A Break

A break from the new house / property posts. I thought I'd share some of my photography of one my favorite places, Letchworth State Park. Enjoy!

The gorge north of Inspiration Point

The gorge from Inspiration Point facing south

The Norfolk Southern train traversing the Portageville Bridge.

Before and After

Backing up photo files to my external hard drive, a Sunday ritual. I came across a photo from the summer after I had installed the new mailbox at our property on Papermill Road. I realized looking at it I had just taken a photo the other day when I was there to document the house demolition that was a pretty close match. I thought back to how much work we've done since we bought the property. We were talking the other night about how time is really moving along and that we're excited for the build to start in April!

Before

 After

After the pad for the barn was built Marcea decided to plant wildflowers, which will be a main focus once the new house is built, wildflowers and native grasses throughout the property. This was a test area.

Trimming the suckers off the pear tree.

The new Crimson King Maple being planted.

First project, last year. Driveway and pad for the barn.

 Done!

Camping on the new pad before the barn was built.

Hollow oak coming down. We called it the "Keebler Tree".

Taking a break.

The RV and Rosie enjoying the new barn.

Summer evening, our favorite view.

The adventure continues!

Pastel Sunset

I love the fact that we live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and that I get to photograph it. Sometimes it's a simple as deciding to go out and stand on top of a hill with my camera and watch the sun go down.

Demo Day!

Well, the old house is no more. It came down yesterday. Lots of people have made comments that it was sad, but trust us, she was not salvageable, our architect for the new house stated that the first time we met him at the property. Several other knowledgeable people have seen it and agreed. It was built as a tenant house and had been so it’s whole life. No one had been living in it since 2011.

It was in such poor shape and disrepair, there had been a fire some time ago, charred rafters in the back of the house covered over by new planking, (no plywood sheathing), virtually no insulation at all (a few pieces in one corner on the west side of the downstairs front room, none in the roof or attic: planking, one layer of tar paper and a metal roof, it had to be unbelievably cold in the winter), antiquated wiring mixed in with new outlet boxes, it was amazing it was still with us. We saved and will repurpose the salvageable doors in the new house, the windows and their old glass went to a friend’s 1856 farmhouse for good use. Her time had come...

We weren't living in it, it was on the property we bought in Avon, three acres of pasture land. We'll be building a new single story house to go with the 40 x 60 pole barn we built there. Amazing sunsets, sunrises and our little Zen spot in the world.