The Thursday Ramble: Home

Last week Doc Spo posted a 99 Questions to Ask Your Grandparents, about a favorite or memorable home. This got me to thinking about the places I have lived since moving out of my parents home. 

In 1980 I was hired by a home building company in Orlando, I shared an apartment for a couple of years with my brother, and later with the person who would be my first spouse. Those were utilitarian places of no merit other than being closer to work and the tourist zone. 

I built my first home in 1982, a 2 bedroom, 1 bath home,  with a one car garage, it was about 1,000 sq. ft. of living area. For anyone thinking mortgage rates are high today, I was a first time buyer who qualified for a special discount rate of 13.5% (fixed for 15 years.) 

A year or so after I moved into that one, I built another home. A smaller 2 bedroom, 1 bath, a two unit building. I sold half of the building to my middle brother, and I bought the other half. I never lived there. I rented it for a few years, and parted with it when I parted with the first spouse. My brother still lives there. 

After the duplex was finished, interest rates came down a bit, we sold the first house and I built the third house (second one I would live in.) It was larger about 1250 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, and a two car garage. It was a modest home, but I customized it heavily, with nicer doors and trim, redesign on the kitchen, larger enclosed patio. I also built in 71 days from the day the building permit was issued, until the power was turned on and we moved in. I lived in that one until I moved out of Florida and sold it. 

When we moved to Kentucky we had a long weekend to go house shopping, by the end of the second day we had a contract on a nearly finished new home. It was about 1750 sq. ft, two large bedrooms, a large office area that could have been enclosed as a 3rd bedroom, 2 full baths, a two car garage. It is the only home I have lived in that had stairs and a fireplace. The living, dining room, entryway and kitchen had 16 foot ceilings. It was very stylish, very pretty. The largest and in many ways the nicest home I have ever lived in. Lexington was an easy place to live, but it lacked museums, gardens, restaurant variety, culture and shopping we both craved. Traffic is terrible because of a poorly designed road network, my 4 mile commute often took 30 minutes or more.    

A couple of years while I was in law school, I rented a tiny efficiency apartment near the University in Louisville. It had been the living room of grand old brick house, plus a bathroom built in under the stairs. The owner lived upstairs. I would drive in on Monday, study, sleep and study until my classes were done for the week, then go back to Lexington.  Eliminating the commute, allowed me to take Saturdays off. 

When I took the job in Washington DC, I rented an apartment in Crystal City (if you have flown into National Airport, this is the area between the airport and the Pentagon. It was a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment probably about 1,000 sq. ft. The kitchen was tiny and dated. The parking garage was a nightmare and I was driving the largest car I ever owned. It was a five minute walk to the Crystal City Metro Station. I knew when I rented it, it was temporary. If the job worked out, I would be looking to buy. It did, and I did, about a year later. If that apartment had been available to buy - I would have bought it. Amazon now has a massive office building across the street from it. 

I moved from there to a 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, condo that is about 1,120 sq. ft., plus a glass enclosed conservatory. For those not familiar, a condo is an apartment or flat that you own, along the right to use common areas such as the pools and gym.  There are a little over 1,000 apartments in four high rise towers in the community. We are a ten minute walk from the Huntington Metro Station. Over the years we have made it our own.  When I moved in I painted and updated all of the electrical fittings and light fixtures. A few years later we put hardwood floors in all but Sweet Bear's bedroom, the kitchen and baths. We had both bathroom replaced with very custom work. I debated long and hard about tearing out the tub and putting in a shower, the experts all tell you not having a tub will hurt on resale, ultimately we decided we were doing this for us, not for resale, and I wanted an age friendly shower.  The last item was the kitchen remodel.  COVID delayed that work for a couple of years, and supply chain delays made it more complicated, but we waited and custom designed what we wanted, the way we wanted it. I enjoy it everyday. 

If I had to pick a favorite of all of these, it would be the condo that we live in. We have remodeled it to our taste and to fit our needs. The location is easy to live in (it would be nice to be in Crystal city, but it would have cost another half-a-million-dollars to be there.) It is Home. 

 

My World of Wonders January 14, 2026

What have I been up to this week? Friday morning we reset the Showcase, and then I had lunch with a friend I had not seen in a couple of years. Saturday was water aerobics and then the opening for the Landscape art show. 

