All kidding aside, that's what the sign says when you enter the state of Maine. Nothing could be more apropos.
I am not sure if I ever told the creation story involving our purchase of this lot. It's a good one. I was just getting off the last drugs the Medical Profession had me on and I, personally, was deadset on getting out of Vermont before the hammering of the last nail in my coffin could commence. So, after we'd looked at several properties which really didn't fill the bill, our Realtor, Debbie Joseph, asked us if we wanted to look at a parcel in Wilton that had just come on the Market, and we, of course, said yes, since it was the last one we had, to look at. We walked up the very steep (but also very well built driveway), and I, of course, being the stubborn old fool that I am, felt mostly charmed and enamored (despite being in much pain). Rich, on the other hand, was much less so.
So, we slept on it and decided to trek back the next day, after a rain shower. Just as we arrived, there was a Flock of Turkeys standing at the top of the driveway, and they were backed by a triple Rainbow, and my first response was: "Well, that's certainly an undeniable nod from the ancestors". lol
So, anyhow, Rich was pleased by the very close services, (Paved Road, Hospital right down the road, etc), on account of we ain't getting any younger, and I was like: "Sure, Sure, it's all gravy, from here on out", cause that's just how my brain works. Anyhow, after much heckling and hawing, we settled on a price and made the deal. That was in 2018, and we have been working at a slow but steady pace with Home Improvements since then. I am most happy to report that our Five Year plan was only delayed by about a year because of the 2020 pandemic. Yay. :)
The first couple of years year were ones of discovery, We walked around the property several times and luckily enough, we found a spring (as it happens, this hillside is loaded with water), so we had a digger guy (Jack Mills) come out and dig us a well up top so we'd have gravity feed. That was in 2019, I believe. The Third year, we bought and built a shed kit, also up top, to someday be a bathroom, with solar hot water (black pipe on roof). We left a hole underneath for several bales of Peat Moss to live. I did a peat moss garden in Vermont, and it worked so well at stopping the Shattucks (Vt Neighbors) leaking well, that we could have a veggie garden finally. It made me realize that since peat is such an enormous and wonderful product at just stopping water, that it would make a nice gray water absorber. So, we got approval from the town, for an alternative system up top for the future bathroom. An aside here: It pretty much makes my heart sing that Wilton has the ONLY human sewage reclamation plant in the USA.....I can totally get behind that!
Anyhow, the next year we got a 12x32 shed delivered and have been slowly improving that. Last year we got an electric pole installed and Rich wired the cabin, partially, and this year I will be doing the insulating with Roxul, as well as starting the addition on the camp (for a bathroom down here). We also had our first Friend come over (Richs Architect Friend, Denny Frehsee) to give us ideas for exactly where to start planning the House siting process; I haven't seen Rich more excited in some time. :)
As for me, one of the things I have been doing in Vermont Winters, is to trace my Geneology, because It was all a big secret to my FuFo's (F**ked Up Family of Origin), apparently. Honestly, I think my ancestors left the reservation a long time ago. Turns out that My Maternal Great Grandmother, Justine, came down from the Big Rock (Newfoundland), when she was just Sixteen, to work in the Woolen Mills in Providence RI. I can fill that out more, later (or most likely, in my auto-biography), because that's not the most interesting piece to todays post.
What's much more relevant is my paternal great-grandmothers influence in all this. Her name was Nettie Newcombe, originally. She Married Alonso Richardson (my Paternal Great-Grandfather) when they were both quite young. He was listed as a House Painter who died in his 30's, in Manchester, NH. The cause was listed as Epilepsy, but Rich and I surmised that his seizures were most likely due to too much lead exposure from the paint back then. In any case, when he died so young, Nettie went back to her birthplace in Maine, to get more support from family. She had at least one Son (my grandfather Bert), but it seems he stayed in NH in a cabin, in the woods of Unity....I will likely find out more about his life the next time I visit ancestry.com
The craziest thing is that her birthplace was ONLY TEN MILES from where we bought the property, in Maine. Just goes to show that when you clear your mind enough, and listen to the messages from beyond, (those little, everyday miracles that most folk are going too fast to even consider), the Universe is almost always working on your behalf.
It's all about learning to consciously Manifest what your deepest desires are. Sounds so easy, doesn't it?
Take it from me, It's the simplest thing in the World, and also the hardest thing, EVER. I believe the Buddhist philosophy on how simple life really is, But when you begin the distilation of reducing complications, it never speaks about (on the surface, anyway), is how hard it actually is to get the simplification process started, and then, completed. Yikes.
But, As Rany Arbells song lyrics state: "I was always gonna find my own road to heaven....lots telling me what to believe, but they never tell me what they've got, hidden up their sleeve"....".
I haven't got a spiritual belief system, or rather, I have one that is a mish-mash of lots of belief systems, that works for me, because I've taken up all of the Best of the different forms, and made it my own. I love the Traditions inherent in Judaism and Native Spirituality, but I also love most of the tenets of Buddhism, which also closely align with Native American Theology. So, if I had to state one over the other, I'm not sure I could do that.They are All lovely systems in their own unique ways.
What I mostly believe in is "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you" and maybe "don't be a hypocrite, just don't". This latter one, alone, has pretty much been my lifes work, to avoid, entirely. I truly also believe in "Live and let live", as well. Maine seems much more "Woke" to this little ditty, then Vermont will EVER be. You can let your Freak Flag Fly over here and they really don't care. I respect that so very very much. :)
For all these reasons and more, Maine and Canada are my heart and soul, since before I was even born and I somehow knew this, even before we bought the land here. We DO have ancestral memories, even if we can't remember consciously.
My memories have always had me with my hands in the dirt. Anytime I have strayed far from this, I have felt a crazy sort of sickness and a weird sort of lingering malaise. I have come to the conclusion that this is most likely true of most healers and medicine workers....They HAVE to live quite close to the Earth. I also believe this is true for a humans soul or life-source, as it were. There's a crazy kind of malaise in the World right now, as far as I can tell, that only worsened with the Pandemic. I believe this has to do with people's removal from their connection to Maia.
So, then, and always, My purpose and passion has been to work with plants and Trees. They have SO VERY MUCH MEDICINE for all of us, and it is past time for much healing to commense, on a grand scale.
So on that note, I will close the same way I opened this post, by saying: "Welcome Home, My Child" , "Welcome Home". (I got this direct from Nettie in one of my marathon meditation sessions.).
So here is where I am and Here is where I will stay, until it's time for me to walk the Red Road. (Check out Blues Travelers "Mountain Cry", to see where I stole these lyrics....lol)
Thanks Grandmother Nettie, for the clear and helpful direction.
I am truly blessed. And just EVER so very grateful, that my heart feels like it will burst most of the time.
May we all have Green Lights to a life well lived. :)
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