It's About Place

That's been my email address since I moved to this area...itsaboutplace@gmail.com.   I have, in the course of my time living here, been fortunate to come to know people who live with a deep relationship to nature, land, places.  I've benefited from looking at where I am through fresh eyes and the sense of place, the awareness of connection to and interdependence with place have become really important foci of my attention.  

SO, where am I building this thing?  On a gloriously situated property owned by my friends Buzz Bauer and Jean Hamberg, who have lived in Dry Creek Valley since 1983.  It's about 3 miles down the road from where I am now, on the same road even.  

They are each and together among the most loving, kind and generous people I've ever come to be embraced by.  I met them when I first moved here (17 years ago!) and we have a circle of shared friends.   When COVID lockdowns happened, they were the people I spent time with - I could easily walk to their place, it gave me some contact and an option away from my nest and it served us all well to "bubble up."  That shared experience and time in place with one another was a huge contributor to the confidence and trust we feel in entering into this arrangement together.   We have had the luxury of hours of conversation, exploration, clarification and harmonization.  It's created a strong weave of ability to deal with the myriad of issues and activities this project generates.  They're having a lot of fun with this too...it's an energy infusion for all of us for sure.

A little bit about Jean...there was something about Jean that drew me to want to know her more when we first were introduced...an intuition I'm familiar with...and I'm grateful we have evolved our friendship over the years. She is a very intuitive person herself, often seeing into situations in ways I don't and that's always a great place to connect.  

She is super smart, and quick with it!  Her career included being the lone female redwood timber sales person in her environment and besting the men in sales routinely.  Like, I can't even track the stuff she's told me about that chapter and she was obviously really good at it.  All that comes with a big big heart.  

She bought the land where I will set my forever home, a source of pride and a legacy she is sharing with me, for which I will be forever grateful.

There are furry family members who need their mention because they really run the place.  LilLy is a golden retriever and Linus is the cat who trained her.  There's a second feline who makes rare appearances, IttyBitty. 

 

 

Buzz Bauer - pictured here gazing out over the valley with the trusty buzzard perched in the distance.  This place makes you want to do that...gaze out into the valley.  For hours.   Buzz is also standing above his vineyard.  He is a retired wine maker.  

Buzz, too, has a huge and apparent heart...and his personality is focused on enjoying life and I'm grateful I get to enjoy spending time with him.

 

 

 

So here a glimpse into the where of it all.  

The red marker in the upper left is the location where the house will go.  The blue marker near the Simoncini Winery label is where I live now.

This is the piece of land on their parcel where the house will go.  To give you perspective, here is where it is in relation to their house which is farther up the driveway...this image is taken from in front of their home, looking down to the parcel which is a straight line from the fence post in the foreground:

A year ago this month (hard to believe it's been that long already!) I did a bunch of clearing to get a better handle on the available footprint for the house.  A neighbor who has shared his skills and tools with me helped and I cannot believe how much I love me a chainsaw!!!  💪😍

So now, the site is a bit more cleared, more vegetation clearing to come but here's what it's like now:

Oh, and I built that picnic table!  I'll do a separate blog post about that - so fun!

So this location is absolutely gloriously situated on a bench about 200' above the valley floor of Dry Creek Valley with vistas for days.  I haven't completely groomed the vegetation around the house site yet, waiting for elevations to finalize that thinking but this is what will be my vista:

I hope I never get over the fact that I will be gazing at that for the rest of my life.