people shooting off their guns, or riding their motocross cycles........I could go on and on.
But.....there are times when I have to go to the city to do some things. Nobody follows the speed limit. There's trash everywhere. People are always using their cell phones....whether while driving or crossing the street in front of cars.
In stores, there is so much crap, I just am blown over. And all the produce they throw out constantly.....that are in plastic containers that I'm sure is also thrown out. Very few people I see use cloth shopping bags.
I went to Target to buy a few items and they are totally remodeling/enlarging the store to hold more crap. I have a bad knee, so I use the electric cart. It ran out of steam and I had to find another one. I had to move my stuff to the other one, while 2 employees were gabbing right next to me, seeing me, but not helping. People stand in the middle of isles with their carts, totally oblivious to anyone else needing to get by.
I go to buy something and the price isn't marked. I drive the cart across the store to a "price check" machine, and it doesn't work. Then my DH calls me and says that someone sent in their tax returns with his social security number. He's overwhelmed at work, plus we're trying to renew our Home Equity loan (which we've had for many years, and don't use often, but have always paid it off in short time), but because of all the new laws, they call him every day with more stuff he needs to send in to them. So now he has to figure out how to handle his SS number being compromised.
I could go on and on and on.
Oh.........and on my way to and from town, there are many beautiful rural places that are now bull-dozed and beginning to be filled with big houses. I can see a little log cabin home that used to be in the woods, and now it's next to this big monster subdivision.
Is there no end to this "growth and development"? Is no one EVER happy with what they've got? We seem like spoiled brats who buy something, get tired of it, throw it away, buy a new one. It just seems like we're headed in a downward spiral. The world seems NUTS to me.
Yes, I can only control my immediate surroundings, but damn.......this is my country and my planet too......and it makes me sick to see what's happening to it.
We were barely keeping the air and waters somewhat clean........and now we're removing those laws? How insane are we? I'm very sad. :(
I understand what you're saying, Cathy. I feel that way too, too much of the time.
All I have to do is take a drive out to my once-bucolic childhood hometown. When I lived there through my teens, the population was between 650-800. I lived there several more chunks of time through my adulthood and my mom and daughter still live there. Starting about 5 years ago it began a growth spurt. It is now nearing 10 times that due to annexation, development and people moving out of the big cities to "live in the country."
The families I grew up with owned many large farms, ag and dairy, and now that the baby boomers who still own them are getting up there in years are unloading them (because who wants to farm--not their kids), the developers are snapping them up and cramming as many mini-mansions on the acreage as fast as they can. The sick part is, they think they're moving to the quiet countryside, but it won't be that way for long. Following this will be more supermarkets, fast food joints and entertainment, etc., where the berry, bean and potato fields, orchards, and dairies used to be.
Also, most of this land is in a flyway for waterfowl. There are 2 national refuges nearby. Think these developments will affect the bird population some? I do.
When I drive out there, it nearly makes me sick to my stomach and drives me to tears. When I reflect on all the childhood memories I have there, it saddens me so much to see it obliterated. But I guess that's what many call progress.
All we can do is keep trying to do what our inner voice tells us. Keep using your reusable bags, refuse to buy crap. Be an example to your children and grandchildren. As much as they do annoy me, I do see some hope among the Millennials. Maybe some day they'll right the ship.
I, too, am almost to tears when I drive through some areas. It's unbelievable how much can go up in such a short time. I used to visit "The Herb Barn" out in the country not too far away. Just an old barn where the owner grew a lot of herbs and flowers. It's gone and there are huge areas of houses everywhere.
My Honda service place moved to an area about 2 years ago that used to be a small town, and now I believe it's considered a city. It's so painful to get my car serviced there, but I do like them, so I continue to go there. It used to be countryside with a little white church on a corner. Now it's a subdivision and businesses. I wish I could have a bag over my head when I drive through there to have my car serviced......but that wouldn't go so well.
I get pretty melancholy when I think of beautiful, simple places that are no more.
It could go back, but maybe not in your lifetime. More of New England (80%) is forested today than in the mid-1800's (30 to 40%). Populations can also crash due to epidemics as happened during The Black Plague, and could recur today if something like Ebola got out of hand.
There's an interesting book titled "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman where he guesses what would happen if we were all gone. Yes, nature would go on. I've never doubted that it would. It just hurts to see it so mistreated and unappreciated.
