The Monster is Gone

Well, I may be stretching the definition of monster a bit, but it's big and it's ugly and it's been sitting in the side yard for what feels like months.



It was holding the debris from the construction of the backyard cottage. (I'm calling it the backyard cottage now instead of the guest cottage because I found a whole book at the hardware store on 'backyard cottages.' We're trendy! Who knew?)

When the construction was done, the company came to get the dumpster...and refused to take it. The driver said that it was too heavy and would crack our new concrete driveway. We were a little worried, because we've dumped one or two...or a 100...things in there ourselves, but the builder came and realized one of his workers had dumped a load of dirt in it. Whew! The poor fellow had to come get it out, and then the dumpster went on its merry way.

The yard still needs a lot of work, but now we can actually do the work.

More House Pictures

A few more pictures of the house while I'm thinking of it. You might wonder why I'd include a picture of a bookcase? Well, a while back in our previous house, we got fed up with never being able to make the great room area look right, so we hired an interior decorator. It's not something I ever thought I'd do, but we had so much fun. They were wonderful ladies, and I'll never forget my husband's face when they told him that the couch needed to be moved to 'honor the angle of the fireplace.'

Unfortunately, right after they helped us get the old place looking great, we decided to move, so all that money and time was wasted, but they did show me how to stage a bookcase. Who knew that you don't just fill it up with books? This one houses my little hippo collection that started when my mother brought me a little stone hippo from a trip to Kenya. To my horror, I kept seeing hippos after that and buying them. I have no idea why. There are a lot more little collectible hippos in this world than you'd think.



Next we have my little computer and sitting area. It's supposed to be a dining room, but who would we be kidding? We don't sit at a table and eat.

I stole this rug. Not literally, of course. I was at a rug shop, saw it and fell in love. It's made by the Baluch, a group of nomadic tribes in the Iran/Afghanistan area, and is about 80 years old. I just had to have it, but the dealer said that a good friend of mine had been in the week before and had said she was bringing her husband back to see it. A good person would have waited to talk with her to see if she wanted to buy it.

I'm not a good person.

Sorry, Catherine!



This is the den. I wouldn't have painted those walls that green either, but I love it. (It's just wonderful that the house was already painted when we found it, because I wouldn't have chosen any of these colors and I love them all.) The pictures are ones my husband took of various places we've been.



I found a picture of the kitchen that doesn't make it look too messy. The cabinet doors are all being replaced over the next few weeks. The carpenter company didn't let them dry enough before bringing them into the house, which was still a construction site at that point, and dust got into the finish. Let's just say that trying to get that remedied has been unpleasant for all involved, since the company promptly went into bankruptcy. It should be fixed soon, though.



It's been a long hard road getting to the 'pictures on the walls' stage, and I can't tell you how happy I am to be at the point where I'm not embarrassed to post pictures! The landscapers came today to re-grade and put down grass seed, so we're getting there on the outside as well.

Inside of the House

A friend asked for some pictures of the inside of the house now that we've almost finished decorating. (There are pictures on the walls now, which is my definition of finishing decorating!)

Here's our living room. The rug is from Turkey; the picture is a framed piece of embroidery done by Palestinian refugees in Syria, who do craftwork to support themselves.

I would never in a million years thought to have painted the walls brown, but I love the warmth it gives the room so I'm glad it came that way.



The fireplace divides the living room from the kitchen and dining area. The rug is also from Turkey, and is one of my favorites. The picture doesn't show the warmth of the colors and the softness of the wool.



The dining area overlooks the pond. I love that rug that Boot the cat is sitting on. It's from a small village in Turkey that doesn't make rugs any more. I was at the rug dealer with a group of people, and when he brought it out, I couldn't believe no one else wanted it. My lucky day!



Below is a view back from the dining area toward the other side of the fireplace and the side of the kitchen. (The kitchen was a mess this morning so I didn't take that picture.)

The floors are the same throughout the house except in the bedrooms. The builder said it's not something he would do again, but we're glad he did it this time. They're from a stand of 100-year-old pine trees down the road from our house. He had them milled locally, and then finished on site. It's definitely not a perfect finish, but we love them.



It's hard to see but on the fireplace above is a stack of books, with a silver-colored pitcher on them. The pitcher came from Muslim pilgrims making their way from the mountainous country of Daghestan down through Syria and Jordan toward Saudi Arabia, heading for the pilgrimage, the Hajj. They stopped in several places along the way to sell things they had brought with them to finance their trip. The pitcher is crudely made, and certainly not worth even the few dollars we paid for it, but it was good to know we helped someone make the trip of a lifetime.

We've loved filling the house with mementos of our travels in that other life we lived. Now that we've settled down, hopefully for a good long while, we can still enjoy our past while we build our future.

I can't say I ever thought the future would hold a horse and goats, but that's the beauty of life -- there's always a surprise ahead!

Our house...

Here's a picture of our house, back in January before it was 'finished.' (Finished is in quotes because finished houses HAVE CABINET DOORS. They took ours off three weeks ago to refinish them, which apparently takes a really, really long time.)

We love the house. The builder built it from a purchased plan called 'Nantahala Lodge,' and it's designed to be up on a hill overlooking a view. Our view is of a lovely 2-acre pond, beyond which is hundreds of acres of pine forest...hopefully never to be developed.

Anyone know the disadvantage of living near a commercially operated pine forest? Well, burning is a form of forest management. The other day we saw huge plumes of smoke arising from the forest. Fortunately, we had already seen it happening in the forest down the road, and had found out what it was. The only problem is that one of the reasons we moved out here is because my husband has a lot of environmental sensitivities, including one to burning smells. He just closed up the house, put on a mask and turned on an air cleaner, and it was fine. Fingers crossed for the future.

That forest sure is pretty, though...