Downsizing!

We have been here Amongst The Oaks for almost 18 years. We first fell in love with the oak trees and the look of the neighborhood. Then we remodeled the house and fell in love with our little English cottage. We have also grown to love our neighbors, and all the fun things we do together every year.

Our children learned to ride their bikes under the shade of these old oaks. We watched our little girls scuff through oak leaves on their first days of school, and later watched our girls drive the old VW around the tree in the middle of the street on their way to high school.

We have had wonderful parties here: Tea Parties, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Gourmand, Easter, Christmas, Boxing Day, Birthdays, Mothers' Days, and Fathers' Days. We often planned our parties around the seasons of the oaks; spring is best but the pollen can stain white table cloths, summer is warm and relaxing but needs an awning, late summer is impossible because of the annoying gall wasps, fall is nice again, but the leaves fall in your food, and winter can work if the fireplace is going.

We have cooked literally hundreds of meals in our beautiful kitchen, sometimes me, sometimes LOM, and sometimes the guests! I can't count the number of friends and family who have rolled up their sleeves to help create all those memorable meals.

We have opened our home to guests from near and far, some staying a short time, some staying as long as a month. We have allowed our neighbor's grandson to use our living room as a set in a movie he was filming. We have truly LIVED in this house and it has handled it all beautifully. This home has been very good to us and we are very comfortable here, but now it's time to say "Goodbye."

You see, we are approaching retirement and somehow we just can't imagine rattling around in this house, doing the same old things year after year now that the kids are gone. We still have adventures to pursue and are thinking of taking a different tack, so to speak. Besides, this home needs a young family to liven it up and use it properly so we will be putting it on the market soon. Lately we have been primping and cleaning and touching up paint. Next we will plant flowers in the hanging baskets, and call the realtor. And then, you may ask, "What will we do?" I'll get back to you on that.