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Started January 27, 2017 Dear Diary, Friends, and Families, After 15 years overseas, it was time to return to family in America, not just America, but Fresno, California, America. In the Fall of 2013 we were getting ready for the big shift. Our Bavarian house had been for sale for long enough that we knew, more or less, what the price might be when sold: substantially less than our investment, but we'd always known that was likely. As potential sales came closer, we started looking seriously at internet listings for Fresno homes. Our goal was an easily-maintained, one-story, safe, interesting house. There actually were quite a few that seemed possible, so Marianne flew over to do more looking at both temporary rentals and candidate purchases that might strike her fancy. Though it met few, if any, of our pre-agreed criteria, the mid-1930s house on Cambridge Avenue did strike her and I'm not sure other places ever had a chance. Here are the listing's pictures. While the house was move-in ready, we knew we were facing a number of necessary improvements, from a backyard with large parts needing serious work to expanding the garage enough for a second car. Inside, the kitchen appliances needed replacement and the small laundry area needed more thought. Throw in some painting, and everything would be done. As we moved through this "finishing" process, we reported to friends and family via our diaries. These were more stream-of-consciousness reports than the systematic history we had done in Pommersfelden, in part because we really did not know what all we might do or when. (In Pommersfelden, it was easy: do everything ASAP.) The following table provides links to those diaries and allow us to trace each of our Cambridge Avenue mini-projects:
And here is a set of pictures from the finished product (April, 2016). Of course, any home that is still occupied is never really finished, so I suppose we need to keep some spare space. |