Home is Where the Refrigerator Is

Well, I have moved to a far and distant land. Not distant from where I moved to, obviously, since it's the same place. But far from where I'm not living now. Assuming that the place in which I am not living now is not nearby, in which case it would be a far and near land. And that simply wouldn't do.

Ahem. . .anyway. . .

So, here I am now in the smallish Appalachian town to be known here as Wolf Hills, billions and billions of centimeters from where I used to live. So far, the change seems to have been worth it.

I packed up all my belongings on a Sunday and drove for fourteen hours, and unpacked things on a Monday. The process of moving was about as straight-forward and uneventful as such an event can be. It was rather amusing to see at one point that the road I was driving down was at the same time highway 81 South and 77 North simultaneously. . .so East and West may never meet, but North and South do so at least once that I know of.

Wolf Hills is a somewhat odd town. It's partly the stereotypical backwoods Appalachian mountain town, while at the same time being very cosmopolitan (there are at least three Starbucks within five minutes of me, oh joy) and at the forefront of American culture. Our local theatre is regarded by the theatre world as being at the same level as Broadway, and all sorts of Very Famous People linger around on the streetcorners (my neighbour is a famous Oscar-winning actress of about my own age, who comes to town to work on her hobby of painting between acting jobs).

Here are some views of Main Street, which I wandered up and down.

Around town 1

Around town 2

Around town 3

Around town 4

Around town 5

This is a little parkish sort of place, where they occasionally have live bands and suchlike to terrorise the pedestrians passing by.

Park

Here's the hotel just around the corner from me.

Hotel Not-California

And this is the town theatre (for live performances; the cinema is down at the end of Main Street I didn't get to this day).

Theatre

Another town park, with a big hill in the middle of it.

Town park

Looking from the top of the hill back at where I took the previous picture from.

Hill 1

And more views from the hilltop.

Hill 2

Hill 3

Hill 4

I'm currently boarding, until I decide on a more permanent residence. The house I'm staying in is about 250 years old, and like pretty much every building that age on this continent George Washington did indeed sleep here. In fact, it was his headquarters building for a while, though most of the time it was just the local tannery. Luckily, all the tannery smells have long faded.

The house is currently owned by a moderately elderly lady, Dixie. It is also often over-run by her enormous clan of sisters, brothers, cousins, children, grandchildren, and the like. I shamelessly take advantage of the huge piles of cooking that result, and hide away in my lair when things get too exciting. Or else I lurk in the enormous garden and lounge around in the sun.

The house and its environs:

The place 1

The place 2

The place 3

The place 4

The place 5

The place 6

And for those of you of botanical mindset. . .some flowers!

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 1

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 2

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 3

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 4

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 5

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 6

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 7

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 8

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 9

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 10

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 11

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 12

The Garden of Good and Mediocre 13

And here is the cat, Abby.

Abby

Abby does not like men. This is due to the fact that the last few men who have stayed here had dogs with them, and Abby does not like dogs. That is due to a dog eating Abby's bright white sister about a year ago, while Abby was sitting about twelve inches away and camouflaged by her colourings. So this is what I generally see of Abby:

Abby's disdain

And that is where I live now. Later on I'll get ambitious and post something about the wondrous things going on around here, but for now I think that this is enough.