buckle-up

Settling into our new home we were just reminded that it was one year ago when we first walked the lot, talked to our assigned builder and watched the concrete pad being framed. It has happened all so quickly – but doesn’t every new home build seem to flash by more quickly than anticipated. Put it down to inexperience building in Florida, although through the years, we had become fans of the show, 100 days. Then again, this is our house and we inspected every inch of progress almost every day. We rented a cottage for a year after we had taken the decision to build. That was probably among the smartest things we have ever done. It allowed us to drive to the site each day, sometimes more than once. It also justified us purchasing our first golf cart just for the purpose of traversing the two and a half miles that separated our rental from our new home. There is always an air of excitement surrounding any new home build and in our case, this proved to be no exception. Once we had made t...

Before Margo and I married, we had already contracted with an architect, bought a block of land, and began designing our first house. This would fulfil a shared, lifelong, dream of building our fantasy home. A fresh start. A bold design and a place that we would transform from an empty piece of land into a home that would provide both. the escape from business and become a space to entertain employees, business associates and most of all, family. The overriding element in the design featured two separate guest suites, each with en-suite and a separate room to relax and to look out on the fabulous ever-changing Colorado   landscape. It was an ambitious project that began in March 1999 and where we first took occupancy on July 4, 2000 but had to wait another year for the house to be fully built-out – our master bedroom suite being the last room to be finished. As for the two suites, these were included as we wanted to provide my parents an away-from-Sydney home – they would visi...

  An early morning rise, repeated several times this past month, saw us standing outside the local Starbucks as it opened its doors. There’s something weird about an empty Starbucks, even more so these days as they provide table service. Serving coffee in cups and breakfast sandwiches on plates. We had returned to Colorado with a firm agenda to be followed. Our grandson Evan was scheduled for an operation, our storage area had to be emptied and yes, we had to get new plates for our latest vehicle purchased back at the end of June – the Beast, otherwise known as the Land Rover Defender 110 V8. Sipping that first cup of coffee, constantly checking my watch, awaiting a call from the folks at 1-800-GOT-JUNK to turn up for that final clean-out of the remaining goods and chattels we felt were way past their use-by-date, no longer holding any emotional attachment. Yes, gone is my thirty-year plus collection of Road and Track magazines with almost 400 issues filling numerous cartons I co...

  Visiting the charming coastal Dublin suburb of Howth There was a time, not too long ago, when the romance of travel still felt real. The lead up to the actual day of travel in the knowledge that the world was about to reveal itself in ways unimaginable, as flight attendants poured a welcoming glass of champaign. There were visas, traveler’s checks, hotel bookings – it was all quite thrilling. Well up to a point I have to admit. However, not so much these days. Indeed, there are times when regrets are involved in lieu of days you would consider the material that fills the pages of travel books. For nearly a month, from the last day of May through to the end of June, Margo and I squeezed in visits to Dublin, Ireland, London, Paris with a side of Bordeaux. We managed to fly, uber, train and sail and through it all there were numerous anxious moments involving a shrinking selection of clean clothes as well as a declining interest in the local cuisine. The journey Back when it was exc...

  A ribbon pinned to the front door. Updated signage indicating that this new home had become a private residence. A glorious Florida Friday morning. Our latest new build pursuit was open and we were moving into our Florida Keys styled home. Just one year after we first drove to the Latitude Margaritaville Water Sound (LMWS) sales office and walked through the model homes, this Aruba, single-family house, was now our home. We still have our condo in Longmont, Colorado, but Panama City Beach is where we will be spending most of our time. There are programs on the HGTV channel that depict homes build in 100 days and in reality, ours was finished all but for a final clean and inspection but including pool, spa and birdcage, in 120 days. Another two months passed before closing took place as the developer closes in batches to ensure construction moves down the street. It’s already noticeable that with evening, all construction noise and disruption die down with the sound of local rep...