Simplemind
4-13-17, 8:02pm
I'm right there with you. I had a wonderful childhood out in the boonies. We had 11 acres and were surrounded by other farms. We had all the farm animals and experiences with showing them through 4H. We played all day and came home when it was dark.
My mom passed five years ago and my dad just wasn't maintaining, nor did he need all the property and responsibility. He always thought one of us would want everything but we are all in our 50's and have our own places. It killed me to sell that property. I thought long and hard about it but DH had a stroke in 2012 and we were not up to the farm life that we had once pondered. One house on the property has been torn down and a McMansion put up. Five acres were forested and I heard trees were coming down. I have not been back since the day I signed the papers. I get tears just writing this...... DH drives by on occasion to look but I asked that he not tell me what he sees. I want to remember it as it was. I wish I could have saved it.
I'm sorry about that Simplemind. It must be very painful.
I was thinking about farmland today, and how many children of the farmers don't really want to be farmers. It's hard to not accept a developer's million dollar offer for that farmland, and I can't fault the old farmers for doing that. But it can sure change the whole area, to have houses/subdivisions go up all over that farmland.
It drives me crazy, seeing so much destroyed, without any thought for anything accept the developer wanting to make money and people wanting their dream home, no matter what it destroys. What I find strange is how people move into huge subdivisions in the country, with hardly any yard, and then say they wanted to live out in the country. Seems like people like me in the country who aren't farmers don't have much say in what happens. They all seem like robots to me. I don't understand how people can't wonder where all this "development" is going to take us. I must be from another planet. Yes, nature will endure. But it does hurt to see it so mistreated. Such utter beauty and perfect balance........replaced with loud noise and crap.
Simplemind
4-13-17, 8:28pm
I was so concerned about our neighbors who pretty much started their families in the valley when we did in the early 60's. I know you don't have too much say on what happens when you sell but we really did try to find the right people. One couple wanted the main house and a couple of acres for their mission of helping the homeless. They wanted their ministry to include putting "affordable" trailers on the back acres in the woods by the creek for the homeless. Over my dead body!! We sold the main house to a young family with two small boys who will love growing up in the woods and playing in the creek like we did. A contractor bought the pasture land, tore down the old (turn of the century/money sink hole) farm house and built a McMansion but was leaving the old barns and brought in horses for his two boys so that was nice. Hope all four boys make friends and ride like we did back in the day. Zoning did not permit for lots to be broken up so thankfully no additional homes can go in. Still............. change is so hard for me. I can't stand the thought of anybody living on it but us. I miss the kind neighbors we had. Everybody helped everybody. I wish my own kid had been able to grow up that way.
I think about this too. But perhaps it is because we are older and have lived long enough to see so many changes and compare and contrast what we have known and what is gone. I am still dealing with crazy homesickness for the city we left last fall but even as we did, it was changing at lightning speed. I doubt I would recognize it if and when we ever go back what with all the development. Ditto here in Colorado where we are now. Nothing is the same as I recall. Litter, homeless people, speeding drivers...I've decided though that I will pick up the trash in the beautiful little park near my house. I might even scold the parents who feed the ducks with their kids while they stand next to the sign that says "Don't feed the ducks"! Grrr...
ToomuchStuff
4-14-17, 12:02am
I'm having a bad day/week/month. There's becoming a bigger and bigger split between how I feel life should go and how this country (and world?) are going.
I live out in the country, but live close enough to a couple of people who ruin my precious solitude.........or farmers who use too many chemicals......or people shooting off their guns, or riding their motocross cycles........I could go on and on.
Yes, I can only control my immediate surroundings, but damn.......this is my country and my planet too......and it makes me sick to see what's happening to it.
We were barely keeping the air and waters somewhat clean........and now we're removing those laws? How insane are we? I'm very sad. :(
Have you signed up to go to Mars? Your not the only one on this planet, your values and beliefs are just that, yours. Change and life happens. The planet has a increased population from the time I was born. As a kid, I was told the baby boomers had the most number of people, which would mean that there would be less people to pay for social security and house prices should fall, not rise, as there were more vacant houses.
Drunk driving went from a common occurrence to something severe, and people started getting busted, rather then being able to hide in a neighbors garage after running (local woman allowed her garage to be used, 20 years before I was born).
