House Names

Do you name your homes?

When I was younger I found that I loved mysteries, esp Agatha Christie mysteries and other british authors. I remember reading one of her books and there was a house named The Laurels. Yes, the houses actually had names, not numbers, at least I don't think they had numbers. But I digress. In another story, the house was named Sweetbrier. Cute, huh?

So twenty years ago or so, when Michael and I had just taken over my dad's biz and were struggling to make ends meet, we lived in this tiny little 2 bedroom cottage. It was white, small, no curb appeal or charm to speak of, but we were happy. The rent was low and it had wild sweetpeas growing outside the front door. I hadn't got into gardening yet at that time or maybe I just didn't have the money. Ha! So the sweetpeas were a welcome bit of color in the spring and summer.

For some reason, I nicknamed that little home "Sweetpea Cottage" and it stuck. Whenever we talk about the different places we lived, we always know which one was Sweetpea Cottage. We never refer to it in any other way. Our other homes we reference as "the one on langdon street" or "the duplex in auburn" but I will always think of that little cozy home as Sweetpea Cottage.

So, I could end this post right here, but its really just a prelude to what I've been thinking about. We've been here in the gorge now for over a year, and been living in another non-descript 2 bedroom home. I must say it's a bit bigger than Sweetpea was, and has twice the yard, fenced even. But woefully, it does not have twice the charm.

I would love to come up with a name for this home as we very well could be here for a bit longer, maybe alot longer. There's an old pear tree outfront and several worthless black walnut trees that make gardening prohibitive. Did you know that a black walnut trees roots will inhibit growing veggies within 5-10 feet of it? or was it 15 feet? Anyway, it basically makes growing a garden pretty fruitless .... or veggieless! Ha ha.

So if you think of a name for our home down here in the gorge, let me know. And I'd love to hear if you've ever named a home you've lived in. Or if the house came with a name.

Til next time ....