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October 2006: before home renovation
October 2006: Our house before renovation, wearing its old red cedar shake shingles; the bushes wore Halloween decorations, including cobwebs

Front of house with siding
Front of house with siding, which looks grayish here but is a beautiful soft moss green

Another front view
Another front view

The new front stairs
The new front stairs: These take the place of the narrow, crumbling, old cement stairs. There's so much more room now, even though the new stairs are only about 2 to 3 feet wider. No more feeling as if we're going to fall off the stoop when the boys crowd us while we're trying to unlock the front door!

Side view of new front stairs
Side view of the new front stairs, which are made from pressure-treated wood so that they're rot-resistant. We won't paint them but will let them weather to a pretty silver.

Back alcove and stairs
The redone tiny alcove (used as a holding room for recyclables and bags of garbage) and stairs at the back of the house

Another view of the back alcove and stairs
Another view of the back alcove and stairs; the alcove door was on order when this photo was taken

North side of the house
The north side of the house. The latticework, like the new front and back stairs, is made of pressure-treated wood. It's been in place for several years and has already weathered to a nice silver

South side of the house
This is the south side of the house, which houses our wood shop. When Ed had his own cabinetmaking business, the shop was where he built furniture and cabinets.

The barn
This is our "barn," where, when Ed had his business, he would spray lacquer on furniture and cabinets. Now, it's mostly for storage, but Ed does use it when he makes furniture for us. The red Formica on the doors has to be replaced by the light green Formica we bought to match the siding. The barn used to be covered with red cedar shingles, just like the house.

The barn
Even our tiny garden house (what most people call a tool shed) got new siding, and after 30-plus years, it got a new roof. It still needs its dark door refaced. You can see our vegetable garden's fence running the length of the left side of the photo. The ancient, rotting boat at the right was Ed's first outboard, a little wooden dory from the late 1950s that Ed restored; he bought it when he was 15 years old and restored it. The boat, now retired, is older than Ed is. It's been replaced by the At Last! and must be moved to the town dump.

Proud mom with graduate
Becky hugs Kathy after receiving her bachelor's degree in sociology in May 2005

Becky hugs Ed after graduation
After graduating in May 2005,
Becky went on to start work
on a master's degree in social work.

Becky, our favorite beauty
Becky, our favorite beauty

Li and Becky
Becky and Li (Lionel) in 2005; they were
married on August 6, 2006

Li's mom and Kathy
Meet the families: Li's mom, Ruth,
and Kathy after an engagement party
for Becky and Li in April 2005

side view of Becky and Li's baby at 5 months' gestation
There's a baby in there! This is a ultrasound side view of Becky and Li's baby at 5 months' gestation. Anastasia Kathleen Sanchez was born on May 15, 2007, 3 days before Li's birthday and 3 days before the graduation ceremony was held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where Becky had just earned a master's degree in social work.

Measuring the baby's head
The obstetrician measured the baby's head on the ultrasound.

There's the hearbeat!
Becky and Li were thrilled to hear their baby's heartbeat, which was recorded by ultrasound.

Emily
Our youngest cat, Emily (aka Miss Emily),
age 7 years

Snuggles
Our oldest cat, Snuggles (aka Puma),
age 15 years

Sandy, Allan and Dorie's dog
Sandy, Allan and Dorie's dog

Kathy's younger brother, Wally
Kathy's younger brother, Wally (Go here to read about a church service on justice and inclusiveness in which Wally participated—see video clips and photos, too. Go here to read Wally's story.)

Wally looking like a Texan
Wally looking like a Texan

December snow
December snow ices our trees.

Our outdoor Christmas spruce
Every year, Ed decorates the 45-foot blue spruce in our front yard. This is how it looked before the house was renovated, when it was covered with barn-red cedar shake shingles.

Our Christmas spruce after home renovation
This is the blue spruce after the house was renovated in the fall of 2006. We now have a lovely wooden front landing to decorate with pine roping and Christmas lights. In this shot, you can see the soffits decked out in roping and lights too.

Another view of the new front landing ready for Christmas
Another view of the new front landing ready for Christmas.

Cheery front door at Christmas
The lovely new light moss-green siding on the house reflects the Christmas lights much better than the old dark barn-red cedar shingles did, making the house look more cheerful and welcoming.

The venerable neighborhood Christmas tree
People come from all over our neighborhood to see our outdoor Christmas tree.

Neil in seventh grade
Neil in seventh grade, 2006–2007 school year

video of Neil in horticulture class
Watch "Horticultural Guy," a video of Neil
creating floral masterpieces in sixth-grade
horticulture class (high-speed connection and
Macromedia Flash required)

Jared in preschool
Jared in kindergarten, 2006–2007 school year

The boys at a local park, April 2006
The boys at a local park, April 2006

Ed and Kathy
Ed and Kathy in late 2004

Ed's masterpiece
Ed the cabinetmaker man made
our white-oak spindle bed himself,
from drawing up plans to construction
and assembly. He even turned the posts himself.

Neil's presidential award for academic excellence
In June 2005, Neil won a
presidential award for
academic excellence.

Neil the builder
One of Neil's many K'Nex creations: a Ferris wheel

Playing at camp in Rhode Island
Jared and Neil at play on the
family camping trip to
Rhode Island in August 2005

Drying off after a backyard swim
Drying off after a backyard swim

Trick-or-treating=
Anakin (aka Neil) and Robin (aka Jared) paid a Halloween 2005 visit to our neighbors.

The next superhero
Jared's always pretending to be a superhero.
If you recognize the pattern on his cape,
that's because hospital maternity wards give away
baby blankets with the same stripe pattern.

Jared meets Santa=
Jared met Santa in 2005.

Our boat, At Last!
Our boat, At Last!

Captain of the ship
Ed's captain hat for use while piloting our boat

Hippies in love
Kathy and Ed, two middle-aged hippies in love

Dorie and Allan's forty-fifth anniversary (2003)
Dorie and Allan, Ed's parents, celebrated
their forty-fifth anniversary in 2003

Wisteria arbor
The wisteria arbor in our side yard
(with a dogwood tree behind it)

Ed and Kathy's wedding day: July 3, 1993
Ed and Kathy's wedding day:
July 3, 1993

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