Food Houses.

A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless. ~May Sarton
Sienna & I have been learning about the importance of commas. They are needed for clarity when making a list. Clarity is important when you are trying to convey information accurately. For years I thought Americans were the most peculiar people on the face of the earth. Seriously; who in their right mind puts jelly on a sandwich?! O.k, I did finally work that one out but as a kid the only jelly I knew was the sort that wibble~wobbled on your plate & came with custard & icecream.

Not having travelled in America I have no idea how different American houses are to Australian houses ~ or European houses because I have been to Europe. I imagine there are both similarities & differences so this is a hotch~potch collection of the houses in my tiny corner of the world.

First off is our house, which is double storied in part, made of brick & has a tin roof. Tin roofs are fantastic in a thunderstorm. The rain drumming down makes a great tattoo on the tin & echos throughout the house. Lots of places like ours don't have a front fence to give a more open look but in our case we've used the footpath for years as an extension of our garden. Now our area is getting posher we can't do that so much but our veggie garden is still out the front because our house sits at the top of a hill looking over the water & that is the only flat area we have for the garden. My boys use the poinciana to dry their caste net.

Next we have a house that is along the lines of a more traditional *Queenslander*. These are always 2 stories high so the air can circulate underneath & theoretically help keep the house cooler, have 9' high ceilings [because hot air rises], & plenty of verandah space. The walls are usually *tongue & groove* cypress [which white ants don't like.] Originally the kitchen was a separate building built on the coolest corner of the verandah so the wood stove didn't heat up the entire house. I really like them but they have a tendency to get eaten out by termites. My aunt had cedar beams holding up her ceiling by the grace of God alone thanks to white ants.

This is one of the newer style buildings that are going up all over the place. The curved roofs are supposed to be cyclone proof. Jury's still out on that one. Lots of them are being built out of corrugated iron. Not my thing. I like the style but the iron idea is just ugly. The blue house alongside[which I tried very hard to omit from the picture] is an eyesore of a focal point because it can be seen from all over the place it is so ....bright.


I've included this one because this is my favourite house on the island. The owners built it themselves completely out of stone with inner verandahs & lovely natural timber trims. All houses should look as beautiful as this one. I am waiting to see what sort of a garden they now plant.
There are lots of these little one or two bedroom holiday shacks around that have been jazzied up for the modern market. They are very small & hot despite the renovations. This one has lovely views over the water to the west but I bet it heats up like an oven.

There is a two story modern building behind all that greenery but the fence it made of huge chunks of timber from the big trees they had to fell in order to put the house up. I think the fence looks terrific; far more interesting than the house, which is very dull.