People used to make firearms parts in schools, and rifles were in the backs of vehicles a lot of the year, and all through hunting season, while parked at school. Now that is a lock-down and arrest situation.
Paint went from this thicker substance that held real well, to thinner stuff that didn't and now has improved as chemistry improved, while getting the lead out.
Vehicle fuel went from ethanol, to unleaded gas, to charging more to add lead and leaded gas, to then charging more to skip the adding lead step, and now incorporating ethanol.
Went from hand tools to power tools, mostly after WWII. Homes took less time to build, materials changed (plaster to sheetrock, insulation as fuel prices rise).
On and on and on and on. Life and change happens. Some things improve, others may not, then others, we are just viewing through our value systems, the same way, they probably did going from blacksmiths, to mechanics, or at the start of rock and roll.
Your thread reminds me of a late neighbors, late daughter, and her comment, "what we need is a good depression".
Chicken lady
4-14-17, 5:51am
I agree with a lot of the things that upset you, but I think it's because we are old.
When I was a kid there were shops downtown. Then they built a mall in my hometown. When I was a teenager, we all hung out there. Downtown became a bunch of vacant buildings. After I left, they built a bypas. The mall died. It became almost vacant and badly lit. People were killed. The mall was torn down. Now it's a grassy field. Downtown didn't recover - it's lofts. My cousin's high school is a field too. The field on the way to my cousin's high school is apartments. My mom drives 20 minutes to shop at the wallmart built on ground that used to have shotgun houses with no plumbing.
Maybe be you could move there - housing is really cheap. They are still burning it down. My great grandparent's farm has completed the cycle from open land to farm with house to farm without house to open land. It only took 130 years.
Traveling abroad can change attitudes. We went to India and I now want to kiss the ground that I was born and live in the United States. We went to China and the same thing happened.
But, I am glad we chose not to have kids. I do worry about the planet but there is little I can do to change anything other than how I live my life.
Chicken lady
4-14-17, 7:17am
You can vote, you can donate to causes that support your values, you can call your representatives, you can educate those around you, you can volunteer for projects and organizations that promote the world you want to see, and you can speak up, loudly and often.
making sure everyone you know understands why you don't buy plastic crap and what the alternatives are has a lot more effect than not buying plastic crap.
(or as my beloved son in law says - "we don't buy organic broccoli because it's better for us. We buy organic broccoli because it's better for migrant labor in California." - and we explain that to the people who mock us for buying organic broccoli.)
I'm having a bad day/week/month. There's becoming a bigger and bigger split between how I feel life should go and how this country (and world?) are going.
I went to Target to buy a few items and they are totally remodeling/enlarging the store to hold more crap. I have a bad knee, so I use the electric cart. It ran out of steam and I had to find another one. I had to move my stuff to the other one, while 2 employees were gabbing right next to me, seeing me, but not helping. People stand in the middle of isles with their carts, totally oblivious to anyone else needing to get by.
I go to buy something and the price isn't marked. I drive the cart across the store to a "price check" machine, and it doesn't work. . :(
Sounds like a rough week. I don't get the combination of not pricing things, not having working scanners and then doing self-checkout. It seems like we are cutting people or not holding them to high customer service standards. It is one of my pet peeves. My medical insurance will NOT tell me how much a prescription drug is when I order it mail order. I use my health savings debit card at least. It is not like I am buying from a dealer on a corner, just tell me the darn price so I can balance my checking account, geez.
If people are so concerned about the blight of humanity in the countryside, is it morally consistent for them to continue living there? If people are so concerned about too much gimcrackery in the stores and all those nasty, noisy internal combustion engines, is it morally consistent for them to be driving to those stores and looking around?
Is the difference between the person with the Prius parked outside the old farmhouse and the person with the Escalade parked outside a McMansion more one of degree than of kind?
iris lily
4-14-17, 10:59am
We were thrilled when the houses across the street were built. I had an Iris garden in some of the space, but
I gladly gave it up for nice quality houses and, as it has turned out, fab new neighbors.
So no, not all of us experience development as a bad thing.
Getting the RIGHT develop,ent here was a challenge of several years. Our neighborhood spends a fair amount of time, energy, and sometimes financial resources to shape and mold appropriate development.
