The state of the estate
I've just recently learned that houses on the east side of the long road are called the estate homes, probably because they're all situated on large lands. Large for me is anything over half an acre, as all the homes I owned before this one were on a quarter of an acre or less. The thrill of waking up to bird song didn't get old yet, nor did the fact that I share the land with scores of trees. But a large-ish land is so much work. We've cleaned up the back yard, which consisted of mostly picking up small trash the previous owners left behind and the man I hired to remove them also left behind. The front yard is still a riotous growth, and its taming (minimal) will have to wait until my helper returns from Europe.
This is the front yard, and the grass is growing like crazy because we have so much rain.
There is also a large Jasmin that's crawling up on one of the Oak trees in the backyard, and its scent is heavenly. The Gardenia bush started flowering in late May, but a couple of weeks later all the flowers dried up. :((
Is that normal? I have much to learn about plants and gardening and yard work. The downside here are the mosquitoes, for which I'm a magnet. They love me, but I don't love them, especially the diseases they spread. I purchased a mosquito repellent but I have yet to try it, but at any rate, I think I will limit my outdoor activities during the summer, which in FL is the rainy season and breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The inside renovation is mostly finished, except for a few more things that will have to wait because I ran out of funds.
My bookcases are finally in place, new ones I had to buy because the old ones have been used up in the pantry.
Here we have a super large pantry, and because of that, it's mostly bare for now.
And the bookcases
There are some more books in my office, mostly how-to and the to-be-read pile, and the foreign language books that did not fit on the shelves out here.
And what will happen when I buy more dead-tree books? Hm, I've just ordered 9 titles from Amazon. My old bookcases have been in such a state of disarray before moving that I've found at un-boxing them that I own two copies of a few titles.
This is the front yard, and the grass is growing like crazy because we have so much rain.
There is also a large Jasmin that's crawling up on one of the Oak trees in the backyard, and its scent is heavenly. The Gardenia bush started flowering in late May, but a couple of weeks later all the flowers dried up. :((
Is that normal? I have much to learn about plants and gardening and yard work. The downside here are the mosquitoes, for which I'm a magnet. They love me, but I don't love them, especially the diseases they spread. I purchased a mosquito repellent but I have yet to try it, but at any rate, I think I will limit my outdoor activities during the summer, which in FL is the rainy season and breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The inside renovation is mostly finished, except for a few more things that will have to wait because I ran out of funds.
My bookcases are finally in place, new ones I had to buy because the old ones have been used up in the pantry.
Here we have a super large pantry, and because of that, it's mostly bare for now.
And the bookcases
There are some more books in my office, mostly how-to and the to-be-read pile, and the foreign language books that did not fit on the shelves out here.
And what will happen when I buy more dead-tree books? Hm, I've just ordered 9 titles from Amazon. My old bookcases have been in such a state of disarray before moving that I've found at un-boxing them that I own two copies of a few titles.