It’s March; celebrations continue!

Margo and I like to celebrate milestones, even as the numbers keep on getting bigger. January is always momentous as it is the time when we celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries. However, when it comes to March it kicks off the start of almost two months of celebration as the rest of the family catches up. It is my sister Judy who is the outlier, celebrating her birthday in February but we love her all the same.

Alright, yes, this post is more than just celebrating anniversaries and birthdays as it is about the “one more house” we have always thought we just had to build. We did not know how and where or indeed, when, but creating a new home is so much fun! It truly flexes what little braincells we have left.

As we come to terms with our new home town, we have come to understand that there are many miles to cover and where, at times, it seems we have crossed a state line at some point. Anyone who looks at a map of Florida will soon realize that up in the panhandle, not only do we shift to a different time zone to that serving the rest of Florida, but it’s just a skinny piece of salty sand. This horizontal peninsula, full of bays, bayous, boat harbors deliver a level of hassle-free living, reminiscent of America’s past, that proved too attractive to ignore.

While we are yet to find a really great steak house, there are some chain restaurants, including Ruth's Chris Steak House and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse. But this is no Rush Street, Chicago, where you find the likes of Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, or a little further away, the more traditional Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse where, sitting at the bar, waiting for a table at this famous baseball sportscaster eatery, the announcement came over the speakers, “Mr. Buckle, Table for 1 is Ready!” Oh, how I miss those times.

Of course, there are Mastros Restaurants that execute at the same high level as those Chicago steakhouses where Margo and I have celebrated the passing of many milestones. Changed jobs? Went to Mastro’s Thousand Oaks! Bought a new car? Went to Mastro’s Las Vegas! Celebrated birthday with friends? Went to Mastro’s Malibu Beach! Or, what that Mastro’s Scottsdale? 

With the passing of this year’s milestone, it was a return to Flemings Sandestin, Miramar Beach. As we have learnt at Mastro’s, nothing ends a meal as well as the arrival of a butter cake topped with Chantilly Cream and Flemings didn’t disappoint even as they did replace the heavy dosage of butter with Olive Oil. I gave it a pass, anyway!

Our Florida home will become really ours next month and there will be yet one more occasion worth celebrating. No worries, our door will always be open. The manner in which these semi-tract, cookie-cutter, houses, each one incorporating different interpretations of Florida Keys beachside dwellings (in a nod to this being a Latitude Margaritaville community), are released to new homeowners is in batches. 

Closings take place, about twenty at a time over the course of a week or two. This is done so the construction traffic moves further down the road and new residents have an opportunity to truly move-in, have utilities turned on, watch as moving trucks having their way, and stand back as the ubiquitous American pick-up utility trucks start arriving.

We can count these utes, no problems, as the garages here simply do not accommodate the length (and in some cases the height) of modern pick-ups; they are left, parked, on driveways. Wasn’t expecting to see this in a planned community. Then again, giant utes sitting alongside tiny golf carts seems an anachronism, humorous to some and a legacy from times when a gallon of gas was, well, similar to a cup of coffee.  

It seems to us that when it comes to the many 55+ communities popping up everywhere in Florida, their planners ignored how many in this target demographic drive such vehicles, whether to tow boats, RVs and caravans, or simply to make a run to Costco some 100 plus miles away. Our Jaguar SUV seems quite compact by comparison. Quite the exception, apparently. At least, it does fit comfortably within the garage! 

Walking through our new home we came across detailed punch lists. There were fifty items that needed attention and already we have seen items checked-off as done. It was a few weeks back that our builder, Dave, gave us the code to open our garage door with permission given to enter the house armed with a role of painter’s tape. We were encouraged to adhere tape to any area that we thought required attention. As we left the house, we congratulated ourselves on our efforts. Our green tape looked to be everywhere.

When we returned a few days later, however, we could barely see our green tape as a mix of blue, yellow and red tapes seemed to have been applied everywhere we looked. So much for our previous feeling of accomplishment. Then again, an encouraging sign that they took perfecting our new home very seriously.

While it is true that we are building something more cookie-cutter than we have pursued previously and, before your questioning begins, safe to say, the options list was as extensive as might be found on a new Porsche or BMW. When we finished going through the details, we added substantially to our purchase price with items you would think might be standard as well as nice-to-have, individualized, options that were more a reflection of our style.

We are nowhere near done as we then went about completing the interior staging and design using other sources. We are looking forward to post-closing and watching all the “extras” arrive. Most prominent will be our choice in modern-era chandeliers and matching light fittings. Not forgetting additional appliances, sectionals and more.

What gets delivered will help us decorate our blank, a tad Caribbean aqua-greenish, canvas. We have numerous paintings still in storage back in Colorado and we have already gone through a number of revisions as to what will make the cut when it comes time to transfer to Florida. There will be a distinct Australian flavor to what makes it up on our walls. 

Here’s the thing; when we looked at the plans, there didn’t seem to be too many blank spaces to work with, but now, walking through our upcoming new home, we will not be hampered in any way. Artwork will flourish!

