Back from closing

We arrived back in St Louis bleary-eyed from the closing at 8:30 this morning. We’re both in something of a surrealistic haze, but we have successfully completed the close! We are now property owners! I feel so chicken-shit bourgeois.


All sleepless nights, early mornings, road rage incidents and that new Southwest mad-dash to the gate aside, it wasn’t abad trip. We did what we set out to do, and everything is now on track for our move into the house in early June.

Closing fast approaching!

With the closing date just one week away, we’re still waiting on the termite inspection. We spoke to Jack (the tree guy) the other day, and unfortunately, the maple tree closest to the house will have to come down. While we’re disappointed to lose one of the three trees on our property, it will open up the garden to a bit of direct sunlight.


We went to the Missouri botanical garden over the weekend to get some ideas about how to plant a Victorian garden. Their English Woodland Garden is packed with shade-loving English flowers that are just perfect for the backyard. As we were walking through the Victorian gardens, it occurred to me that my image of the ‘perfect’ English garden is entirely formed by reading ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Not a bad theme for a garden, to be honest.

On the house front, Pat will be letting Mike (the builder) into the house on Wednesday to poke around the basement. We’re a bit worried about this one.