Saturday was a work day at The Golden K.
There is always something to do when you live on five acres amongst hundreds of pines, cedars and oaks. Especially during winter and spring. There’s dead wood to clean up, leaves and pine needles to blow or rake, irrigation to protect from freezing, wood piles to secure, tree trimming, etc. etc etc….
I’ve been asked by several people who live up here “on the hill” and also by those that I left behind in suburbia if living in the foothills is more work than I thought it would be. I say, “Yes it is but it’s a labor of love”.
As a male I cannot speak to the physical act of giving birth. But I can speak from experience of raising, loving, and being loved by three children.
I’ve often told young first time parents-to-be that raising children is 10 times harder than you think but 100 times more wonderful than you can ever imagine. It’s hard work and challenging. There is so much responsibility you can never be prepared for. The stakes are high. The consequence of failure can be devastating. But the rewards, satisfaction and love experienced are immeasurable.
And that’s how it is with The Golden K. It is a labor, so to speak, of love. A lot more effort and work than I had imagined but an immeasurable amount of satisfaction, gratitude, and pride to go along with the work.
And so it was this past Saturday. A day in “the field” clearing brush, trimming cedars, and staging aforementioned vegetation for burning or hauling off to the green waste site. Hard work and sweat fr sure. There is a lot of satisfaction in knowing the my small piece of the planet is maintained, aesthetically pleasing and – importantly – safe. But mostly satisfaction of knowing I’ve done my very best to let The Golden K shine.
That little light. My little light I call the Golden K. Yes, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
And this is my romantic perspective of life at 3100 feet.
Sweet little lower alpine haven ya got there. Peg and I bought 5 acres on the island when we arrived, after we realized that our tiny 800 sq ft cottage wasn’t going to accommodate Sophie’s growing clan of friends and activities. We had the restaurant at the time so we were more than busy all the time. The house was an old arts and crafts bungalow surrounded by a odd collection of out buildings, a pond, a fenced in garden and plenty of densely forested evergreens and alders. I loved that Sophie spent her early tire swing years there, but it was far to much keep up. We managed to look after about an acre that surrounded the house, but, we let the rest retain it’s wild, over grown, debris-laden, huckleberry, blackberry, devil’s shoelace grounds free of our intervention. I was happy to leave actually, mostly because I would lie awake at night wondering what wire, behind what wall was smoldering, ready to ignite… It was an old place with tube and knob wiring. I wanted someplace which required less work and less worrisome nights. I’m glad you’re out of the city and wandering the woods, it does wonders for the soul and mind. Cheers,
Your first place sounds great but I get the worry about the house and things going wrong. Fortunately the previous owners went first class on most of what they did for the 20 years they owned it so I’m in pretty good shape. They were elderly so the “patio” area and porch was kept very nice but the surrounding acreage needs a lot of clean up. I’m making progress and so long as I don’t become “elderly” too soon we should be in good shape. Thanks for the well wishes – nice to know one of the old gang understands my motivation.
It’s just beautiful, Michael. No wonder you love it so!
Thanks. Yeah I still look around in awe at times and just say “wow-how blessed are we!”
Makes you want to pinch yourself every time you wake up in the midst of such surroundings, doesn’t it?
Yeah I shake my head sometimes and hope that the magic never wears off.