Belvedere Updates (the poop and scoop)

Too much is happening in my life to spend time sitting at the computer, so I apologize for not writing much. We have lived here 3 and half months now. Somehow, I want to feel more settled than I do. It takes a long time to feel "at home." Here is the news as far as I know:

The Neighborhood
We are going to get two new neighbors this month! The house behind us went under contract, and the house two doors down. I have heard that one more townhome needs to be sold and then the townhome row will be finished. Yay! I am so tired of looking at the unfinished homes. Hauser has lowered the price of the homes in Belvedere so if there are readers out there lurking and looking for good prices on homes, have a look.

The Construction
The home across from my house and the one next door are almost complete. Great, I am so glad. I have not liked living with all the construction although I knew that I would be living with all this. The guys are totally friendly and it is lovely to see the homes completed. The one next door to me is huge, definitely a party house, with a wet bar next to the kitchen. I walked in there the other day to see what the workers have been doing. They had finished installing a most gorgeous kitchen with this little room off of it that had places for glasses and wine bottles above a little sink. My grandparents had one of those. But to be honest, the construction noises and mess are really grinding. Bret and I agree that it causes constant "low level stress." Sorry Stonehaus. Luckily it doesn't last long in the scheme of things (like the rest of our lives), so for families considering buying into Belvedere, it isn't that bad. Just prepare yourself and you can always come over here and be comforted.

From listening to my neighbors, I would say Eagle is doing a great job supporting the Church Hill homes that have punch lists. I have not heard where they are going to build next although I know they are discussing that.

I have been following Stonehaus's efforts to find funding for the Town Center. Apparently there is interest in that project because of the apartments that are projected to be built. This is something we all want here in the neighborhood so that is one of my biggest concerns besides getting more neighbors! It seems to me that Belvedere is still unfolding in a good way, only slower because of the credit crunch and recession. The carriage house units with apartments above them are a big interest to people who want to work out of their homes.

The Land and other Ambiance
The other day, three hot air balloons made their way directly overtop our house, and many have chosen to land in our neighborhood. I love this. Those balloons are really amazing. I often sit outside with the birds, too. The bluebirds are really wonderful. This last month, flocks of starlings were here although I think they have moved on. The trail system is continually being worked on. The other day I popped out of a trail only to find a interesting group of workers starting up a strange type of riding mower machine that is good at cutting trails. "Hey," one guy yelled to me, "are you Kate?" "Yes!" I said back, pleasantly surprised. This guy read my blog! Thanks Sean. It is fun to be a land steward. "Is this the Zone?" he asked. "No, the Zone is over that way!" I said, pointing north and west. I gave them an overall orientation right there on the spot. There are still areas of trash that need to be cleaned up, too.

The overall vision is still holding, at least as far as I can tell. There is playground planned for across the street from me on the green lot that is part of Fairview. The swimming club and Stonehaus have some agreements that I am not clear on, so I can't speak to them. I am looking forward to having more children here. We are not using the Village Green much except for kite flying and dog walking. Several four wheel vehicles decided it would be fun to tear up the land behind the village green one night and one truck got stuck. I also see evidence of fourwheeling on the flood plain, and we have heard hunters, too, shooting. I would like Stonehaus to look into these things and impose fines on people if they are caught. I am often down on the flood plain, and hearing the gun shots is not encouraging.

The trail system is lovely. I often run down to the fields next to Dunlora and back. This is called the greenway on the Belvedere trail map. Every time I am out on the land I encounter deer and sometimes other animals, too. I always find a nature treasure to bring back home. I just wish I had more time to explore.

That's all for now. I have started working out of my carriage house. I am massage and craniosacral therapist and specialize in the perinatal period. I will post separately about my work as a therapist and an educator. I have a lot going on in my work life and I want Belvedere to benefit from that.