We live in a gorgeous brown shingled house with entwined cedars right outside the french doors to our bedroom. We see these beauties when we wake in the morning. These trees serve as a metaphor for how our lives have become involved with the four seasons, the woods and the lake since coming here.

Currently Dan is staining the trim of our house. The fascia boards and rain gutters are being painted an earthy red, the downspouts a rich brown similar to the shingles, the corner boards a dark chocolate and the soffits are a natural cedar color. The shingles wait until next year.  The rain will come again before Dan can get to that task.  We keep picking up large stones to bring back for our gardens.  The house is woodsy and warm looking, a natural for our gorgeous surroundings.  This is how it looked before the painting... 

All of what we do as we live here in this lovely house involves living here consciously, appreciating the richness of what we have. Our house is surrounded by gardens  we planted and that are largely perennial.

This is Firecat scratching the post that Dan made for him and his pal Teaser, shown above on the deck.

It's a pretty cozy life.  My complaints are asinine.