Well, here’s some BIG news: I moved at the end of last month from my studio on 48^th St. in Hell’s Kitchen to a 7,000 pop. farm town in northeast Alabama called--get this—Arab. They pronounce it A-rab, as in “Ahab the Arab.”

I am now living in a two-bedroom trailer out in the country that’s owned by my longtime friend, Charlotte. Our relationship dates back to 1990 when we were both new feature reporters at the Naperville Sun.

Charlotte lives in a house on the same one-acre wooded property with her three kids (two girls, ages 9 and 6, and a 2-year-old boy) and husband. We actually are on top of what’s called Brindlee Mountain, 17 miles south of Huntsville.

Next door to us is a beautiful creek and horse farm. All around us are cow pastures and farms that have goats, chickens, llamas, pigs, etc. From my front porch, you can hear roosters crowing and cows mooing all hours of the day and night. Charlotte herself has a huge pig, named Princess Penelope, a pit bull, chicken and guinea pig.

I can’t help but be reminded of the sitcom Green Acres, especially since my name is Lisa and I’ve been a big-city girl for 17 years now when you add my seven years in Manhattan with my 10 years just off the lakefront in the Lakeview neighborhood of Northside Chicago.

From the beautiful drive down here in a 16-foot Budget Rental truck, I first noticed the signs of being in Bible Belt country in Staunton, Virginia, when I stopped to use the bathroom and get a few things at the Wal-Mart. Just heading to the restrooms from the main entrance I passed a kiosk filled with an assortment of Christian books!

Arab itself has TWO Christian bookstores! Charlotte tells me Arab is nicknamed “The Holy City,” because it actually has more churches than businesses!

I’ve been spotting cars with bumper stickers that read, “Keep the Ten Commandments.” A car parked next to me at the Wal-Mart on Arab’s main drag (Route 231) had a fake vanity license plate from Florida that read, “I have a friend in JESUS.”

Charlotte thinks I should start advertising my website in the local papers, especially since my pastor is originally from Mobile. Everybody I’ve told so far here about the book I’m writing on the Bible has been genuinely enthusiastic.

It’s all still kind of unbelievable to me as someone who’s only lived in northern states (outside of one summer as a child in Miami Beach and spending three months with my brother in Lexington, Ky. when he was studying for a doctorate from the University of Kentucky). This really is the heart of the Bible Belt!

Once I really get my bearings I want to start investigating the surrounding churches. I already saw one downtown that’s in a storefront retail space and advertises itself as “Independent fundamental Baptist.”

I’m just hoping they’re King James Only and that I can persuade a few people to attend a dispensational-oriented Bible study at my place. For the past five years, I’ve actually been pulling abandonded chairs off the streets in midtown Manhattan with the hope of one day having my own Bible study group, but have never met anyone interested. I figure I’ve got enough room in my new living room for 15 adults to sit comfortably!

Even when I was dropping off my Budget truck at the nearest rental facility in Guntersville I got to talking to a married couple from nearby Altoona who told me of a friend in nearby Boaz, Barbara Eubanks, who is a Methodist pastor’s wife and recently published the book, “Humorous Happenings in Holy Places.”

Right now, I’m still waiting for a DSL hook-up and Charlotte tells me that Otelco, which is the sole provider of phone and internet service here, takes a week or so before they come out to your residence. My new e-mail address will be leland@otelco.net.

Another thing that has slowed me up considerably as far as updating the site is I cut my pinky finger real bad after I tried shutting a sticking kitchen window and my hand smashed through it.

The pharmacist at the CVS on Route 231 (you can actually sit down for a personal consultation with him for free!) told me I should go get stitches, but when Charlotte said it would probably run me $400, I decided to go with hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin and waterproof Band-Aids.

So, more to come real soon and sorry for the big lapse there.