Your pictures are magnificent and your DH has such incredible talent & skills!! These days you don't hear of many people that can do the things that he has accomplished with the incredible structures on your property! You have part of your town's history with "the back steps that came from the old Clinton Town Bank". Plus, the "two stone fireplaces that were originally from an old Inn where Lafayette stayed centuries ago"!!! I'm in awe!!! Do you have give tours of your property and gardens? If not, you should definitely consider it!!
Brugie - where in Maryland is your DH from? I didn't realize that he's originally from the East Coast. I just assumed that he was from Iowa.
Brug Update
I keep coming back hoping to see more gorgeous pics of your home and garden, Diane
I love the old world flavor......Please keep them coming... :)
Diane, you have a lovely home and yard. The barn is very pretty too. Much talent there on both your DH part and yours! Do you bring your brugs in the barn for the winter? I'm thinking I may have to do that too since I don't have a greenhouse yet. Sandra
I also just checked out where you are on Mapblast. I can't believe that we were right near your town as we drove North on Interstate 95, LAST WEEKEND! We were on our way to Boston.
You are so lucky to live along the Ct. coastline, which is so beautiful! Plus, in such close proximity to Mystic Seaport!! I LOVE Mystic, CT!! Talk about a quaint, charming, old New England fishing village!!! I'm soooo jealous! :~)
Oh Diane I need a barn just like yours-my hubby just loved it too. Maybe your pics will inspire him to build me one for my brugs. joke huh- well when that happens I'll have the biggest brug swap in the nation! LOL
Your hubby is so talented-do you rent-a-husband? Just kidding Your place is tooooo gorgeous.
Sharon
Shirley, my DH was born in Iowa and lived here until he went into the Navy in his teens. He came back here to go to college and then back into the Navy and only visited Iowa to see his mom. He married and lived in Lexington Park for about 15 years before coming back to Iowa in about 82. We haven't been back to Lexington Park for several years, but hear it is really growing fast.
Okay..gonna post two more pics and then we better end this thread before someone complains and I get kicked off this forum for posting off topic...
Here is John working his forge making hardware for the barn doors..
Your garden is beautiful, Diane, & your husband is beyond impressive.
I wish you could continue your husbands' talents in another forum tho I don't think "handyman" or the "tool shed" would do him justice. Hmmm..... Maybe his own cable show?? :)
LOL Tarkus - here is a final pic of the stone wall and steps that will border one side of my new garden-to be. These steps go down the other side of the wall and will lead into the garden..
Thanks again for all you nice comments and for letting me share - I thank God everyday for letting me share my life with this remarkable man...some day..in another forum maybe? ..I will tell you all the remarkable story of how we got back together after 26 years of separation (John was my first love when I was 16 years old)....
Diane
After letting out that teaser about how you 2 got back together (after 26 years?!?)...Some day better be soon...lol
We all love the gardens but we all love to hear about the folks behind it all. I'm in the trades but after seeing some of your hubbys' work, I feel like a child in comparison.....lol
that is just lovely I wish my jean pasco would do something she is big and lush has Yed but has only had one bloom and it wasn't tri colored like yours.
Diane, you have to tell the story -- your home is already a fairytale! After all, this is Brugmansias and FRIENDS! Can't wait!
Terrie
Diane
Your home and gardens are so lovely. I love everything about your place. Your DH is so talented. You are so fortunate to have someone like that. I think the barn doors are fabulous. My daughter and her husband live in an old home built in 1914 and the garage is falling down,. They want to build a new one but put really old looking doors on it. He just had his porch redone in the front and used cedar for the underside of it. Did your DH have plans for those garage doors? I would love to show them to my son-in-law. I think that is just what he is looking for. Again everything is just lovely, thanks for sharing the pictures.
Sami
Wow .. what a beautiful home and grounds. Absolutely beautiful!! Need to send photos to House Beautiful or something!
Now you can tell "The rest of the Story"!!
Diane , you teaser =)
Come on , fess up ! Remember , this is your thread so you can post what you want , when you want , and how you want .
I'm sure others , like me , dream of a place like yours (and a talented , inspired , passionate DH too ).