Who have I talked with this week? Beth, Amy, Ruth, Warren, Giuseppe, Larry, Mary, Anna, Susan, Linda, Kevin, Marcel, 

Where have I been this week? Close to home,  a nice walk and lunch at Mason Social in old town north, the treadmill, the pool, lunch at an Indian restaurant in old town, The National Gallery of Art for a long walk, the library, 

What have I been up to in the kitchen this week? Thursday and Friday nothing. Saturday I slow braised (275f for three hours) round steak with onions, mushrooms, and celery in red wine, with carrots and parsnips, and made a nice sauce from the braising liquid. I made a beef pie - featured in a foodie friday in a couple of weeks. 

Who did I reach out to this week? Stephen - the guy who started me blogging - I was thinking of him when I read about the sheep movie coming out in May, he gifted us the book Three Bags Full that the movie is based on. 

What have I been reading? Pappyland, someone recommended it in a comment on Doc Spo's blog, it is well written and having lived in Lexington and gone to law school in Louisville, the places in the book connect in my brain.  And then started "Spice."  

Travel Tuesday: Walt Disney World 2019

 

Monday Moods: Check up From the Neck Up

Mondays are my weekly check up from the neck up. A few minutes to pause, think and write about what is happening in my mind and my moods. 

Remember to take care of yourself, or you won't be here to take care of others.  My focus is on making this blog a place of kindness, encouragement, and hope. 

As the sun rises each morning, and in the words of Willie Nelson, I "woke up not dead again today", I have the gift of another day, to find happiness, to do a little part to make the world a better place, to seek peace on earth. 

I can choose how I respond to the world. I can suppress the urge to react in instinctive ways. I can pause and reflect, sometimes for a few days before responding.  A week or so, I was asked about joining another board, kind of an honor to be asked. I read through the details, and I didn't respond for several days. It would be meaningful, but also an additional obligation. Ultimately I answered, thank you for the interest, but I really don't want to add anything right now. 

Something a customer service trainer 40 years ago, pounded into my head, it is better to say, "I'd rather turn you down today, than let you down later." If I am not ready to commit, I should say so upfront. The flaw in being "voluntold", being volunteered without being asked, is a lack of commitment leading to poor performance.  I don't need a line on my CV for having my name on a board list, if I don't have time to do the grunt work, I need to remember to say, thanks but no thanks. 

Treat each day as a gift, an opportunity. 

Make wise choices. 

Say, thanks, but no thanks, if that is the best answer for you. 

Think twice, speak once. 

Have a gentle week, take care of yourself. 

I had a longer post written. That talked about the challenges in the world. And there are challenges. I don't want to spread ugliness. Bad news is easy enough to find. I love my daily blog reads, but I have to avoid some posts when I have reached the limit of how much I can let in. If I don't have something kind to say, or the post is outside my sphere, I don't comment. It does not mean that I don't care, or that I haven't read, it simply means I don't have anything positive to say. 

 

The Sunday Five: Idleness

1: When was the last time you spent a day, doing nothing? 

2: What was the last museum you wandered through? 

3: When was your last afternoon nap, planned or unplanned? 

4: What are you reading, just because you want to read it? 

5: How do you feel about wasting time? 

My answers: 

1: When was the last time you spent a day, doing nothing? It has probably been a month ago, a Saturday when I felt like doing nothing and tried to do even a little less than that. 

2: What was the last museum you wandered through? The Hirshorn, a wonderful building and an interesting collection of modern American art. 

3: When was your last afternoon nap, planned or unplanned? Yesterday, I felt the urge and turned off YouTube for 40 minutes or so. 

4: What are you reading, just because you want to read it? A book about spices. 

5: How do you feel about wasting time?  There is no such thing, idle time is time our minds need. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall

There is an old story about a young musician visiting New York City for the first time, he was excited to see the sights, but especially excited to see Carnegie Hall.  Only the best musicians play at Carnegie Hall and the young man's dream was to someday be one of them.  He saw an older man wearing a tuxedo carrying a violin case on the sidewalk and assumed correctly that the man was a professional musician.  He asked the man "how do you get to Carnegie Hall?" The old man replied, "practice, practice, practice." 

