November Beauty

Now and then we think seriously about selling our place and moving to town, where we could walk to the library, restaurants, and other amenities. We've just been through another such phase. We toured new apartments in the renovated Newmarket Mills along the Lamprey River in our downtown. The apartments were beautiful and a stone's throw from Main Street. Alas, they do not allow dogs and they are expensive.

Apparently rentals (at least places that you'd want to live in) are expensive most everywhere. The economics don't make sense, especially when we own our own place. So, we ponder the trade-offs. Living in town reduces, but doesn't eliminate, the need to drive. We could participate more fully in community events, given the walkable qualities of our downtown. But the outlay is just too high and there are other compromises.

This afternoon, after spending a beautiful November day walking dogs at the local animal shelter and cleaning up the yard in preparation for winter, we took Kodi for a walk in the neighborhood. Not far from our place is Bald Hill Road, a beautiful rural road bordered by stonewalls and mature trees with open fields beyond. Today we watched a flock of four bluebirds fly from tree to tree along the stonewall. A few crows chased a red-tailed hawk from the same trees, where a pileated woodpecker was also feeding.

This too is why our occasional thoughts about a move end the same way. It is just nice where we are. We hear coyotes and foxes at night, animals large and small live among us, and we can walk out our door to see the stars at night or to pick flowers or vegetables or peaches from our yard.

There is no perfect place to live. The goal I think is to be happy in the moment and make the most of wherever you live. It is a beautiful day in November here on our small piece of the planet.