Ahhh… And then there are the people who dwell in ‘these here mountains’… What a breath of
fresh air! They are certainly different from what I got used to in South
Florida… Ever since we started to build the house in the Summer of 2007, and
thus started coming here often, I had kept my attention/guard up a notch to
ensure that I did not walk into unwelcoming places or found myself in the
middle of unwelcoming scenarios (in case you don’t know or haven’t noticed, I
have a very discernible Spanish accent in my speech). As a visitor then, I
never experienced anything but a welcoming and refreshingly warm response
wherever I went. During that time, I gathered once the courage to ask a
visiting neighbor, long-time resident of over 30 years, if I would be liable of running into unfriendly situations because of my accent
and my distinct Hispanic appearance; he promptly, clearly and without a shade
of doubt all but assured me that I should not expect anything but the treatment
that any other person would receive… And he was right! I came here to stay for
good in August 2009 and, ever since then I’ve had nothing but positive
experiences with everybody, both locals (natives) and transplants (or ‘forners’ as we are familiarly known!). And
then, there is the special case of my brother by another mother: Sammy! He is a 48 years old kid, sharp as a tack,
born and raised here, with the biggest (though delicate) heart and most open
mind I’ve ever known! Now, make no mistake, even here in Paradise - and like
everywhere else - you will find all kinds of people. I know folks who are very
friendly to me and, nonetheless, hold a very open and well known antipathy for ‘forners’ moving here (I guess they think
we are likely to, sooner or later, imperil their customary lifestyle). I also
know people who are racist (several levels of severity), and they are open
about it; you know where they stand, and although I may not agree/identify with
that way of thinking, I welcome that openness any day of the week and twice on
Sundays! They do not mask it like other more politically savvy folks do
elsewhere. In conclusion, I’ll close like I opened: the people… What a breath
of fresh air!
On a very personal note, this
past Saturday my oldest daughter and first born, Clarissa Ane, called me to let
me know that she and her husband, Damon, are expecting a child and that I will
become a Grandpa this coming November! She’s been married two years and she is
three months into the process!
On Saturday morning, I was having
my third cup of coffee when I got a call from friends saying they had found a
rabbit in their garden, and the rabbit had died (maybe heart failure after
being caught doing the wrong thing at the wrong place, I don’t know…) I was
asked if I wanted it and I said yes. It was a good doe of about 5 lbs… Came
home and ‘processed’ my first rabbit (kept the back feet; they’re drying).
After about 15 minutes I had over two pounds of prime rabbit meat ready to go
on the freezer and to be consumed at the right time (Jan is in Gainesville with
the girls this week and will be back on Wednesday the 23rd).
The Basketball season (the true
one!) continues… The Heat and Pacers are getting to the end of their series; it
is 3:2 Heat. They had a couple of
sub-par games (2nd and 3rd) but then rebounded and, on
game 5 last night, the really spanked the Pacers. Let’s hope next game is the
last one of the series… On another conference, somewhere in the South and West
I believe, lowly Oklahoma City sent the all-mighty LA Lakers packing!
My garden is struggling (and so
am I with it)… The plants are not growing as expected and, instead, they are
getting yellow and wilt… I’ve tried from watering every two days to watering
twice a day and nothing has changed; I believe that the quality of the top soil
we bought to start it up was less than optimal… Oh well; I will continue to
work on it and I’ll get something out of it (even if it is only worms!)
And there is an investigation on
the Facebook IPO… Apparently Morgan Stanley inflated the valuation of the stock
and now, after a week of trade, the stock is threading waters and has lost
almost 20% ‘at press time”… For those of you who bought, hold on to it; it may
be a piece of memorabilia sometime in the future; for those of you who did not,
well done; just, like with everything else, wait and observe behavior and, if merited,
act…
Now, food for thought:
“We
can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created
them.”
- Albert
Einstein
So, keep your minds open, my
friends…
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