Friday, October 7, 2011

I Love Upstate

Happiness flows through my veins as soon as I turn down that dirt road.  Gravel crunches under my car, sunlight streams through the canopy of trees overhead.  The air is crisp and fresh.  There is a coolness to it that is impossible to find unless you are at the top of the mountain.

The trees flanking the road change to pines on the left-my father planted all those pines with his father and brother years ago.  I maneuver the car down the short, steep, driveway, making sure to kept left and avoid the trees.

It feels like home as soon as I get out of the car.  The house borders the road and opens up to a huge meadow.  The knee high grass hides countless wild raspberries.  Wildflowers in all shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple dot the landscape.

The garden is full of potatoes and blueberries.  Blackberry vines snake around the compost heap.  The old stone fireplace stands like a relic from the past in the middle of the meadow.

I hear the stream trickling next to the woods.  The birds chirp in the trees.  Shots and the barks of faraway dogs echo across the mountains.  A mama black bear and her 3 cubs are visible down by the pond, foraging.

I love upstate.

The road to the house

This post was written in response to this week's Red Writing Hood post from Write on Edge.
Good writing plants the reader’s feet into your story.  Good writing is also concise.  So when you’re trying to decide where to spend your words – where to use the most imagery and details and senses – I say setting is where its at.  This week, I want you to take me there. You have 200 words.
I knew I had to write about my house upstate.  I love everything about it.  As a child I spent my summers there.  The best memories I have of my Oma are there.  And I still go as often as I can with my kids in the hope that they will love it as much as I do.



14 comments:

  1. It sounds absolutely idyllic! I love the details of the flowers/fruit. Do you really get bears coming that close? wow!

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  2. What a delight. I was really there. I wanted to hunt for raspberries.

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  3. Oh man, can I come visit? Pretty please?

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  4. What a lovely description! You did a great job of putting me in the picture with you--I wanted to go blueberry picking!

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  5. How lovely. I love the feelings you evoked from your setting, comfort, excitement, love. Definitely makes me want to take a trip!!!

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  6. I can see why such a place is synonymous with happiness. You've done an excellent job with your descriptive writing-you make me want to go there too:)

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  7. 8Km not an upstate, nature, dirt road kind of girl but honestly I wanted to be for a little while. I could smell that air, taste the blueberries. Wow!

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  8. I'm jealous. I'd love a place like that to get away from all the hustle and bustle of life

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  9. Oh, they will love it. I love it from this description, and I am not so much an outdoor lover :)

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  10. It sounds like a tranquil getaway ... a haven !
    I'm popping in from Write On Edge .
    ~MISH~

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  11. Thank you all for the wonderful comments! It is definitely a beautiful place to be. I love the peace and quiet and the nature. And @mangetoutetc- yes, the bears come really close! We've even seen them less than 5 feet from the house early in the morning. There are also tons of deer and a bobcat (or possibly a lynx-I don't know for sure which one is native to the area) that comes really close to the area as well.

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  12. That place sounds like heaven. Truly. What a lovely place to return to!

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  13. Sounds Devine! Love this time of year and you painted it perfectly.

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  14. "The garden is full of potatoes and blueberries. Blackberry vines snake around the compost heap. The old stone fireplace stands like a relic from the past in the middle of the meadow."

    This was my favorite part. I could see the entire image, smell the compost and green of the vines. And then the fireplace. Perfection!

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