Tuesday NIght Date Night..

Our son forwarded an email from his girlfriend, flagging us that the author of this book was going to be speaking at The King's English Bookstore here in town.

She had become aware of our mission to find a house that wasn't big enough to house a small university, and thought we might enjoy hearing what the author had to say about the idea of living both "small" AND "smart".

Sounded like a perfect date...so off we went to see what we could see.



King's English is in an adorable cottage-y part of town.

The talk took place upstairs in the children's books room.
(It felt like old home week to me...I was a school librarian in the past and also focused on Children's literature in grad school. It was wonderful to see old favorites and new titles by some of my favorite authors.)

I saw this new title, and it made me think of Lovella of course.

(Can't wait till the 'Lil Farm Hand can start going ratting along with the rest of the family someday....Lovella...wouldn't this be just the PERFECT lap book to read to him?)

Anyway, back to the talk on Smart Houses. The author is an architect/engineer who built a perfect efficient house for her mom to live in, but sadly her mom had to move to assisted living anyway.

The author then moved into that space, and applied her professional training to addressing the question of how to best outfit a house for efficiency while being mindful of space usage.

She started the book ten years before the big "Green" movement, and she is somewhat astonished to find that her "sustainable" thinking on such things as sheets and mattresses is now quite hip.

I found her thinking about such things as sheets and mattresses as related to the nightly "freezing cold...now I'im baking" challenges of menopausal/postmenopausal womanhood to be very insightful.

She lists 98 items that a house should have, (assuming you do not bake food, her publisher made her create a separate list for the "must bake" crowd.)

Bernie and I are enjoying considering her ideas, and finding ourselves right on board with most of her suggestions. She is quite witty as she goes about deconstructing why we have been sold on the idea of anything labeled "plush", and why AND how we became wired to think of acquiring new or seasonal items constantly, (such as sheets and dishes).

Bernie and I have enjoyed our "Baronial" phase of life in Texas, where furniture and serving pieces and EVERYTHING was bigger and bigger.

Now we are thinking more along the lines of "plain and simple" "will last forever" "won't take up space/easy to move" and definitely NOT grand.

I have mentioned that I raised our kids in a 1,100 sq. ft. house, with a one car garage and no laundry room or basement, haven't I?

I really do know how to live small and efficient.

(and we actually begged our Texas real estate agents to show us small houses...our Kingwood house actually was quite small by Texas standards.)

I think a lot of us boomers are ready to rethink our housing and to make some decisions about our abodes. The Internet has loads of articles about downsizing...and the MegaMcMansions are languishing unsold in many locations.

The thinking is a work in progress with us...but it certainly did provide us with an opportunity to get out and have some fun at the local book store.

Breaking news: They got it wrong.

People Magazine has just named Hugh Jackman as the Sexiest Man Alive.
(read all about it here.)

Nice try...and yes, Hugh is definitely a hottie...but as a professional information specialist let me caution you that People magazine has always been a questionable information resource.

For the record: My husband is the Sexiest Man Alive.

You heard it here first.

Wanna come with me to see a house?

I know some of you out there are thinking how much fun it would be to go house hunting with me.
So I thought I'd give you a chance to experience what I experience as I go about hunting for a house for Bernie and I to live in.

This particular house that we are going to visit was listed at $319,000, a real steal, and more importantly, the listing noted that it had a MOUNTAIN view. I am all about mountain views...so let's head out and see if this just might be the house we've been looking for!

As we pull up, we get to see the "mountain view".

(Hmmmm...I'm thinking "hill view" but then again, maybe there is a mountain view from inside. )

Kinda of cute...I like the balcony, and the windows on the garage door. I like the nice neutral paint job.

Looks like we're going to have to hike up a bit to the front door though.

Pretty low maintenance landscaping, and it smells nice too. Sort of pine/juniper.

The walk way up to the front door is steep, and buckled.
But that can always be fixed, right?

The black double front door with white trim is pretty cool.

When the door is opened....we see a wall of folding shutter type doors.

Which way should we go now?

Should we turn left or right?

(Bernie turned left, I turned right.)

Oh wow! A right turn and two steps and you are at the kitchen door. The kitchen is in the center of the house.
And check it out: See through yellow plastic above the dark wood cabinets.
Very innovative.
The plain white counter tops are a good balance for the cheery multicolored wall paper.

