moving in

The new house.

It’s not all melancholy and sadness, this leaving.  The only thing that stays the same is that things always change and we are way past due for a change.  So there is also excitement, a new place to mold, a new community to learn, a new life to live.  

When I say we are moving out to the country, these words are coming from the lips of a woman who has lived in a city all her life.  Houston wasn’t always a top contender but it has grown in my lifetime to be the 4th largest city in the US by population.  I grew up on the edge of town amidst woods, fields and the bayou but the woods and fields are gone, paved over with concrete.  On the spot where my house was now stands a 20 story office building.  The private road that lead to a few driveways is now a major road connecting what used to be our neighborhood to the Loop.  What used to be the edge is now the center.

We are moving back to the edge, to a house on half an acre on the last (or first depending on which direction you are going) street of a small neighborhood surrounded by agricultural fields and pastures outside the city limits of Wharton TX.  Wharton is a small town, the county seat, of less than 10,000 people about 60 miles away from Houston.  The Colorado River skirts the town, brushing against it.

I actually wanted at least one acre and two would have been good but the forces at play at the time we finally acted landed us here.  We had been looking for a place off and on for about 6 years and were seized irrationally by ‘now or never’ in the summer of 2007.  Sometimes, when I am lugging stuff to the back end of our 1/2 acre, it seems enough.  Most other times though, not nearly enough but we have some great views here and we like it.  It’ll do for now.

Looking east from the edge of the property across our neighbor’s acre, across the farm road to the corn field (last year it was cotton) which extends basically as far as you can see.

Looking south behind us across the back fourth of our half acre, across the 13 acre field behind us (which currently is filled with coneflowers) and beyond that to the newly restored Tee Pee Motel (and RV park).  Kinda cool to have one of the few remaining historic Tee Pee Motels in our backyard.

Looking west from the edge of the property across the vacant half acre (that used to be a part of this place but changed hands long ago) towards our neighbor, of the fabulous garden.  He and his wife operate a nursury and his son owns the half acre in between us.  I’d like to plant some peach trees there but that will have to wait til we get moved and I can talk him into letting us use part of it.

Looking west down the street from the corner of our property.  At the end of the street is business 59 and on the other side of that is more corn fields as far as you can see.

Looking north from the front of the property across the street to this place on an acre and a half (I think).  It has an auto repair shop sign but the only time I have seen anyone there is when they mow.

Looking east from the front about in the middle of our property towards the farm road and the corn fields.