THE END OF THE LABYRNTH?

VOILA, ROBERTO'S HOME TO BE!
This quite astonishing. I have been here in the Corning area just a week and I have successfully offered to buy this house!

Built in 1973, the house is a split-level ranch. The upper level is 750 square feet and is the main living area. The lower area remains finished in the 70's manner and has a second full bath as well as the laundry and plant room. It also has two bedrooms and a living room. It is 650 square feet. The upper area will be quite sufficient for my needs so there is plenty of room for occasional guests or even to sub-let. It has an unobstructed southerly aspect so will be perfect for incorporating passive solar heating technology. It is situated within easy walking distance of all the facilities I would routinely need.

The lot is bare, apart from plenty of grass, and will immediately need a small tool shed and later a workshop and car port. There is complete freedom to design the garden and, already, my head is abrim with ideas. I am beside myself with anticipated delight and can almost feel the sweat on by brow. Of course, there is the process of inspection and all the rest and, as the bard once remarked, there is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.

After enough looking at houses to figure out where I would prefer to live, and the kind of houses I would prefer not to live in, quite by chance I strayed into Sterling Street and saw the realty sign, and then the house. In sort order, I phoned the listing agent and had a quick look around and then arranged for a more thorough walk through with my agent. He liked it and we sorted out what would be a fair offer. The house had been occupied by a couple almost as old as I (unlike me, both now deceased) and the four heir/owners quickly agreed to the offer. Stunning! The months of an exceptionally bad Winter and recent deluges have made it perfect to see houses in their worst presentations.

I am settling back in with remarkable ease and have felt at home since the first day of my return. Of course, the weather has been characteristically terrible. I have begun attending the local Episcopal Church. They do not seem to mind my 'respectful agnostic, sometime atheist' orientation and I am already on the track, courtesy of guidance from similarly minded folk, of the writings of the New Zealand Presbyterian 'heretic', Lloyd Geering. Maybe I am sorting out my spirituality at last and realizing that I can fulfill my commitment of long ago to be a disciple of Jesus and not to be caught up too much in the ecclesiastical accretions that have gathered since he walked this earth. Like him, I am learning to respect the spiritual contributions of other religious thinkers.

I have also re-met old friends and some of their friends so I seem to be set for a grand experience of networking. I plan to assist my friend Richard in his move to their new home and then will have shared accommodation for a month before moving into my new place. What bliss! Much hard work is ahead. What joy!