Nothing spectacular has been happening at Westview Bungalow as far as home renovations have gone. I have been growing some plants from seeds on the front porch over the summer so that the plants are ready to be put in the ground in the fall. The summer has been very rough on the garden – we've had many plants die due to the lack of rain. A large number in a bed we planted in the spring, and even some that were planted last year. No rain and 2 straight months of highs no less than 90F will eventually pay a toll, even if you attempt to water every now and then.






Patrick tackled the bathroom built-in drawer again. It got two coats of paint, but I think it'll need a third. Then the drawer pulls can go on!




And lastly we've added a new family member – Foster! We came back from a neighborhood meeting and the petite girl sat meowing on our front path. To avoid 10 million more stray babies on the street we managed to catch her and bring her in the house. We named her "Foster" because we intended to find her a new home, but of course one thing led to another and Buster now has a sibling.




There were some serious fights between her and Buster after she got fixed. Little did we know that cats hate anesthesia. Thankfully as the anesthesia/vet scent wore off the two went back to being playmates!

This year we decided to try onions and potatoes in the vegetable garden. In previous years we did tomatoes and bell peppers, but we were always battling blight with the tomatoes. We also don't use that many tomatoes in the kitchen, so we picked crops that seemed more useful.

We ordered our potatoes from Ronniger Potato Farm (www.ronnigers.com). They carry a wide variety, so we chose a couple that sounded good. Carola was our first selection. These are a very typical German yellow potato. Our second selection was Red Pontiac. This one we selected because it was supposed to do well in the south. We also decided to test some regular Russets we bought at the grocery store.

The potatoes popped right up and grew really well during the spring. Our hot summer however caused them to die a little early, but I think we got a nice little crop for our first attempt. We still have some in the raised bed along the side of the house. We'll see how long they can hold on.





For the onions we just grabbed a bundle of Texas sweet onions from Lowes. They should have gone in the ground earlier, but we still got to enjoy some tasty onions from the garden.



The big bed has been replanted with pumpkin plants we grew from seeds. They seem to be really healthy, so hopefully come October we'll have some nice fall decorations. We grew the plants from a pumpkin we bought last year at Jaemor Farms (www.jamsjellies.com) in North Georgia.

Most of the time it's annoying when a government agency doesn't update their files regularly, but occasionally it can be a blessing. The local tax assessor is still using photos from the 80s as their "current" house photo database. Since we don't really have any historic photos of our home we're clinging onto this 1988 tax assessor photo as our "historic" photo.

It's crazy to see that the oak tree in the front yard was nothing more than a little stick, and the hedge facing the sidewalk does not exist yet. However, the bush next to the driveway and the holly bushes next to the steps are already there! The screened in porch had already been removed when we bought the house.

Our house, 1988:




Our house, 2010:

We know, we know... we have been horrible about updating our blog. Things have been busy, and for a while we had a little side project going on that took up most of our time. However, 2010 has been a really good year for us and Westview!

Our best friend in the whole wide world moved in down the street in a beautifully renovated bungalow. (She grew up in Atlanta, but moved away 11 years ago. It is great to have her back!)



Our garden/plants have really started to grow in. Check out the backyard!



And the landscape strip by the street...



The grape vine we planted three years ago finally has grapes. (And a LOT of them!)



We're also getting closer to finishing the front door our friends Josh and Carl gave me for my birthday last year. Finding the hardware has proven to be a challenge, but we are getting very close.



Westview completed the first step in our master planning process, and the BeltLine is in the process of also creating a master plan for the southwest area - which includes Westview.



The neighborhood also turned 100 years old this year, so on June 26th we're having a big celebration for the centennial! If you are interested in moving to the neighborhood or just want to visit please feel free to join us. The full info is on the Westview website.