  Some observations from upstate New York. The paper is very thin. The entire newspaper down here is about the thickness of the living section of the urlLink Morning News . Reading the paper, which can be a very leisurely morning activity in Dallas takes roughly ten minutes front to back here.
There are a lot of trees. And big trees too, not these ten foot tall saplings that were transplanted from a nursery when they built the subdivision, but 60 or 70 foot tall behemoths that have been there for 100 years. In fact a lot of things are older, the homes, the cars, everything. There are a lot of hills. How I could possibly have forgotten that I dont know. Or maybe I just never noticed. Things move a lot slower.
Part of this is that Im on vacation, Im not really doing anything. But still, there just seems to be a lot more time here. People drive slower, walk slower, People are still talking about the new Applebees which was built five years ago. The thing is that none of this has changed, its been this way for hundreds of years and certainly for the 25 Ive been around to notice. The only thing thats changed is me. My perception of whats normal, what the size of a newspaper or a tree should be.
What the pace of life is. Im starting to notice that Texas has changed me. It has affected me in bad ways and good ways, some of the changes will be permanent and some will change again, but I am different now because of the experiences Ive had over the last three years. Im starting to wonder how much I identify with this place as my home anymore, if Ill ever be able to come back to this and that worries me 