As all Swifties know so well, yes there will be blank spaces, not waiting for us to write you name, but rather, adorn with names that are much better known, particularly in Australia.

Given that the overall style captures the flavor of the Florida Keys, the color palate of walls, ceilings and countertops is mostly pastel, featuring a mix of blues and greens with splashes of black as an accent. This is a style we have been talking about for some time so we will be working with bold primary colors when it comes to decorating. 

Set against the softness of the finished walls, we went for dark blue cabinetry with glass toppers and very bold, big-pattern quartz countertop that we continued up as a backsplash. Imagine a number of yellow Le Creuset enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens behind the glass of the top shelves. 

Not approving? Wait for our Samsung bespoke refrigerator featuring a mix of glass panels in sky blue, white and yes, yellow. And tucked, just out of sight through the doorway, leading to the garage, is what today builders call a drop zone. Not having children and being rather tidy, this will become a working kitchen extension where our countertop “helpers” will be hidden away.

One idea we will pursue and maintain is to keep the lines of our kitchen unobstructed by appliances albeit perhaps one exception, the new yellow kettle we both adore. As a design element, if I could just find a prime blue bandage to wrap around it – perhaps a few strands of blue painters tape - it could look more like a friendly minion from popular cartoons – can’t you see it, now?

A little whimsy here and there will appear and when you find an occasion to visit us, there will always be something to look for, hidden out of sight. It has become very clear to us both that the objets d’art will heavily feature fish, shells and birds! Now, there’s a thought.

However, what might appeal more to our visitors is how we have completed the backyard, extending the traditional lanai to include a pool and spa, approached over pavers and surrounded by the typical birdcage structure you often see on home previews on HGTV.

Did I forget to mention that we are located at the top end of a rather nice, meandering, pond? It was the location that we much admired and it led us to choosing this lot.

For a time, we were concerned that our neighbor would build a pool, spa and birdcage that might have impacted the view but no such development took place. You might have heard our sigh of relief all the way back to Longmont or even Sydney. It appears the only neighbors building pools are all to the right of this photo and we are OK with that. Birdcages? No bugs, no birds and most important of all, no foliage falling into the pool – maintaining it should be a breeze.

Once again, we went for a bold pattern on the pool and spa tiles and it turned out to be every bit as good as we had hoped. With the backyard paved, we needed something bold in relief. Will we see alligators? Apparently; all these ponds can see alligators appear as there is a network of pipes (and pumps) connecting them all.

But they will never be bigger than four or five feet or so, we have been informed – any bigger and they are relocated. Not sure before or after they attack small children and pets – as it is a 55+ community, there will likely be very few small kids to tempt them out of the water, thankfully. Margo doesn’t like alligators, to tell you the truth.

One newsworthy item has been the approval, and construction commencement, of our marina. This was one item we had on our checklist. Not that there are plans to have a boat, but rather, it appears there will be rentals. Our community sits alongside the Florida Gulf intracoastal waterway and while not as extensive as you see on Florida’s Atlantic coast, there is enough waterway to make day and even overnight excursions something worth contemplating. No Sydney Harbor, mind you, but enough to keep us looking forward to simply pursue Mucking about in Boats, as Toad of Toad Hall proposed.

Once you look past Patty’s Potties, and the lone fire extinguisher, which in and of itself is telling us a story, although I am not entirely sure what that might be given its close proximity to nearby non-existent structures other than the obvious.

However, it is to the right that the cleared area descends to the waterline. Already dredges have been spotted digging a meaningful and much wider frontage for the marina. It is our hope too that a number of shops including a café and perhaps a new casual restaurant are included with the marina, but to date there’s been no word on such additions. But we can hope - as yet no coffee shop has been built on the grounds of our community and as a blended family of Europeans and Aussies, we so miss our coffee society. 

Even as the marina construction begins, we still see wildlife and the area supports a large number of deer. We wonder if this is what attracts alligators and keeps them coming onto the community grounds and into the pools. We hope not, but then again, nature always wins. It is now only weeks away before this community and this home become an integral part of the life we have just begun. There is always excitement at such times tinged with a little sadness over what once was and yet, moving forward has always been an integral part of our lives.

Having both come to America as immigrants and taking time to become citizens of the United States, it’s not quite like having burnt the boats we arrived on and yet, even as conversations turn to what’s next, the passage of time suggests that further changes will be minimal.

Yes, we are particular. Where we eat, what we drive, what our home looks like. What we see growing. The community grounds are designed and maintained by the HOA, so we really did not have a say or were even given a plan to look at prior to it being established. When we walked towards the front door of our soon-to-be-new-home, it was Margo who caught sight of our first flower, a Florida Camellia.

Having grown up in Sydney where homeowners seemed to always find a need to grow camellias, my own parents included, just this single bloom signified a sense of arrival and for Margo and me, particular as we have been, we are celebrating this single bloom as the first official welcome to our new home!