With any art, you get better, when you practice your art.  Some researchers say that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. Looking back over time, tradesmen apprenticed or 5-10 years, 10,000 to 20,000 hours at 2,000 hours a year. 

To master your art, you have to work at it. This probably means producing years of work, that leaves you wanting to do better.  We learn and develop our skills not by being perfect, but by being imperfect and continuing to work at it.  All too many give up, when the work is not good enough. Every musician who plays the stage at Carnegie Hall, spent years playing music that would not get them on the stage at Carnegie Hall, and learning from it, and continuing to play and practice. 

Not that all of us will be great artists, but we can all be better artists, to get there we need to follow the old man's advice, practice, practice, practice.   

Freestyle Friday: YouTubers that I enjoy

There are hundreds of extremely talented content producers laboring away.  YouTube has provided a platform not only to share content, but also to monetize that content. The feeds with 1,000,000 or more subscribers, most likely are earning a full time living from it. It can't be easy. But many produce wonderful content. 

I watch less and less commercial television. With over 100 channels to choose from, there is often little that I am interested in. Why do they call it the travel channel, if it is mostly ghost hunting? Why did the Food Network become an endless stream of poorly conceived cooking competitions and game shows? 

Here are a few of favorites from independent producers: 

https://www.youtube.com/@ThePethericks

Billy is a British guy, partnered with a French woman and two delightful children, living in a small town in France. They own a Chateau, and are renovating a Convent. Most of the content is about the renovation process. He posts about five times a week. 

https://www.youtube.com/@escapetoruralfrance

Dan is another Brit, living in rural France. He is divorced (in the last couple of years) with a couple of kids. He started about two years ago, rescuing a burned out Chateau, when he started there were literally trees growing inside the shell that had suffered a devastating fire 40 years before. With just a handful of people working, the progress has been amazing. He posts four or five times a week, with a couple of breaks a year when he travels with his children. 

https://www.youtube.com/@Brianslifeinfrance

Brian is an Irish guy, living in rural France.  Brian's Life in France is a spin off from Escape to Rural France. When Brian first bought his little farm in France, he hired Dan to help rebuild fences on the farm. For the last year and a half, Brian has been working for Dan helping to rebuild the Chateau. When not working on the Chateau he fiddles around on his farm, and explores the wonders of France, hop in the car and let's go. He posts 2 to 5 times a week, depending on the work schedule at the Chateau. 

https://www.youtube.com/@GlenAndFriendsCooking

Glen and Friends Cooking is based near Toronto, Canada. Glen has a background in commercial video production and about ten years ago, he started making videos for YouTube.  He collects cookbooks, and does research. He build a kitchen studio behind his home. When he finishes each recipe, his charming wife appears and taste tests the results along with him. I love his style of working, his understanding that there is no one correct way. He cooks by technique not chemistry formula. He posts a couple of times a week, and also has an aviation channel and a cocktails channel.  I heard about him by reading a blog. 

https://www.youtube.com/@PrintmakingwithEugene

Printmaking with Eugene is based in Singapore. I am exploring linocut printing, something I have not done in 45 years. This is a relatively new and small channel. He posts about once a week, the videos are about 10 minutes long. His style and work is very peaceful. He is a little soft spoken, you may need to turn the volume up. 

https://www.youtube.com/@rewildingjude

Rewilding Jude is based in Rural Scotland. After his parents died, he decided to make bold choices and live his life his way, and that included buying a fixer upper in the Scottish Highlands, planting a big garden, keeping chickens, learning new ways to make things with his own hands. He posts nearly every weekend, one 20-30 minute video. Give him a watch. There is more to the story of the talented and brave young man. 

https://www.youtube.com/@ChateauPoseidon

Chateau Poseidon is two Canadian guys, starting work on a Chateau in rural France. This channel is new this year. The channel started with their move from Vancouver, and arrival at their new home in France. The first project has been rebuilding the gardener's house to live in while starting on the massive neglected Chateau. They are cute, and very talented. They post once a week, again in the 20-30 minute range. 

These are channels that I have found that have good story telling, editing, production, that move forward with intelligence.