Dolphin With Rabies

Life on beautiful Cape Cod.

Saturday, April 05, 2003

The Friday Five

1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life?
Including childhood houses, 14. Houses that I've lived in as a adult, 10.

2. Which was your favorite and why?

Probably my two favorites are the little house I live in now on Cape Cod (because I own it, and get to live on Cape Cod), and the decaying apartment in a decaying mill town in Western Massachusetts. (The mill town was said to have been cursed, and that would explain a lot.)

The little house I live in has wood everywhere and what's optimistically phrased as lots of potential, plus it marks a new stage in my life. I'm back in New England after being away for too long.

The decaying apartment is associated in my mind with all the new people I was meeting at the time and new things I was doing, it was my first real apartment as an adult. Also, parts of the house dated from the late 19th century, and there were all sorts of neat shelves and other details in the interior.

3. Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why?
Surely you jest. Stressful of course.

I suppose the aura of new beginnings is a tad exciting, but I hate everything packed away and upheaved.

4. What's more important, location or price?
It's usually worked out to be price. (Although living where I am now is really one of the greatest financial sacrifices I've ever made for a location in my life.)

5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)?
A sauna, preferably wood-fired and with a nearby pond to jump into. A fireplace, more land than I have currently (two or three acres would be about perfect), and about three or four or five more rooms than I have currently. More built-in cabinets and cubbies than I have currently, and more skylights. A sunroom to turn into a jungle of houseplants. A small greenhouse.

I envy people that have boulders in their yards, so I would like a boulder as well. I climb boulders when I encounter them on hikes, and want one for my own.

For day-to-day living, I go for a lot of Scandinavian style and clean lines, but I'd like to set aside one room to decorate like a New Orleans bordello.