The house on the hill

Well, I just got back from the architects to pick up the revised blueprints for the retirement home. I have 7 copies in my hot little hands! 6 for the 6 contractors to bid on and one for us to dream and drool over.

This house has come about in a round peg square hole way. The lot that we finally found that met our needs and which we could afford was so narrow that the house could not be wider than 50 feet. That may sound wide enough but most pre-done plans don't even come close to this width. Pre-done or off-the-shelf has its problems, but we can't afford original work, so I spent months looking through magazines, the web and talking to people.

I finally found some plans on the Internet and purchased them with the authority to change to meet needs and codes. We have a friend who is an architect and he has been doing the tweaking for us. The house itself is "French country" and sort of looks like a New Orleans style with a cute front courtyard. Not at all the style of house I ever thought I would build...I am sort of a cape code type. Anyway, as we have spent the last year going over the floor plans and thinking about lifestyle, this house has grown on me. I am allowing myself to get a little excited now, as we send out the bid packages tomorrow.

Only a little excited because there is still the unknown issue of costs and all the headaches and compromises ahead. But for now I will pretend it is a straight road ahead.

My husband has already made friends with the neighbors at the new building site and is using their dock to hang some oyster cages. Why he is culturing these oysters, lord only knows...seems to be giving our neighbor something to fill time with though. I don't think I would eat any oysters cultured in these waters.