April Snow

I abandoned this blog two years ago; and, for the most part, I've been content with that decision. Yet I sometimes had something that I would have liked to post here. Posting on Facebook just doesn't seem as satisfying to me as posting here on the blog. So I'm back. I don't know for how long or how often I'll post. I don't know if anyone else will see the photos or read the words; but this is something I enjoy doing, whether anyone else sees it or not.

We had a rare April snowfall this week. The snow came down the night of April 20. And the next day dawned brightly. I knew that I had to get out and get some pictures of the neighborhood before the sun melted the beauty away. Here are the results.

Our House

Our New Villa

Well, I decided that, if I waited to take pictures of the inside of the villa until everything was neat and tidy, it would never happen. So I'm just going to show it to you as it is.

This is the living room as viewed from the entryway.

This is the dining area, just off the living room.

The Kitchen

We're calling this the den, although it's officially the second bedroom.

The "den" has been the big hold up in showing you pictures of the new house. As you can see, we still have a lot of organizing to do here. We each have a work area. Mine is in the corner on the right. Doug's is in the middle, beside the recliner.

Because the intended use of this room was as a bedroom, it has a closet on each end of the room. In addition to what you see in the above photo, we have two chests of drawers and a tall-but-narrow bookcase also in the room. Doug is using the closets and chests of drawers in this room for his things and letting me have the walk-in closet off the master bedroom for my things. Of course, the walk-in closet is also a catch all for everything that we haven't found another place for. I'm not showing you a picture of that!

The two photos above show the master (translate that "only") bedroom. We had that large bedroom furniture in the old house, and it took careful planning to figure out how to make it fit in the new house. We didn't want to give it up, though, because of the storage it provides. We were thrilled with how well it turned out.

This is the bathroom off the master bedroom. The walk-in closet is to the right.

This is the second bathroom.

So this gives you an idea of our new living quarters. The villa is smaller, and it's sometimes challenging to get organized; but we're very happy that we made the move.

We've continued to be busy emptying the old house and finding homes for the things we can no longer keep or no longer need. The sale of that house will become final on Friday, and we'll be free to focus all our attention on our new house. We're looking forward to just enjoying it.

The Move

Life has been a little crazy around here during the last couple of months, as you may have guessed by my lack of posting lately. I just wanted to pop in and give you an update.

We closed the purchase of our new villa on September 12, and we left on a three-week vacation on September 27. We made arrangements to have the interior of the villa painted and new carpet installed while we were away.

We returned from vacation on October 17, and quickly began moving by carloads. Our new home is only six miles away from our old home, so we planned to do most of the moving ourselves, one carload at a time.

Our church has a large box truck with a lift which is used for the church's food ministry. Our senior pastor offered to get some guys together and use the lift truck to move our heavier things. When moving day arrived on November 2, though, the crew consisted of only the senior pastor and an associate pastor.

We could never have done this without these godly men. The furniture was heavy and the work was hard, and still they could smile as the job neared completion.

We're still living among boxes, but I'll post some pictures when we get the mess cleaned up.

And there will also be a travelogue of the three-week trip out west. That should take us through the winter. (Smiles)

The Reveal

Back in July, I showed you a picture of a new entry door we had ordered for our house and promised to show you before and after photos after the door was installed. Well, you probably thought I forgot; but it was several weeks before the installers got around to our project. Finally, it's done. And here's the reveal.

First, the before photo of the outside of the front door:

And then the after photo:

A note of explanation about the above photo...I had to open the storm door in order to get this picture. The storm door is clear glass, but there was so much reflection in it that it detracted from the new entry door.

Here's what the old door looked like from the inside:


And here's the inside view of the new door:



And, lastly, the before view of the house with the old door:


And the view of the house with the new door and a new roof:

At the time we planned these and other improvements to our house, we had no immediate plans of moving. These were just things that needed to be done. And they would be especially important if we decided to put the house on the market.

Things have changed in the last few weeks, though. We have purchased a villa in a small retirement community just a few miles from our current home. As soon as we can get it ready for occupancy and get our current home ready for sale, we'll be moving. It's going to be an adjustment because we've lived in this house for almost 30 years, and the new place is smaller. But we're excited about it.  

There will be more about the new place soon.

Well, as you may have noticed by my irregular posting lately, "soon" is a relative term.

A Few Spring Photos

Spring, when it came, was short lived. Still, it didn't fail to bring its beauty.

