Rose, my wife

Our Wedding Day

Hale-Bopp

Birth Plan

Weaning Isaac

Toilet-Training Isaac

Bunk Bed

Omi Marga

Dziadziu, my Dad

Felicia, my sister

Our Cottage

Waller Street

18th Street

pets

more pets

My sister, her husband, (and baby I guess) just bought a house in Alameda. The sale went through this week and today (Sat 29 June 2002) we visited, the first to have the honor. Here's what we saw.

It was a hot and sunny day, around noon. It's a two-story stucco building with big windows. Lots of light gets in. (You'll notice that windows are washed out in my indoor shots.)

As we walk up to the front door we see Adam on the staircase speaking to a friend of theirs, a contractor who will be providing touch-ups as needed. On the staircase to the top floor is a stained glass panel.

Here's their upstairs bathroom, complete with beautiful vintage fixtures. Note the pull-down shaving shelf. Now in the basement, Adam cleans the future guest room.

There's a great fireplace in the master bedroom. The tiles are really interesting, so I've provided a close-up next. There are several paint schemes inside; here you see the purple (which actually looks quite nice). Much of the downstairs is a yellow (or off-white in the sun).

Here is that tile close-up:

Rose was very, very impressed with the house. Isaac absolutely loved the empty house. He was able to run around without anyone worried about collisions or destruction. Lila, who doesn't yet crawl but will walk for hours on end holding our hands, played on cousin Ziggy's playspace.

But where was cousin Ziggy? It was his nap-time, so Felicia was walking him to sleep in his room-to-be upstairs, opposite the master bedroom.

Best of all, Fel had a portable baby box (think something to keep the pizza hot while it's being delivered to you). When Ziggy fell asleep he got popped in there. He slept during the screeching noises we made while tearing the nails out of the wooden structure you saw in the basement photo.

Back downstairs, Fel had a chance to snack while Isaac watched the goings-on. He loved the small garden in the back and the strip of land between the house and the sidewalk (which you saw in the first photo, above). There's a chance Fel and Adam will be able to make a wrap-around garden, depending upon the location of their property line along the driveway which you also saw in the first photo. That would be a very nice garden for a small boy, indeed.

There's much I didn't show. The kitchen has a multi-sink installation and an electric stove, both of which are to be changed. And the garage will wind up being Adam's soundproofed music studio. And I didn't take any garden pictures. Next time I'll have to charge the camera batteries before running out of the house. Sorry. Anyway, I hope this serves as a good introduction to the new house for those of you far away.