State and Country Collectors: What happens when we flip 'em?

[gerisullivan]

jcbemis and fla_sunshine are visiting right now. I'm thoroughly enjoying their company and tonight, just before going up to bed (I thought!), I added the header to a new page in the Friends of Toad Woods Register so they can both sign the book before heading to Worcester for ConCertino on Friday.

I left the book open on the table and started to head upstairs. Somewhere in there, I realized, wow, I'd just picked up another state. They're my first visitors from Florida since I moved here just over five years ago.

Soon I was tallying the rest. So much for going to bed right then.

In the last five years and one month, I've had visitors from 12 U.S. states (AL, CA, FL, IL, MA, MI, MN, NH, NY, PA, VA, WA) and two foreign countries (Poland and Canada). Given there are only two countries, I wouldn't have predicted that Poland would be one of them.) The repeat and multiple visitors from those states and countries is pretty impressive, too, with the numbers being eight and nine, respectively.

In all, 77 different people have visited Toad Woods. Thirty-eight of those have come back again, for a total of 57 repeat visits (from eight different states). Some visitors have signed is as many as seven different times; there are a few loved ones who have undoubtedly visited more frequently -- when someone is a regular visitor, I don't always pull out the book.

Of those 77 people, 40 of them stayed overnight, 17 of them from seven different states staying over repeatedly. Those numbers come as a welcome surprise. I moved to a rural area. While it's proven to be a convenient stay-over location for some of my visitors, more often it's been friends and loved ones coming to visit. It takes long enough to get here that staying overnight is usually a good idea. :-)

The biggest change from the 20 years at Toad Hall is that I've only had 3 large parties here, and all three were in the first 16 months I lived here. That's primarily due to the financial disaster that was 2005 and the fact that I've never really recovered from it. Hosting large parties was one of the early budget cuts. I miss them, but I miss publishing Idea, too, and budget dollars for that went away even before I moved to New England.

Another big difference from the Toad Hall years is that some visitors come for a week or even two, repeatedly, in addition to the shorter (weekend) visits that were more typical in Minneapolis. Again, the rural setting plays a part, as does my distance from midwestern loved ones. I totally adore and treasure the fact that Susan and Gavi have been out for three visits each lasting longer than a week and that they'll be back again next month for their fourth. elaine_brennan and carnyjack are the other loved ones who spend a lot of time here, much to my appreciation and enjoyment.

If memory serves, during those same five years, I've stayed overnight in 19 different homes of friends and family in nine states (CO, IL, IN, MA, MI, MN, NY, PA, VA) and two Canadian provinces (ON and MB).* From memory, again, I've made repeat visits to nearly half of those, and a similar number have been extended visits (1-5 weeks, and if we total the number of nights I've stayed in debgeisler and benveniste's home, they'll either start charging me rent or I'll have the frequent stay equivalent of a Premier Exec for life on United.) So much for thinking I'm not traveling much these days.

I of course now want to look through the Friends of Toad Hall list that Karen Johnson compiled for me as part of the house cooling festivities and see how many more states and countries my "visitors from" map collects from that. There's England, Northern Ireland, Russia, Romania, and Australia for sure, and at least one more Canadian province, I think. I've had visitors from a lot more countries than I've been to.

But I'm on my way to bed, remember? I do. The rest of the map will wait for another time.

* Edited to correct myself: Three Canadian provinces: ON, MB, and QC using the current postal codes, or ON, MB, and PQ as I understand the residents of Quebec prefer.

Comments

[ookpik.livejournal.com]

You don't have any RI visitors? Do I need to stop by in the next week so I can sign your guest book? Move is currently scheduled for a week from Monday...unless they find more problems sufficient to require postponement. (This week: MUCH more mold than previously seen--just as I kept suggesting, when two minutes in the basement was causing an asthma attack; the basement now has the exterior walls and one interior wall--the only load-bearing one; all the rest have come down, and we get to re-design the area...)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

No RI visitors that I know of so far. :-)

If you have any other travels that would bring you to the middle of the state on Tuesday, you'd certainly be welcome to stop by for a visit. Lunch, maybe? I'm afraid the rest of my week is booked and even Tuesday is likely to be short until I get a lot further along with my work than I am now.

Fingers crossed that the last of the problems with your new place have been found. Thank ghu mold abatement began before you move in.