Little House in the Big Woods

By way of introduction, allow me to liken my current home environment to Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House in the Big Woods'(if the series of 'Little House' books don't jog a mental image, consider the 80's TV show 'Little House on the Prairie').

The comparison starts and ends with one fact: like Laura Ingalls, my humble abode is in the Big Woods. Not in Wisconsin, where Laura lived, but California. In addition to hot and cold running water, woodland living in 2006 now offers indoor plumbing, a/c, cable tv, et cetera...

Still, a forest dweller I be. We're talking more rural a lifestyle than I've ever experienced up till now. Quite a far cry from San Francisco, where yours truly was born and raised. Growing up in the big city, the Powell-Mason cable car line rolled up and down our street. As a child, I was lulled asleep by the gentle ding-a-ling of cable car bells (go back and ring the bell!) and soulful fog horns. How romantic! Here in the forest, I wake to find evidence on our blacktop driveway of muddy footprints from a fair-sized black bear...shades of Grizzly Adams!

What a diff! Just goes to shows ya nevah knows where you might end up livin'...