I suppose it is time to put something here.. an update to the changes post.
The traveling circus that is our lives has moved on to Cape Cod from Western Mass. The house in Seattle bought a house out here, 30 miles out into the Atlantic on a windy sandbar. Technically, the location is Harwich, MA, but we are closer to Dennis and Brewster. The back property line is the Harwich/Brewster line. It is beautiful, but remote.
So, we have been here since July, and there is a lot of deferred maintenance on the place that has taken a lot of my time. Trying to get it ready for winter, routing water away from foundations, plugging mouse holes and heat loss gaps. Testing mechanicals, generator, heating system, hvac, etc. Lots to do. The place has a finished barn in back, which I have high hopes will be studio when all the scut is done. It is larger than I need, and will cost some money to adequately refigure. It is currently a shop space and warehouse for 'stuff' that eventually needs to go away.
I have my days... days when I miss Seattle. Mostly the people that took 30 years to get to know. It is isolated here, and the starting over seems overwhelming and our new neighbors seem uninterested in newcomers. It is hard for me to be actively social, so going out and meeting people is an unpracticed skill. I keep in touch with Seattle peeps as much as possible but it is not the same as being around them. Just knowing that friends are a stones throw away was a comfort that I took for granted.
As a painter, my paintings all come out of some intimacy with the subject, and intimacy takes interaction and time. It takes time to know what moves you about something or someone. But you have to spend the time observing, living in the presence.. and I have to start spending time doing that here, and less time doing handyman stuff.
Hopefully in the next couple weeks I can carve out a space in the barn to build an easel.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Changes
How things change...
It is February, and there is new thinking on the grill. There has been precious little to look at for sale here that would work for Saltmine. So we are retooling the search to look at Cape Cod. It seems to have more of what I need, and at more competitive prices, oddly enough. Plus, we know people there. The climate is milder, as well. Spent the last two weekends in the area, and I really like it.
I dont regret this time here. You have to experience a place to see if it wants you, and if you still want it. Test drive. Western Mass was picked on a whim. On stats and buildings and potentials based on things that needed to be verified. Nothing puts things into perspective like presence.
Right now it is gray out and raining. Temps here in Hatfield are just up in upper 30's, and all the snow on the ground is turning into flood by the rain. the neighbor's large yard to the west of us is completely under around 6 inches of water. It is coming through the basement walls of this building, which is hurting for some landscaping to make water go away from the foundation instead of toward it like it is now. From the second floor here (which is more like third floor in a house) I can see most of the fields and yards in the area, and all are lakes. Our parking lot here is more of a moat. If we leave this, I wont miss this stuff.
So, this next week will be spent on and around the Cape, looking at things...
It is February, and there is new thinking on the grill. There has been precious little to look at for sale here that would work for Saltmine. So we are retooling the search to look at Cape Cod. It seems to have more of what I need, and at more competitive prices, oddly enough. Plus, we know people there. The climate is milder, as well. Spent the last two weekends in the area, and I really like it.
I dont regret this time here. You have to experience a place to see if it wants you, and if you still want it. Test drive. Western Mass was picked on a whim. On stats and buildings and potentials based on things that needed to be verified. Nothing puts things into perspective like presence.
Right now it is gray out and raining. Temps here in Hatfield are just up in upper 30's, and all the snow on the ground is turning into flood by the rain. the neighbor's large yard to the west of us is completely under around 6 inches of water. It is coming through the basement walls of this building, which is hurting for some landscaping to make water go away from the foundation instead of toward it like it is now. From the second floor here (which is more like third floor in a house) I can see most of the fields and yards in the area, and all are lakes. Our parking lot here is more of a moat. If we leave this, I wont miss this stuff.
So, this next week will be spent on and around the Cape, looking at things...
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