My American House

After several years of living in apartments we decided to buy a house. Our real estate agent was totally exhausted when five months and 30 houses later we finally found the one.

The task was tough because we needed three bedrooms for our daughters in their late teens - early twenties. In the US children usually leave parents after high school. Therefore, average kids’ bedrooms are comparatively small.

For economic and other reasons we planned that our girls would stay with us while in college.  We needed uncommonly spacious bedrooms to accommodate computer desks (computers were still bulky at that time).  In a reasonable price range such a house was hard to find.

The house we bought was located on a good-size lot in a nice and quiet neighborhood. It was a brick-and-wood two story with slightly boring facade, but otherwise - very smart.

The inside flow was pretty standard with a somewhat narrow hallway but spacious kitchen-dining area looking at the wooden deck and backyard. The upper level was occupied by four bedrooms providing privacy to every member of our blended and, therefore, sometimes dramatic family.

We liked the functionality of the house: light switches in all the right places, old-brass fixtures throughout, and the fact that the girls' bathroom had two doors. We enjoyed nice views from every window, a green lawn in front and seclusion of the backyard separated from neighbors by the hedge of high bushes. 

The first snow in our neighborhood



Everything about this house was reasonable  and thought-out. 

Both  my husband and I were born and raised in apartments. We were not only the first-time home owners, but also - the first-time home dwellers. It gave us deep appreciation of the concept of American single-family house, but no skills in taking care of it. 

When in Rome do as the Romans do. 

We sought advice from our American friends. They told us how to treat the lawn and when to replace the roof or windows.  

In spring we bought a lawn mower, and after several encounters with my husband on the subject of “being really busy” I discovered that mowing lawn was a healthy and joyful outdoor activity. 

We hired a company to treat our lawn against weeds and bugs, but this decision was less successful. Though grass was nice, the smell of chemicals was not. When cats were out we were not sure if they ate chemically treated grass or avoided it (both situations were not good).

In the garden I had another educational experience. For years I have applied commercial chemicals to eliminate pests on my flower beds. That did not work too well because spray needs time to kill insects, i.e., a period of dry weather. Unfortunately, where we live spring rains are frequent. So, as soon as I would apply the bug killer to my Hostas, the rain washed it all off, poisoning the soil but not harming the bugs. 

Disappointed I stopped spraying. Weeks later I noticed little pretty chameleons among the flowers, while bugs were totally gone. 

Turned out, Mother-Nature knew better how to take care of them!

When eventually we decided to plant a vegetable garden, we stopped treating the lawn. Now worms and birds feed on bugs that make our cats very happy. And few dandelions, as soon as they show up, go directly into our green smoothies. 

Well, "garden" - is a very ambitious name for a small rectangular spot that we cleaned from grass to plant some cucumbers, sweet peas and tomatoes.

I never grew a single vegetable before, neither did my husband. But again, we approached the challenge differently. While I was timidly reading instructions on seed bags he declared himself a natural based on the farming roots in his family. 

When the time came to plant seeds into soil, he dismissed all recommendations and simply sprinkled them liberally around. Surprisingly some of the seeds actually started and in July we had crunchy cucumbers incomparable in fragrance and taste to anything from the store. 

It is a holiday season now. We spread some gleaming lights on the bushes in front of the façade windows, just so that kids in the house across the street have something nice to look at in the evenings.

Our cat Max likes it a lot – he is sitting there for hours, staring at the lights.

At this time of the year my thing is to clean the house and then sit in the sunny corner of our home office with my family (cats included) nearby. I don't need to look - just to know - they are there.

In such moments I feel very blessed to have them and this house - much more so than many well-deserving people out there...