In which we are still in limbo...

[jesshartley]

Well, they made the offer. We're researching costs of moving/buying a new house, etc while waiting for the details. Technically we're "in negotiations" I guess.

Anyone have any insights into life in Western Massachusetts/New England?




Oh, and I stumbled across an old friend who's got a new CD out... Check them out. I'm very fond of urSOcool, but the rest of it seems really good, too.

Division Six

Comments

[aberdeen.livejournal.com]

For those from out west, western MA is no further from Boston than Corvallis is from Portland.

Western MA is beautiful, hills and trees and glacial lakes and farms and you'd almost think you were in a different world from the Greater Boston Area. As long as you stay away from Worcester. If you've got specific questions, I can answer, and point you at other places. Where in western MA is it?

[annathepiper]

Let me have solarbird come address this question for you--she's a Deerfield girl. ;) Western Massachusetts is her SPECIALITY!

[passionandsoul.livejournal.com]

I have good friends in both Boston and Lowell (though they are moving closer to Boston soonish)... plus know lots of people in the kink community based out of the greater Boston Area if ya want tie ins.

[solarbird]

You read 9 Chickweed Lane? It's not entirely unlike that, though that's obviously a bit more midstate (New York State) than Really New England (tm). But the strange farmer? That's some honest New England, turned up.

Cow tipping? It's real.

"May I help you?" means "Get the hell off my land."

Unbelievably beautiful autumns are the standard feature they're rumoured to be. It's real. Also, there used to be really amazing autumn farmer's markets right around 5 (Greenfield Street) and Old Main in Deerfield, and parts south.

Airlocks aren't just for spaceships. Your house should have one. If it doesn't, add one on. ^_^

Brattleboro, Vermont used to the the Gateway to Beer, but that's no longer true, so you probably no longer have to worry about drunken high schoolers driving down Route 2, I-91, or 63. But since old habits die hard, you might watch for it anyway. ^_^

Road signs that say "thickly settled" warn you about clusters of farmhouses.

March is when the snow melts and the crazy people windsurf in the flooded river valleys.

Amherst is really nice and has a worthwhile summer festival. It also has the Bates Motel, which is to say, a rental group house that looks exactly like the one in Psycho. I know people who used to live in it. Also, good bookstores.

Want to get more specific about where? ^_^

[kira-baranova.livejournal.com]

Can I give your email to another friend? I'm not entirely sure where she lived in relation to Northampton, but she spent 2 years out that direction.

*big hugs* Congratulations on the offer. I'm excited for you all.

[mythicwarrior.livejournal.com]

Offers are good. I hope this works out for you guys!

[poetsheart.livejournal.com]

happy for you sad for me. that is an awesome opportunity. now you must fulfill your destiny and become a world famous author so you can have worldwind signing tours and come her once a year with autumn and Pat.

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

I live in Southwestern Connecticut, which is kind of like Western Mass except with fewer rotaries. :)

The way March works is this: the snow that's built up during the big blow outs in January and February goes away. Weather starts to warm up. Hope springs in your chest and you begin to relax. Winter is over!

Then there's another snowstorm to drop half a foot of snow on your head right at the end of the month. :)

Get used to Chinese food and Italian food as your big choices when going out to eat. Admittedly, I haven't been to Northampton in a bazillion years, so I can't speak for sure to there, but those are the big ones down here.

I have to drive to everything. But some of the things are pretty darn close by car (5 minutes or so) while being unpleasant distances on foot. :)

Everyone will talk about the beauty of snowfall in the winter, but here's the reality: It's beautiful until you have to shovel it. It takes about half a day before the white snow is covered over with a dusting of grey and brown dirt. :) Autumn is beautiful. Spring is nice. Late summer can be brutally humid, it's okay to whimper. Leading into fall, you'll think 50 is really darn chilly. Coming out of winter, you'll think 50 is balmy and hey, lets break out the swimsuits. :)

New England is a lovely, lovely place with lots of history and little gems for exploration.

Way Out Yonder

[laurinrose.livejournal.com]

Don't know whether to commiserate you or congratulate you.

You're looking at some pretty serious *gorgeous* country. Think of March as *dirty laundry*, and April/May as *laundry day* (complete with clotheslines and breezy, sunny days.

Summers are a tad... humid.

Autumn is breathtaking.

Winters are often breathtaking, only in not-so-good ways...

You'll find that cellers aren't so much a convenience as a necessity. Summertime, it'll be the coolest, comfy-est part of the house. Winters, you'll find yourself browsing your shelves as you would in a grocery store, wondering what to feed the family. (Food storage is a reality. More of that New Englander self-sufficiency.)