An excellent harvest gold double oven and range, with a highly useful griddle between the burners. And TWENTY assorted mugs at the ready for whenever nineteen coffee drinking guests drop by unexpectedly to drink coffee with me.
(I wonder if there is a story behind each and everyone of those mugs...)

And check this out: A built in radio in the kitchen wall.
Sweet!
I do enjoy a little talk radio and country western music while I cook. This would be JUST the thing to make me want to get into cooking more.

Well the kitchen certainly is a hit. Naturally if I am going to be cooking a lot so I have an excuse to listen to the radio, I might as well have people over to dine with us.

After all, nineteen coffee drinkers would probably like to be invited to sit down for a meal occasionally.

Ahhh...a dining room that would suit every one's taste.

A crystal chandelier for the fancy-schmancy types that like to serve meals on fine china.

Plus black vinyl modern chairs for the hip folks who think that sort of chair is mod.

And the faux wood tone table for those who long for a nice wooden top table, but want to be able to serve drinks that might sweat, without worrying about any white moisture rings.

(I take a moment to imagine all the festive holiday dinners that could be served at this table.)

Speaking of holidays....Christmas is coming, and what is Christmas without a place to hang up your Christmas stockings for Santa to fill?

Gosh...the former owners must have been very, very bad. It looks like Santa just kept bringing them lumps of coal, and they used the coal to built a fire place!

(I do appreciate the decorative touches that have been neatly arranged on the hearth. It is that kind of thoughtfulness that just makes a house feel homey.

Ohhhh....deep shag rug, in pea soup green! Gosh I loved that when I was first married. We had that exact same style of carpet in our first apartment, except it was orange.
I remember that after you vacuumed it, you then also had to rake it.
I wonder if this house would come with a rug rake?
I'm not sure where you could go to buy one now...

Thinking of dinner guest....time to check out the guest powder room.
Say...that is such lovely wall covering! Expensive stuff.

The hanging glowing egg is such an elegant touch, and check out the pull out spray nozzle on the sink.

You know, that sure would be handy for guest who want to quickly wash their hair between dinner and dessert.

Interesting glass work by the bedrooms.

Now it took a moment but I did eventually remember to look at the window coverings.
Window coverings can get to be very expensive; if there are window coverings that come with the home it can save me a lot of money.

This curtain in the dining room certainly is cheery.
Especially perfect since you can see it from the equally cheery kitchen!

But I am even more fond of the red drapery with black tassel trim.
I'm getting a belly dancing vibe going here, and you know how much I love belly dancing!

I do like these double doors too. The sunny medallion detail is just plain cute as all get out.

Now I suppose you are wondering what this structure is all about.

Here's a different view- it is the stair case going down to the basement, and overhead is the stair case going UP stairs.
(If you scroll back to the dining table shot, you can see the stairway as a pea green diagonal in the back ground.)

At this point we are going to leave Bernie upstairs. He tried going down the stairs, but the upstairs stairs are too low...he would go thunk..thunk...thunk with his forehead on each of the steps above as he went down to the basement.

That thick green shag has been felted down in two straight lines.
That helps makes it easier to tell where your feet should go.

So downstairs there is another cheerful bathroom. This one isn't quite so elegant, but it does give you something brown to read while you, uh, wait for something....uh...brown I guess.

This home owner did not miss a single decorating beat.

They painted the door and floor time to perfectly match the toilet and sink.

This is why I am thankful that I have had an opportunity to visit 75 houses now in the quest to find my own perfect house.

If I hadn't seen it here, it would never have occurred to me to paint door and floor trim in a shade to match the toilet.

The basement has a neat fireplace. Very strong and masculine. Perfect for a cold winter's night in the basement.
This I seriously do like.
Sort of...

And what could be better than playing pool in the basement?
Nothing except knowing that the PERFECT lamp has been found to enhance the pool playing experience.

I'm drifting back to belly dancing vibe here.
Pool table and belly dancing.
Yup.
Totally works.

So lovely....

So exotic.
Wherever can such a beautiful lamp be found for other pool table/belly dancing rooms?

They must have really had to shop hard to find a window covering that would pull all this together perfectly.

Well, we should head on back upstairs to see what Bernie and my Real Estate agent Luanne is doing.

