Country Time

Welcome to Poppy’s Blog

Thank you for joining me on this beautiful Sunday

Today I will be reading a story I wrote Saturday – Country Time

After working in Monterey County, I decided to move to the country.  I had always

liked Paso Robles because of the friendly people, country roads and the hometown feeling.  I eventually moved there.  I found my home through an agent in Atascadero.  The moment we drove up to the gate my belly said, "this is my home." The agent said, the owners are home.  Would you like to meet them?  I said, yes.  Mr. Wilson was a nice man, he explained to me why he had the house facing north versus south.  How many nails were in the roof, why he cross fenced the way he did, and the place was set up for pig farm with small pins.  I fell in love with the bright sunny kitchen with its natural sunlight, and the smell of jasmine coming in from the windows.  

The day I moved in my agent was out of town, so I found my keys under the rock near the gate.  There was so much to do.  I unpacked slowly and watched Leo and Zachary running around in the field chasing birds and looking for ground squirrels.  They would jump into the water trough to cool down then it was nap-time in the sun. They were having fun.

I loved to watch the sunset from my porch.  At night, the sky was so clear you could count the stars.  I worked in the garden planting and tending to the many rose bushes, grape vines, and the fruit orchard.  I went to the small auction in Templeton and purchased a few chickens since I had small pins already set up.  I bought a hampshire pig and had it delivered.  My neighbors were great.  I bartered with them during spring with eggs from my chickens and grapes from the vines.  I received tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant.  We visited each other and had coffee and cake and great conversations.

Every day, I would wake up and walk down the hill and feed my chickens and let them out to stretch their legs. I would then open the main gate and take a walk to the end of the road with Leo and Zach. It was peaceful.  

One weekend, my daughter came to visit, I was working out

near the road trenching a line to drop the irrigation line down the hill for my lavender plants.  I started to dig my holes and plant the lavender when I heard a honk,  It was my daughter at the gate, as I turned around Petunia had uprooted two of my lavender plants and was throwing them in the air.  I looked at my daughter as she laughed.  I ran up to the house and grabbed a basket of grapes.  I walked over to Petunia and said, bad girl.  Follow me, as I dropped a few grapes at a time.  She followed me into the pin, where I left the gate open.  I filled her mud bath with water, and she jumped in while she ate the grapes.  I ran to the gate and my daughter was laughing.  She said mom, a corporate woman turned country.  My daughter only remembers me wearing suits and working in the large firms. I smiled and said, that was years ago.  Zachary had to give her one of his high fives before she entered the house. I dressed and took her into town where we had lunch at McClintock’s and walked around the park.  She also met my neighbors and said, Mom, you look incredibly happy.  I said, yes, I am, and we hugged.

When she left that day, I sat and smiled because she turned out to be just like me.  Such a beautiful, intelligent young lady. When I look back over my life, I realize that I did a fantastic job in raising my daughter.  I applaud myself, as a professional single mom and loving mother. I made sure she had a good education and my mom (grandma) made sure she was a child. Being in the corporate world as a woman was no joke in my days. My daughter was and is the world to me.  

Let me end with this quote – The greatest gift I gave to my daughter was my time, my love and mostly my attention.  We can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

 

Poppy

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