Closed on a house!  Moving!  So happy!

Tommy's bell

The birds they sang

At the break of day

Start again

I heard them say

Don't dwell on what

Has passed away

Or what is yet to be

Yeah the wars they will

Be fought again

The holy dove

She will be caught again

Bought and sold

And bought again

The dove is never free

Ring the bells 

(ring the bells)

 that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything 

(there is a crack in everything)

That's how the light gets in

Yesterday this picture was received in cell phone video format - I "screen shot" it, ran it through an app (PRISMA) to render this which I think captures the spirit of the bell as well as any image might.  It was sent to me from the best man at my brother's wedding to his last wife - Tommy inherited the grandchildren, so dearly cherished, after a time during that last union.  I think those little relationships were valued as truly precious and appreciated by him.  He was estranged from his own daughter for reasons beyond my understanding, tangled as they were by the hasty shotgun wedding followed by a nasty divorce some several years later.  He wasn't to meet his grandson ... or the granddaughter who arrived after his death.  I think time would have restored that relationship ... but time ran out.  The absent father of a step-daughter found in what turned out to be his last years, or maybe it was grace, provided happy faced grandchildren to ring this bell in remembrance of their Papa Tom as they called him. His friend, the kids other granddad, hung Tommy's bell.  Very sweet.

First "thing" for the next house (closing this month).

We saw these pendant lights at a shop in Boulder while up there last week.

  I call it house jewelry.

This is what the outside front yard currently looks like.

I love that it has no landscaping and is a blank canvas waiting to be "fixed".

 

It's going to be very easy to make it look something like this

We will do a new front door before we move in (it will be painted as will the new shutters).

My husband thinks cedar posts will be better than the heavier rock columns so replacing those is pretty high on the check list. It has a front loading garage and I want to incorporate a trellis over the doors that will also be built from cedar.   There isn't a walk way up to the front door.  

So - From the street I want to see mostly native grasses and Cactus.  Between the middle yard under the trees where the ornamental grasses will be planted, I want to create a more colorful view (as seen from the house looking towards the street.  The flowers will be tucked in behind the higher grasses.

Here are some of my inspiration shots:

coral honeysuckle and/or trumpet vine
on garage trellis and extended around corner beyond fence to the side door on trellis type roof.

The right side yard is wider and also has a gate to the back yard, but no walk way - I like the pavers but over all it will have a less formal feel - there are trees over there.  If we use this paver idea, we will also use them for the sideway to the front door ... they'll lead up to the covered porch and may enlarge it proving more space for an out door chair or two.

May have room for an ornamental tree in the front yard - if we do, it will be this.

Front right corner.

These are climbing roses for a couple of small wall trellises on the wider and unfenced side yard 

Almost exactly our front porch - I'll move the planting bed out considerably though, making room for the little flowers to be enjoyed from the rooms on the front of the house.

Yay!  They arrived safely and are waiting to be installed!