Upgrading My Own Star

Looking at the front corner of the dogs' yard, back at the farm

I lived in western Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Mountains until I was ten. Then we moved to Maryland, where I pretty much stayed put for the most part until five years ago. This is where the dogs and I walked when we lived on our farm.

spring and summer

fall

and winter.

OK, those winter walks were a big part of what convinced me to move to Western Kentucky. That, and the fact that Bill fell in love with this town, and with the idea of the Artist Relocation Program. Sounds like the Witness Protection Program or the Wildlife Catch And Release Program, doesn't it?

Well, it's nothing short of a miracle what a magical, caring, close-knit community has formed here, by moving a bunch of artists from all over the country. And on top of that, Paducah has to be the world's friendliest town. People who have lived here forever are so warm and kind and welcoming. But, at first I was terribly homesick.

I made a photo show of our walking route here in Paducah. I don't know how to get it on this page, but here's the LINK. You can appreciate the difference in walking through those photos above, and walking in the photoshow, and I left out the Evil Kitties and Stupid City Squirrels that abound on every block of the walk. So, I am still occasionally homesick.

Yesterday, on the last walk with Luciano, Lindy Loo, and Swede William, we stopped in to see how our Very Good Friends' house was coming along. They are rehabbing a delightful house which was built in the 1850's. It is looking so fantastic, but it is not looking so finished. We wish it would hurry up and get finished, because while it is uninhabitable they and their four German Shepherds (thank you Ariel) and their little Benji rescue are all living in their motor home out at the kennel club property. It is a big, spacious motor home, but still.

I was having another attack of the homesick meanies yesterday. Just some bad juju had gotten me down. I shared my bad day with my Very Good Friends - I'm just so generous that way - and invited them to dinner. Shoot I was feeling better already, just seeing their friendly faces and I wanted to keep feeling better.

Now, one of the things I dearly love about this part of the world is the lyrical southern drawl. You just can't feel bad for too long when the word bad is pronounced with three syllables. "Ba-eee-yad." One time this summer I was hanging around at a dog show with these same Very Good Friends and Vicky. I asked Vicky if she were going to camp on the showgrounds. Simple question. Three blank stares.

"What?"

"Are you going to camp?"

More blank stares.

"Am I gowen to whut?"

"Camp! Are you going to camp?"

I looked to my Very Good Friends for help. None. Blank faces all around.

"I don't know whut yower askin' me. Kimp? What the Hayel is Kimp?"

The light bulb in my dim little yankee brain went on. Ah.

"Cay-yaamp! Are you going to cay-yaamp here on the show grounds or are you staying in a hotel?"

All three faces lit up like beacons of hope to a shipwrecked crew.

"Cay-yaamp," they all exclaimed! "Whah didn't you say so?"

So yesterday while I was all busy feeling baeeeyad, my Very Good Friend, Lee, replied to my dinner invition by saying, "That would be great. I just have to go and get my own star upgraded first."

"You are getting your own star upgraded?"

"Yah, I've gotta get it upgraded to digital."

"Well, if I had my own star, I'd get it upgraded too! I need my own star. I bet I would never get down in the dumps if I had my own star. How did you get your own star and how ever do you go about getting it upgraded?" I was completely enthralled with the idea of having my own star, upgraded or not.

"It came with the car."

I started laughing hysterically. Laughing too hard. I desperately wanted my own star. ON-STAR would be nice, too, but I had no idea until that moment that we were discussing satellite technology. The dogs started being rowdy because they were bored by now and because I had obviously found a way right out of my funk into the land of hilarity.

Later, back at our house we had a delightful dinner of pasta with mushroom, scallops and artichoke heart cream sauce (doesn't that just sound smiley?) and huge helpings of laughter.

And I felt like I had found my own star. Right in the kitchen, with the begging dogs, the best husband, and the laughing kindness of my Kentucky friends.