Home sweet home

We attended a pool party on Saturday, hosted by the parents of one of the soccer players from the team G helps to coach and on which Christopher is a player. They are very nice people, the host and hostess, and they boast a beautiful home. I have said before that I am not one who tries to keep up with the Joneses. I like my cozy cape, even if its address is on a very busy road not suitable for much of anything except traveling via car. We may not be on a cul–de-sac, but we have the trail beside our property, which we frequent as much as if we own it. And we have some very nice neighbors, close enough to visit, yet far enough for privacy. And our neighbors to our left are so great that we have a well worn path between our yards and if you ask Christopher where he lives, he will include their address with his own because in a sense, it is like one combined estate.

I have been working hard for many years now building, breaking down, and rebuilding stronger stone walls along the perimeter of our property. Our garden is growing bigger and better with each passing year.
I won't dispute the fact that our driveway is practically a hazard in the deep freeze of winter and that it is a challenge to get out without AWD, but it is perfect for sledding. So you see, there is a silver lining in every cloud; you just have to find it.

But this house. The one where the pool party was held. It was a cookie cutter home right out of one of those home decorating magazines. It was perfect. So perfect, in fact, I felt like we were soiling the image just by being there.

The hosts set up a buffet of food on banquet tables in their garage. Now, I don't know about you, but personally, I would never serve food from our garage. But this garage could have been their kitchen. That's how clean it was. The cement was painted, and everything had a place. The bikes hung from those nice pull-down hook things. The various sizes and styles of shoes were lined up neatly on a shelving unit against one of the walls. At the other end of this same wall, there were a number of clear organizational bins in which were various screws, nails, bolts, and other hardware. There was even one bin with clothes pins, although there is no place in this yard where clothes would ever get hung out to dry. And nowhere did you see any item out of place. No random bolt was in with the bin containing screws. All nice and neat and tidy. I'll bet they don't even have the common 'junk drawer' in their house because they obviously don't need it! There is a set location for all those random things like straws and buttons and scissors. Those are things that can be found in our junk drawer, along with things like packing tape, a bike reflector, surgical clamps (don't ask), batteries, bubble wands, pliers, glue sticks, spackle tools, lost crayons, night lights. And I was feeling proud of my creative storage solution for our screws, nuts and bolts in baby food jars!


The back door of the garage led to the path leading you to the pool area. Too sunny for you? No problem. You can sit at the patio set under the canopy or if you don't want to eat but just want to lie out and relax in the shade, then just pull over a lounge chair and set it in the gazebo area. Or, if you actually prefer to have a drink or snack out in the beautiful sunshine, you can go to the other end of the pool area where there is a pub table with chairs.

Did I forget to mention the pool itself? Stay with me, I was getting to it. The pool is a lovely in-ground gunite. No liners to worry about here! There is a hot tub area, otherwise known as the kids' area, connected to the main pool. Feel free to use the diving board or even the pool slide! You can jump right in because the water is of course, heated. But if you prefer to shower before enjoying the pool, you can use the outdoor shower over in the corner. And if you need to use the bathroom, there is a convenient entrance to it right from the deck. No need to track water into the house. There is nothing out of place or forgotten. Somebody thought of everything.

Why, they even have a fire pit in their beautiful landscaped yard of plush green grass. The host made it himself. I couldn't help but envy his work of a perfect 6 foot radius with stones set around the edges. Of course, I asked how it was made, because we have been talking about making one in our own yard. In order for ours to look like theirs, we would have to dig down approximately 4 or 5 feet and about 8 feet around and then put crushed stone in the hole, followed by patio blocks. But be sure to leave space between the patio blocks so when you put the fire out, the water drains easily. Then you can set various large stones around the edge, whose height should be level with the grass. Use mortar to keep them in place.

This will be my next outdoor project, just as soon as I finish redoing my blue wall. In the meantime, we will have to make do with what we currently have:

I am certain I would have loved the parts of the house I didn't get to see. But I still would have felt a sense of pride when I pulled into my driveway after the party had ended. Even after admiring what the Joneses have, there is still no place like home.