ESH Hill Farm

Now I know I'm probably a little more weird than most when it comes to "signs and portents", but I'm always amazed at times when certain things seem to just go together when it was never really planned that way. (Okay, so I don't REALLY believe in signs and portents, but sometimes odd things just amaze me!)

Back some time ago you'll remember me talking about the daughter wanting a sign to put at the front of her drive. Well, the hubs and I were talking about her sign and got to throwing things around about how we ought to name our home and make our own sign. Because this is a third generation property it holds a special meaning for me...this was my home, where I grew up, and where I hope to grow old.

Anyway, the hubs was saying how we ought to give the place a name that harkened back to my Ellis grandparents. I brought it to his attention that while my Ellis grandparents did indeed buy the farm, it was never actually in their name because they titled it to my mother. Of course it was always known as the "Ellis place" because my other grandparents lived about 3 or 4 miles through the woods and theirs was known as the "Stevenson place"; years later my mom and dad did in fact move here.

We tossed around several names, mainly just throwing things around, but nothing really seriously considered. Hubs said it should be something like "Ellis Valley Farm"...well, until I also brought it to his attention that we don't live in a valley, we live on a hill that's sets in amongst other hills. Actually, we live on a ridge if you want to get technical about it! As we're debating whether we are on a ridge or hill I told him we should just call it ESH Hill Farm. The E, S, and H being an acronym for Ellis, Stevenson, Haggerman (I thought it was kind of catchy!).  It represented all the families and in ascending order of ownership.

Now, you're probably wondering, "okay, so where's the whole signs and portents thing"? Again, weirdo that I am, I decided to Google ESH Hill..you know, because I don't want my place having the same name as several other places. In the process of my Googling I come across some very interesting things about the word ESH...for one there is a parish located on a hill in northern England named Esh Parish. For another, in Sanskrit the word esh means "blessed", although in Armenian the same word means "donkey"! There's also a very popular place known as Esh Aerial Arts where you can receive training in circus performance. What took my eye though was the pronunciation of Aislinn in Irish...it's sounded as Esh leen. The name appears to be Gaelic and refers to "a dream or vision".

Those of you who know me, know I'm proud of my Irish roots. Those same Irish roots are the ones that brought my great grandmother over here from Ireland where she met and married my Cherokee great grandfather and produced the grandmother who would eventually become the Ellis to which my home is attached. It's those same Irish roots that causes me to go looking for meaning in things that aren't really there and then ramble on about those meanings!! I do believe though the name ESH may be just what we're looking for because only an Irish descendent could take all of this to mean that, while we are not a parish we do set on a hill, we did indeed have a vision for this place, and while we may not yet own a donkey, most of the time the comings and goings are very much like a three ring circus around here! But really? Through it all...we have been very blessed!