I have never been as happy nor felt as fulfilled as I do here in Texas doing field work. I am always busy and I truly feel that I am accomplishing important work every day. Here are some of the reasons I have fallen in love with San Saba, Texas:
1) The air is fresh unlike the smog filled air of Boston and there are lots of wide open spaces. John covers the dirt/grass roads on his property with pecan hulls and when I walk on them an earthy and refreshing smell wafts up and fills the air and the crunch under foot is so very satisfying.
2) There are a plethora of primitive dirt roads for me to run on. Coqueta and Laika (Liz’s 2 wild dogs from Latin America) accompany me on my runs and I am surrounded by the beautiful scenery of pecan orchards and pasture lands that melt into the natural riparian areas.
3) I have never met friendlier people in my life. Everyone is so eager to meet us and they are always inviting us over for meals and conversation. Often times neighbors on nearby orchards just drop by for a visit and they are always genuinely interested in our bat work. Today I met two of Jimma’s friends who have horses and I was invited out to visit both!
4) Dinners with John and Jimma are always wonderful. There is great food, interesting conversation, and wonderful people. Jimma is a very talented Naturalist and has abounding knowledge on the surrounding wildlife and John is always giving us tips on hunting and cooking this wildlife :-)
5) There is a warmth in San Saba that extends beyond the stifling weather. I truly feel accepted into the community and feel like I have a home while I am here. I love Boston, but in the city I do not feel the constant sense of welcome I experience here. Often I feel like an anonymous person going about my business, but out here in the country I am always waving to cars passing by and stopping to chat with the neighbors. In the city it is easy to get caught up in the hustle of all the people moving around you and time seems to fly by. Here I am extraordinarily busy, but I get lost in my own work without the distraction of millions of others around me. It is like an isolated bubble of time that moves at its own pace. I can only hope that I will be lucky enough to live in such a place when I have a family.
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You make me miss Maine with your descriptions of non-city living. While Cleveland is "exciting", I, too, miss the wide open spaces, clean air, and heavenly quiet of rural living.
ReplyDeleteI seem forever surrounded by hill-billies, foul language, and booming car stereos...
That's so awesome that you love your work so much. The pictures of the bats are SO CUTE!! <3 And your other pictures are great too. Horses! I like horses a lot more since I've been watching "The Saddle Club" on PBS kids. Yeah, I am such like a 12 year old girl, but I don't care! It's a great show!
ReplyDeleteIt must be so incredible to have clean air and wide open spaces around you. I like living in/near the city, but I've always thought that I sorta maybe want to go to the country for at least a little bit. Your reviews aren't really making me change my mind. ^_^ Maybe it wouldn't be forever that I'd go, but I think that I would like it.
In any case I'm sure the people there are a lot nicer than the surly weirdos that are on the bus every morning here!