Feirin De's Exterior Photos

Yesterday I shared some interior photos of our beloved vacation home, Feirin De, during a virtual house tour.  Today I am back with some exterior photos!

The first morning we were at Feirin De I made J get up and go for a walk out to the lake with me so I could take some pictures and take in the scenery.  He was a very good sport as I traipsed through the foot of snow and took lots of photos (especially because he didn't have any boots on and I did!)

In the summer, these are beautiful blue hydrangeas.  In the winter, they are still beautiful but in a much more muted tone.

I had never seen the lake this frozen before.  Last year, we spent New Years with Ashlee and JY up there but the lake didn't look nearly as impressive then as it did this time!  As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snow and ice.  Even the waves had frozen in place, creating these mountainous ridges near the water's edge.

Here's a closeup of the ice mountain ranges I mentioned along with what looks to me like an iceberg frozen into place further out into the water.  These frozen icebergs sort of freaked me out when I saw them!

 

This is one of my favorite parts of the property.  It is the corner foundation for the original barn that was built around 1900 and all that remains of the structure.  I love it in the summer when wildflowers grow in and around it, but it looked pretty serene covered in snow too!

And the pièce de résistance of the property:  the big white barn.  It was this barn that originally led my grandparents and parents to the property.  While on their way back from getting groceries, my dad and grandma saw a sign on the main road that said "Barn Sale."  This caught their eye because they had never been to a yard sale in a barn before.  While they looked around, they learned the property was for sale and began dreaming how wonderful it would be to own a place like this.  My dad brought my mom and grandpa back to the property and the neighbor who happened to be the realtor stopped by and offered to give them a tour.  And the rest, as they say, was history.   

The previous owners had three horses (two ponies and a Paint) who called the barn their home.  When we bought the place, they left behind most of the items in the barn, including old newspapers, bridles, combs, hay and a tractor.  As a ten year old girl obsessed with horses, the horse paraphernalia were my favorite treasures.  

Last year we repainted the barn and added green trim to the windows and painted the door green.  We also put in new windows.  It is a dream of our family to one day convert this into a bed and breakfast or somehow incorporate it into a living space!  For now, it's a great place for kids to put on plays, store bikes, the riding tractor and golf cart, and other odds and ends.

I hope you are all staying warm today.  The ice and snow has stopped for the most part here but the roads are still a bit dicey.  Be careful out there!

Remember When Wednesday: Life's a Beach

And we are back with Remember When Wednesdays after a week's hiatus due to a bad cold I had last week.  With cold, cold temperatures this morning in St. Louis (six below with wind chill) I thought we would look at a variety of summer photos over the years to warm us up, even if it's just a little bit!

This first photo was taken on my parents' honeymoon in Jamaica in 1984.  I love this photo because they both look so young and happy and it makes me think of our honeymoon this summer (even if we went to Napa Valley and San Francisco and not the beach)!

This photo was taken in Michigan and based on my size in the photo, I'd say it was August of 1985.  Growing up in Illinois, my mom grew up vacationing in Michigan, a tradition that continues in our family to this day. There is a whole series of these photos including me sucking on my dad's unopened beer can (because it was cold).  I love those little pink sunglasses!

This next picture of my parents and me is again on Lake Michigan, August of 1986 (since I'm walking at this point).   If you look closely, I believe I have a Chicago Cubs t-shirt on.  I love the color of the sky in this photo and the little sailboat in the background.

This last photo was taken after my brother Dan was born (he's the little baby on the blanket under the umbrella) circa 1988.  I am standing next to my dad playing while my parents and aunt tan during a trip to Florida.  This photo makes me laugh because it truly looks like Dan and I are unattended while they sunbathe.  Nice short shorts Dad!

So there you have it: a beach themed round-up for a cold winter morning!  Do you have any summer photos to share (new or old) to warm us up?  Share links below!  Is it summer yet?

Snow Day

Image taken from here and here originally

If I worked at a school, today would most likely be a snow day.  But instead I am at work enjoying the winter wonderland outside our doors which I am 100% okay with because my sweet husband J helped me dig out and get to work this morning.

Our driveway is quite steep and we have already had difficulty getting out once this winter due to ice.  I was not optimistic when I started up my car this morning that I would make it and I was right.  Luckily, J came down and helped.  He too couldn't get my car up the driveway and ended up pretty close to the wall of our apartment in the process--he had to crawl out the passenger side to get out!

Luckily, we were able to drive over a little bit of snow-covered grass and use our neighbors' driveway, which J shoveled for them before we tried it.  I meanwhile scraped all the snow of his car.  He then drove me to work (which was great because being from Southern California, I'm not a huge fan of driving in snow!) and texted me a while later to tell me he had gotten my car out of the driveway safe and sound!

I am so grateful that J was there to help me and we made it out without a scrape.  I even made it to work on time, despite all of what we had to go through this morning!  I guess the moral of this story is that I don't mind the white stuff if it means J is there to help me!

Did everyone else make it safely to work or school?  I saw on the news this morning that the Northeast is getting yet another major snow storm.  Be safe out there and stay warm!

P.S. Stay tuned for a book review (and pictures of my newly organized bookshelves) this afternoon!

Ironic

Last night when I got home form work J was watching Iron Chef America.  It was a special holiday episode where the secret ingredient was eggnog.  The challenge had a little twist, however.  Two Iron Chefs faced each other in battle: Iron Chef Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto (usually it's just one challenger and one Iron Chef) and the chefs had to design ice sculptures as part of their dishes.  They had the help of a professional ice-sculpting father-son team to create the ice sculptures, however.  It was a very interesting episode and definitely fun to watch.

I thought little of it until I tried to leave this morning.  You see, St. Louis had been coated in ice over night and while J was able to get out and go to school (he parked on the street), I could not for the life of me make it up our driveway.  J came back from school and tried unsuccessfully as well.  We could make it halfway up the hill before we would stick and our wheels would spin and spin with nowhere to go.  Eventually we gave up, backed the car down the driveway, parked it in the garage and I drove J to school in his car. 

Looks like we are a one car family today--thanks Old Man Winter!  Was the ice challenge we watched last night a foreshadowing of weather to come?  Oh the irony...