I Am a Village

The Universe, as has been observed before, is an unsettlingly big place, a fact which for the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore. Many would happily move to somewhere rather smaller of their own devising, and this is what most beings in fact do.
 - Douglas Adams,  The Restaurant at the End of the Universe  (1980), Chapter 10.

This is my entry in the Round Robin Photo Challenge for this week.  The topic,as suggested by Auntie Nub (Liz) of the journal Fool's Paradise, is "Village." This was a stumper for me, at least at first.  I don't live in a village, or near a village.  I don't even have any pictures I've personally taken of the village of Manlius, a mile from the house where I grew up.

On the other hand, I am a village.  As the late Douglas Adams suggests in the quote above, I've created my own little place in the multiverse in which to live my "quiet life. " It looks something like this:

 

Yeah, I know.  My pictorial map of Karenville is a little bizarre.  Here it is anyway, along with my explanation.  See, the sad truth is, my daily life mostly takes place on or around a four mile stretch of Wilmot Road.  My home is near there, my office, my favorite gas station (not shown), my favorite shopping mall, my gym, my church, my favorite place to buy chicken wings, and my favorite grocery store.  Once a week I get far enough away to pick up Eva (not shown) and Kevin for church.  Once every few months I go further up Wilmot onto Tanque Verde, and turn left on Grant to visit my Mom's grave.  A couple of times a year, I follow Tanque Verde to Catalina Highway, and go up Mount Lemmon.  But mostly, I live my life on a gray track called Wilmot.  My neighbors in this restricted little world, this village of my devising, are my husband, my co-workers, my fellow parishioners, and a couple of people who work at Safeway.  That's about it.

Ah, but don't feel sorry for me.  My physical existence may be ridiculously self-restricted, but  it sure saves gas.  And the rest of me gets out into other "villages."  There's that great virtual village called AOL-J Land.  I live there every night.  There's a village called Liftlabeth, where a boy once met a tengrem.  I spend as much time in Liftlabeth (and other places in Mâvarin) as I can.  I've been to Thornhill where Vicky Austin lives in Meet the Austins, and to good old Hill Valley with Doc Brown, and to Pleasantville with the kid who became Spider-Man.  I've even been to Half Circle Sea Hold with Menolly.  And if that's not enough, I can do a little time tripping in my mind, revisiting my memories of Manlius, and imagining 1960 Disneyland. 

 

 

If I am a village, who inhabits me?  That's easy.  All the incarnations of Karen live here - the shy child and the shy adult, the accountant and the ex-student, the blogger and the writer.  JW lives here, and Rani and the rest, as much as they do in Mâvarin and elsewhere. And you may not know it, but you all live here, too. To the extent that you touch my life, posting your entries and commenting on mine, keeping in touch by IM and email - yeah. You live here, too.

Were I to seek out a real village for this challenge, it would have been Summerhaven.  This is the closest village to me.  It burned down a couple of years ago, but it's back now.  Summerhaven is at the top of Mount Lemmon, so it's pretty much a day trip of a drive.  I went up there for my very first Photo Challenge entry, back when Carly and I were the only players.  You can visit it too if you like.  Just follow the link!

Karen

Now go check out the entries by the other Round Robin participants:

Carly:  Ellipsis  (posted!)

Sara:  Photographic Memories  (posted!)

Mary:  Alphawoman's Blog  (posted!)

Dorn:  Through The Eyes Of The Beholder  (posted!)

Betty:  My Day My Interests  (posted!)

Kimberleigh:  I Shaved My Legs For This?  (not posted due to dead computer)

Aunt Nub (Liz):  Fool's Paradise  (posted!)

Maryanne:  My Feelings Are Real  (posted early - oops!  And posted another one!)

Chris:  It's all about me I think (posted - sort of!)

Derek:  Derek's Picture of the Day 

Mary:  Hunybea's Open Journal  (posted - two entries!)

Renee:  wwwTimelessCalligraphystudiocom  (posted!)

Marie:  Photographs & Memories  (posted!)

Robin:  These are the days of our Lives 

rRose:  WAIT-NOTYET-/  (posted!)

Cosette:  Pandora's Bazaar  (posted!)

Robin:  Midlife Matters  (posted!)

Steven:  sometimes photoblog  (posted!)

The next Round Robin Photo Challenge is coming up Wednesday, October 26th.  The theme for that one, as suggested by Alan, is Halloween Happenings.  Remember, grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!  Will you?  Click on the link above for details!

Something even more bizarrely inexplicable