Spring buds...

The maple tree in front of the house is just showing buds!

And today, the preliminary grading takes place to level the earth... 
We've found an antique exterior door at an amazing local salvage place. We are going use it as a garden gate and our garden contractor is going to fashion fencing to contain the back garden.
Our time at the rental is coming to an end... we'll miss the wildlife here. This morning the tiny red squirrel was the first to feed, beating the chipmunks by a long time!
Nicholas

With all the contemporary feel of the house, we do have a number of quirky antique pieces, a ladder from Indonesia, used by people to climb into houses built on stilts, an Indian trunk, carved from one tree trunk, a Buddha carved from the floorboards of a Thai Buddhist monastery....etc...these are, as I type these words, being loaded onto a 40' container and onto a ship that will set sail from Southampton this Sunday. It hardly seems possible.

The door to the garden will live happily alongside these other ancient things...while it is a full door, the window once in the top half is missing, creating an opportunity to peek into what lies beyond...so excited to create a garden, to care for plants and to create a haven for birds and wildlife and all who visit.

For those who come through the front door first, this will be their view...

We are loving the tiles and the sense of space they provide. This photograph was taken from the living room, looking towards the front of the house. There will ultimately be French doors, pocketed into the walls just past the floor register, to give a sense of division from my healing room and the rest of the house.

And much has been happening on the lower level as well...

The future cinema room has had its primer, two coats of Birchwood White will be added by the weekend to create a warm finish...

And back upstairs, the tiles we chose in our Master Bathroom are even more beautiful than the sample we first saw...

It seems hard to believe it will all come together in time for us to move in (at least partially) in 8 days. And it also seems difficult to believe that our books, our music, and, most importantly, Nicholas' paintings will join us here in America before summer arrives...

I have missed their elegant beauty, their depth of colour and reflective light, the interior places they take me when I gaze at them. I wonder what paintings will come when he enters his studio next month, having not held a brush or a palette knife for over a year. I wonder what colours he will explore, what inspirations, gently held in his imagination, waiting for the opportunity to come into form, will be emergent...

Judy