Toledo Bend Lake House

Another Christmas gift I am happy to share!

This one, for my clients sister of their Lake House in East Texas on the Louisiana border.  It's the perfect setting for weekend getaways and home to family gatherings, girls and guys weekends...water sports of boating, fishing and kayaking...  wildlife sightings and beautiful sunsets! 

  

When do we go??

Old Northeast in St. Petersburg, FL

When I was just two years old, my parents loaded up the family and  all of our belongings and moved to Florida!  

They had no specific plans, no place to live yet, and just a few job prospects... what they hoped to find was a lot of opportunity!  It turned out to be even better than they could've ever imagined!  

This is our first house...they rented it while they learned "the lay of the land."  Without their knowledge (just good instincts) Old Northeast, as it was known, with its narrow brick streets,  estate homes and close to the waterfront, was the place to be.   This house was built in 1920 and architecturally had Spanish influence with it's stucco walls, tile roof and window awnings.  We had just two bedrooms for a family of five, so the sunporch off of the dining room was converted to be my bedroom!

200 William Street in Geneva, NY

This was my parents first home in Upstate New York after they were married in 1947.  This April they will celebrate their 69th Anniversary!  

A little history... It was built in 1875.  My dad bought it under the GI Bill of Rights after WWII for $100 down and a mortgage of $6400!!  As a "multi-family" home, they rented out the upstairs for extra income.

They started married life with almost no furniture. They covered orange crates with fabric for end tables, exchanged wedding presents for a card table and four chairs that doubled (tripled!) as a dining table, work table and baby changing station! They had an "ice-box" for refrigeration... the ice man delivered the ice, and there was a hole under the ice-box in the floor so that the melting ice would drain into a bucket in the cellar!  Life was quite different back then!

My mom and dad lived there until I was born in 1954.  When my mom was in the hospital with me, my dad moved the family household and my two brothers to our next home on Packwood Road.

You can take a look at that home sketch and its interesting history on my previous post dated 4/8/15.

Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, TX

This sketch was a very special request for my son-in-law Hector.  It is framed with his Honorable Discharge certificate from the US Air Force.  

Wilford Hall Medical Center is located in San Antonio at the Lackland Air Force Base.  Hector was stationed here from 1991 to 1997 and worked with the general medicine / oncology and HIV units.   Ironically, he grew up in San Antonio and when he joined the Air Force he hoped to see the world!  Personally, I'm really happy he stayed here in Texas and is now part of our family.  I am proud of him for many reasons, but at the top of the list is for his service to our country.  Thank you, Hector!

Cat Mountain in Austin

I was so happy to be able to do this sketch for my daughter, Katie and her husband, Hector this Christmas.  

They've been married for just a little over a year and were so excited to finally buy their first home together a few months ago.  

Cat Mountain is an area, just outside of downtown Austin.  From their deck above the garage, fondly named "The Tree Top Lounge" they have a birds eye view!