Yes, the RIGHT development is key---but define that. I guess here it means taking an dairy farm cutting down all the woods on it and cramming 800 houses on the land----in the flyway to the refuge.
And to your comment, LDAHL, I do not live there anymore, but my memories lie there. It WAS my "place." There's nothing I can do about my memories which lives up to your "moral consistency." And I ---and I suspect many more here on this forum-- do not shop in Dollar Stores, but make do with what I have instead. What makes you think that because we lament these things that we are also complicit in them?
Not every person lives in a black and white world.
Teacher Terry
4-14-17, 12:30pm
After being in Thailand and Mexico I am also very happy to live here. Where we live has doubled in size over the last 20 years since I moved here. It is a very beautiful area with a mild 4 seasons so is attractive to others. Certain times of day there is no point in using the freeway as it is at a standstill. When I lived in Wis in the 80's farmers started to sell their land to developers and Chicago people moved in like crazy because the houses were close to the freeway and only a hour drive to Chicago for work. Locals were really mad. It hurt the locals as housing prices rose and so did property taxes. But you can't stop any of that so I choose not to worry about it. I am concerned about the intention to eliminate the EPA, etc. WE have generations that we need to think about that are children and what they will inherit.
If people are so concerned about the blight of humanity in the countryside, is it morally consistent for them to continue living there? If people are so concerned about too much gimcrackery in the stores and all those nasty, noisy internal combustion engines, is it morally consistent for them to be driving to those stores and looking around?
Is the difference between the person with the Prius parked outside the old farmhouse and the person with the Escalade parked outside a McMansion more one of degree than of kind?
It's called Moderation. It's called controlled development.......of which there is neither around here. And to say that I'm being inconsistent by living in the country, or driving to the store is well, just silly. I wouldn't mind if everyone lived on 35 acres and grew their own gardens and didn't run out and buy a lot of crap. We moved into a house that was already here 35 years ago. I would say, for the most part, we live pretty gently out here. One of my pet peeve phrases is "You got you're little piece of heaven, now you don't want anyone else to." To that I say B.S.! As I've said before, 10 miles from me a few years ago they bought 1700 acres of farmland and turned it into a city........big box stores, apartments, hospital, etc., etc., etc. You can't tell me that moving into an area like that is like how DH and I moved out here. Greed and short-sightedness rules all the time. There's no way that my calling officials, complaining, protesting, etc., etc. would make a damn bit of difference here. Plus......I'm not a social person. Why do people in the country always have to be the ones who have to adjust to the greedy, consumeristic ones? Everything falls on a continuum, and in today's world (at least here in the U.S.), there's no moderation or discipline or insight.
I thought my travels to the big city yesterday were over, but today I had to drive to DH's work and sign some tax papers (because someone stole his SSN and filed under his name).......so back I went. The big thing around there are "roundabouts"........dozens of them, one right after the other. You almost need a dramamine to go there. Plus, they are re-doing many of the roads, making raised highways above the old ones. I feel bad for older people or visitors when they are driving through these double-laned roundabouts that have all sorts of hieroglyphics as to where you need to be to get where you're going. I went through several more wooded areas that are now huge businesses and McMansions.
Yes, each generation is saddened by "progress"........but we're reaching a point of no return. IMHO it's just not sustainable. But hey......who cares what our children and grandchildren have to deal with.....as long as, in this moment, we get our fill of everything we could want.
I'll tell you this...........it makes leaving this world seem a little less awful to me.
It's called Moderation. It's called controlled development.......of which there is neither around here. And to say that I'm being inconsistent by living in the country, or driving to the store is well, just silly. I wouldn't mind if everyone lived on 35 acres and grew their own gardens and didn't run out and buy a lot of crap. We moved into a house that was already here 35 years ago. I would say, for the most part, we live pretty gently out here. One of my pet peeve phrases is "You got you're little piece of heaven, now you don't want anyone else to." To that I say B.S.! As I've said before, 10 miles from me a few years ago they bought 1700 acres of farmland and turned it into a city........big box stores, apartments, hospital, etc., etc., etc. You can't tell me that moving into an area like that is like how DH and I moved out here. Greed and short-sightedness rules all the time. There's no way that my calling officials, complaining, protesting, etc., etc. would make a damn bit of difference here. Plus......I'm not a social person. Why do people in the country always have to be the ones who have to adjust to the greedy, consumeristic ones? Everything falls on a continuum, and in today's world (at least here in the U.S.), there's no moderation or discipline or insight.
