Thursday Thoughts...Does your Home have a Name?

You never know what is mulling around in my head on any given day, and lately I have been thinking about house names. Yes, some may see it as pretentious or even silly to give a house a name, but I think it is neat and old fashioned and helps to give distinction to our very ordinary modern homes. Houses were originally given names because street addresses did not exist, so your location was known by the name of your home. It could have come from the owner's name, the location of the house, the view from the house, what grew around the house, the owner's occupation, or just something whimsical.

In America, houses are not very often named, and those that are, are either historical or have some distinguishable architecture. It seems appropriate and not even questioned if someone names their quaint little cottage or bungalow, Honeysuckle Cottage or Beachview Bungalow. But what about those of us who live in suburban subdivisions? Do you ever see house name signs in a modern neighborhood? I don't mean signs that say the homeowner's last name, but honest to goodness House name signs.

I know that a house is not alive, but I do believe that it takes on an identity. After years of existing, it holds memories and feelings of those who have lived in it. I'm sure I'm not the only who has walked in a house and have felt negative vibes, pleasant vibes, or often, nothing at all. The latter, happening most often, but when you walk into a friendly house or an ill house, you certainly know it.

I have lived in many houses in my 37 yrs, as my parents moved us across country quite a few times and my hubby used to be in the Navy. I have never lived in a house that was named, but I have lived in a few that you could definitely tell were pleasant or not so pleasant. Our current home was new construction when we bought it almost 5 years ago. And although we did not design it, and there is a lot I would change about the layout, it is HOME and with every passing year I grow fonder of it and the surrounding land. We(myself, my hubby, and our children) are leaving our mark on it and transforming it to fit our needs and likes. It is taking on character that it lacked and growing gardens in once barren yard. Its walls are filled with constant chatter, laughter, dog barks, cat meows, and occasionally tears through out the day. By night there is audible dreams being heard and a rumble of snores permeating the walls. It may not have a heart, lungs, or mind, but it does have a soul, in fact quite a few souls live with in it, they are our souls, but this home of ours houses them. And by the Grace and Love of God we live here and I hope to live here for many many many decades to come.

So, does your house have a name? I'm thinking that our house should, but what? I can picture a small sign hanging out by the front fence that tells the world where we live. Do you have any suggestions? Anything pop into your head when you see the picture below?(please ignore the picket panel that needs to be nailed back up!). And just do give you and idea of where we live... it's small scale subdivision about a 1.5 miles from town, the houses are not right next to each other, we all have between 2 to 5 acres or so and it feels very rural without being way out in the country. The houses are 6 years old or younger and this land used to be old farmland(hence the farm dump in our back woods) but the original farmhouse no longer exists.

I wanted to share my coleus plants with you, I am blown away at this pot of plants. This was the first time I have started coleus from seed and I am amazed how easy they are to grow and well they are doing(much better than any plant I bought from the nursery).
And these guys were from seeds too, but I forgot their name. I didn't start any of my seeds inside, just put them straight in the pots out on the front porch.
And last, my first ever garden carrots!!! This was our first year trying carrots and we did lose half the crop early on,but the other half is doing great and just starting to come to harvest. The little bowl is full of coriander seeds, which I need to look up how to process or dry or whatever.
Whew! I know that was a lot to read and I'm not usually one for long wordy posts, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and see what you all think.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff