Colleen's place

A few days ago I decided to take some photos of my friend Colleens home. Her home is so much a part of her and the way she is that it is very hard to describe and fascinating to look at. Unfortunately my batteries ran down before I was finished shooting pictures. My first plan was to pick out a couple of pictures to show you but I could not decide which ones to use so you are going to see all I have taken thus far.

Caught her by surprise. She is painting the dark green trim on her garage.

Pergola with Virginia Creeper curtain

View from her pergola looking at the back of her house through the Virginia creeper curtain

Looking to the east from inside the pergola

Colleen's house used to be a country school before being brought to town for its second life. I took this shot standing inside her front door. The room seen in the far right of this shot is the kitchen.

Living Room

More living room. There are a few items considered necessities to some that are conspicuously missing from her house. They are a TV, dishwasher and microwave. She does not miss them. Oh yes, also no air conditioner. Hey folks, we lived through the 50's without AC!

The mirror is part of an old dresser. Using things unexpectedly is a trademark for her.

This is her kitchen

Colleen's kitchen and bathroom floors are a very unique feature. When they moved into this tiny house in Jefferson they were looking at it as a summer only house. And perhaps that had something to do with the freedom used in Colleen's decorating ideas. Personally I think not. The kitchen floor was in bad shape so Colleen painted, adorned it with her own artistic endeavors and then sealed it with resin.

Don't you love the old phone niches?

This is what greets guests as they go out the back door.

Holding Pattern

We are in the midst of a holding pattern. Butch's knowledgeable assistant, Russ has a granddaughter getting married in the next few days so he is temporarily unavailable to assist Butch with the installation of 3 exterior doors. 90% of everything else needing done before insulation has been completed. We have Alliant Energy coming to do an energy audit on August 8th to see how much they will reimburse us for going green with our choices. Their assessment is necessary PRIOR to the insulation job. Cannot schedule the insulation job until the energy audit is done although the insulation people are lined up awaiting a "GO" word from us. Thus the holding pattern.
Last year when friend Mickey sold her house in Clive and moved to Minnesota she asked me if I would like a plant from her yard called Lungwort. The feature of this plant is that it has both pink and blue flowers simultaneously. The foliage is also a pretty mottled green and white. I was undecided where to place it last year and almost waited too long before deciding but it did get planted and looked fairly decent. Then this Spring it was run over by a lawnmower tire. I was incensed. So I placed some cement blocks nearby to protect it. Then I mulched around it and watered it regularly. Let's face it, this summer has not been kind to any form of plant life. Then came the Japanese Beetles that thought Lungwort was the best food since sliced bread. So I purchased some Japanese Beetle killer and once again snatched the plant from the jaws of death. So through all this trauma the poor thing has not thrived. This morning when I went out for the morning plant inspection the lungwort had a companion so I snapped some photos of it and they can be seen below.

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Picture time

Jason made me a bottle tree. I think I need a few more spikes on it and Jason agreed so it is still a work in progress. I like it though...I like it a lot!

New windows, shutters and flower boxes. Next up? New front door but that is a picture for another time

And the rest of the story...

This is day 3 after the second cataract surgery and I am very happy with the result. I can see better than I have for a very long time. I really did not have any idea how bad my vision was until now. I will only need reading glasses and if the print is large enough I can read it without them. The menu at A & W was large enough to see. All of that is the upside...
The downside is that some old lady that looks like my mother has jumped into my body when I wasn't looking. I aged 10-15 years the first time I looked at myself...and those freckles on my forehead really are not freckles. I think they call them age spots. I look absolutely nothing like the person looking back at me but she doesn't seem to go away so I guess I will have to learn to live with her. Things are rarely what they seem.

Things I learned about Elise.

Elise was two in May. She knows her birth date and how old she is. She likes to check out every bathroom even the icky ones. She does not give a hoot about TV and in fact I have never seen her watch it. She likes most men but will feel their face before she kisses their cheek and if they need a shave she will tell them so. Leo with his mustache did not have a prayer of getting a kiss.

Papa Rich and Scarlett

Scarlett, aged one, with her Grandpa Rich in Georgia.

Ethan at Adventure Land

He is 3 1/2 in this picture but doesn't he look grown up?

Leo's Ducks

Also notice the bad shape of the corn in the background

Weekend with the kids

 

Jason shows Brad his rock collection

Papa Gary and his sweetie pie Elise

Jason and Elise at the kids table