I thought my travels to the big city yesterday were over, but today I had to drive to DH's work and sign some tax papers (because someone stole his SSN and filed under his name).......so back I went. The big thing around there are "roundabouts"........dozens of them, one right after the other. You almost need a dramamine to go there. Plus, they are re-doing many of the roads, making raised highways above the old ones. I feel bad for older people or visitors when they are driving through these double-laned roundabouts that have all sorts of hieroglyphics as to where you need to be to get where you're going. I went through several more wooded areas that are now huge businesses and McMansions.
Yes, each generation is saddened by "progress"........but we're reaching a point of no return. IMHO it's just not sustainable. But hey......who cares what our children and grandchildren have to deal with.....as long as, in this moment, we get our fill of everything we could want.
I'll tell you this...........it makes leaving this world seem a little less awful to me.
I think that if the average Bolivian peasant were to review the Prius and Escalade lifestyles, he wouldn't see enough difference between them that he could understand why one might be outraged or disgusted by the other.
LDAHL......I'm not sure what the heck you are saying. It's not all or nothing. I don't live in Bolivia. It's all a continuum and I'm saying that we're ruining our life-support system. Yes, a Prius isn't perfect, but it's a tad better than an Escalade.......and the choices that either car owner make, do make a difference, as small as it may seem. Like I said.....I'm not sure what the heck you are saying.
ToomuchStuff
4-15-17, 1:08am
I feel this thread is headed this direction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4aNGj7xWQ
LDAHL......I'm not sure what the heck you are saying. It's not all or nothing. I don't live in Bolivia. It's all a continuum and I'm saying that we're ruining our life-support system. Yes, a Prius isn't perfect, but it's a tad better than an Escalade.......and the choices that either car owner make, do make a difference, as small as it may seem. Like I said.....I'm not sure what the heck you are saying.
I'm saying it is indeed not an all or nothing thing, and that displays of righteous disgust over somebody else's footprint while one's own is pretty big strikes me as inconsistent. Whether the Prius is in fact better than an Escalade depends on your view of lithium mining.
I feel this thread is headed this direction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4aNGj7xWQ
Malthus, blah blah Erhrlich, blah blah. We have had many invitations to panic, but somehow Doomsday keeps getting rescheduled.
LDAHL, your argument reminds me of the difficulty that vegetarians and vegans have when people will discount their efforts in eating less meat/dairy if they happen to be wearing a leather belt. I always invoke my fave Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh who says "Even eating less meat is a miracle." But some people look for any perceived "chink in the armor" and wave the gotcha! flag.
I agree with you that "moral disgust" is not the most effective response, but what Cathy is saying is that there seems to be a lack of mindfulness and consideration in general about the long-term effects of some of our cultural attitudes and habits. I don't think your ascribing moral disgust to her observation is helpful. If you don't agree, then say it. We don't know what you drive or how many square feet your home is, and I for one don't care.
I DO drive a Prius because it's one small step I can take toward using less fossil fuel. I don't live off the grid in a yurt and carry water across my shoulders every day. But I try to negotiate the small decisions I make with an eye on the better option for the planet.
I was sad to see a big swath of wild, treed acreage on Rt.1 felled and replaced by a mall. Do I go to the Target and Best Buy there? Yes I do. There it is. (Cathy, I happen to really like Target)
Cathy, I think your best strategy is probably to avoid going to the city! The city changes, and people raze perfectly good buildings and Sears stores are replaced by Urban Outfitter and Anthropologie, and housing developments replace farms and parking lots get bigger and bigger and fuller and fuller. Part of the reason is the increasing population. And that new population in America tends to be "upwardly mobile" and they want stuff. It's very discouraging for those of us who have found the joys of simple living (and I admit, that despite my 10+ years on this forum, I feel like a poseur), but honestly, we are still a counterculture and will probably be that for the foreseeable future.