On April 30, we spent a few hours at Ouabache State Park. The trees hadn't leafed out yet, but that made it easier to spot and photograph these little yellow birds.

Duck in Flight

Sycamore Tree

Purple Violets

We loved the red of these buds against the blue sky.

Ten days later, our crabapple tree was in full bloom. Several days after that, our azalea bush was putting on a show for us. The following collage provides a look at spring at our home.

Sunshine & Birds

Sunshine always makes me feel better on cold winter days, and it apparently works similar magic for birds. A pair of finches and a Dark-Eyed Junco were flitting among the branches of our backyard shrubs yesterday. 

I believe the reddish one and its mate are House Finches, but I can't state that with any degree of confidence. Purple Finches look very similar to House Finches, making them challenging to identify.

The sunshine and birds combined to lift my spirits yesterday. It feels as if spring can't be too far away.

A Day Off

I got the flu shot. I doubled my Vitamin C. I washed my hands. I avoided crowds when I could. And I got the flu. I'm thanking the Lord that, although it came and it wasn't fun, it was short lived. All that's left now is to regain my strength. 

Nothing makes you appreciate good health like an episode of bad health.

I awoke this morning to brilliant sunshine on a blindingly beautiful new snowfall. I had gotten up early because Tuesday is my day to volunteer at the church office. I'd dressed, put on makeup, combed my hair, and eaten a very small breakfast. (Can't handle too much food yet.) 

I was just about to put on my boots and head out the door when I found a text message from my pastor, telling me to stay home today because of the snow and slippery roads. I texted him back, thanked him, and told him that I imagined that Doug would be glad I hadn't found his text earlier because Doug hasn't seen me with my hair combed and makeup on in days.

Doug had gone out to shovel the snow away from the garage door for me, so I went out to tell him I was staying home. A neighbor had just arrived with his small tractor and blade to clean our driveway of snow. Two Amish guys, on two separate Bobcats, were making the rounds of the neighborhood, clearing other driveways.

One of the Amish guys in his Bobcat

We're so blessed to live in a neighborhood where people look out for each other. May I never take that for granted.

Backyard

It seems all I'm posting lately are pictures from our backyard. What can I say? I don't get out much.

Crabapple Tree

Our little crabapple tree gives us so much enjoyment. It blooms so beautifully in the spring. In the winter and early spring, it feeds birds and squirrels, who in turn entertain us with their antics. 

I had planned to take my camera with me when I went to work at the church today so that I could get an updated photo of the church building in the pretty snow. But I didn't want the photo bad enough to turn down Pastor's offer of a day off.

Snow

After our frigid temperatures, we experienced a spring-like warm-up which turned our beautiful snow into ugly slush. And then came another snow to freshen everything up again and turn our yard into a winter wonderland.

A Neighbor's Yard and a Child's Abandoned Toy

Our House

A Carefully Tended Grave

This grave is directly across the road from our house, and we often see the family changing the decorations with the changing seasons. The snow adds a nice touch.

Here And There

These are a few more images from October, the first two from our yard and the last three from a visit to Doug's brother, Dennis, in Michigan.

The leaves pictured above were caught in one of those long webs that stream through the air in the fall, seemingly attached to nothing except your face when you walk into one. The leaves looked like a small kite, floating to and fro in the wind. Doug spotted them and suggested I get my camera. I'm glad he did.

Since I had the camera out anyway, I walked around the yard to see what else might suggest a photo. The crabapple tree seemed a likely choice.

The tree is loaded with fruit this year and will provide food for the birds and squirrels this winter.

The following three photos were taken on October 28, during a trip to Michigan to visit Dennis.

The fall colors were so pretty as we took Dennis on a scenic drive of the back roads near his home. The image quality of the above photo isn't the greatest, but it's not too bad considering that I was shooting through the windshield from the back seat. 

We visited John Wilson Park in June, and I wanted to come back and see what it looked like in the fall. I was glad we did.

The Greenfield House in Athens, Michigan

On our way to John Wilson Park, we passed this house and that beautiful tree. It was close to the park, so I just walked a few more steps to get this photo.

Butterflies & More

We visited Ouabache State Park on August 8, where I captured most of the following images:

Not as pretty as a butterfly, but interesting nonetheless

The following photo is of a tiny bouquet that Doug brought in from our yard yesterday, with a few Rose of Sharon blossoms and some wild daisies. It was such a cheerful little grouping...and sweet of my hubby to bring it in for me.