Sometimes I Get Homesick

There are times when I get very nostalgic and sometimes a little sad when I look at pictures from the past of great times with friends and family, when I am missing the parts of the farm that I actually enjoyed.  Don't get me wrong...I don't want to go back to the farm or Montana.  I love living in Roseburg and I love my house.  Sometimes though, I really miss the farm.  I miss my chickens and milk cow.  I miss living really simple.  I miss my big garden.  I just get a little homesick.

Eastern Montana

Living here with all the hustle and bustle (I know Roseburg is considered a town, but it feels like a city to me after living in rural Montana for so many years), traffic, things to do, work, sometimes I miss the quietness of the farm, the stillness of the early mornings before we get going on our day, the solitude, the wide open space.

Then I look out my living room window and see the beautiful trees lining the streets, I turn a little and there is Mount Nebo.  As I sit here writing it is quiet and still in the house and outside, it so peaceful and beautiful it takes my breath away and I just have to say a prayer of gratitude that God would bless me so abundantly with such beauty.  I truly am thankful every day that God has brought me to such a beautiful place.

View from my living room window.

We recently had the opportunity to become caretakers of a Ranch 50 miles East of Roseburg.  It was beautiful.  The drive to the ranch is beautiful.  We would have had chickens and a garden and could have gone back to a simpler way of life.  It didn't work out financially for us but I am okay with that because if I am honest with myself, all the things I am missing about the farm in Montana are what made us want to leave.  The wonderful stillness and solitude really translates to lonliness and isolation and I don't want to go back to that.

Drive along Hwy 38 to the ranch we had an opportunity to be caretakers of.

We actually have more family time now than we did on the farm.  We go hiking together, we go to the coast together, we walk around our neighborhood together.  Yet, we still find time to be alone and have our quiet time, to recover from the busyness of life.  My house is small, my yard is small, but I do have a garden, I know people who raise chickens, beef, pork, lamb and have bigger gardens where I can buy fresh local produce and meat.  To me this is the perfect place.

Fall Creek Falls hike

Oregon Coast Lighthouse

I said I miss living simply, I guess just because I live in town doesn't mean I have to have a complicated life.  I can still live simply.  I can bake my own bread and make simple, good meals with the fresh ingredients I buy from local farmers.  I can spend time alone in the early mornings with my Bible and a pot of tea in my backyard and enjoy the stillness of the day and the view.  This really is the best of both worlds.

View from my backyard

What makes me feel better when I get homesick for family and friends in Montana is the payoff I get with my family... I get a lot  more smiles.

These smiles make me happy.

Little Town on the Prairie

Ekalaka is a quiet, little town at the end of Highway 7.  I had traveled to Ekalaka every year when I was growing up to visit my grandparents who lived there.  I fell in love with it.  I have always loved the sweet smell that it has in the summer, the way it smells after a rain, and the excitement of a summer storm.

Today a lot of the buildings are gone.  The stores have closed, the buildings empty and eventually torn down.  There used to be a grocery store, bar and restaurant, and hardware store at the end of the green patch on the left.

Each summer when we would come to visit we would make at least one trip to town from grandmother's ranch.  Part of the town visit involved going to the Super Valu grocery store, through the back door.  Being from a larger town this was a novelty for us.  We only had grocery stores where you entered through the front door.

From here you can see the blue building which used to be called the Mainline and was green, it is now NAPA. There is a restaurant in the middle and a bar on the end of this block.

The Mainline was another place we loved to visit.  Grandma would buy us candy, a lot of candy so we would have a supply back at the ranch.  I always bought a candy necklace.  They were my favorites.

The Old Stand Bar and Wagon Wheel Cafe, used to be one building but they burned down over 20 years ago.  These are new buildings for Ekalaka.

The Old Stand Bar and Cafe was one of the places I hung out after we moved to Ekalaka.  It was while I was in high school that the building burnt down.  It was sad, the old buildings had a lot of character.  The new Old Stand was built with a dance hall in the back, it is now a restaurant.  I loved the dances in the back.  The restaurant is good though.  My favorite treat there is the corn nuggets.  I miss the corn nuggets.  So far I have only found one place in Oregon that has corn nuggets and that is in Bandon.

                                                                                    

The Main Street Market.  Now the only grocery store in town.

The Guest House Motel, owned and operated by my dear brother and sister-in-law

Scott and Denise Elmore.

It is a great place to stay if you are every in Ekalaka.  Scott and Denise have worked hard remodeling and updating the hotel since they bought it in the 90s. 

The local firehouse.

At the other end of town stands the courthouse.  I think this is my favorite part of town.  I love how the trees surround it and make it cozy and inviting.

This is a small tour of my favorite little town.  It may not be growing, have great shopping, but if you want to visit a nice quiet, relaxing place try Ekalaka.  It is full of history, has a great museum, and a lot of points of interest to visit.