Looks like we're here to stay. It's official, now. It may seem a small thing. Actually, four small things. But, we now have our own directional signs posted in our neighborhood. You're not going to believe how I will drone on and on about it, now.
When I was a kid, some years our family would go to Lake Gregory or Lake Arrowhead for a week or two in the summer. It was an exotic landscape for us, of course. Pine trees, water, fresh air. We loved it. I noticed that folks would put their names, quaintly carved into wood, on their houses and at the turn-offs for their roads. I don't remember noticing that little custom anywhere else, at the time. I associated it with the mountains and vacations.
At our last house, on Mars Way, there was a sign post near the base of the driveway, which we shared with one other house, where the previous (and only other) owners had put a sign with their name on it. It probably helped by indicating which of the two houses belonged to the Ficks, since, in our experience, there was nearly always confusion at the top for first-time visitors. Our neighbors, the Rices, ran a real estate/mortgage company from their house and we were continually relaying people on over. From time to time, we'd find perfect strangers meandering around in the back yard, ready to sign papers. So, I was going to make a sign for that post that said "The Golds", under which I would inscribe "Proof of Life on Mars". Yeah, you're right. Corny. It's probably a good thing I never got around to it. But I intended to. For nearly the entire 8-plus years we lived there.
In these parts, as in many rural--not just mountain-areas, it's quite common, though not universal, to find names of residents at the junction with the main artery. It seems friendly, somehow. Little routed wooden signs that say "here we are", implying "welcome". At the fairs and festivals, there's always at least one booth where one can get a wooden sign with your name on it made. I get the feeling that it's a dying custom, though.
We have, at Hoppy Hollow (the turn-off for Echo Glen), perhaps the biggest honking street sign I've ever seen. Whole towns don't have such a huge sign. I'd love to know how and when the earlier residents made the decision to shout to the world, in giant yellow letters, that HOPPY HOLLOW begins HERE!
Perhaps it was so that all the smaller, individual name signs would fit underneath. I'm sure there are old-timers in the neighborhood who could tell me. However, it seems, either because it's a bit of trouble, or that folks, these days, want to keep their whereabouts quieter, as houses change hands, the old signs come down, but new ones don't go back up. So, as you can see, most of the signs are quite old and weathered, and they represent probably only a small fraction of those who live here.
But, now, when you come for a visit (and we hope you do), you can find "Gold" by following four little signs to our house. You won't have any trouble getting to Hoppy Hollow, obviously, but after that, it will be easier to locate our "diggins" (sorry). See you soon!
