We live in a house that was probably built in the 50s.  It has been cared for, painted and new floors put down but outside of that I don’t think it has been updated in the last 60 years. It has no central heating or air conditioning. The washing machine and dryer are in the detached garage. I am deeply grateful for the dryer. (The elders don’t have that little luxury.) The shower, washing machine and sinks all drain into drains located in the back yard. That was a bit disconcerting the first time I saw that. Thankfully toilets drain else where.

 

Home Sweet Home

 

The kitchen is the land time forgot. It has no dishwasher or garbage disposal. It has fair cupboard space but very little useful counter space. The stove is little and so is the refrigerator. However Sister Taylor says my refrigerator is bigger and nicer than hers so I won’t complain.  Sister Cinquini told me that she lived in an apartment that had mushrooms growing out of the ceiling so I think things could be worse.

 

Faucets that come directly out of the wall are all the rage now days

 

 

 

I was a little concerned when I first got here and found cockroach bait under the sink. However I haven’t seen a single bug or spider in this house since I have been here so I think they must have had an exterminator in here recently. Thank goodness!

There are two bathrooms in this house. Both wonderful examples of bathrooms from the past. They are both off the hallway so there is not a private bath. Of course that does not bother us as we have the place to ourselves.  There are three nice sized bedrooms. One we use for our office.

 They do not have electrical outlets in the bathrooms in South Africa. Hair drying and hair curling take place in the bedrooms. Even in the nice resorts we stayed at there were no outlets in the bathrooms.

The house also has a dining room, living room and a nice little covered patio in the front of the house. The furniture in the house is good. In fact Elder Hind and I both sleep better here than at home. We think the mattress here is much better than our own. The drapes were all freshly dry cleaned and the showers have new curtains. All the house was basically clean  but I have been scrubbing it from top to bottom. When you clean something you make it your own,

 

 The main door to the house is on the side. The windows in the house all have bars on them. And there is a barred gate on the front door and one on the patio. In order to get in our house we have to unlock the front gate to drive in and then unlock the gate on the front door and then unlock the front door. It can be frustrating when we get in the car and then realize we forgot something.

 

We live in a nice lower middle class neighborhood. It is considered a safe neighborhood. And we do feel safe here. We go out walking in the morning and feel absolutely comfortable. But extra security is the norm here and we don’t want to be foolish.

 

We have a nice yard that is cared for by a landscaping company so we can enjoy it without the work. Although I think Elder Hind would love to do a little yard work. We have a little lime tree in the back yard. I am looking forward to harvesting some of them in a few weeks. It is approaching fall here. We have a tree near the gate in the front that looks like a palm tree. It is not. It appears to be a very large Aloe plant. The weather here has been very nice. We had one rainstorm since getting here. Other than that we have enjoyed nice days in the seventies and eighties.