A note to the Family

Hi, everybody.

Knowing (because I’ve been told so) that I don’t communicate as often as I should, I’m taking a couple to steps to keep friends and family up to date on our move to south Texas.

I’ve established a new ‘blog’ that I’m calling “A Year in Comfort” – a title stolen from Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence” – that I hope will reflect both the actual events and some of the feelings surrounding our acclimation to a new place. You can read it at http://www.jbctc.wordpress.com.

So – where are we?

I’ve been at the new address in Comfort (424 Main Street, Comfort, TX, 78013) for about five days now, and I have to say that the ‘culture shock’ has been minimal. The rural feel of small-town Texas feels somewhat reminiscent of growing up in Bridgeport or working in Denton/Justin Texas (as I did for about five years.) The tempo is slow – but not really slower than Chattanooga – and I haven’t really had a feeling of isolation despite the need to drive a pretty good distance for many of the conveniences.

The house we’re renting provides a mix of feelings. It’s a good looking structure (I’ll get a picture as soon as I figure out how to do that) with some unique history in town. It has a name – the Comfort Hotel – due to its use as the local inn beginning in the 1850’s. I have a hard time believing that any of the current structure is original however, as it is a plain, clapboard place and most of the oldest building here are built in the German tradition of ‘fachwerk’ – most with stone foundations and walls. Unfortunately, the renovation of the living spaces is pretty low-budget, and seems mostly DIY in style. Still, it is comfortable and big enough (barely) for us all to live in for a year or so as we sort out next steps.

The South-Texas heat is something to be reckoned with, but I find that the 35% humidity allows for quick cooling from the day’s 100+ degrees to the mid 80’s by the time twilight rolls around (about 8:30 Central time these days), and mornings are in the mid 70’s until nearly 11:00 – now if I could just convince my body to get out of bed before 9:00 I’d have lots of daylight to use. Of course, the low humidity is at least partly due to the fact that it hasn’t rained more than a trace amount in more than a couple of months – the creek that runs along the Sansom property has suffered from the lack of precipitation, and there’s no real lawn anywhere to be seen.

The girls (the young ones) are enjoying the extended stay with “Oma”, and have learned quite a lot about riding their bikes this summer. They enjoy the lack of hills – especially when compared to Tennessee’s mountainous terrain – and the freedom to ride on their own to the library or the convenience store (both are within a couple of blocks of the house.) They have collected at least one new friend from a church youth group, and, of course, they hang out together a lot.

The older girl – Jane – seems to have picked up life in Comfort just where she left off 20+ years ago, and has no reservations about driving 23 miles to the nearest supermarket. She has spent the summer looking for a teaching job, but (just as it happened when we moved to Chattanooga in 1993) there hasn’t been an opening for her yet. Unless something comes along in the annual August shake-up of principals looking for last minute replacements, she’ll be subbing at a variety of local school districts within about 35 miles of us.

Jane’s mom, Mary, is feeling quite well and is happy-happy to have us living as close as we do. We see her a few times a week, which seems to keep everyone comfortable.

I haven’t yet found the urge to ‘do’ anything, though I’ve been busy clearing up the financial and other paperwork aspects of the move. I have tried my hand at a couple of handy-man tasks at the ranch, and so far haven’t suffered any serious injuries.

The possibilities for getting the ranch back in working order are there, but the task would be huge and I’m not sure anyone is anxious for that to happen. Right now, the barns and other outbuildings are empty or used for storage, and the property is almost all under lease for cultivation, except for about 10 acres that have been leased for cattle in exchange for some minor grounds keeping chores.

I was reminded of the stark beauty of the Hill Country as I was doing some (very minor) mowing at the ranch yesterday. Many of the native wildflowers seem to shrug off the drought and blossom with some extraordinarily pretty flowers – I tried not to cut them down. Most are thistles and other plants difficult to love, but with some unique qualities of their own.

So – there’s an overview of life in Comfort on first blush. I’m looking forward to keeping an on-going account of how we spend this first year, and I hope you’ll check in as you feel interested. I’ll see you next time.  In the meanwhile, you can e-mail me at jbctc@yahoo.com or Jane at jbincomfort@yahoo.com

JB