Why do people in the country always have to be the ones who have to adjust
We lived in a 65 yr old house in the middle of a huge city and had to adjust by moving which isn't an easy thing to do at 60+. Why? The reality is because people wealthier than us wanted to live where we did and our city encouraged its redevelopment. When the developers knocked the houses down and built large luxurious homes around us, the property taxes soared. So, what I am saying is we all have to adjust to the changes around us whether we like them or not. I could fight the taxes year after year to have a bit nibbled off (and I did), but in the end, those with more means and power will do what they want with "available" resources. Especially if we the people en masse, agree to it. I guess the majority of us like our MickeyDs and Walmarts every few miles cause they just keep on building them.
Chicken lady
4-15-17, 9:37am
My dd says that I am not a demographic because my lifestyle cannot be monetized.
I had three children. Nothing I do will ever compensate for that. Not even living in a shelter made of deadwood drinking rainwater, foraging for wild plants and wearing leaves. Not even dying tomorrow.
and yet, I think that all three of my children will help to make the world a "better" place (in this instance, as we are talking about my values and decisions, I get to define "better".)
in in my old neighborhood the community fought to keep a farm from becoming a lowes. They lost of course, and then they shopped at the lowes. The lesson being "we don't want you here, but once you are here we'll make the best of it." If there had been an effective boycot of the lowes, we would have had a huge, empty building and parking lot, which would have sucked, but also served as a deterrent for the next guy who wanted to rezone farmland and build something.
i never shopped there, and so I used more gasoline. Dh says I tilt at windmills. I told him I like windmills.
My mother, a generation older than CathyA, lived in used houses most of her life. While I was growing up she lamented the take over of farmland by suburban tracts. She bemoaned the loss of open spaces. Always the comments, always the dissing of developers and progress.
When she turned 80 and after living in used houses and their attendant problems, she bought a brand spankin' new house built on the latest edge of town, that which was farmland 5 years before.
So I guess she adjusted by joining them. Haha.
Me, I love the city and I put some energy into hugging buildings. Not all that of them can be saved, but preserving our built environment is as important to me as the forest is to CathyA. 200 years ago swathes of forest were cleared to build the buildings I now want to save. These buildings are now older than most of the trees in the woodlands everyone is lamenting.
Catherine and a few others.....thank you for putting into words what I feel, but have trouble verbalizing it.
TooMuchStuff......the guy in the movie was right on, as to where we're headed. Some of us can ignore that and go on our merry way, and some of us seem to be much more connected with this beautiful natural planet, and see things quite differently.
I'm not optimistic about our future, for sure. Mankind has ruined so much and set us on a course of destruction and no-return.
I honestly can't believe that mankind fits on this planet.....at least not many cultures. Unfortunately, I think because of our human brains, it makes us unable realize certain things. Our greed is unbelievable, and yet, our "humanity" promotes overpopulation, saving everyone who can possible be saved (no matter what the cost.....even horrible/dangerous misfits). It's hard being human. We're stuck between primitive and kindness/fairness. I can't think of any other animals that bring about their own extinction, just by being who/what they are.........except for humans.
I sometimes wonder if you live in the city, that you can turn a blind eye to what's happening beyond it's perimeter.....and think people like me are just selfish alarmists. I'm connected to the earth, and I'm in a place where I can actually be attuned to things happening, where people in towns can't..........like not being able to see the night sky much anymore; like a drastic decline in butterfly and bird populations; like young trees dying for no reason, etc. etc.? Can you imagine how a person like me feels, when I'm so in touch with these things? How can I be encouraged by anything? I seem to see what others don't.........and it ways heavy on me.
About not going into the city........I would LOVE to not have to go......but there are doctor visits, and places that I need to get to that are the only places available to me. Yes, I could definitely live more simply, and I'm trying to do that.....but it is hard, especially as I grow older and less able to do a lot of things.
sweetana3
4-15-17, 10:36am
I live right in the city and try very hard to never venture into the suburbs that surround it. Endless nondiverse rows and rows of housing, strip malls with all the stores I dont want to visit in endless repetition. I just try harder and harder to stay downtown.
My comment is about the vast amount of time people spend in commuting. Life being spent behind the wheel seeing the same thing over and over.
iris lilies
4-15-17, 10:41am
City people are just clueless. I get it.