Okay..well, it's an amazing story - I'll try to make it as brief as possible:
In the summer of 1970 I took my first job as a babysitter for a single mother of a 9 year old boy and two 10 year old twins. The lady I was working for was twice divorced and had a few grown children, one daughter whose name was Susie, was 26 yrs old and was married with 3 young boys. Susie's and her husband Curt would stop by her mom's house several times per week and I got to know them quite well. One day Curt said to me, "ya know I have this friend who is a photographer (yes, John is also an accomplished photographer) and he would love to take some pictures of you - can I bring him around?". "Sure" I said. A few days later he brought John down with his camera and he did a photo shoot of me after I was through babysitting that day. John was 22 years old, had shoulder length, curly dark hair -- I was smitten at first site! But..I had two problems - first his age (6 years seems like a big gap when you are only 1 month from turning 16) and secondly - he had a current girlfriend who was several years his senior.
Well, a month or two went by and one day he called me to say his girlfriend had broken up with him and would I like to go out. I danced home that night and begged and pleaded with my mother to let me see him. Finally she caved and we started dating. I was so in love with this man! We went out for a little over a year and then John made a foolish decision. He decided I was just to young to be so serious and he broke up with me. It was a gentle, amicable breakup and you would think that would make it easier on me..but it only made it harder - no impossible - to get over him. And I never did. John went on to marry a girl his age 2 years later (I heard about this one day when I bumped into Curt at a local store -- this spawned another month of crying myself to sleep). But slowly I recovered and in 1976, I married a stable, responsible man I had dated for a year or so. I was pregnant with my first child when I married and I knew that I was far more ready to be a mother than to be a wife. I cared deeply about my husband, but was never really "in love" with him. Still I remained in an unfullfilled marraige, faithfully, for 21 years. Now all during my rocky marriage I thought about, dreamt about and talked about the one true love I had ever known to close friends, even my husband and even my children when they became teenagers and talked with me about their first love and heartbreak. Then in 1994 after talking about John to a co-worker going through a heart wrenching breakup with a boyfriend and as I was surfing the net at work that day, a popup ad on a web page read, "Looking for a lost Love? Click here.." On a whim I clicked on the link and it brought me to one of those peoplefinder pages. I typed in "Krny" (John's unusual Slovak name). It brought up a list of all his family members and him and I saw he was still living on the same Street in Clinton where I had known him. Next to another family member was a lone email link - so I clicked on that shot off an email to that person asking if they knew John and if he and his wife still lived in Clinton (I already knew they did :-) ) He wrote back the next day to say he was John's cousin and that John and his wife had been divorced for more than 20 years and yes, John still lived in Clinton. I nearly fainted off my chair when I read that. I wrote again and asked him to give John my number and ask him if he remembered a 90lb redhead that used to ride around on his motorcycle and if he didn't he was older than I thought! and I gave him my number. John called me the next day and we talked for an hour on the phone. I asked him to meet me for coffee because I was SURE if I saw him I would wonder what I ever saw in him and MAYBE I could finally get some closure and go on with my life. But that didn't happen. John had not changed at all - and the moment I saw him I knew I still loved him. He felt it too but was in a long term relationship - and I was still married. Now I am not the cheating, lying sort -- so I had to make a decision - and I chose to finally live my life for me. My children were 15, 17 and 19 years old - now it was time for me. I left my marriage, John broke up with his girlfriend and the rest as they say..is history.
When we were dating 26 years earlier, John was planning to build his stone house, but I had never seen it. The first time I did - I cried because I saw so much of his soul in it and I knew he had handled each and every stone in the place. I LOVE this place - as I love him - deeply, completely and with my entire heart and soul. When we pass on, our ashes will be spread on this property together - so in a way..we will always be here.
Diane Krny
Boy, I don't know about the rest of you, but this brought tears to my eyes. Wonderful story Diane. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to make, but for you, obviously the right decision. I'm happy for you both. I have to say.....I sure would never have guessed your age. You look so young. Must be the red hair. LOL!
Tears in my eyes ... thank you for sharing your story with us.
Ditto to everything Brugie said. What a beautiful story and I am so happy for you and John.
Terrie
Beautiful story, Diane. Thanks for sharing.
