the fort

my little ranchelow sits less than a mile from the portland style house built in 1912 that i spent my childhood in. i never would have imagined that i , the old house fanatic, would be living in a ranchburger, let alone loving it! but i am and i do. our street is nice and quiet with good neighbors. i definately don't want to move so i am always trying to make this place my oasis in the world.

the lots here are slightly wider than the normal portland 50 x 100 size. so i am left with a giant backyard. with some help from a childhood pal, it gets mowed, but its not the lovely garden space it could be. despite having come from a long line of gardeners, i seem to be lacking in natural vision and talent in that arena.

this fall i got some help from one of my whitman pals and room mates from the village, to make a better plan for the yard. marcy came up on two different occasions and gave me new perspective on kitchen organization and then whipped my into work and vision mode for the yard. it was wonderful! we planted this beautiful october glory maple and then tackled weeding and transplanting a neglected area of the yard into "fern ally". with her help i now have a vision. as part of the "make the yard a fun place to be i had the fort installed for the girls. its a good start!