around here

I really enjoyed Rachel's photos of their new diggs. I thought it was about time I posted a few of my own. So here they are. It's not exactly art and likely to be one of those posts that only my family reads but that's fine by me. Here's the nickel tour. Come on in.

You reach our place through a lovely little wooden gate. But it's raining today and the pictures didn't do it justice so we'll just start at the front door.Just inside the front door to the right is our makeshift hall closet. The one thing with this place is that the only closets are in the bedrooms. So we had to improvise a place for coats and shoes. Kendra and I built the shelf with hooks and now we have a row of impalas standing sentry by the front door.To the left of the entryway is the office. Kendra and I have a lot of books and whittling the collection down to seven bookcases was hard enough. We decided to put a couple of the shelves to work as walls to create the office space. The plan is to back these with cork board so they'll be more functional and also prettier. Every office needs a place to pin things up. You can't really see it well in this photo, but to the right of the desk is set of photos of New York. You have to be able to dream a little too :)This is what you'd see straight ahead of you when you walk in. Living room to the left, kitchen to the right.If you stand in the living room and spin counter clockwise you'll see this. We didn't originally set out to do all international photos in the living room but it worked out that way. First with Paris in the Fall over the couch . . .Then Chester at the turn of the century over by the bookcase. . .And then the black and whites of New York visible form the office. (And, I just realized not visible at all in this photo.)Next stop is the kitchen.The kitchen was one of the features we loved about this place. It's huge. You can have four of five people bustling around in there cooking dinner. (And isn't that one of the best ways to get dinner on the table with a bunch of cooks all doing their thing?)There's a dishwasher at the end of the counter and full laundry in what looks like a cupboard right beside the pantry. The kitchen is also home to my newest piece of art. It started out as a poster of a painting looking out the window of a Parisian cafe. Gord took it to China to get it framed and it came back this beautiful, immense piece of art. I love it.I'm convinced there are a thousand stories in this painting. Who are these people standing out in the street? Are they waiting for the man with the red umbrella or watching him walk away? Was it good news? Bad? Is he being strong for her or is she lending him her strength with such a tight grip on his arm?

At the end of the kitchen there's a bathroom. And to the right of that the hallway leading to the bedrooms.Outside the front door there's a little patio. It's a little cold to sit out here now with a freshly brewed latte, but the sun will remember us eventually.The table is Kendra's own creation and the result of many summers' ambition. Can you believe she free-handed the whole thing? (I helped a little too.) So we've got the perfect spot for a cup of tea. When are you coming over?