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On May 15 2001 we move to Houston, Texas. The first month we spend in a hotel. We do not have any pictures of the hotel, but it isn't that special anyway. On June 15 we move to our 'own' house. A very nice and quite big house in western Houston. Close to Tim's office, a bit further from Marjel's (ca 15 miles). Most houses in our neighborhood are built in the late sixties - early seventies and that is especially obvious when you see the size of the trees. It makes the street nice and green and home to loads of animals (mainly birds and squirrels). Newer neighborhoods tend to have huge houses with small gardens and tiny trees that give very little shade. Not really our preference.
The middle picture shows our house from the front. The other two are views from our front garden into the street. As you can see the street is lined with tall trees and the pine trees in our front garden are a favorite spot for the neighborhood squirrels.
Below follow a few pictures from the inside of our house and the garden.
When you walk through our front door, you enter in our hall. Not a lot of interesting things to say about that.
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From the hall you walk into our living room. Our living room is quite big and has both a sitting area and a dining area. The room is at the back of the house and has a nice view of our back garden. Those of you who have visited Marjel in her last year in Aberdeen will recognize the bright yellow furniture.
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The living room has a high sloping ceiling with wooden beams, very rustic. The brick wall and fire place add to that.
In the background of the first picture you can see the door to the sleeping quarters (no pictures of those ....) All rooms in the house are on the ground floor, upstairs is only a large loft with air-conditioning vents and some room for storage (Xmas decorations etc.). From the opposite side of the living room you enter the kitchen and breakfast corner.
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The kitchen floor has beautiful tiles, and so do Marjel's hobby room and our 'library'. I believe they are more common in Mexico and are also made there.
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From the kitchen you can walk into Marjel's hobby room, back at the front side of the house and from there you can continue on into the library alias computer room. In this room we both spend a lot of time, browsing the web and editing our homepage.....
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And then at the other side of the library you are back in our hall where this little tour started.
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We might add some pictures of the rest of the house later ...
Garden
At the back of our house we have a very decent sized garden and a swimming pool! The garden has been neglected a bit by the family that lived here before us, so there are not too many flowers yet. But we are working on that. First a few pictures from the back of our house and the garden:
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We have planted a few new bushes in our garden, including a very colorful hibiscus and a white Frangipani. Both seems to be doing well and are still flowering now, mid October. We have also potted some geraniums to add some more color.
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The best part of the garden is the pool. Many summer afternoons are spent in the pool, sunbathing or a little more active.
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Three happy frogs guard over our pool. According to English folklore, frogs bring good fortune. Needless to say we hope this is true. But if not, they still look very cute.
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Down town Houston is not the most exiting place to be, unless you like sky-scrapers. For most Europeans who are used to going out in the city, enjoy a cup of coffee on a terrace (terrasje) etc etc, Houston will be a great disappointment. There are some opera houses and museums, but for the rest there is not really much to do. Nevertheless, for a day out it is not too bad - and I guess a must see, just to be able to tell you're friends you have been in a big city. Here are some pictures.
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