On landscaping, swimming, cemeteries, physical distancing, and whatever else comes to mind (part 3 of 3)

Another upside to this COVID thing is that we could have time to consider what to do to improve the house. We’ve needed to look at the front yard since we did the renovations because we had to excavate the whole thing in order to get the window into the basement. But we didn’t really do anything to fix things up after everything was done. I was just glad to be home and Erinn was just pleased to not have to be living through renovations for a while.

So we waited a year. Then we kind of went nuts on the front yard changes. Here’s a picture of before the renos.

One of the things we wanted to do was to elevate the yard so that I could actually reach the soil and pull out a weed or two along the way. It’s kind of an accessible yard now which is kind of cool. But before that could happen things had to be turned upside down.
Here’s some pics of the ‘during’.

Now it is completely done and we are thrilled with it. (Thanks a ton Logan Grant. www.logangrantdesign.com) The front walk has widened and there is space in front of the yard for folks to sit and chat. Erinn even stained the front porch and installed some solar powered lights that light up the walk after dark.

Now all we have to do is get to the backyard…

Speaking of the backyard, we do have a nice fire pit back there and have been having some physically distant visits with good friends. There’s nothing like seeing real people in real life as opposed to seeing people on a computer screen. I’m glad we have enough space to do that.

But speaking of computer screens, a friend of ours (Gil Clelland) who is running a drop in centre in London called Sanctuary, is also a very gifted painter and posted a picture of a painting he had done. As soon as Erinn saw it she showed it to me and talked about how beautiful it was. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it but said she would love to have it if he was selling it. it happened to also be her birthday when she said that. So I texted him immediately and he, being the awesome guy that he is, told us we could have it. He and his wife came here one day and we got together for burgers at which time you gave her the painting as a birthday gift. It is even more beautiful in real life. Erinn had it framed and now it lives on the wall above our piano in the living room.

She/we love it so much.

And, as icing on the cake, our girl came home from camp yesterday after eight weeks of working there. I loved hearing the patter of other steps upstairs last night as I lay in bed.

All this to say I am thankful.

And mindful.

Thankful for friends.

And mindful that so many don’t have friends.

Thankful for family.

And mindful that so many do not have family.

Thankful for resources.

And mindful that so many do not have resources.

I’ll keep on trying to live in that tension the best way I know how.

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