I love my yard, especially the view off the deck.
I also love the animals that visit our yard or make it their home. The bird feeder is hanging from the tree directly behind the corner of the deck (you can't see it in this photo). A bunny has been lurking around underneath that white pine. We occasionally see deer, although I know they visit overnight when we don't see them, too, and I love when the wild turkeys march through. And I adore the reptiles and amphibians, like this common snake
and, of course, the red-backed salamanders.
I love that we live so close to the ocean. In less than fifteen minutes, I'm at the beach. Just knowing it's so close calms me; if I need to get there, I can (and sometimes I just do).
My kids are growing up with an intimate knowledge of the ocean; I love that. One of our favorite beaches is a barrier beach, with this salt pond behind.
We love it here. It's calm and shallow and we swim next to little fish and sometimes come across crabs and even horseshoe crabs, and I love that my kids (and myself!) have the chance to "know" these creatures in their own habitat, not just behind glass at an aquarium.
It's a slightly farther drive, but we can also easily get to some great tide pools.
There, we can find hermit crabs and snails and sea stars (although not this year), again, in their own habitat, where we are careful and grateful visitors.
I also love that in almost any direction we drive from home, we pass horses or cows.
And every time I go into town, I drive by a pond that is gorgeous in all weather. This photograph was taken on a very grey day last fall.
We are surrounded by all of this, yet we're only about 40 minutes from Mystic, CT, 45 minutes from Providence, RI, and 90 minutes from Boston.
I realized when I was thinking about this list that it doesn't include any particular stores or communities of people. Back before I had to cut out gluten, I'd have told you I loved a certain coffee shop, and the pizza place in town, and how we used to pick up our CSA share at the co-op, order a pizza for dinner, and then browse in the used book store. But the used book store closed, the CSA stopped letting kids on the farm so I couldn't work off half our share anymore, and most of us can't eat regular pizza. My love of this place is very much centered on the landscape. Whenever we idly talk of moving I always say I don't want to be any farther from the coast than I am now, and since it's about four miles "as the crow flies," that limits our options a bit!
What do you love about where you live? Is it the landscape, the community, or both?
20 comments:
love seeing your beautiful area — you’re very lucky. :)
we love where we live, and yet i hear people complain about it all the time — that it’s boring. :) we’re in classic a flyover area.
we live in the woods, surrounding by farm fields, and the sky is a huge part of our landscape. we have a creek and we’re near lakes and rivers where we can kayak. being surrounded by trees and wildlife is like a daily meditation.
It looks wonderful! I would love that proximity to the ocean -- we're close, but not quite that close -- I would love to be at the beach in 15 minutes! Mystic is on my side trip list, I love Providence and of course Boston is amazing!
Beautiful visual list!!!
you love snakes and salamanders?! oh they are my biggest nightmare.
I still remember how much fun my kids had, clambering over the rocks on the shore in front of the Officer's Club in Newport and discovering these little black crabs, among other creatures. You have me yearning for the sea.
I love being close to the water as well. I'm all about climate and landscape, but people & community can have an incredibly strong hold over you, regardless of where you're physically located.
This is beautiful and reminds me of Southern Connecticut where my family is. I love snakes and salamanders too!
The pictures are wonderful. (And a favourite book store here closed not long ago and I miss it.)
Beautiful post! I miss having an excuse to head up your way, now that Ellen and Andrew have both moved home from New England!
I love where I live. I love that I can be at the ocean within an hour (15 minutes would be even better!), I love that there are Pinelands within a 30 minute drive. When we go to the woods and I stand in the middle of the trees, I feel like I can really breathe (like you feel standing on the beach). I love that there are museums nearby. I love that my commute to work is on a train and I don't have to fight traffic and parking every day. I love my neighborhood where people wave to me as they pass and sometimes stop and chat.
So, I guess for me? It's a combination of landscape and people/convenience.
Love this post ( and the running one, too, in the other place). Driving past horses and cows is also one of my favorite things about living down here! We're tucked in between woods and a bayou, which I love, but we don't explore either much. They are filled with much larger, nastier things than that little snake you have in that photo. But I do love walking the dog alongside them.
Also, we wave to everyone we pass, hold doors for each other (men hold for men, women for men, it doesn't matter, it's just being nice), and let you in line in traffic. Makes me smile.
I love having the ocean nearby, when I was growing up. That's one think I miss. You and the kids are lucky to be able to play on the beach! {:-Deb
Beautiful photos of a very pretty area. Thanks for telling us about your home....
Such a great list and I loved seeing all the photos... it all looks quite exotic to my Australian eyes... a lovely glimpse into your world...xx
Sounds like you are in your own little patch of Heaven :)
Your animal visitors would captivate us, too...we love wildlife gracing us with their presence, as well.
That salamander is adorable!
You really do live in a lovely area. I would love to be so close to the beach, and such a lovely quiet looking beach too. We holiday in an area like yours!
I do love my house and yard, and the area we live in is nice (for a city suburb - very leafy and safe and quiet) but not much community, for me anyway, although I guess that will change a bit once C starts school. But I do LOVE my knitting community. It is my haven.
Amy...love your pictures of RI! I wish I'd have had the gumption to do a picture-list. I completely understand using the natural place rather than the added places; it highlights the loveliness all the more, don't you think? I'm back from my travels, so I'll be in touch very soon!!
Are you ready for how small the world is? I go to the prenatal yoga class lead by the wife of the man who does the Music Together class here (the Carbones)...could you have gone to his classes? Oh my goodness!!
You have certainly made your home sound wonderful, and i am jealous of the close beaches!
first up this is a wonderful idea for a post and I think I'll do one soon.
Secondly, I've been looking at your photos of where you live for a long time now and it never fails to appeal to me - such a rich landscape and you can tell you're very connected to it. It's what I love about where I live too - it's the solid, real stuff.
beautiful landscape... it's easy to see why you love it. although, i could do without the snakes! :-)
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