Land

I saw the movie "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" but don't remember it well other than Duddy was all about getting a piece of land. I never thought much about it, had no desire for it. Land is what? Unused property. Dirt in summer. Muck in spring and fall. Snow in winter. Trees and undergrowth. Swamp. Biting insects. Rough grasses. Prickly thorns. Rocks. What's the point of owning that?

Yet, here I am, decades later, with land.

It's all because of the dogs of course. It's most definitely their fault. All of them. When I was dogless, I could enjoy the city well enough. From work to theatres to restaurants to stores to friends' homes and everything in between - it was here and it was enough. And it was easy to ignore the common everyday bad stuff - puke, drug dealers, stink of garbage, traffic jams - because I just drove or rode by it all. I was a moving target, never had to stop for anything or anyone unless it was my choice.

Owning dogs put an end to that. They forced me to slow down. Every day they forced me to slow down, to walk with them through this neighbourhood, this city and be part of it. I was immersed in it. I could not escape from it. And that was good and that was bad for all the typical reasons.

I've always appreciated the country and often would holiday in rural settings. Until I owned dogs, I'd never had any desire to live out there. Now, after Barclay, Stella, Rocky and Smitten, I understand the appeal. Whenever we were outside of the city, I felt their sense of freedom, not just in concrete terms of being off-leash and able to roam at will, but there was also an internal weight lifted. I didn't feel I had to be on guard.

And of course the air is better. How could it not be? To take a deep breath of air that is not contaminated with noxious smells and automobile toxins and chemical carcinogens - how can you beat that?

Smitten relaxing at Ducks Dive Cottages

I don't have an idealized vision of country living and I have no intention of moving out there permanently, at least not anytime soon but its appeal is inescapable for me now. We chose Prince Edward County as a place to look and this is some of what we found.

Sky over Prinyers Cove

County road after a dusting of snow

Smitten hanging out inside Long Dog Vineyard store

Typical farmstead

These photos of various for sale lots were taken since last fall when we first started to seriously look at buying property in PEC.

Lot near Black River

Sliver of land with waterfront and old windmill

Large acreage with waterfall. Property sold a year earlier. Sold again recently for $299000. Way out of our price range.

After looking at over two dozen lots over several months, we found what we were looking for. Fields and streams and woods.

The deal closed on Wednesday. Time to start building.