Red Saltbox

We have been looking at this barn across the hills from Dana's house for years. Little did we know that one day we would be living steps away from it! I like the unique saltbox roofline. These structures originated in the colonies when a one story lean-to was added to the back of a two story frame house. It takes its name from the boxes in which salt was kept.

We walked beneath the barn over to Dana and Jim's house early this morning to say goodbye to Matt and family who should be back in Los Angeles by now. It is wonderful to have such an expansive view and so much light. We could look across the valley with its lingering veils of mist and feel very smug that we were above it! Ozzie doesn't care about the light or the weather, but he loves the creek.

We fetched a few things from the farmhouse, had lunch on the deck in the sun, and hurried back home with extra keys from the hardware store for Dana and Jim. Jim arrived to continue to wrestle with the ten million wires coming out of the back of the stereo cabinet all of which we inherited from the previous owners. We're dubious as to whether we really want surround sound or speakers in the backyard disguised as rocks. (When we used to visit a shopping center near Matt and Amy's house it had these rock speakers which we dubbed "singing rocks". I can't imagine them with anything but Frank Sinatra coming out of them, and certainly not in our backyard!)

Now I have one man in the TV room muttering about cables and playing scenes from Star Wars, and another man in the office muttering at his computer. A third man (the FedEx guy) was supposed to have delivered our Nespresso coffee pods today, but didn't. Another phone call...