They began appearing a couple of weeks ago. First, there was a big one, then three small ones, and another big one. Three more small ones showed up this past weekend and were artfully arranged on the front steps next to their larger cousins. The mysterious Great Pumpkin Giver was once again on the prowl!…

Several years ago, Steve and I were attending a small neighborhood church. One December, we were very surprised to hear that, for various reasons, neither the organist nor the ministers were going to be available on Christmas Eve. A Christmas Eve service had not been planned at all. Many felt it was unthinkable not to…

The front door. It wasn’t high on the refinishing priority list, but after the house had been painted and the landscaping had wrapped around from the south to the east, its shabby state had become that much more obvious. The best guess is that the original shellac had turned nearly black somewhere around the time…

This summer, we participated in our local Community-Supported Agriculture, or CSA, by buying fruit shares. The local farmers provided quite a lot of fantastic blueberries, fewer raspberries than we’d hoped, and, lately, what seems like a ton of apples. I’ve had to learn how to cook with apples, and found a fresh cream apple pie…

Work inside the house slowed down quite a bit earlier this year, but, with the summer weather, work outdoors picked up momentum. Two of the three visible sides of the house are now fully landscaped. Granted, some of the plants are rather small, but we know what they will look like in three to five…

One of the perks of living in an old downtown area is being close to little cafes and shops.  We’re lucky to have a small, old diner downtown that is still going strong.  During the winter, we found ourselves walking over there on most Sundays, the day of the week on which they make biscuits…

We’ve turned a corner. The work on the house has now reached a point at which we can see that progress is obviously being made, most notably in the front parlor – it is now all finished, complete with curtains, picture rail moulding, artwork hanging from the picture rail moulding…and a Christmas tree. It’s like…

Last month, completely unexpected, out of the blue, someone sent me a laundry list of grievances for which I was deemed either forgivable or unforgivable. I was called names that I’ve never been called before, which, for a military veteran in middle age, is saying something! Seriously, though, after re-reading the message, and after a…

We’ve begun to paint the house. It’s been various shades of green for many years. Most recently, it has been the green color of mint chocolate chip ice cream. We’d rather that it be a different color, so it is now in the process of becoming a chocolate brown, with the trim in beige, and…

Following a very rainy spring and early summer, more rain fell, and unprecedented flooding is now taking place in our area. We’ve been using a shop vac all day, off and on, to keep the water level in our basement as low as possible. With no tile system or sump pump, water has to be…