I've been watching a lot of HGTV these days. TV choices at the Beacon Pointe condo are limited: the three network Cs, shopping, church, sports, cooks willing to be verbally abused, and far too many people performing idiotic stunts. So my default has become Home and Garden real estate shows. On episode after episode, people wheel through properties with their must-have lists,  ready to dismiss any house that doesn't have double sinks in the bathroom, granite countertops, kitchen cabinets built to the ceiling, stainless steel appliances, master bedrooms with a "WOW factor", and "designer" colors.

At least on "Selling New York", the prospective buyers are attractive, well dressed (if self-absorbed) experienced adults with budgets that begin at $2.5 million. For a $20,000 monthly house payment you should expect good appliances and a few "WOW" factors. But for twenty year old, self-absorbed couples in matching flipflops with budgets of $200,000, the whining, moping, and skewed expectations are off-putting.

When I was young (you can roll your eyes now) and bought my first house, we got what we could afford and adjusted. We cooked on electric stoves with 2 working burners, we slept in small bedrooms with cramped closets, we brushed our teeth collectively, and we filled ice cube trays, dripping all the way across chipped formica countertops into avocado green refrigerators. What the heck! When I bought my last house, we bought what we could afford and adjusted. We have, however, put a view at the top of our must-have list.

That view can be of the water, of a field, of a busy city street, of a garden, of a tree branch—but it must offer ample opportunity to look away and see beauty and order. In Eugene we were seduced by 1800 square feet, beautiful bathrooms, hard-wood floors and we caved. We did have a fenced garden view limited by tall arborvitae and a street view peopled by "interesting" local campers and semi-permanent RVs but that routine glimpse of distant beauty was missing.

When we moved to the 501, we gave up natural wood floors, 1000 square feet, and one and a half bathroom but we got back a view and I'm not sorry. Here are a few of my favorite views of distant beauty.


501 view from the bedroom




Eugene garden view





Lake Superior view




Vashon view





Happy New Year and may the Gators prevail. We're having Hoppin' John today—cause you can't have too much good luck for the coming year.

Hoppin' John