Our New Place (hopefully!)
- Front of the house
- Front steps
- Front Foyer
- At the top of the Front Staircase
- Looking into the Front Parlor Room
- Windows in the middle parlor room
- A view of the front parlor room / front door / and kitchen nook from the middle parlor room.
- View of the Kitchen from the Kitchen Nook
- The “office” from the kitchen.
- Office woodstove and doors into the kitchen and the back stairs.
- Downstairs Bath
- Front Upstairs Bedroom
- Cade’s Upstairs Bedroom
- Upstairs Middle Bedroom
- Back Bedroom
- Upstairs Bath
- The very large attic that will eventually be storage & a game / romper room
- Back Staircase
- Back of House from Far Back Corner
- View of backyard & parking pad that will be expanded for 3 cars. Also the garage which will be a darkroom/bike storage. To the left is a garden shed off the back of the house — the furthest left window is the laundry room.
- Side yard on the alley side of the house — the privets are very dense and tall. The entire backyard is quite private for a city yard.
- Other side yard & porch with old rhododendron, lots of passionflower & jasmine vines already growing
- View of the side yard from the front
- View from the sidewalk across the alley.
- Our neighbor’s hydrangeas — we’ll have to get some cuttings!
5 July 2015 Leave a comment
Buzz! Buzz!
—
Take two for Cade & I with beekeeping! So far so good and I’m thrilled with how calm these girls seem to be compared to our first hives from back in 2011 (who not only were stressed from the beginning, but disappeared all together). Only one sting and that was because one girl got caught under my arm as I was shaking out a third package for friends (no suit). Anyhow, here’s to lots of pollination & honey in the future!
6 May 2013 Leave a comment
{this moment}
from soulemama ::
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
4 January 2013 Leave a comment
Long way from home…
No one in this photograph is anywhere near what they call home. For two of us, we only have a shortish drive & a long flight to get there — the other is miles & eons away from the home they knew. Yet, he might as well fit right in where he is. Something to think about — can I be at home anywhere or do I need those creature comforts of a steady place, like a hobbit. Hmmm.
2 January 2013 Leave a comment
Fresh Start – Take 2!

A new year and another fresh start… 2013 is here!
After watching Andrea Scher’s New Year’s Ritual, I came up with my word for 2013 — HOME. It’s time to focus on home and what that means to our family, building our homes, creating a more purposeful home life, homemade things, etc. How fitting that this little blog is called lillehjem or ‘little home’ in Norwegian.
So I’ll be here trying to set up a daily slice of home here — even if home is just where ever I’m with my guys! Welcome again to my humble home!
1 January 2013 Leave a comment
{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
from soulemama
7 April 2012 Leave a comment
Fresh Start

Where did 2011 go? We had such a promising start, but boy, did life get in the way of getting much done down at lillehjem. Between 4-H for the boys, my trip to NYC, 2 camping trips, various lessons and such, we have been on the run like no one’s business. We did manage to lay in a generous stash of firewood for the winter for us, the grands & our neighbors (in return for a fabulous culvert for the driveway), but here in Central CA, winter doesn’t seem to want to show up.
Perfect weather to get serious about working on lillehjem. Come hell or high water, staying in tents or the 5th-wheel trailer, we will be moving down there by the end of June. The thought is that by only having to focus on one mountain property’s requirements, we’ll be able to get things done a bit faster! But, life might be a bit nicer having a solid roof than a tent. Wish us luck and here’s to 2012 – a year of adventure, building, moving & more!
2 January 2012 1 Comment
First Day of Clearing
We spent Mothers’ Day clearing our little space on the family land. There are at least 232 eucalyptus trees/trunks that need to come down along what we call the Eucalyptus Trail. It’s lovely having so many along the trail, but they shed like crazy, suck up extremely valuable water (that we need here in dry CA), & create massive widow-makers that we would rather not have fall on us anytime soon.

My folks are a great help — Dad has nearly every tool known to mankind
and Mom and I enjoy doing the “unskilled labor” of hauling brush.

Ry is so very patient with me and my crazy ideas — building some sort of alternative house
has been a vision of mine for years and he’s amazingly willing to go along for the ride!


Even the boys are helping off and on. Cade wasn’t dressed for the occasion
since he spent most of the day building boxes/frames for his beehives.

Our truck on the sweet little driveway coming into Lillehjem.

Just a few of the 42 trees + limbs we pulled down that day. Eucalyptus is heavy.

And a few more.

Just a few hours work and you can see the ground and walk all over!
Lots more to go, but progress is happening!
19 May 2011 Leave a comment