"... mama, mama many worlds i've come since i first left home." you wanna know what mixed feelings are? buy a ticket home after nearly fifteen months on the road.
yup, it'll be good to set foot in our house after all this time away. yup, it will be great to see friends and family again. but, damn, travel is awesome. "they" warned us it would be.
i can say this, we've learned that our idea of "home" is changeable, which only magnifies the "mixedness" in the feelings. we've made a home in places where we've only spent a few days. our mantra has been "home is where we are," and we've found that to be true. well, except for vietnam, but that's a whole other post!
this summer we've been lucky to make our home on a 30 acre farm/orchard draped over the green hills of northern slovenia, complete with a 150 year old (or so) farmhouse and, man, is it stunningly beautiful. go ahead, think of your mental map of europe and try to place slovenia in it. this time last year, when we came through for the first time, we only kinda-sorta knew where it was. not to get all rick steves on you but it's the hidden gem of europe.
wow, have we enjoyed being farm folk! ok, pretend farm folk, yes. but we've mowed broad areas of green grass and large meadows keeping them tidy, and we've tended a huge vegetable garden as if it was our own back forty. we've harvested and eaten whatever we could, and whatever we couldn't, we've canned or pickled and put up for the winter. hope our friends like grape jam! it was made from the grapes growing outside their back door. we've stacked wood for winter and walked around the property with our thumbs in our (mental) overalls, nodding our heads and saying out loud, "yup, good livin'."
when we were done with that stuff, we stepped out our front door and went hiking for a couple of hours. these hillsides are laced with trails and we walk out one side of this farm through the trees to visit our closest neighbors a mile away. we didn't even know we had neighbors until the trail literally went through their front yard. and we've hiked through the woods only to emerge an hour later in a 900 year old town below, all on beautifully marked and well traveled paths. hell, we could walk to another COUNTRY from here on a marked path. austria is right over there (i'm pointing north)!
our friends have been generous in allowing us to take care of their place for these months. i'm sure they see it as us doing them a favor but i can say for certain that it's worked the other way around. what a fantastic way to wrap up our time on the road.
but for now, it's back home we go. wonder what "home" will feel like this time around? we're approaching it as just another part of the adventure.
we'll report back.
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| barn envy. |
i can say this, we've learned that our idea of "home" is changeable, which only magnifies the "mixedness" in the feelings. we've made a home in places where we've only spent a few days. our mantra has been "home is where we are," and we've found that to be true. well, except for vietnam, but that's a whole other post!
this summer we've been lucky to make our home on a 30 acre farm/orchard draped over the green hills of northern slovenia, complete with a 150 year old (or so) farmhouse and, man, is it stunningly beautiful. go ahead, think of your mental map of europe and try to place slovenia in it. this time last year, when we came through for the first time, we only kinda-sorta knew where it was. not to get all rick steves on you but it's the hidden gem of europe.
wow, have we enjoyed being farm folk! ok, pretend farm folk, yes. but we've mowed broad areas of green grass and large meadows keeping them tidy, and we've tended a huge vegetable garden as if it was our own back forty. we've harvested and eaten whatever we could, and whatever we couldn't, we've canned or pickled and put up for the winter. hope our friends like grape jam! it was made from the grapes growing outside their back door. we've stacked wood for winter and walked around the property with our thumbs in our (mental) overalls, nodding our heads and saying out loud, "yup, good livin'."
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| not our cows but the neighbors'. there's some good cheese about to come out of those. |
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| trail markers painted on an outhouse and leading right through someone's farm |
our friends have been generous in allowing us to take care of their place for these months. i'm sure they see it as us doing them a favor but i can say for certain that it's worked the other way around. what a fantastic way to wrap up our time on the road.
but for now, it's back home we go. wonder what "home" will feel like this time around? we're approaching it as just another part of the adventure.
we'll report back.
 |
| man, we'll miss this place. |
We are so glad to have met you both and spent time together in Thailand and Slovenia. I'm sure we have many more adventures together in San Francisco and places beyond.
ReplyDeleteIs this the time I should mention we're *this close* to renting a 3-bedroom house in Mexico for the winter? Y'all come on down. :)
Wishing you a happy landing at home as you plan the next phase of life.
"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time."
ReplyDelete- T.S. Eliot