The Year in Review - 2018

 

After moving between Christmas and New Year's, 2018 started with a house full of boxes. The cats settled in - finding the warmest and sunniest spot in the house - the radiator in the dining room window that faces south

In February we met my great-nephew C. 

Easter this year was a very sad time as my dad passed away on Easter Eve. He had been declining for a long time. His passing was expected, but unexpected. (Sounds crazy, doesn't it?) His passing has left a very large hole in our hearts. 

April brought a snow storm that dumped a ton of snow, but then melted and was gone within days. 

July saw us heading east to North Carolina to visit family and to Washington D.C. for a friend's 50th Birthday celebration. 

August brought heavy rains and water in our basement. 

In September, I was at Sheep and Wool with my mom who was a vendor. 

When leaving work one September evening, this was in the eastern sky. 

In September, DH started a new job which entailed 4 hours of driving (one way) to the workplace and his staying with my brother and sister-in-law in MN for all or a good portion of the work week. So after we lived apart during the work week for nine months of 2017, we basically had nine months of living together  all week in 2018 before circumstances changed that. 

We replaced the roof on the house and garage in October. (We knew prior to purchasing the house that this would need to be done and had patched the roof to get us through the previous winter.) The new roof necessitated a chimney being taken down below the roof line, which lead the purchase and installation of a new water heater and a new boiler (furnace) - each of which was about 30 years old. 

At a knitting retreat in November, we woke up to wonderful sunny skies, but with snow on the ground that fell overnight. Perfect knitting weather. 

Christmas and New Year's were pretty quiet affairs as both DH and I didn't take much time off work. But I had help in wrapping gifts. 

The Year in Review - 2017

Life has been very unsettled for the past couple of years.

In January, 2017 my position I held for the past 4 year term ended and I spent the remainder of the month at home,  job searching and trying to organize the house in anticipation of moving at some unknown future date while.

The month of February was spent working at a temporary position in a county that was a 5 hour drive from home. I lived in the Twin Cities with my brother and his family during the week, commuted one hour each way to the job and went home on weekends. Most enjoyable about this time was being able to spend time with my nieces; going to school/sporting events that would have been missed when it was a 10 hour round trip. Least enjoyable was all the driving in winter weather.

In March, I started my new position. The new position was 2 and 1/2 hours drive from home so I ended up staying with my parents because the commute from their home was 45 minutes each way. It was a win-win for all of us. My dad's health had been declining and because he was the driver (Mom didn't have a driver's license) they were getting out of the house less and less frequently. I often worked late, but when I didn't, Mom and I would run her errands. It also gave me quality time with my parents. 

I would go home on the weekends. Date night for DH and I became a steady tedium of searching for a house, which often meant a mid-week 5 hour round trip drive for him.

After the first two potential home purchases fell through after the home inspection, finally, in November, we found THE Haus!

It had everything I was looking for - wood floors, nice woodwork, older light fixtures, leaded glass windows, and even a stained glass window.

We moved between Christmas and New Year's. 

My "good weather" commute time is now only about 25 minutes.

The cats settled in nicely. (We won't discuss the car ride on moving day and the 2 1/2 hours of yowling the entire way.) They are loving the fact that we've got a back and front staircase from the main floor to the second floor; great for chasing each other.

Rome, Part 2

Roman Forum.

 

The Colosseum.

Pantheon.

Palatine Hill

Rome at night.

Rome, Part 1

From Florence, we traveled on to Rome. Our B&B was two blocks from the Circus Maximus and Palantine Hill. 

 

Mouth of Truth.

Vatican Museum.

Piazza di san Pietro.

The Basilica.

Florence

After Venice, we went on to Florence. On the walk from our B&B, we found "hidden" courtyards, open to the public, but very easy to miss if you're not curious/rude enough to look through open doorways. 

At the Accademia Gallery, some of the most interesting of Michelangelo's work is the unfinished pieces. 

What I never realized until seeing this work in person is that the dimensions were sculpted so that everything would be proportional when looking up because the statue was intended to be placed on roofline of the cathedral. 

The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. 

Uffizi Gallery

View of the Arno River from the Uffizi.

Near the Palazzo Vecchio. 

View from the Piazzale Michelangelo.