House!

(Art by Melissa Harris)

My friend John, a horticulturist, says that you can always tell a witch's house by the common weeds being cultivated in the garden. John is currently traveling in India, so I haven't been able to tell him the big news: we're buying a house! We signed the papers to begin the process today; we close in the spring. And I already have plans - heck, I've had them for years - for planting nettles, burdock, clover, mugwort, dandelion if necessary... Do you think the neighbors will mind? Do nettles keep the deer out, or do the deer just eat them along with everything else?

Adonis and I have found our house, and we're thrilled. We love the house itself, a solid mid-century ranch house with a wall of windows looking out over the large yard, woods, and the distant hills. The property, just outside the city limit, abuts a natural area with miles of hiking trails, acres of woods, and two reservoirs. We step through a gate in the backyard onto the main, three-mile trail, popular with dog-walkers, runners, bikers, and cross-country skiers. A ten minute walk through the woods takes us to a swimming hole. Farther up (or is it down?) the creek is a more secluded swimming hole at the waterfall. The location is quiet, and beautiful, and about a five-minute drive from downtown.

We plan to fence the yard for gardens and dogs. The lower half of the house is an apartment that we'll rent and, when we can afford to, we may convert the house back to a single-family dwelling (though it seems huge to us). There is a fireplace with a lovely "modern" (1960) stone chimney. Did I mention the windows, the light? There are plenty of renovations I'd like to do to the interior, but those will have to be budgeted in terms of time and money. I look forward to painting and figuring out how to do things cheaply.

I wonder if we can build a firepit in the backyard? Wiccan ritual and barbecue at my place; maybe the neighbors will come and bring potato salad.

I'm a bit giddy.