8/10/07

Well, having written about this whole house-selling, house-buying, studio-search thing in this blog, and having mentioned it to every single person I even sort-of know, I have caused a whole chain of people (in addition to myself) to have rich, Walter Mitty-like fantasies about the new life they would lead if only they bought a different house.

Before I go on, a bit of explanation: we own not only this house we live in, which sits on about 4 acres in an old Vermont village, but we also have a rental

Watch falling stars from here next summer?

I mentioned to my next-door neighbor, a kind and remarkable 80-year old farmer and his equally wonderful wife, that we might move. I should mention that for the past 17 years he has used the back field, in front of our rental house, for growing his corn. His first reaction was sorrow to hear we might be leaving. His second reaction, an instant later was, "I won't be able to use that field!" Two days later he told me that he might be interested in buying our rental house, if we were to sell it, so that he could continue to use the field. He would continue to rent out the house to pay off the mortgage. It turns out he's not the only one with designs on that house. As I have a friendly and open relationship with our current tenant, I told her what was afoot, and now she, too, is thinking about buying the rental house. Yikes.

Another friend who lives nearby is now wondering if our house (the one we live in) might be right for her family. All of us are dreaming of different lives, with me at the top (bottom?) of this food chain.

I just read that the Perseid meteor shower will be at its very zenith this weekend, and I can't help but think how wonderful it would be to watch it from the deck of that lovely new house on top of the mountain.