Well I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I don’t remember much at all about using this WordPress theme since it’s been over a year since I posted anything! So this is almost like starting over again and progress may be slow, but at least I now have an office and a desk!
I had not anticipated how busy this year was going to be what with getting settled in our new house and having all kinds of visits from children and grandchildren. We are getting used to our new urban neighborhood and even starting to like it. It is an adjustment from rural living though 🙂 We live in the most dense and fastest growing location in Vermont which means we are having to deal with a boatload of construction noise and traffic. I know it is temporary, but I am simply not accustomed to a lot of traffic and noise so close by. The upside is that we have all kinds of shops, restaurants and stores within walking distance. I also bought a bike for urban riding which can be fitted with baskets for carrying parcels.
I have also been getting adjusted to having a much smaller area in which to garden. And, to my amazement, I am really enjoying gardening on a small scale. There a a ton of upsides to having a small garden in addition to less time and money needed to maintain it. We are limited to gardening within about a six foot perimeter of our house (somewhat less on the sides and more in the back), and our HOA has standards we have to adhere to, so constraints abound.
We have spent our first spring working on the garden surrounding our back patio. This area consisted of an in-ground patio with a bed surrounding it planted with an invasive shrub called winter creeper.
We ripped out all of the winter creeper, installed a retaining wall and rabbit fence, built up the patio bed with good compost and replaced the winter creeper with lots of perennials and several holly plants.
We also built a small raised bed at the corner of the house for vegetables, and a path that wraps around the side of the house to connect the patio with the side door.
Finally, we planted grasses to hide the utility boxes.
Lately though we have been spending as much time as possible playing golf at our new golf club, Catamount Country Club. There is nothing better than fall golfing in Vermont!
Hopefully I will find the time to blog more this year!