My quest for home continues as Thor and I decided to pursue our dream of a home with a view of sunsets over the sea.
NOTE: People have been asking to follow our progress as Thor and I pursue our quest for our dream home with sunsets over the Salish Sea. So starting with my post of 5/21/22, we set out.
It seemed that every time Thor and I traveled, we would look for rooms with a lanai or balcony overlooking the sea, and hopefully a western view for sunsets. I grew up with at least peekaboo views of those sunsets over Bellingham Bay, and always loved that time of day to watch and meditate. So we decided we weren’t getting any younger, and started looking at houses with sea views in our area. We didn’t find houses that would suit us, so decided to look for a lot to build. At first visit last fall, this .85-acre lot on a high waterfront bank overlooking the Salish Sea had a great view of the sea and islands, but the lot itself had been illegally clear-cut and was very rough.
I did love the drama of winter storms coming in.
We decided to go for it, as the price was affordable (unlike most comparable sites). That was due to being DNR land that we had to acquire with a 50-year lease rather than buy outright. A lot of bureaucratic complications ensued — lucky us, the DNR had new staffing and was writing new procedures. So instead of 30-60 days, it took four months to finalize the lease. But spring has brought a rich outpouring of new green and a sunny outlook.
What you see above is a 50-foot buffer of replanted native species at the bank edge, which the previous owner was required to have installed after he cut the trees (he was also fined). Now we are required to maintain it and report to the county each year. That’s fine with us, as we are planning to restore most of the rest of the lot with native trees and bushes anyway.
We loving bringing picnics to sit by the edge and listen to the waves on the pebble beach below. Lots of bird life, and Bear dog loves to poke around and sample the fresh grasses.
One of the trees that survived the cutting, and a lovely lilac bush. (Thor recovering from shoulder surgery)
While we were waiting for the DNR lease finalizing, our builder Meshak Drew (who had done the addition on our previous house) talked with us about what we wanted in a home, and came up with this rough sketch. (Our final plans, ready to submit, are slightly different but close.) The great room will have a vaulted ceiling with big windows looking toward the sea. And the upper master suite will have a room to the side for my writing office “aerie” with windows looking out at bird’s-eye level. I can hardly wait to have the perfect “room of my own” as I write my novels.
It’s a calming, healing place. Here is Thor after his third surgery this year — shoulder replacement. We didn’t expect several health issues popping up after we started on this journey, but as I learned in my southern sojourns, “Es la vida.” (That’s life.) And we’re living it.
During the moving stages from our former home, we got help to move big garden pieces onto the site, including the cedar bench Thor had made and installed beside out creek. Now we can sit on it to watch the sea and the occasional sailboat or working fishing boat.
Lots of bird life! We see lots of swallows, hummingbirds, ravens, and gulls, of course. And eagles swooping right above us to their nest in the top of the neighbor’s fir tree.
Our site is just south of Semiahmoo Spit, a low peninsula reaching toward Canada, where I once participated in an archaeological dig as a high school project. (Back to my roots after all my rambles around the world!) From the spit, views to the west of the Salish Sea and nice tidal flats to walk; and east across the bay to Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters…
…and north toward the Canadian Cascades mountains.
We are very close to Canada. White Rock, British Columbia, looms rather incongruously past the hundreds of acres of undeveloped land across from our site. We call it The Rambles, and of course Bear dog loves roaming with us.
Signing off for now, with one of those treasured sunsets. Stay tuned for more progress!
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and a Pulpwood Queens International Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com