Welcome to my garden. I have no plans for it but I'm sure something will grow here. I've spent the summer planting seeds and killing weeds at this house I moved to April 1st. Starting a new phase of my life on April Fools day was a bit tramatic. I had no plans to move other than the fact I hated my driveway. It was very steep and very slick and last winter was very icy and snowy. I scraped my exhaust system off my car a couple of times and ended up in the middle of the front yard a time or two, barely missing the big Sycamore tree. I had lived there for six years and planned to stay the rest of my life but my landlord had become very hard to reach and was not returning calls when I needed repairs. That was a change because he had been great most of the time I lived there. I had worked with Becky and thought of her as a friend. I had looked at a couple of houses in Auburn Washburn district because I take my girls to school there because it is a better school system. None of the houses interested me at all. Typical rentals and not to my taste at all when the house I was living in was completely redone when I moved in. It was a very pretty house and I really liked it. Then quite by accident I found out that the house was in forclosure and the bank couldn't tell me when I had to be out. Pretty scary stuff for a 66 year old woman who has to make her own decisions and finance them. I thought about going back into an apartment but I'd done that and found it very frustrating at times. Too many times because it sure didn't appeal to me. I didn't like not having my own yard since I love to garden. Not veggie gardening....I might have a tomato plant or two but flower gardening with a passion. I had done a lot of landscaping at that house but was very sick for a lot of the time I was there so I really wanted to do even more and that precluded living back in an apartment. I had also hated the noise level having so many people in such tight quarters. I often can't sleep at night if my pain level is high and trying to sleep in the day time in a ground floor apartment with two men over top who were born with brick feet was difficult at times. Actually a lot of times. So an apartment was very low on my list but I had to find something fast. My daughter Deedra wanted me in a house right by her but it was for sale not rent. I do not want the responsibility of home ownership at this time of my life. I want someone else to fix things when they break. I had actually looked in the windows of the house when it was being restored. I remembered that it had hard wood floors that were sanded but not sealed and had gorgeous stained glass windows that looked to be original to the house. That interested me at that time but it had been over two years and it was on the market for sale. I took another peek in the windows and liked what I saw. It is an Arts and Crafts era bungalow all on one floor with a big yard and a detached two car garage in back. I had lived in the Old Town area of Topeka for many years but always in two story Victorians and moved to the suburbs 25 years back because I had fallen off a ladder hanging wall paper and severely injusred my left knee. I had just had both knees replaced, had a life threatening bout of Sepsis 9months later
that kept me hospitalized for 89 days with that same knee so a two story house was out of the question. I think Tim and I would have restored another house in the same area back then but we couldn't find the kind of charm we liked in older homes so bought a very boring rancher. The whole neighborhood has been through a lot in the years I was away from it. We owned some rentals in the area at that time and finally sold them because the area was in big trouble. Drug dealers moved in and the area had gone down hill something terrible. At one time there were a lot of empty houses with broken windows and gang graffiti all over the area. It looked like Old Town had seen its better days and was gone. However, because of the Ward Meade Home and historical Old Town was a major Topeka attraction there were still people who didn't give up on the area. A strong neighborhood improvement  association was formed and a lot of urban renewal money was available. Even now, a homeowner can get a no interest loan of up to $30,000.00 to restore a home in this district and with that kind of money available and strict police inforcement the area rose from the dead. Many homes were purchased by investers who had an interest in seeing Ward Meade/Old Town survive and they bought many homes, restored them and either sold them to responsible people or kept them for rentals and they keep them in good condition. There are still houses that need to be cleaned up but the stirct city code enforment department is actively working with the neighborhood association to save the area. That being the case and my daughter living two houses away I was not afraid to move back. The only problem was the man that owned the house. Since Dee Dee had become acquainted with him she went to work. The house had been on the market for a while any way and so she talked him into renting to me. I think before she was done he thought he was renting to Mother Theresa but within a few days of knowing I had to move I had a gorgeous house to move into. John had completely restored all that could be saved and  had the talent and taste to do a fabulous job. He kept the original wood work and there is a lot of it. Where ever he couldn't save it he matched it so perfectly that I would not know what is new if he didn't tell me and I have restored a lot of old wood work myself. He is a master wood worker and built all new kitchen cabinets that also match the old wood. The rooms are huge. The living and dining rooms are each 25 feet long by 15 ft wide. It was only a two bedroom house with one bath and he was able to change it to a three bedroom with two baths and the rooms are still big. He was able to piece in hard wood flooring so it all matches. This house was not lived in for years and had been a drug house. All the windows were gone but amazingly the two stained glass windows in the dining room are in perfect condition. There are four leaded glass cabinet doors in the built in china cabinets and only one pane is cracked. For what it went through it is in amazingly good shape. Most of the floors are level, the exception being the master bedroom and it is out of kilter a bit but that adds character. When living in the neighborhood years ago I was a Realtor and was able to buy some really cool Victorian homes but I like this one better than any of them. It has a built in bench in the front entry with a big mirror over it. The only thing is doesn't have is a fireplace but I have a plan I'm working on. John can put in a fireplace easily with all the other things he has done here. Once he rented me the house, I was packed and moved in a couple of weeks. I spent most of the next month in one of the most awful fibromtalgia flare ups I have ever had. But now I'm in. There are flowers in the yard and a swing on the front porch. It is an easy house to live in since Johm moved the washer and dryer on the main floor. I figure God had a hand in that. It has a nice basement but I don't think my body could deal with carting the laundry up and down the stairs.I finally have room for all my furniture and enough china cabinets for all my dishes and collection. The front yard still needs work but my precious son-in-law put in more hours than I could count making it presentable. The back yard is a disaster but that is next year's play time.  I'm in and I'm happy and I love my new old house.