Wednesday...fast shipment!

Our fast shipment was delivered Wednesday to the house. When I saw the house hadn't even been swept since we first saw it, I started to worry that no one was planning to clean before Monday and trying to figure out how to squeeze that in between everything else...but we've been assured there will be a cleaning crew! Hooray! I'm not sure how long the house has been empty -- a year, at least. So it is in need of some love in the form of a mop! And the spiders living in the the corners must go!

The more time we spend at the house the more I just love it. It was built in the 1920s -- so it's new! I've decided it's Willow Cottage, rather than house, because it's going to be cozy, but the grounds are amazing. Our house sits on 1/2 an acre with lots of different kinds of trees. In the summer we'll have plums, apricots and figs! The fig tree grows close to the ground and is perfect as a bench for the kids! The Net is going crazy building weapons with the bamboo!

The Net with one of his bamboo creations. He's standing in front of the old building that houses the "garage," extra rooms and the pizza oven.

There's a large pine tree in the front of the house that is covered with LED Christmas lights. The electrician said they're fairly inexpensive to run, and he'll set it all up and show us how in time for the holiday season! We also noticed that they've installed a sink in one of the outdoor rooms...not sure why, but I figured the kids can wash their feet out there if nothing else!

In addition, we found that there is a whole floor above the huge room that will be the equivalent of our garage (we hope the van will fit in there!). Unfortunately, it probably isn't safe, so the kids will have to forego using the area for a play space. That was a little disappointing, but I'm sure we'll survive somehow.

Beyond our house are fields in each direction. I don't know if they plant them in the summer or just mow them, but they said we are welcome to roam. From the front of our driveway we found a path that has bushes and trees sheltering it (so it's like a secret path!) It leads to a private road (closed off with a gate from traffic) that leads down a broad lane that has tall trees on either side. They're beautiful even in the fall with most of the leaves gone! I can't imagine what it will be like in the summer! At the end of that lane, if we turn left, the road goes down to the landlord's country house and then takes another left and comes around eventually to our house...so we'll have our beautiful walking trail, after all!

Our tree-lined lane

The back of our house...the door on the right leads to the kitchen and the one on the left leads to the dining room.

Deep Thinker with his bamboo walking stick