What a way to celebrate being here, in this most surreal of pleasant places, for a fortnight! The lightning was as bright (and as constant) as daylight. David and I sat on our beautiful porch and talked and felt the cool wind and occassional rain spray until the power went out, leaving us in total and utter blackness. Somehow that lightening went away at the same time our power did! We couldn’t see our hand before our faces. Good thing we have no living room furniture or we surely would have broken toes and legs feeling our way back into the house and stairs!

What a two weeks it’s been! Moving day was rainy and wet and swift, thanks to church friends who heartily helped us for the third time this year. It took the full day to discover the bed hardware, which Andrew had placed in the car glove compartment without telling anyone (”so it’d be safe”) and that first night was like a total sigh of relief.

The first day…not so much. I had some things to get to used to for sure! Like, the fact that in a town of 500, a new family moving in to “the preacher’s house” is a Major Event. Meaning, cars slowed down so the drivers could unabashedly stare at me. They went out of their way, turning off the main road, to cruise past my front porch. I had no phone (everything was long distance and nothing local), no charger for my cell phone (lost in boxes somewhere), and David worked until 1 am. “Vulnerable” doesn’t begin to describe how I felt!

And then someone saw my boy out playing and decided to drop her boy off nearby so they could meet. DJ is Andrew’s age and they hit it off right away. And then she came by, introduced herself, and sat and chatted with me for an hour and half. She grew up in this house and later worked as a housekeeper for the preacher! Robin was a spot of kindness in a lonely day, one of many to come.

There were two others that first day. I went “to town”, (a phrase now fixed in our vernacular) to get some cleaning supplies at one of the little stores there. A lady came up to me and introduced herself as “my nearest neighbor”, Miss Mabel. “Genuine” is the word that comes to mind with her; she is kind but not gushingly sweet. Just quiet and matter of fact, and an avid gardener, lending an inate trust as we must be kindred spirits for that fact alone! As the days have passed we’ve visited every morning; she’s kept me supplied with her excess homegrown tomatoes and cantelope and I”ve returned cinnamon bread.

Someone else showed up that day…a pragmatic little black cat, looking near death. She planted herself on my back porch, fur falling out, bones showing. There was a little grey kitten with her but I couldn’t tell if she was still nursing or not. And then a huge orange and white “Daddy cat” came by, with three identical orange-and-whites (what we now call them) that look like they are from an older litter. A nuclear cat family: I’ve never really seen one before. But the sherbet-y oranges are skittish and clannish. The whole kaboodle of them was abandoned by the neighbors next door who recently moved away and left them. Andrew immediately named the black one “Missy” and declared her his cat.

By Day Two my nerves were much better. I’d found my charger, David worked a shorter day, and I’d had a few conversations to remind me that I hadn’t fallen off the face of the planet! I found some music to put on; Randy’s Wailin Jennys CD’s that are absolutey the perfect soundtrac for this setting. And I sat on my porch and had coffee with the cat family, Missy trying to get me to pet her, the kitten looking forlorn, and the orange-and-whites eating on the run.

I felt bonded to this little black cat though. She’s certainly not what I thought my next cat would be; I wanted something heftier. I like big boy cats that have some ooompf to them! But there was something between us. She knew I was were the food was, and after a day of good and healthy eating I found her nursing the kitten. By the end of a few days her coat was shiny again and she was bathing and nurturing that kitten for hours, her teats full and swollen. I’m aware I saved her life and the life of her baby and she is affectionately grateful and sweet. Missy and Baby Grey are now a full-fledged part of the family.

We’ve worked the kinks out of knowing our dump’s hours (a quarter mile around the corner and up the road, and yes, it will close for election day, a car accident, or anything else that distracts the old man who runs it). And I’ve despaired a’plenty with the grotesque lack of anything healthy to eat in the lone grocery store here: a bread aisle with nothing but Merita white, no real maple syrup, no local or even really seasonal produce, one brand of ice cream and it’s full of fake stuff, not even wheat flour or other basic “whole food ingredients”. That means, to shop for how we eat, I’m driving 30 miles to Oak Ridge at the least and more than likely 50 miles into Knoxville.

I’ve gotten about 3/4 of the house unpacked and spent a large amount of time establishing new household routines. I’ve cooked and cooked through Nourishing Traditions and will post notes of the recipes in the days to come. I’ve gotten a state of the art clothesline up and become so caught up on laundry that I have small loads set on the “medium” setting now. I’m reading an EXCELLENT bit of storytelling beauty, Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. It’s fluid and wonderfully told and makes me even think in the “Quaker” speech some of it is written in. The tale is compelling like the ocean waves so prevelant in the setting. Without internet it’s been a comfort to have a great book to sit in my rocking chair and feel the breezes with; like a friend whose presence caught me by surpise.

And surprises! There are around to be sure! People “call” on you out here; visitors coming with banana bread loaves and gifts from their gardens, who fully intend to sit a spell and have a chat. Or the “ugly dogs” might show up, la-tee-dah-ing around the neighborhood looking for a friendly pat or a plate of scraps. Two of the uglies dogs I’ve ever seen (think sheepdog mixed with….doberman? and shephard mixed with….chihuahua?). Someone dumped a very young kitten up at the post office and the kids brought it home, full of fleas and conjunctivitis and unable to lap milk. Missy has adopted “Sam”, I treated her eyes with warm water and breast milk like I would have a human child, and she’s part of our little porch trio as well. Missy now has enough milk to feed an army and those two kittens spend most of their days and nights attatched to her or playing with her tail. The orange-and-whites keep their distance save for coming long enough to eat, and I hope they work for their food keeping the snakes and critters at bay. And then, surprises of amazing surprises, someone came by during that dark and stormy night last night and placed a generous and anonymous gift on his car seat. Took our breath away. A Random Act of Kindness has been committed and we have no idea who to thank. So whoever you are, if you are reading this, THANK YOU. We now have our emergency fund almost recovered and a new wind in our sails.

Missy-Cat has hopped up on the bed to walk across my keyboard and hopefully gather some cozy lovin’. The kids are snacking on watermelon and finishing their Pride and Prejudice marathon. Hopefully I will get some more boxes made available for the young girl who stopped by yesterday to use the phone and while she did, discovered I could meet that need for her. Bills paid, a return to blog-land, and maybe some sewing. It’s not all sweet and pretty; brothers just engaged in a loud, “you’re a freakin’ idiot” shouting match that didn’t quite blend with Lizzy and Jane and Mr. Darcy……

but it’s good to be home.