Absent Friends and A History of Houses

Rosemary was missing from the swimming group again yesterday, and I told people that I would call her, since I had her phone number in my phone. Actually, I had two numbers for her. I figured one of them would work. But, I tried them in the late afternoon, and neither one worked! ARGH. I'll have to touch base with the lifeguard and see if she has a number other than those I have. Or, maybe we'll all be happier because she'll be waiting for us at the doors this morning. 

Rosemary is such a swimming presence - she never 
misses a day - Monday through Friday for years 
and for decades, she's at the pool when the doors 
are unlocked. She took time when her husband was 
dying in his hospice care facility, and of course for 
the funeral, and she takes a northern vacation with 
her extended family every year. But this - being 
absent because of a very painful lower back - that's 
quite unusual for her. 

Today is also the final work day for our latest Gate Gargoyle - Chanda. She's the wife of a preacher, and her husband got a job leading a church in Ohio. So, they found a house out there, he moved there a month or so ago, and she and the kids (and the cats) are all leaving for their new life tomorrow. I hope it will be a good change for everyone. There aren't very many places better than Minnesota, and it's always a challenge to dive into a new parish, but I'm sure her husband will do the best that he can, and since it's a small town, the kids (hopefully), will adapt quickly to their new location. 

I've planted roots here in the Frozen Northlands and don't 
think I'll ever move far away. I just love it up here too much 
(despite the winter's snow and cold). There's just something 
about Minnesota that speaks to my soul. Maybe it's 
all of the water we have - 1000's of lakes in the state. 

I'm very much a "move and plant roots" kind of a gal. I HATE moving, there's something so uprooting about that - LOL. I like to move and plant deep roots. I was a lot more mobile when I was younger and in college. I lived in a different location every year when I was a college student. Not a different town - the town was determined by the college I was attending and that stayed the same for my BA and then changed town and state for my MA. But within the town, I moved every year to a different place until I met DH, we found a house together, and we rented that one for two years until we graduated. 

This is the first house we lived in. It dates from the late 
1910 to early 1920 period, is 1-1/2 story with a full 
basement and a detached garage, and had a fully enclosed 
front porch when we lived there. We bought it for 
$50,000 from DH's Dad, and sold it several years 
later for $80,000. Current Zillow valuation puts it 
at $250,000 which I think is RIDICULOUS for this 
house. But, it was a good starter home with wonderful 
woodwork and solid core doors and a large kitchen. It needed 
more insulation at the back of the house, though. 

When we moved after school, we moved to the small house that his paternal grandparents had lived in for most of their adult lives. It was tiny, but perfectly suited to newly married graduate students who had yet to find income and steady employment. We wanted a bigger place, though, so when we had gathered enough money to make a downpayment on a larger house, we started looking. It took us more than two years until we found the house we currently live in, and we've been here since 1984. We've planted roots. DH has his garden area, I have my crafting areas (which are a disaster now, but will be cleaned and straightened when I'm finally retired. It might be a difficult house in the future - it's got a lot of stairs that are necessary for almost anything. But, it's our house and we love it. 

The Zillow street view of our current house is this - there's a 
house somewhere beyond all those trees and greenery, 
and it's a trash day - LOL. Not a very informative photo, 
but I'm absolutely fine with that. They're estimating almost 
$500,000 for the house, which probably isn't far off the 
mark. But I'm not moving unless I have no choice. It's 
been a perfect place for us, and we have lot of privacy. 

We also heard from the fence company. We don't have an absolute date for when the fencing will be torn down and reinstalled, but we're a step closer. I think it'll be up by mid-June - at least that's my hope. We'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, at least this fencing catastrophe has allowed us to get to know our new backyard neighbors, so that's a total win! On that note, I'm wrapping this up and heading out to the pool. I hope you have an excellent Thursday, and I'll be back tomorrow. I'll be working for Chickie tomorrow, so I did a LOT of cooking yesterday and the refrigerator is filled to bursting - LOL. Happy Thursday, Slave Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.