She has told me that she is a terrible cook.

But this stove...well, maybe with this stove it would be different.

Sadly, we never did find a mountain view from the house.

I looked both high and low.

One time when I was looking high, I saw this great little ceiling lamp in the hall way.

I was so busy staring at it, I almost didn't notice the asbestos cottage cheese acoustical ceiling.

(at least the house would be quiet. Dead quiet...)

So, whaddah think?

Should we buy it?

You've got to admit:

It was a house with something for everyone.

I just don't think it had something for me.

(Like good taste, or more importantly, a mountain view!)

Church hopping

I've mentioned that I can hear church bells from our apartment from the Greek Orthodox church on the west end of town, and that I also hear church bells as I walk from my car to my office at the other end of town (a three to six minute drive, depending on how I hit the traffic lights.)

You might recall the picture I posted the Catholic church towers in the snow fall. In that post I mused that I hoped to go inside the Cathedral some day.

Well, last Wednesday turned out to be the day.

I needed to hike up the block on a work related errand, and since I need to get some addtional exercise to clear my mind...I decided to cross the street and pop in on the Cathedral of the Madeleine on my break.

Yes, those are gargoyles peering out from the sides of the building.

Cheery little gargoyle, huh?
The church has a total of eight of them guarding from the four corners of the two towers.

(I managed to "borrow" this close up image from another blogger who was visiting from Texas...figured she wouldn't mind being neighborly to another ex patriot Texan...)

The front door is unlocked, but the one I entered wasn't the only one.

Doesn't it look cool?

I'd love to know why the two circles are designed to be different.
They must have some special meaning, don't you think?

Inside: oh wow. wow. wow. (said very quietly...)

A woman was kneeling in the aisle. I thought she was having a moment of reverence, but it turned out she was setting up a shot with her camera, and her head was bowed as she figured out her camera settings.

The church broke ground in 1899 and the Cathedral was completed 10 years later, at a cost that near broke the 3,000 Catholic congregants, although most of the funding came from wealthy local mining operators.

I thought I recognized the art style as coming from that decade. It is so similar to the cover art of books published during that time.

The big window that graces the front of the church as view on the outside seemed rather minor compared to the organ pipes.
I found it very comforting to see the Scriptures written out.

I miss seeing that touch in modern churches.

I sure wish my camera did better with the far away shots...
And that I had taken a picture of the baptistry in the entrance. It was deep enough to submerge an adult...and I had always thought Catholics were only into the sprinkle baptism.

The Cathedral was lovely, even on a rather ordinary Wednesday early afternoon.
And while I am not Catholic, our shared scriptures and foundational faith was evidenced in the art and beauty of the place.

Well worth the walk, and I'm sure I will drop by to reflect upon the images on occasion there again.
(Probably when I have visiting friends with better camera than I have!)

What soothes, what breaks

The sound of a rushing stream burbling over rocks sedates and calms me.
Watching the water's shimmer, scanning the edge for dragonflies and flowers refreshes my mind.
Beside such dappled waters I find peace, and joy, restoration and strength.

There are plenty of such streams flowing through the mountains that surround the city where I now live.

Dropping by an open house, I was surprised to see this unexpected stream bed just outside the kitchen window.

I went outside and stood on the deck of the house watching the graceful river run into a quiet pond beneath me.

I felt all the pressures of my life melt away.

With the home owner's permission, I sat for awhile and marveled at its design, became relaxed and became renewed.

The house itself was marvelous both inside and out.
(You can see all of it by clicking on the picture tab rather than the video tab on the highlighted linked word house above.)

Every inch of the almost 4,000 square foot home had recently been remodeled to perfection.
And home owner shared that the landscaping alone had cost $100,000.

"How much did the stream bed cost?" I quickly asked.
She didn't know; the cost was included in the entire landscaping project.

We could afford the house, with some really tight budgeting.
What we couldn't afford is the upkeep on such a place over the long haul.

"You wouldn't need to use the basement" the real estate agent offered.
(The basement was as elegant as any luxury hotel that you have ever visited...with a second kitchen, living room and deck...)

We pondered the possibility of buying the place, and renting out the basement to another family.
And yet we still felt a check against encumbering ourselves with so much space.

It was such a beautiful home.
We found ourselves lingering, mesmerized by the relaxing stream.

