Cottage Camping

At long last, I'm putting down some roots in Texas. I finally have a real, honest-to-goodness professional-level job here and I've rented a place of my own. 

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to rent and where. I had a long list of wishes. 

I wanted to be closer to San Antonio for easy access to my office. But I wanted a small town feel. And I wanted a river nearby for swimming!  I wanted to be close enough to Luckenbach. And to have other music venues close at hand. 

I wanted my new town to have the same kind of warm, homey Texas feel that Fredericksburg had blessed me with. 

I hoped for some running groups or running community to connect with. And a good gym I could join, for indoor running when the heat index is too high for outside marathon training.

Boerne met all my criteria. 

And I found a sweet little cottage to rent there- small, stand alone, private, with lovely gracious landlords who I feel like kind of adopted me. I let them. Because it feels real good to have someone looking out for/taking care of you when you're in a big 'ole transition.

So I moved into this cottage, and here's what I had:

My clothes and camping gear, books, my computer and a folding table to put it on, an air mattress, 2 pillows, 2 towels, a down comforter, 2 cups, a bowl, 2 wine glasses and a toaster.

Then  I bought a few more things:

Like trash cans and sheets and bathroom rugs and a pan and a crockpot and two plates and a chef's knife and a package of plastic cutlery. Oh, and some kitchen towels and sponges.

Sooooo now I am kind of "camping" in my cottage.  It's kind of funny, sometimes fun, and sometimes feels a little pathetic. Like last week, when the temps plummeted and my little window air conditioning/heat unit was inadequate to keep my place warm. I found myself using my toaster oven as a heater, and I huddled in front of it on my air mattress, sleeping bag on my shoulders, drinking too cold red wine.

 Hurmpf.

 It's not that I didn't try to BUY a space heater. I went to 20 different places trying, but they were sold out.  Everywhere. 

So I called on my Finnish "Sisu" (think grit, stubbornness, toughness, stick- to- it-tivism) and just pushed on through. 

And the weekend warmed up. And I met a new friend who loaned me a space heater for the next cold snap. 

 

And now I'm dragging my feet about gathering more stuff. I'm finding some perverse pleasure in living bare bones. I find my Swiss Army knife meets lots of my needs. I keep thinking of the mantra:

"What is yours will come to you."

So I'm waiting to stumble over some things I need. Because I just don't feel like buying a bunch of stuff. 

And my landlord brought me a little TV. And a TV tray to set it on. And I dragged an old chair in off my tiny porch.

And sometimes I just sit and laugh. 

Because I'm like a bag lady. With empty bags. 

And there's something I like about that. It's simple. And challenging. 

I know pretty soon I'll have a tea kettle and furniture and cutlery and doilies. But in the meantime, I'm camping.