Top Ten
Reasons i love
Talent Oregon
10. Look at that view!
That’s to my west. To the north is a view of the valley and to the south, forest, horse ranches and fields of grass. The sky is blue, when it’s not gray and in the summer, the sun doesn’t set until after 9 PM. It’s virtually smogless. i’m so used to chewing my air…
09. There are four-count em-4 seasons.
Coming from a land of 2 seasons- brown & green- it is miraculous to see spring unfold herself in poppy gold and dogwood pink and the cream of pear blossoms. The glorious reds and oranges of fall splendid, as we are surrounded by woods. The cottonwood drift of summer. The magic and hard beauty of winter snow. It’s easy to remember God in this place. His artistry is all around.
08. It smells. Good.
Pine. Wagner Creek. Hay. Irises. Clean. Earth. Horses. -The perfume of peace…
07. When i hear a gunshot, i know someone’s having elk or goose for dinner.
Also coming from a land where an eleven year-old girl helping her mother make tacos in their kitchen is killed by a stray bullet, and where such an event is one in a string of events occurring in one week, this is also miraculous. And so heartbreaking to remember- because also when i hear a gunshot, i weep for the lives lost due to the senseless, pervasive violence we’ve escaped from.
06. Deer.
Seeing deer hop about, frolick, rest, nibble in a pear orchard as the sun rises is amazing.
05. The Downtowne Café.
Aside from my house, it’s my favorite place- The Downtowne Café. It looks like a house. It has a fireplace. The owners actually work there. They brew your coffee a cup at a time. It’s delicious. They make their muffins and cookies and sandwiches from scratch. There’s live jazz on Sundays, open mic nights the third Tuesday of each month… It’s Talent-y.
04. It’s called Talent.
i’m sure it is named after the archaic unit of measure found in the bible but i like to think of the more pervasive definition- as in “i got…”
Now if only we lived on Talent Avenue. That’d be rawk.
03. The folks are friendly.
They say good morning. And they actually mean it!
02. The slow, slow pace.
It is calm. It is peaceful. There’s no traffic. There’s barely any sirens. Everyone is just free and easy. It’s totally Mayberry and though i struggled with this in the beginning, i embrace it now.
When i visited my mom and sisters in SoCal last August, my heart pounded with agitation- so many people! Honking their horns, cutting people off. A part of me will always love that recklessness, that sense of urgency, that noise, but i have to say that quiet has done much for my spirit.
01. We’re happy here.
My family has never been happier. My girls are doing well in school and’ve made lots of friends. R is getting down at work. i am prospering in words- i think i am anyway- and writing my patootie off.
Talent is home. Finally home.
(copyright 2008 ) c A Hughes
05.06.08
What a gorgeous shot. I envy you, your peace and countrification, chica. I could use some of that myself I think.
Annie
i think those from the city can use a little country now and then.
Of course, the city offers its own beauty, yes?
~c
Love the view. Just gorgeous. And your list sounds divine.
What I loved about your list is that you also described where I live .. down to the deer frolicking in the yard and the Dogwoods and the smells and the quietness. I too left SoCal and moved here and I absolutely love it.
Your Left Coast Heaven is my midwest Heaven.
My dream place- thus far- is Santa Cruz, CA.
It has mountains, ocean, country and city.
i will say that though i really am glad to be here, a precious part o me will always be SoCal.
For example, when people say good morning to me, i automatically think, “What’s their problem.”
~c
Sounds like a wonderful place to live. Thanks for describing it.
Thanks for reading & commenting.
It is lovely.
~c
i’m very happy for your good fortune.
you sound settled and happy and hopeful.
it seems like only yesterday i was lighting a candle at the “prospect” of an oregon move, and now look!
and what a great shot!– a wonderful reason to
go west young woman.
Thank you, clancyjane.
i knew you’d understand.
~c
Just wanted to swing by and wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you.
You too, even though i’m a week late.
It was a wonderful weekend- my stomach in knots while i sat around doing nothing- my dream!- but it drove me mad!
~c
C ~ Wow. I am very happy for you when I read your finding of ‘home’ and the happiness you and your familia are living there in Talent. I hear that the home of your SoCal roots, continue to reside in you as well but that you are growing roots now in another place.
Reading of your finding and recognizing your home as time has gone by, gives me hope that I will, too, one day find and be able to realize when I have found my home. junemoon PS Happy Mom’s Day to you, my friend
i hope that your Mother’s Day was peaceful and loveful as well.
i want to suggest about home, after reading of your impending move ( i know what you mean though), that no matter the material- brick, stone, wood- or location you will always be home because you are there.
~c
Sounds perfectly perfect! And really does sound a world away from where I am – not that I don’t count Western Australia as a piece of paradise because it surely is – but elk and goose?! Cool!
Yes, it is lovely.
If we ever move again, i want the ocean.
i’m so glad to see you!
How’s married life? Perfect, i bet.
~c
Thanks C! It’s good to be back after a break
Married life is rather perfect, yes! 
Well, i sure missed you!
And i’m happy for you.
Blessings…
Marvelous post in so many ways – it is a story in a list!
“Pine. Wagner Creek. Hay. Irises. Clean. Earth. Horses. -The perfume of peace” – love it
The gunshot thing is so sad. I sometimes fantasize about a portable slum simulator. The participant would be shut in a small simulated apartment for the night while noise in the streets, in the hall, next door, and above checker the ears and mind. Gunshot, sirens, shouts, arguments, drunks, hookers, cock roaches, vermin, pee smell from the stairwell, homeless addicts… I would make it part of a consciousness raising course.
Talent sounds like a wonderful place to be a family.
I believe you are prospering in your words also.
Peace
i think that when people, generally speaking, think such environments exist only in movies, exaggerated for ambience.
Or that the human beings that actually have to live in this type of environment’ve earned their way there, deserve it or are a certain way.
We’ve lived in such a neighborhood- shootings, theft, grafitti, helicopters all day and night, dirty kids asking me if i would make them a PBJ “please” because their parents had locked them out, drugs, etc. R worked as a manager of a retail store. i worked at a church. One of my neighbors was a nurse, another worked construction… People get stuck- you just never know.
The things is, folks don’t realize we’ve all contributed to this situation. The way or society works, and doesn’t work, the stands we don’t take, the things and people we sacrifice, the things and people we exalt, all’ve created these types of circumstances.
i am thankful and happy in Talent, but i do not ever, EVER, want to forget where we started.
Thank you, Qasze.
~c