Man Alive! I love this! I am new to the Plant Database, looked up'brugs' because the "Equador Pink' was on Gardener's Diary this morning and the lady had one that was gorgeous. You all give me the goosebumps. I laughed myself silly yesterday at the 'guard' dogs, then today I find this!
My 17th anniversary is this Sunday to my 2nd hubby and my only soulmate. I am a struggling artist-new landscape designer and also opening a new real estate company (after being unemployed for two years). We are so poor- but so happy. My hubby would kill for that barn and I would do the same for all of it. The best part is you both appreciate what you have.
Charley knocked my awning down and broke the beautiful flower on my Echeveria 'Lola'. Just had to tell someone who'd care.
Thanks to all of you for this great website.As to the rambling subjects-we are much more than gardeners-but gardeners are VERY special!
Hi Smooth. Welcome to Dave's.
Welcome to the brug forum. Love to hear about our new members. Hey, how about a picture of this plant you mentioned. I've never heard of it.
Shirley, I'd never heard of it either so I looked it up. LOL It's a succulent.
WOW Diane, what a story. I know you must feel like you are in paradise. The house/barn and gardens are unbelievable. (do either of you have a 'real' job?) Thank you for sharing.
Linda
What a story! I'm glad you two are together at last.
Thanks Ada. I guess it is a good thing that I'm not into succulents. I would have to get yet another plant then. LOL!
Thanks for the well wishes everyone -
Linda - yes, we both hold down full time jobs. John works programs and maintains phone systems and designs electronic test machines the machine components his company manufacturers. I work as a telephone sales rep for a company that sells CD and DVD duplicators. In our "spare time" (yea, right..) we both dabble in geneology research and photography. We have done several wedding photo jobs for friends and family - most recently my middle daughter, Amber, who was married on July 17th. I shoot a digital SLR camera, John shoots film - I edit everything in Photoshop. Here is a photo I took at our our house during a "formals" shoot we did a week before the wedding
Wow, Diane...
What a love story... That'd make a movie. "Camalot" :)
Wow Diane, you have a beautiful daughter. Your SIL isn't too bad to look at either. LOL! They make a great looking couple.
Wow, Diane! What an awesome story -- thank you for sharing!!! You are truly blessed :) Gretchen
Diane,
You can certainly tell that Amber is your daughter. She is lovely.
Terrie
Great picture of your daughter and SIL, Diane. She's beautiful and he's handsome.
Diane:
Thank-you for sharing your incredibly beautiful story which has touched my heart. You and John are blessed to have each other.
To Brugie:
About that succulent- the Family is Crassulaceae, Genus is Echeveria, and the Cultivar is "Lola'. Its on the database under Echeveria. It is a ghosty mint green and looks like the "hens and chickens". The flower was medium pink, and it was looking so happy til the awning fell on it. I am embarrassed to say I don't know how to send you a picture. Do I need a scanner? I am pretty new at all of this gardening ( about 3 years) and way behind all of you, but have been accepted into the MG here in Gaston County and am very excited about it. I really love the pictures you all send of the brugs and also the succulents- although mine don't look like those yet!! I'm learning.Thank you all so much for taking the time to share.
Smooth, that is a cute little thing. I had some hen and chicks one time that bloomed and I was told that the mother plant would die then. Sure enough, it did and the babies kept growing. Is that how it works with the one you have? If so, I sure hope you had babies to carry on.
What a fun thread. I have not been able to spenad much time here lately and am missing so much! I just love all the pictures. I bet this house looks fantastic when surrounded by snow also. I would think it would make a great Christmas card!
An amazing story, an amazing house. Thank you so much for this thread.
Diane...Hello and thank you for a wonderful love story. You have a dream home and the barn is a dream. The gardens what can I say but wonderful.. Hope to talk to you soon.. Blessings and joy cinnabon/Ruth
Oh my gosh.. I stumbled on here quite by accident- I clicked on an email link and my computer took me to the incorrect place- but wow, so much better than where I was going! Diane, pictures of your magical home & Garden were enough to keep me looking for more- and then, to read that incredible story. My goodness. It was fate. I'm so glad you are happy and with your true love.
Susan McCoy