Peaks and Angles-or Nooks and Crannies

Yesterday, I spent the morning cleaning the upstairs- kids are coming and going this weekend (Yes!- daughter #2 is leaving the "jungles" of Nicaruaga for the city of Managua, tomorrow, and leaving Managua on Sat.! She is hoping to visit us on Sunday.) I took a break at some point to visit with you, answered some phonecalls, went out on the walk with the dog, then on some errands, before tackling the downstairs. While out, I snapped these photos of some of my favorite homes in town. Some I passed while walking the dog, and the others while doing the errands.
My husband, daughter #1 and I, moved to this town about 24 years ago, and we looked at a lot of homes before moving into our first. We stayed in that house for about 8 years, then considered moving again and so did some house hunting when we found out we were expecting twins (this was also after daughter #2 came along) and then a year or so after the boys' birth, when we decided we really had to move as we were bursting out of our home we looked at more homes. We moved into this home that we are now in, but about 11 years ago, we looked one more time at other homes just before we added on to this one, to make sure we really wanted to add on as opposed to just moving again. I happen to love to move-though I can do without the stress of selling one home to buy another. If someone else could do that part for me, I would gladly pack up, move, and unpack in another home again and again. These are three of the homes we had looked at at the different times. Unfortunately, my husband will not take on a home that is older than he is. Unless he wins the lottery.

I love the peaks and angles of these homes.

This is a house that both my girls love. I think they especially like the porch with the wrought iron railing on the second floor. I am sharing 3 pictures of this home because they are not the best photos. This house also has peaks and angles, and sits across from our local river.

This is a newer home- just a few years old- and my husband's favorite. He likes nooks and crannies- as he calls the angles. This home has a river view.

This is probably the first, and maybe only house in town that is solar heated, and has been for years. It sits on a hillside in a wooded area. I happen to also like this one.

This house which doesn't really show up in this photo, is one we looked at when we first came to town. It has a long curving driveway that begins just beyond these ivy covered stone pillars, and sits at the top of a hill.

I remember that the living room had benches with high backs that were built-in and perpendicular to the huge fireplace. This is probably the house that prompted my husband to tell me about his problem with older homes.

Well, last night I decided to try my own advice from yesterday. And though I used to draw with pen and ink years ago (and not well, either!) it was something that I thought I would experiment with while relaxing with the tv on. I think ARTIST UNPLUGGED! was my influence in trying this. As a matter of fact, if you are reading this, A.U., is Zentangle your word, or does it exist? I get the Zen part for sure. Obviously all those angles on the houses had an effect on my design. I used my triangle, and the design is small- approximately 5x7. It was actually fun, since I wasn't trying to make it look like anything in particular, nor did I have to worry about perspective.

It is early, and my hope for today is that I get a start on a painting of suishi (yup) for Different Strokes from Different Folks, and can continue on the painting of my sister's dog. He is a St. Bernard- and what a cutie! But first, my dog needs walking, and I need to do my errands. Right on cue- the dog is singing to me from his pillow in the family room!