Life For Sale

Gander if you will at the beautiful new lawn in the front yard. Notice the fresh paint on the exterior of the home. As you step from your vehicle and onto the curb, feel appealed. You're gonna like this home.

There's a "fruit salad" tree in the back yard. Five different varieties all grafted together to form one tree. One apricot, two kinds of peaches, a plum, and a nectarine. Planted two years ago, about ready to have a bountiful harvest next summer, all elements cooperating. Fresh fruit from your own back yard.

And there's lawn in the back yard, too. Along with a young shade tree-- a Chinese Pistache, to be exact. There's also a lovely Japanese Maple flourishing outside the kitchen window. And you have gardening space to grow your own vegetables-- why, there's already an artichoke plant established and yearning to produce 'chokes for you next spring.

Once inside, you'll notice the care and hard work that's gone into this spectacular home. The living room features a fireplace and lots of space to roam, dance, or disassemble and reassemble a vehicle. Dream big, for your dreams can come true right here if you buy this house!

There's even a "grandparent's quarters" with it's own kitchenette, bathroom, and separate exterior entrance. So grandma or grandpa can come and go as they choose without disrupting you, but can still come down the hallway to visit very easily.

Or maybe you'd like to have your college student close to home, but still have them retain some of their freedom. This back bedroom/living quarters is a great fit.

The current inhabitants have been known to entertain guests here with regal fiestas-- back yard movie nights with a nine-foot by sixteen-foot screen, complete with cartoons at dusk (like the old drive-in movies used to do)... Art parties where the house was transformed into a gallery space featuring sculpture, photography, found art, mosaics, fabrics, and even silk worms... Holiday parties that brought friends and family together and produced exquisite soups and salads, brownies, cookies, chips & dip, guacamole, finger foods, and main dishes to die for... There were late nights spent around the fire pit, singing songs, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores, and laughing loudly at Chuck Norris jokes... Many an alcoholic beverage was enjoyed on this lot, be it beer, wine, mixed drink or hard liquor-- most by the current inhabitants, for sure. If you'd only been by on a recycling day and seen the bin overflowing with microbrew beer bottles... But I digress.

Many a sporting event was followed by television or radio here, while working in the yard or garage, or assembling jigsaw puzzles in the living room, a makeshift puzzle parlor created out of a card table and chairs and desklamp. There would be cursing when pieces wouldn't fit or couldn't be located... there was many an online song or music program listened to while struggling with the puzzles-- one of the favorites was Radio Free Wohlman, a series of hour-long episodes touring the archives of Dave Wohlman, a long-time radio guy and a master at weaving tracks together in fresh and interesting ways.

Ooops-- I am digressing again. Have you seen the main bathroom? The walls are "concordia" and the toilet is less than a year old. It's a "sure-flush" that could flush a dozen golf balls in each flush. I don't recommend trying it though. Who poops in golf balls, anyway?

Okay, so I've really driven the canoe over the falls now. But there's so much more to say, and we only lived here for six years! So much stuff! To tell about, to pack, to remove, to clean, to patch, to caulk, to repair, to redo. To move. Away.

If parting really is such sweet sorrow, I'm guessing Shakespeare had people who packed for him. Cuz I'm not sensing the sweet right now. Just the sorrow. And the aching muscles.