All the Pretty little Houses

We are surrounded by beautiful things here in the Bay Area. It's true. There is some raging natural beauty around her that can really just take your breath away.

California Poppies

Of course, with all this beauty, there also comes a lot of people who want to live here, followed by rents and mortgages that will take your breath away. Really. Just suck it right out.

But the benefit of all this money being in one area is that there are so many lovely homes. And as I was taking the boys for a walk the other day I wanted to share these little houses with everyone. So, here are some photos that we saw on our walk. Enjoy.

What is it about a little yellow house that makes me so darned happy? I think it may have something to do with Anne of Green Gables. She was born in a yellow house. With honeysuckle growing over the door. I just recalled that from memory. I may have revealed too much about myself just now.

Every single time I walk by this gate I love it. I truly love it. That little peak into the backyard, and the roses blooming in the center. I'm probably going to have to copy this some day. I have a big binder full of pictures and scraps of stuff for a house someday. You people who own homes should really appreciate the luxury of being able to nail things into the wall and paint things at your whims. I can't wait. Zach probably can though.

The lovely little gray house with pretty windows. This isn't a very good shot, as I was trying to cross the street with the stroller at the time and their was loads of traffic. But whoever these people are, they have really great landscaping. The pink blossoms are so nice agains the gray, don't you think? There is always a shot of color with several shades of greens. Nicely done.

Again, not a very good shot (do you like the stop sign?) but this may very well be the cutest house outside of Switzerland or Disneyland. The stone wall, the shutters, the groves of trees. It's practically perfect in everyway. And yet, I don't think I could live here, because that much cuteness really must affect your life in weird ways. Like buying a teacup poodle instead of a duck, drinking water from Fiji instead of filtered tap, and starting a collection of cherubs figurines, instead of... not.

So there you go. A walking/sitting tour of houses that I would need to sell one of my vital organs to afford. What do you think the going rate is for a kidney these days?