In the past 48 hours I saw two monarch butterflies here. Two separate ones, in different gardens a mile from each other. This generated discussion amoung several of us, DH taking the point of view that I was wrong, it was a moth (!) on the first sighting. By the second sighting he was ready to agree that I knew what I was talking about. My friend who is into pollinator gardens offered the opinion that they might have over wintered or come back early, hard to know. These are old butterflies, their powder is worn. We will put our orange slices for them since there isn't much nector around at this time of year.
Monarchs here in the first part of April is unusual.
sweetana3
4-15-17, 12:28pm
Iris Lilies, should we join together and form City Lover's Unite? I love the way people have again fallen in love with our downtown and the tiny areas around it. We have all kinds of renovations to worker's cottages. Tear downs are rare and usually due to inability to renovate or fire. Even business buildings on the edge of usefulness have been returned to useful life often as live work buildings. I love seeing all the young people downtown.
We even had a four block stretch of brick street in front of our house totally rebuilt and it is lovely. Of course, there had to be one person who bemoaned the unevenness of brick and wanted asphalt or cement. Duh.
I have not seen any butterflies but I am very happy to have seen some bees and the birds are back to being noisy in the early morning.
Oh, and we continue to grow up with one apartment building going in at over 20 stories and another one with about 10. The more we bring in downtown, the more we will keep down the need for suburban apartment sprawl. But there is a downside in that downtown living is expensive and many might need to room together.
I'm not dissing city folks at all. I was just saying that if you live in the city, you might not realize how much land is being lost outside your area. sweetana........look at Carmel, Fishers, and now Westfield. And the other day I drove through the south side of Zionsville, that used to be woods. There are several big subdivisions going in now. It's just overwhelming. I mean that Grand Park in Westfield? And now it's attracting all sorts of Hotels, Restaurants, businesses, etc. What was wrong with these places when they were small towns and people loved living a slower life in them?
And what iritates the poop out of me is when developers come in, and with the mayor's and other city officials say "We need growth and development to increase our tax base." DUH!!! It doesn't do that. It just makes the needs greater.
"The Meek shall inherit the earth" is just wishful thinking. It's the aggressors who will remain standing.....but what will they be standing in the middle of??
Oh well......it's a good thing I have beautiful memories and images in my head of simpler, more peaceful times and places.
We moved from the burbs into our city 5 years ago. I love it because we can walk to downtown for all the festivals, etc. I also love how all the houses are different, etc. I have lived in rural areas too but much prefer to be close to everything. I also don't like to drive so being in town makes everything closer.
I had to reset my password and now am showing up as a new member. Not sure what happened.
"The Meek shall inherit the earth" is just wishful thinking. ..
Oh well......it's a good thing I have beautiful memories and images in my head of simpler, more peaceful times and places.
I think that verse refers more to a state of mind or being than a political or cultural statement. But I do know what you mean.
Last summer I serendipitously spent time with the then-owners of the summer home I frequently talk about here.. My utopia. The did a wonderful job of honoring the place. It was still just a cottage (albeit a $750k one today) uninsulated. They made VERY few changes, and I could have zapped myself back to the 60s and 70s and been right there with Aunt Florence. I was so grateful to them for that.
But they told me during that visit that they had to sell because the father was elderly and not in good health and they were afraid to be so far from medical services. They did sell it a few months back. I don't know who bought it, but I just have visions of them modernizing it, making it "open concept" with granite countertops and all kinds of features for today's style of entertaining and completely ignoring the Craftsman details and the smell of salt and timber.
Cathy, I decided to shut the door on those memories. I will never drive near the place again. My last photos are from last summer, of the second owners of the place (after my aunt and uncle), and I just can't stand to see my memories tampered with.
I had to reset my password and now am showing up as a new member. Not sure what happened.
The Junior Member title is a reflection of the number of posts you've made, it will change to Member after 30 posts.
Sometimes I feel like a masochist. I like to think of it more that I continue to think of things that were beautiful, even though it gives me pain. It's sort of like a beautiful, but really sad movie. I like to see the richness of it, in spite of its intense sadness.
Maybe it would be better for me to (as you termed it Catherine) shut the door on those memories.
A movie I really liked (probably lots of folks here wouldn't have), is Trip to Bountiful. When Geraldine Page's character made that determined trip to the house she grew up in and her conversation there ripped my heart out. But it was real and beautiful.
