Thursday, October 27, 2011

Fall Color & Cozy Scents

When we bought our modest house in 2001, it was in the middle of a dark and really foreboding forest.  

But we saw the potential.

We started on the landscaping first.

Here we are in 2002, tiny specks in the midst of an overwhelming project.
Since the backyard slopes down very steeply, 
we decided to go with it and dug a 5-foot deep pond at the bottom.  

We cut down many trees (this Texas girl needed to be able to SEE).
We hauled wheelbarrows of top soil.
We wielded the pick axe.

And we did it weekend by weekend, dollar by dollar.

While "normal" young married couples saved up for TVs and SUVs,
we saved for Arizona Cypress and hydrangeas. 

Here it is in the summer of 2008. 
 Every drop of sweat was worth it.

 But as much as I love viewing the fruit of our labor,
the prettiest part of our yard wasn't designed by us at all.
God created the ravine that's behind the yard.  And it's my favorite.
I love it in every season, but especially fall.

I miss it when I leave home.  

This spring, we did an addition to our home, adding a small bedroom,
inside stairs to our basement, a den, and a laundry room.
I'm so thankful for this view from my new laundry room.

I used to have to go outside to get to my former laundry room. 
(I do realize many people in the world don't have enough clothes to even launder, so I am forever grateful for even having had this...errrr..."room".)
 

On chilly, rainy fall days like today, I love to infuse the house with the scent of fall.  I simply set a pot of water on the stove and add orange peels, apple slices, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  I allow it to simmer, adding water as necessary.  The cozy scent drifts through the house.  If you've never tried it, you should! 

Anyway...classify this one in totally random posts.  I just wanted to share my backyard with you.   

6 comments:

Cary said...

Beautiful yard!

Unknown said...

Love it Ginny!!

Anne Conery said...

Love, love, love it!!!

Rita said...

I just read about you on Dave's blog; had to come and see you. You live in paradise; great photos.
Rita

Caneel said...

Ginny, it's breathtaking! I knew you'd worked hard on your yard, but had no idea just HOW hard! I'm SO impressed!! Love, love the views and wish I lived close enough to come sit out there with you and enjoy a cup of tea. :)
Yay on the laundry room! And that view ... wow! I can relate with the laundry room - did I ever tell you ours was in our shed for years? After I'd had Clair and went out to do the laundry one very cold day and had to peel apart the jeans because they'd frozen together, I said, "Enough!" JT built a laundry room inside the house after that. :) It doesn't have much of a view - just a tiny window in the back door looking into the yard, but I'm soo thankful that I don't have to walk outside to do laundry anymore!

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