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[paxamicus AT earthlink.net]

 Lisa, this is on my mind a lot, I hope you don't mind if we split  
this off into another thread. You and Gene both express
something I am keenly aware of at this point.

We have made several house hunting trips up north (Mass, VT, NH) over  
the last view months and I have realized something. We are New  
Englanders who can't live in the cold. I was miserable every dreary  
grey day.

But as much as I know how beautiful NC and KY and TN are, and that  
there are good deals to be had there, I am afraid that despite
our twenty years in Virginia, we'll put a foot badly wrong. I have  
found it an uphill struggle to be liberal in a very red state,  
sometimes.

Differences can be so huge over such simple things. I knew I was  
annoying the pants of my proper fancy pants, Boston-bred step daughter  
because I could not resist offering her food/or at least three times.  
It's the magic number for me.
My Gran'd've skinned me if I didn't offer, she'd say it would make us  
look badly off if we didn't have enough to share. It's been drummed  
into me. "Tea? Cookies? A bit of cake?" To her, the fact I could not  
resist meant I wasn't listening to her.
It took a little bit of discussion for us to figure out what we each  
were doing, and then it was fine, but my neighbours may not be as  
committed to helping me figure it out as I might need. ; )

So here's what I want...the cultural equivalent to Brattleboro, Vt, or  
Ithaca, NY,    in NC, Tenn, Kentucky or WV.    IF it's not green and  
rolling I will dry up and die.

Anybody know one?

Cheers,

Moon









On Feb 28, 2008, at 8:05 PM, Lisa K.V. Perry wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 7:37 PM, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>  
> wrote:
>
> > On Feb 28, 2008, at 5:32 PM, paxamicus AT earthlink.net wrote:
> >
> > > Community is one of the important factors for us in relocating and
> > > it's something that's impossible to nail down over the Net.
> >
> > The biggest mistake made by those buying rural homes is landing in a
> > community where they just don't fit.
>
>
> I think it's even impossible to nail down until you've lived there a  
> while.
> I say rent for a while and see if you really, truly like it a few  
> years out.
> In small, rural communities you often know everybody's business--and  
> they
> yours inside of 6 or 7 years. The downside to that rule might be  
> that land
> prices could double or triple during that period of time (as  
> happened here,
> after we bought 8 years ago).
>
> Though w/ the economy the way it is, perhaps the days of land  
> doubling &
> tripling so quickly are behind us for a while. Maybe not. There's  
> only so
> much available land.
>
> We love where we live but we go through occasional phases lasting a  
> day or
> two to a few weeks where it can feel very small, very insular. That  
> we need
> to step away for a short while then come back to appreciate the  
> clean air,
> clean water (all water originates in our county to go elsewhere),  
> and a
> place where you generally leave your car and house unlocked 24/7.
>
> Anyone else felt like that in their small community or do you just  
> love it
> all the time?
> Just wondering if this is a natural thing or just us. ;)
>
> Lisa
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