Do Re Mi

It ain’t what you’re thinking.

DO RE MI isn’t Julie Andrews and THE SOUND OF MUSIC’S primer for musical notes. It’s the simple truth about a House in California— “it’s the land of milk and honey, but you better have good money…..:

The median house price in Monterey County in January 2021 was $821,000– $481/square foot

Woodie Guthrie wrote the following lyrics, which are included on his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads:

If you ain’t got the do re mi boys you ain’t got the do re mi
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee

California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see
But believe it or not you won’t find it so hot
If you ain’t got the do re mi

Nothing’s changed in nearly a century. Salinas is still East of Eden (this makes Eden Monterey), and you can take a vacation by the mountains or the sea, and live in paradise… if you can afford it.

I can’t afford it. I can’t afford to buy a house here (housing in Monterey County has gone up at least 20% since I started my job in Monterey– 12.4% in the last year), and I can’t bear to leave. I toured an “affordable” condo in my neighborhood (it was a 2 br/2ba for $550k); the second bedroom didn’t have a light fixture and the outside storage couldn’t accommodate a shop-vac.

What to do?

I love my job. I love my students. I love the weather– it’s hardly ever above 80 degrees here.

I DO NOT MISS the heat or the humidity of the Deep South.

I DO MISS granite counter tops (those are available in houses above $1.5 million), a full-size, quiet dishwashers with stainless steel tubs (mine is the size of a trash compactor). I miss my pantry and I miss a French door refrigerator with a bottom freezer.

More to the point, I miss my family.

I miss my kids, my parents, my brothers & sisters, aunts & uncles, and nieces & nephews. I miss Mark. Covid has rendered me desperately lonely in this land of paradise.

I love the ocean and the mountains. The air here is so clean, so fresh. I can smell the ocean from my house and hear seals barking year ’round. Majestic redwood forests are 40 minutes away, north or south. Orange groves, almond orchards, and wineries surround me, and yet….

There is no boudin, no andouille, no crawfish boil. Drive thru daiquiri stores and indoor dining are a dream.

I’ve traded Tiger Stadium for Pebble Beach and am abivalent. There is no winner here.