Our New Home

This is our new home. Technically it's an apartment; there is another part in the back where other people live. We have 2 bedrooms, an office, and 1 1/2 baths. There is a mud room in the front where the porch used to be and an old-fashioned cellar in the back. We have a small side yard and a joint backyard with the townhomes next door, which our landlord also owns.

We live right in town. The library is less than a 5-minute walk away, and we go to reading time every Thursday morning. One park is a short jog down the road, next to the local grocery store, Price Chopper. There are several more parks and school playgrounds scattered throughout the neighborhood.

view to the left

There are churches on almost every street (now I know why Joseph Smith had such a hard time knowing which one to join!). The one at the end of our block--the orange-red building above--peals hymns on its bells every day at noon and 6 p.m. Caden and I enjoy listening to the joyous music, most of which we recognize.

view to the right

Nearly everything is old and looks it. The houses here are a mix of tall, triangular, narrow New England homes; fat, square, Southern-style houses with wrap-around porches; stone cottages right out of a fairtytale; and modern one- and two-story places, though those are more common the further away from town you get. Some look like haunted houses too spooky to trick-or-treat at.

The landscape is very green and farmy, and the sun sets late because there are no mountains. Summer has not quite arrived; rain is still falling frequently. The local insect population includes various spiders and centipedes. The immediate area is not as rural as I thought it would be, thank goodness, especially since we live in town, though Justin would love to move into a home in the countryside. For now, we love our location: walking distance to many places for me, close to work for Justin.