Mrs. Teabody on Pulling Up Stakes

Howdy,  stranger? So long, friend!

~ "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home"

Good  moonlit morning from Meadow Grounds Mountain where at first waking glance - - first daylight, all outdoors had the quality of being covered in snow. Moonlight will do that to the senses: keep one confused about day and night, confused about bare green-less ground and snowcover, confused about a body part aching when, in truth, a heart is breaking . . .

Mrs. Teabody is very sad today because in less than twenty-four hours, Mrs. Teabody's esteemed and generous friend, Lady Glass, will abandon her beautiful home here on the mountain and move far, far away--eighteen MILES!-- Alas!  Lady Glass resides in a unique home as it straddles the very top of the mountain and the judicious planning and workings of the past nearly quarter of a century  have given the Glasses the rarest of home locations. One can stand in the kitchen of Lady Glass's home and see the valley and mountains to the east and the Meadow Grounds Lake bed to the west. In the vernacular of present day: Ah-Maze-zing!

Birds roostin' in a tree
Pick up and go
And the goin' proves
That's how it oughta to be

Mrs. Teabody's favorite space is the  generous sun room which looks out onto an expanse of verdant lawn and the valley below. Where Lady Glass and friends have stitched bits and bobs of fabric into works of art  in the sun's warmth and light while the adjacent kitchen and dining room were redolent with the smells of one of Lady Glass's famous soup creations. To the north one cannot help but note the beautiful etched glass panes that signal the main entrance of her home which give way to a massive covered porch which gives access to a charming fish pond and a special hut for the outdoors chef. The front of Lady Glass's home follows a gentle curve and is faced in the loveliest stone works and one garden leads nimbly into another creating a perfect and serene setting. Lady Glass has spared no pains in making her gardens beautiful from the first warmth of spring to the floodgate of iris, to the first flush of a few dozen roses and butterfly bushes to the heat of summer - - all zinnias and blue spikes. A  wee slice of heaven on a mountain top with Lady Glass and God in charge of the brush strokes!  How could anyone leave such lovingly-created splendor? You will be missed.

I pick up too
When the spirit moves me
Cross the river
'Round the bend

Howdy, stranger?
So long, friend.

Lady Glass has been packing for weeks to go to her new home, filtering the accumulations  of that nearly "quarter of a century," full of reflection and memories. One foot firmly in the past, one foot ready and willing to step into the future. Lady Glass is probably unaware of the hole her absence will leave. What  will it mean to the mountain itself to lose such careful caretakers--ones who have lived on the mountain long before paved roads, whose presence has been one of life's blood through efforts to improve access, to maintain safety? Their door was always the open door. Their property was always the example other owners aspired to emulate. Their affiliations with other groups and with their families kept a steady heartbeat of good-hearted, well-intentioned and loving friends. You will be missed.

There's a voice in the lonesome wind

Keeps a whispering, "Roam."

I'm going where a welcome mat is

No matter where that is

'Cause any place I hang my hat is home

If Mrs. Teabody tried to count the number of times she and Lady Glass have traversed the top of Meadow Grounds Mountain, out of breath and wheezing,  grumbling about the hills, reciting aches and pains, anxieties and frustrations in equal dole with the latest recipe, the day's plans, the happiest of happenings, Mrs. Teabody would lose count. Of this she is certain: there were not nearly enough; she had envisioned shorter, less steady walks in the decades to come, conversations held in trembling voices, the love of nature and the mountain beating in every word and breath. You will be missed.

Goodbye, Lady Glass! Don't think for one minute that you will be forgotten. Your friendship has meant the world to Mrs. Teabody and while tomorrow signals the beginning of a happy new life in your always-dreamed-of farm with horses and chickens and the fluffiest of sheep, with iris and rose borders forming a colorful horizon to that expanse of meadow, where your children and grandchildren will gather to run and explore, where a wedding will take place and where your presence will be life changing for all those who are your new neighbors, your new friends, you will be thought of daily here on the mountain. With love. And you will be missed.