The wallpaper seams are separating in places, some walls have stains - the pink bedroom, especially. The hall bathroom wallpaper is just terribly old and needs to be stripped and painted. I washed all these walls - except for the pink bedroom - when we moved here. Washed and washed and washed. Painted the brick hearth, washed windows, scrubbed mildew off the sills and around, revarnished - at least two coats - all the windows in the house. We replaced over half of the double pane windows where seals were broken and moisture was between the panes. Had the house underpinned and stabilized, front porch torn out and rebuilt. Paul refaced the front of the house at the porch with cypress. He and Mike built a deck. The septic tank had to be reworked. Light fixtures replaced, new flooring and new cabinets in the kitchen, and new paint and doors in the bathrooms and utility rooms. Yard work - acres of old shrubs and undergrowth, vines and hanging pine needles cleared out. A new garage built and a new storage building soon to be set in place. Mike and Steve agreed to help clean out the attic - it's too hard for even Paul to get up there now.
This house is loved. This house is home. Our little two acres - our "shelf of peace."
Thankful for better health this past year than the previous. Prescriptions and adjustments to them, more energy and stamina. My quilting, sewing. Gifting most of it.
The friends we have made - Paul at Jack's for morning coffee, Brotherhood, Sunday School. Me with SS, sewing pillowcase dresses, WMU, 20th Century Club, book club, sewing classes.
Things I would like -
A trip to the coast for at least 2 weeks.
Sher to live nearer.
Amy's happiness.
The great nieces and nephews to grow up loving God.
Peace on earth.
A closer walk with Jesus.
Healing in Tommy's family.
He who loves an old house
will never love in vain;
For how can any old house
Used to sun and rain
To lilac and to Larkspur
And arching trees above,
Fail to give its answer
To the heart that gives its love.
~~~Fiske Conant
On a panel behind the door
which leads into Hartwell Homestead House - 1636
Hartwell Homestead, Massachusetts
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