We are on the Northern Cumberland Plateau, elevation about 2000. The area is mountainous, but not dramatically so—not like the Smokies for instance.
At the moment, we're living in a rented, furnished villa on the golf course and waiting for the construction of our house in the hills. The villa amounts to a one thousand square-foot house with two bedrooms, two baths, and no storage. It's reminiscent of my newly-wed days—way, way, way, way back when. The furniture is early hand-me-down. But it's cozy, clean, has a wonderful working fireplace, a big deck for when it warms up, and a beautiful view of the lake (read: pond).
We replaced the mattress on the futon, which serves as the sofa—six months is a long time to not want to sit on the sofa. We'd like to replace the mattress on the bed we sleep in, but that would be foolish, so we survive.
At the moment, we're living in a rented, furnished villa on the golf course and waiting for the construction of our house in the hills. The villa amounts to a one thousand square-foot house with two bedrooms, two baths, and no storage. It's reminiscent of my newly-wed days—way, way, way, way back when. The furniture is early hand-me-down. But it's cozy, clean, has a wonderful working fireplace, a big deck for when it warms up, and a beautiful view of the lake (read: pond).
We replaced the mattress on the futon, which serves as the sofa—six months is a long time to not want to sit on the sofa. We'd like to replace the mattress on the bed we sleep in, but that would be foolish, so we survive.
In addition to our living arrangements, things are different here as compared to South Florida. For example:
The adventure continues.
Later.
GEB
- My car broke down—twice—and both times a strong younger man stopped and helped. In the first instance, my friend thought we were very strong and doing so well pushing the car off the road, then she looked over and saw the man. In the second, the guy jumped out of his car, leaving his female companion to take over, and pushed my car a block and a half to the MINI dealer. Steve was a half of a block back catching his wind when I arrived in the lot. The other interesting thing is even while we disrupted traffic not one driver beeped at us, cursed, waved with the middle finger, or pulled a gun.
- I used to drive a red MINI Cooper S. Now I drive a blue MINI Cooper. See the above explanation.
- Cold white s - - -, aka snow, falls from the sky here. They say there has been more snow here this year than in any year in recent memory. I think it's in our honor. The snow gods are saying, "Fools, you moved north on January 2. Duh." (The truth is the house in Florida sold in 6 days rather than in several months.)
- The building contract for our house is two pages long. That's the whole contract! And I'm told that it isn't uncommon.
- Most of the people we meet are halfbacks--Northerners who moved to Florida and then went half way back. We've found them to be open and friendly.
- The Tennesseans are charming and welcoming, though the language patterns are different. The nice man who is excavating our lot said, "We'll see you a little after a while sometime." Our builder, who is a very nice, honest native said, "I might going to do that and everything and stuff."
- We took a drive to get firewood (that's different) and went the wrong way, taking a road less traveled. We drove through the Amish community of Muddy Pond and up a winding, gravel mountain road only to find the next road washed out. Gone. Rapids in the river and everything and all. We retraced our path, went back up the gravel mountain road, through Muddy Pond, and eventually found the road we should have taken originally. Then we found the man with the firewood and learned he came from Ft. Lauderdale!
The adventure continues.
Later.
GEB
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