This year not only saw the end of construction at Springwater but the beginning of Art Stays in the Atelier. Our first 'victims' to challenge their views of the world through a paintbrush.

Lots of fun was had and a LOT of learning to let go of that little voice in our heads that says 'I can't'. Check out the Art Stays tab and come up for a visit, and stay for the weekend where you too can channel your inner Matisse.

Although it appears on the surface that we are addicted to building, renovations, and all things house, we have truly gone through detox with this one. I guess 23 years of mostly non-stop projects has taken its toll - our bodies would certainly agree.

This latest (an last big project for us on this piece of land) was to add onto the art studio to create a proper dwelling space so that we may have some passive income in our retirement years. In hindsight, it would have been nice to do what our kids are doing in their 20's by accumulating rental property, but better late than never.

The guesthouse functions as a large one bedroom with ample space for a home office or guest space. Basically we added a 500+sf main / great room with a nice rustic kitchen, lots of windows and some really nice and private outdoor space. Until retirement, this space will continue to be used as an Art Studio as well as guest space but we are offering 'Art Stays' for those of you or your friends who may want to come spend some time in this beautiful part of the world. Check out the Art Stays tab for more info.

This years' heavy as well as late rains got the garden off to a bad start. A fair amount of erosion needed to be dealt with and really, where does all that soil go to each year? I seems like we lose nearly a foot out of our vegetable tubs every season!

We got back from our Europe trip early April, and we thought that would be plenty of time to start seeds in the greenhouse, but the cool weather has hindered the effort that and now, 6 weeks later, they are just too little and too late. It was painful having to purchase plants this year at the nursery, but hell bent to have a garden…

Traveling to Europe has become part of the thread of who we are. We have some favorite go to spots but also try to explore new places each trip. This trip was different because we took Scott and Chris with us. We took Scott when he was a teenager but Chris had never been so it was really fun being able to explore with them both.

We wanted to curate a trip that gave a good feel for the beauty and history of Europe but not be completely touristic. We started in Paris (of course) where we visited some of the areas highlights like Versailles, the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, but also went to some lesser know venues like the Nissim Da Cammando - a private home turned museum and the Egouts de Paris - because who doesn't want to know where there poop goes! Needless to say we ate at some great restaurants and walked and walked and walked.

France went on strike 2 days before we were scheduled to leave (apparently 64 is a RIDICULOUS age to retire) and in typical French fashion, everything shut down or was affected - including our flight and trains to the airport. We scrambled to find a new place to stay and find a new flight. 2 days later and a lot of hours on the internet we managed to get a flight to Barcelona. Unfortunately it shortened our time in that awesome city but we managed to see some great Gaudi sites and eat some really good food. The weather was warm too, which was nice because Paris was cold!!!

Last leg of this trip was to Crete, where we had been only a few months before. We have been looking for a place for a second home somewhere in Europe and Greece, specifically Crete seems to fit many of the things we are looking for so we went back to continue that search. Crete too was unseasonably cold and although we had a nice place with a great view we couldn't use the pool. We spent a lot of this trip working with a realtor and a builder and time will tell if any of our efforts come to fruition.

The last few days of the trip had me not feeling so great, so the trip home was arduous. First off, getting to or from Crete off season 100% means flying through Athens and then onto another European hub or New York and this trip our hub was Paris but all that flying is a pain. I had an upper respiratory thing that ultimately turned into pneumonia and its zenith for me was somewhere over Greenland. 10 miserable hours later, upon final approach San Francisco was experiencing a rare cyclone which caused us to go around after almost at runways end only to be hit by lightening somewhere over Oakland which was followed by one of those 'sideways' landings you see on YouTube where the plane is not parallel to the runway and then pulls violently once the wheels hit the pavement. Fun…

Glad to be home, but as always, looking forward to the next trip.