Ian's 'hood

Since we were out with the camera today documenting the snow, I got some photos of our neighborhood. Here's our house, complete with cozy icicles (as you can see from the angle of the garbage cans, we live on a hill):

Looking down our block (also you can see in the back of our house here our deck, which is pretty high off the ground):

And here is our house with our sister house next door. Both were bought, renovated, and sold by the same person. Our neighbors next door are great and we're glad to have them:


The view from our front porch - note the bright green house on the right:

Our neighborhood is quite colorful (literally as well as in other ways). In addition to the green house above and the orange house in the background in Ian's snow photos, this big purple house is kitty corner from us. It was recently renovated by the couple that got us interested in the 'hood to begin with. They have a daughter who turns one this week, and is so far Ian's best prospect for a nearby friend his age:


And across the street from us, this house is in the final stages of renovation by our realtor. His family (with a 3 and 6 year old) will move in this spring:

Our neighborhood is a quickly reviving (very) depressed area. Lots of vacant homes in horrible condition are being renovated. This one is next door, and the last vacant house on our block to be fixed up. It is similar to the house above. We looked at it when we first got interested in the neighborhood, but were horrified to find ourselves climbing mightily from the back to the front of the house. An ill-advised addition on the back has dragged the whole house down with it. But a group has now bought it from the preservation society and it should be done and up for sale later this year:

This view shows some of the foundation work they've been doing, and some of the unfortunate angles the house has taken on:


It's a neighborhood that is both exciting and challenging, and always interesting. Hopefully Ian will enjoy growing up here!