"If I may ask, why are you selling it?"
"The house was my husband's parent's. After we got it, we spent six years remodeling it. We had six children living with us here. It is too large now."

I told her that I too was an empty nester. And that it was too large for me as well.

I looked around the elegant marble countered kitchen overlooking the stream, the beautiful dining room with chairs for eight at the table, and the beckoning stone fireplace just beyond.

It was all too easy to imagine cozy evenings, bright mornings, and holiday gatherings with family and friends.

Then she added wistfully: "My husband is divorcing me. I love this house, but now it must be sold."

I looked into her empty eyes, and told her how sorry I was that that was happening to her.

I told her I would pray that she would soon find a place that would sooth her heart, and allow her to feel a peace again.

Outside the sound of the stream continued, and the sunshine through the autumn hued trees turned the garden grounds golden and bright. Nothing more could be more appealing. Nothing could be more soothing.

And yet there was a sadness that clung in our hearts as we bade her farewell and walked away from a house that had seemed to me to be a place like paradise.

The Blues

First off, let me say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who offered advice for driving and living in snow. It was so interesting to get tips from as far away as Sweden, and as close as right here in SLC.

If any other tips come to mind later, just add them in on what ever post is up. I'll take all the help I can get!

Right now it is sunny outside, and the sky is quite blue, as are the mountains in the distance.

Some times blue is a lovely color. I myself am fond of the aqua shades of blue, the shade of blue that graces these lamps. They matched the carpeting in the house perfectly.

I just can't decide if I think the lamps are horrid, or very cool retro. One moment I like them, the next I don't.

That is pretty much how my whole life is right now...I seem to be unable to get a handle on much of anything.

And because of that, I find myself sinking into the blues.

Stress will do that to you. Even if you think you are just hunky dory, even though you pray and have faith, having so much change going on messes with your mind and emotions.

Making decision about anything becomes almost impossible. Buying a down coat, a house, a kind of cat food...all of it starts becoming very difficult.

As to the lamps, whether I do or don't like them doesn't really matter; the house they hung in was a serious no, and the over head lamps were not enough to make up for the rest.

This blue building is a good example of what life is like for me right now.

I stare at it, and think "Why did they build such a skinny high rise? That just doesn't make sense. I like that it is such a pretty shade of blue though."

Later I look at it again, and realize that actually the building is a triangle shape. Just going a few blocks towards it allows the rest of the building to come into view.

And then it also become apparent that the building isn't blue at at.

It is glass; and blue is just the reflection of the sky.

My mom remembers swimming off the Saltaire Palace as a child. I hear the building is still standing, but in terrible condition. I have to wonder why such a beautiful structure would not have been preserved.

The picture illustrates another enigma: The swimmers actually don't concern themselves with sinking; instead they struggle to push their feet down enough so that they can walk out of the water! Floating actually becomes an issue.

So confusing to think about.

This beautiful building...with a buffalo head for adornment. Curious. Why a buffalo head? Did they sell buffalo? What did the buffalo mean?

I don't know.

I do know the building was there when my grandfather lived here.

Today would have been his 104th birthday.

Today marks the 33 year since he left us.

Today we would have celebrated his service in WWI.

Three events to consider, each embedded on one calendar day.

Emotionally...it is confusing.

And I find myself teary again.

Sometimes I think the opposite of blue is gold.

Like this door...so huge and bright, powerful and strong.

It once led into a bank.

(You can still see the night deposit opening on the side of the building to the right)

I can imagine how secure people must have felt opening that door, and depositing their cash.

But what did that door look like to those people during the bank runs of the Great Depression?

Today it is the door to an architecture and engineering firm.

(Their sign is painted on one of the building's side windows.)

The banking hours are still engraved on the gold door though.

Unless you turned the corner and read the sign, you would never guess it wasn't actually a bank.

So here is how that skinny building looks from another view. How could anyone possibly know this just by looking at it from the first picture?

The building doesn't just disappear into the distance either.

It is there, and real.

You just have to be in the right place to get the right perspective to have it all make sense.

That's what I keep telling myself about all this house hunting and mind changing and government changing and all the other changing going on in my life.

Eventually...all this will have come merely to pass.

The confusion will pass...

Eventually all this will make sense.

Eventually blue will just be a color again.