About Hastings County, ON

Today was the day to plant the Sweet Pea flower seeds I had purchased. They had soaked in water for 24 hours, and the earth was dug, rish and fertile, with lots of peat moss to aid with water retention through the summer. As I planted them, my mind flashed back more than 50 years to a time I shared with my grandparents.

I was lucky enough to spend each summer at a cottage they had on Lake Simcoe, and when the time was right, our whole family would get in the car (a 1940's Durant, I think) and drive to an abandoned farmer's field to pick sweet peas. My grandfather, "Gramps", would explain that the fact that the sweet peas were now growing wild in this field meant that this was likely the site of an old homestead. The house was gone. Whatever foundations there may have been there originally were gone too, but the sweet pea flowers that may have been planted by someone there a hundred years ago still came up beautiful, delicate and oh so fragrant. When we got back to the cottage there would be a large bouquet, and the sweet smell would linger through the summer.

So, as I planted my sweet peas, I thought about my parents and grandparents, and my younger sister eagerly gathering these beautiful flowers, and I also wondered about who it was that planted them there originally, bringing a touch of beauty into a life that may well have seen more than its share of hardship and hard work. I appreciated the fact that my parents and grandparents wanted to acknowledge the lives of those who had gone before them, and realised that I was now at an age where this was important to me as well.

Our lives are all about dropping seeds into the earth. Just like the person who planted those sweet peas perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago, we have no way of knowing what influence we may have for good in the future.

Through email correspondence I have been getting to know Pam, a teacher in Alberta who is interested in buying some investment property back here in Belleville, Ontario, where she was raised. I mentioned that I was a teacher as well - for 38 years - and today she asked, "So do you miss the teaching?" Pam had no way of knowing that I am a blogger, and I hope she will excuse my posting the reply. In my experience, there are quite a few retired teachers in real estate, and I'm sure they will have something to add to make my answer more complete. So here it goes -

Dear Pam,

I have a lot of great memories from my years in the classroom, and I don't know that there will be anything I do in my entire life - other than being "Dad" - that will leave as much of a legacy as the work I did as a teacher. I meet up with former students all the time, and when they stop to chat to me, I feel really honoured. In the schedule of bells, lessons, projects, test and deadlines, it is sometime difficult for teachers to see what they are accomplishing, but I want you to know that teachers leave a legacy every day, and that, most often, it is one of encouragement, trust and growth. When that doesn't happen, I question if the person at the front of the classroom is actually teaching.

While I am no longer in the classroom, I'm not sure I can ever miss teaching, because I know that the day I actually stop being a teacher will be the day I am on planet Earth. The reason is simple enough. Beneath all the clutter, teaching is really about understanding who someone is, where they are, where they need to go, and helping them get there. This is a human activity, not limited to one profession, and I am still a teacher even though my business cards now says, "Realtor".

This past month I listed a home for the parents of a young and growing family who need more space, and who can afford it due to their hard work. Both the husband and wife are people I taught in Grade One - and that is why they called to list with me. I will have a great time selling the place they have now, and helping them find a wonderful new home for the future.

I also started working with a young man looking for his first home, a family moving back from Manitoba to Ontario, a Mom who is looking for a good place for herself and a handicapped daughter, another Mom who can no longer maintain a beautiful home and needs to find a condo where maintenance is done for her, a gentleman looking to rebuild his future by buying his first home in many years, a former colleague who is looking for a waterfront getaway, and a couple who found a dream home and property for their retirement.

If it sounds like these people are all different and all need different things, that right. It's really the same as what teachers face every day as they come into a classroom of individuals and know that one presentation, one answer, is never going to work for all of them.

Many of my clients are advanced, self-directed learners. They have great skills, and all I need to do is to give them the right information for decision-making. Others will do better with a lot more coaching. No one expects a first time buyer to understand everything going on in a real estate transaction. So I am still teaching, as required, and still helping people meet their goals.

I don't miss the bells. I wish I could miss the staff meetings, but we still have plenty of those :)

I don't miss the pressures involved in covering all the curriculum effectively. I do value the opportunity to get to know some great people at various stages of their lives and help them as much as I can.

I haven't left teaching.

Sorry, but I can't resist posting these real estate jokes that I find on the Internet. If you have others, please send then along because I am also building a page for them on my website.

Here's today's story -

Some men in a pickup truck drove to a lumber yard.

One of the men walked into the office and said, "We need some four-by-twos."

The clerk asked, "You mean two-by-fours, don't you?"

The man said, "I'll go check," and went back to the truck.

He returned shortly and said, "Yeah, I meant two-by-fours."

"All right", said the clerk. "How long do you need them?"

The customer paused for a moment and said, "I'd better go check."

After a while, he returned to the office and said, "A long time... we're gonna build a house!"

Several years ago, before I decided to become a realtor, I looked back on my experience of arriving in rural Ontario in 1976 knowing very little about country life. I decided to start a little website for people interested in making the transition from an urban to a rural area with information about things like wells, septic systems, medical services, and a host of other topics. It has grown through time, and I am looking forward to others joining in the effort by providing additional material about green technologies.

The Google rating system takes your location into account, so this site may not come up for you, as it does for us locally, as the #1 ranked site for searches of the terms "moving to the country", but the fact that it is there even in our area suggests that a lot of people have found it useful.

Since I have gotten into real estate I have carved out a bit of the site for advertising listings, but most of it is still a light-hearted, story-telling version of information about country living. I would invite you to visit, and, if you have something to add - with a credit to you of course - please send it along.

Here's the address: MovingtotheCountry.ca

One of my clients is anticipating a move from Manitoba to our part of rural Ontario, and he came up with this bit of country humour while he was doing research online. I haven't seen it before, and I don't know the source, but it looks like one of those things that could be easily adapted to many parts of the USA and Canada.

I assured him that we aren't all quite as redneck as the article suggests, but there are places where folks would say "Yup" to almost every line.

Enjoy!

***

Welcome to Ontario

Just in Time for Summer Vacation

THE RULES OF RURAL ONTARIO ARE AS FOLLOWS

Listen up City Slickers!

1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap straight, your head isn't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? Hwy 7 & 401 goes east and west, Hwy 15 & 416 goes north and south. Pick one.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $150,000 combines and hay balers that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. So every person in rural Ontario waves. It's called 'being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah, we eat meat and potatoes. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer hunting season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. There's little for 'vegetarians' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

12. When we set a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.

13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.

14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

15. Ontario Hockey League and Minor Hockey is as important here as the Maple Leafs and Montreal Habs, and more fun to watch.

16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.

17. Colleges? We have them all over. We have Universities and Community Colleges. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come for the holidays.

18. We have a whole ton of folks in the Armed Forces. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.

19. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers. (Refer back to #1).

20. TWO inches of snow & ice isn't a blizzard - it's a vacation. Drive like you got some sense in it, and DON'T take all our bread, milk, and bleach from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska, worst case you may have to live a whole day without croissants. The pickups with snow blades and tractors with snow blowers will have you out the next day.

A true Ontarian will send this on!!!