Colonial Williamsburg

I am helping my pregnant progeny and fam get moved within town to a smaller place.  The grandpa went back to AZ, so they can get to an apartment again, with a pool!  The young grandson, who is already 5 1/2, is so very thrilled.  About the treadmill.  He is thrilled with the pool, too, but is desperate for his very own treadmill.  They have a newly renovated gym and are willing to let him use the treadmill.  That caused his biggest smile of all.

There is a price to pay for all this lush, green forested foliage and blazing rainbow of flowering, towering trees. I'm in Williamsburg, VA. It's beautiful. From the confines of an air-conditioned space, it is wonderful. But outside, there is the blanket of warm moisture, a cloying, dripping humidity. And there are spiders everywhere, and webs spring up like mushrooms, overnight. You don't realize how many bugs there are until you see them, trapped in webs. And should you be unfortunate enough to spill water in your car, and to forget, the smell in a day will remind you of your clumsiness. On the other hand, it "rains" flower blossoms when it rains, and we saw purple rain yesterday.

The front yard squirrel clears the moss off of the 10 brick steps up into the house.  It is his job to do this every day.  He gets treats for keeping it clean, and yesterday, he enjoyed six perfectly sweet cotton candy grapes to reward him for his hard and vigilant work.  I never knew that squirrels eat green things, but it makes perfect sense.  The back yard has other squirrels but they do not eat the moss off of the steps, only the front yard squirrel does that.  So no treats for them.  We have a beautiful view of the nearly wild forest in the backyard, through the bank of windows that form all three walls of the dining room in this house. I will miss that view, particularly in the fall when the trees turn vibrant yellow, orange and red.  

But it's a quirky home, and much too large for this small family without grandpa here. The only regular doors are to the outside.  All interior doors are pocket doors, which do not seal out light and noise properly.  The house is 2600 sq feet but it has a horrible galley kitchen of 12 x 14.  A large mudroom off of that could have been used to enhance the space.  For people who cook, this is a one person kitchen and collaboration is a challenge. And this couple loves to cook together, so they will not miss this home.

There is a Jack and Jill bath between two of the bedrooms upstairs, with a nice shower stall.  Then the upstairs master has a separate bath, also with only a shower.  The only tub is down a flight of stairs on the basement level, off another bedroom space, which could also be a den area.  It's a kooky house.  To enter any bathroom, you must go through a bedroom.  Pretty sure the designer never intended parties.  3 actual bedrooms, 1 bath, and 2 3/4 baths, with Den in basement.  Really odd.  All entrances to the home require 7 to 10 stairs.  Also not good for the grandpa who chose this place, or the pregnant progeny. I dread the move on Sunday.

We have found a great Seafood Market, a fantastic breakfast place and a lovely French Bistro. Hopefully, when we get unpacked, we will get another trip to another beach, having enjoyed the Yorktown Beach, which is a "river beach".  The water was extremely warm, and while we enjoyed its briny warmth, grandson had some kind of hivey reaction at the end of our visit, so maybe we'll switch to an ocean beach next time.  I'd also like to see this whole "Colonial" thing and visit some of the historical parks in the area before we leave at the end of the month for our first family reunion in 15 years.  I like Virginia.  If they didn't have to have hurricane contingency plans, I'd say it would be a top ten retirement area.  We'll keep looking.