My mind is always flying back to places I've lived in the past and looking around. For my first 10 years we lived at the end of a dead-end street. But behind us, facing another road, was my grandpap's house. So the area between our houses was all ours. We had a creek to play in, and woods. then we moved to another house out in the country with woods and neighbors with farms and horses that we rode. We ice-skated on frozen swamps and road our sleds down country roads. My whole life, all I wanted was to live in the country.
It's hard to think of anyone else ever living in any of our houses.......and what they might do to the property. But time marches on......and I can't help but feel melancholy about that.
Alan, I am confused because I was TeacherTerry for 4 years and could not remember my password and when I changed it it changed my name and acted like I am a new member.
Alan, I am confused because I was TeacherTerry for 4 years and could not remember my password and when I changed it it changed my name and acted like I am a new member.
It would appear you have two separate accounts. The Terry account was created on 5/15/13 and the Teacher Terry account was created the following December. Both are currently active and have similar, yet different, email accounts associated with them.
It looks like you logged into an earlier account.
I made it a point to buy our retirement house here in Colorado in an inner city neighborhood. Every time we owned or rented a house semi-rural, it would get developed and we found ourselves surrounded by subdivisions. And we got tired of driving 11 miles to the grocery. Inner burbs are so much more enjoyable now that we have known both. I worry about my 70 yr old brother living in a tiny town with few services. The hospital is miles away. When we made the trip across three states to resettle, it was plainly evident that many small towns are dying, lots of rural property for sale, etc.
Simplemind
4-15-17, 7:42pm
I grew up country but intend to ride out my end days in the city. I want to be in close community and within walking distance of places to visit. We can walk to town now and do but it takes a half hour or more to get home and after dark I would like a shorter walk in a well lighted area instead of a dark trail. I'm thinking a lot of planned communities are going to sprout up in the next several years. I love our place but it is a lot to handle in the yard and garden department.
I could live in the city, and have. I could live in a suburb--my preference--and have. I could live in a smallish town, I think, depending on the town. I would never live in the country, miles away from libraries and every amenity I value. (And all the ticky-tacky developments that spring up in cow pastures out there really are horribly depressing.) I get all the nature I want here in my leafy suburb a few blocks from a large, heavily treed park. Actually, every square foot around here is heavily treed. I could, theoretically, walk to town, and bus service is also within reach. As I get older and feebler though, the idea of a compact community with everything close at hand gets more attractive to me. Time will tell where I end up...
I am one of the vast commuters sweetana writes about. I have been doing an hour commute each way or close to it for 23 years, during which time I have applied to hundreds of jobs trying to get something closer to home without luck, either because the posting is pro forma and someone already has an in to get the job (especially the case in union shops), or it pays starvation wages. Housing costs near the job-rich areas are 3 to 4 times higher than where I live so moving closer to work is not an option. Most of the work could easily have been handled by telecommuting, but my bosses would not allow this. Elites seem to be flocking together and setting up companies in close proximity near the upscale restaurants they frequent. I don't see tax credits drawing many businesses to underserved areas.
Iris Lilies, should we join together and form City Lover's Unite? I love the way people have again fallen in love with our downtown and the tiny areas around it. We have all kinds of renovations to worker's cottages. Tear downs are rare and usually due to inability to renovate or fire. Even business buildings on the edge of usefulness have been returned to useful life often as live work buildings. I love seeing all the young people downtown.
We even had a four block stretch of brick street in front of our house totally rebuilt and it is lovely. Of course, there had to be one person who bemoaned the unevenness of brick and wanted asphalt or cement. Duh.
I have not seen any butterflies but I am very happy to have seen some bees and the birds are back to being noisy in the early morning.
Oh, and we continue to grow up with one apartment building going in at over 20 stories and another one with about 10. The more we bring in downtown, the more we will keep down the need for suburban apartment sprawl. But there is a downside in that downtown living is expensive and many might need to room together.
Yesterday morning I met up with friends in downtown Boston - went to the Armenian Holocaust memorial and walked the labyrinth there. Did a good portion of the Harborwalk, had coffee, walked back up through the Greenway. After we split up I walked back through the Commons and the gardens to get back to the subway. A good day.
Teacher Terry
4-16-17, 1:46pm
Alan, thanks so much for the info!! I had no clue I had 2 accounts.
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