Today is a brilliant and sunny day here, although it’s about 18 degrees. Where I would once have refrained from leaving the house in sub-20 degree weather, I now recognize that a bright day is not to be missed, so I drove out to visit the site of our future house, henceforth to be known as SOFH.

On this sparkly day it was easy to see the tips of mountains in both directions, and the low winter sun casts long thin shadows but doesn’t obscure the open feeling that you get in that space. I stood in the place where the house will stand, turning my face toward the sun. I look forward to the house growing up around me there. It feels like a nice place to be.

But the SOFH is not just a sunny, flat spot. There is mystery as well. Down the hill, beyond a rock, sits a deep, dark wood… (Please read that in a very dramatic voice.)

Actually, it’s not super deep or super dark. But I believe from a seven-year-old’s perspective, this will be the site of high adventure. The land slopes steeply down to a sometimes-stream with mossy rocks. Once you head down into the ravine you can’t really even see where the house is, deepening the sense of mystery and quiet. For John and his friends to be within shouting distance but to feel as though they are off in the wilds? I love it. I don’t know who will live in those woods – pirates, Ewoks, dragons, who knows. But on John’s behalf I’m very excited about it.