The magic of place

Our historic neighborhood had their annual holiday tour this afternoon;  it's a fundraiser for the neighborhood association, as well as a time for neighbors and visitors to mingle while visiting houses that have been lovingly maintained as well as extensively renovated ones to newly built ones (according to historic neighborhood guidelines).

It's reminding me again of how special places can be.

I met up again with a fellow that we'd talked with a couple of years back about his place in New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy.  His wife was with him (on this Tour) and she was so enthusiastic about how beautiful it was to be there in the summer.  It was clearly a place of the spirit for her -- they can't be there year-round because of access.  The road to their house isn't maintained nor is it accessible for emergency or fire access, even though the house itself is winterized, she said.

It was interesting that both of them said they didn't want to live up on a mountain ridge here in Western North Carolina (they'd attended a party in such a place last night), much preferring their house in Waynesville.

I told her about our house in Quebec and we shared some thoughts about those places, and it turned out the homeowner of the historic house we were visiting was from Montreal.  So we chatted about that for a few minutes, too.

at the end of the living room

It'll be interesting to see how we feel about Bas St. Laurent, at the base of the Gaspe Peninsula, in winter -- especially the landscape of Parc National du Bic and the partially frozen St. Lawrence river.

It will be beautiful, but different, for sure, from our summer experience.