Changes

Our House May 2006

Our house May 2011

Our house is getting something of a makeover this spring/summer.  It is well deserved, I think and not the first work that has been done on the house, but some projects that have been waiting in the wings.  These 2 pictures show the house the first spring we lived here and this spring.  We've had such grey damp weather over the past week, that I really haven't been able to get a good picture of the rhododendron which are beautiful this time of year. 

Can you note the differences that have occurred in the past 5 years?  The first thing that happened you can see in the roof line.  It is a dormer which is the room that was finished the winter before Robert appeared.  It is a very cool room with lots of sloping windows.  The dormer window is pretty big and we put a chair there and it is like you are sitting among the trees.  I am looking forward to the days when I actually have time to sit there and read, in the meantime, I enjoy my moments in our office/guest room which are usually when I am there to do some work or to clean up.  Harry moved to the 3rd floor when the room was finished and he has the biggest room in the house - we sometimes call it the penthouse suite.

The other difference is of course the color.  When we first saw the rectory in the broschure about the church, it looked like it was blue.  It turned out to really be grey.  However, the idea was set in my mind and so when the house needed painting, we asked if we could have it painted blue with white rather than cream trim.  It is so lovely this way, I think it was the right decision. 

So the changes to come?  Well our pebble driveway has suffered much over the many years it has been here and it had become more like a wave, with rocks being lost each year as we shoveled and/or they were redistributed as the land settled.  So we asked that the driveway be graded and if possible, and not too expensive, paved.  That is going to happen in just a few short days!  I am so excited - I have visions of easier shoveling in the winter and a place for the boys to draw with chalk and ride vehicles on.

There have also been some garden changes - trees/branches down.  I am going to plant a raised bed with some vegetables this year.  We are also hoping to add a fort to the backyard for the boys.  We've also finally gotten some of the vines and bushes down that were just next to the driveway.  Spring time this year is bringing exciting changes.  Hopefully the house will be even more beautiful as we move into summer.