Another Orland blog!

So far as I know, Laurie LaGrone hosts the only other Orland blog that isn’t a high schooler’s MySpace site. In fact, Laurie now has two blogs: Foolery and Reasonably Educated Bumpkins. She’s not only a talented writer, but has a great sense of humor and a native daughter’s love for her hometown. She might be a little bit spicier than my readers are used to, but not much. Her commenters can be amusing too. Today I’ve been ruminating over one commenter’s analysis of our real estate situation, in which he stated that “the highest and best use for any parcel in Orland is probably cow pasture. Or a taco truck.” I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much.

Here’s how she described the progress in Orland back in November 2006 (and not much has changed since then):

“Orland is slowly coming up in the world. S L O W L Y. When you drive west from Chico into Orland, the town is beginning to look somewhat 20th century, and No, that’s not a typo.

Near the first reduced speed limit is a pair of large office buildings — three- or four-story buildings, I might add — instead of a rotting house with shot-out windows and six dead cars on the waist-high dead lawn. Hey wait — that sounds like our house . . .

Holiday Market converted to Sav-Mor Foods earlier this year, and, while I’m concerned for them that they apparently cannot afford e’s for their sign, they are doing well. It’s actually a busy store now, since all of Orland seems to have decided to shop there instead of boycotting the place like so many of us used to. And we can actually afford to buy food there now!

Farther west, in the center of town, we have a brand-new fine dining establishment. I think it took over a year to tear out and build in, during which time I think they had a fire. It seemed risky and probably foolhardy to put a dinner-only restaurant with visions of elegance in Orland, but the place is reportedly busy and reservations are necessary. Wow. In Orland. The facade is beautiful, on the outside, at least, and there are large raised gold letters spelling out the name: FARWOOD. That would seem to be the owner’s only misstep. In Orland, FARWOOD is what one burns in the FARPLACE.”

Heh. I need to explain that to Jan at the next Chamber meeting.

Don’t miss Laurie’s beautiful photographs of the Orland area. You will notice that she says the famous Orland arch has “got the uglies”. Well, Orlanders can get away with saying such things, but outsiders need to show a little more appreciation for its aesthetic qualities.

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