Ready For Fall

I am back here writing on a short turnaround time since I made my last post early Wednesday morning. Looking out my office window, I see that it looks to be a beautiful day and the leaves on many of the trees have changed. My home is the only one left in the neighborhood with all of the original trees around its parkway. I live on a corner and am blessed with four glorious maple trees around the perimeter of the home. I believe they are sugar maples. The trees are one of the features that attracted me to this home when I purchased it 19 years ago. These trees look gorgeous any time of year but look amazing in the fall. They have not started to turn yet but when they do, the leaves are a brilliant orange-red with silver tips. I have had to deal with their roots over the years but overall it has been worth it.

For now, I will admire the pretty yellow and red colors kitty-corner from me. One thing that I really enjoy about my neighborhood is that it is not cookie cutter. There are homes which represent every decade of the 20th century. To the south of me is a large classic bungalow, to the east is a red and white storybook home, to the west is a red brick traditional home and there is a mid-century modern home to the southwest. I am smack dab in the middle of the century with a 1950 raised ranch. It is a great representation of my style - mid-century modern with a bit of a feminine touch. Next May it will be 20 years and I love it as much as I did the day I moved in. It is really a testament to buying vintage - plaster walls, crown molding, breezeway and all.

I have made many improvements to my home over the years including replacing the wood sided 1-car garage with a 2.5 car garage, brick patios in the front and side, chain link fence replacement, beautiful Tuff-Shed to coordinate with the house, retractable patio and window awnings, turning the dormer into a master suite and the breezeway into a showroom, kitchen and basement overhauls and more. The remaining projects are to refresh the landscaping and replace the back deck. I was planning to do this back in the spring but the pandemic and stay at home order put those plans on hold. I hope to be ready next spring! It would be perfect timing to have an expanded deck so there is not only room for a nice grill but to grow our own lettuce and herbs.

I am never one to let grass grow under my feet and love a good challenge so I already have my next major design project in the works. I have been working on it since last winter and the first phase was finalized on Wednesday. I truly believe this was meant to be and the direction our lives are supposed to take. Mother and I are driving to New York for Rachel's wedding which will take place on Halloween but we are hoping to start full force on the new project by Thanksgiving. More details to come but for now I will only say that I continue to follow in Dad's footsteps! If he were here I know he would be all for it.

On the estate sale front, as Kuochun and I prepare to pick up another round of supplies this weekend I am hoping we have found help to ease this burden. I will know for sure tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately I have no jewelry news to report but hope to get back to it soon. While online sales were good during the stay at home order they have come to a stop since folks have gotten back to work. I am hoping people are still going to buy holiday gifts this year and I think adding new items to the mix should generate interest. Now to find the time for it!

Last night I polished off another week's worth of estate sale packages and caught up with most of the consignment sales results. Just one more consignor to tackle! This has been a challenging year between the stay at home order and turnover within our estate sale group. I am very grateful to those who stuck with us through it all as well as our terrific new group members and hope that the turnover has calmed for now. I am ready for everything to continue on this positive trajectory. To that end, it is time to get back to work so until we meet again!