My "Cottage" and winter in New Jersey

Christine Havers at 1,000 Words A Day has been posting such lovely snowy photos of winter in the British Isles that I feel compelled to post some of South Jersey, USA for comparison. We went for a walk in the park today and this was the typical scenery that greeted us.  Brown and yucky.  I know snow is inconvenient, but it does dress things up a bit.

I did capture a photo of two deer behind the college Thursday afternoon, however.  I was quite surprised to see such large does crashing carelessly through the woods just behind buildings swarming with humans.

Here's the partially frozen pond in the valley behind the college buildings.  The deer were on the other side of it.

I also have some photos of my "cottage."  That is, our house.  I realized that this year our house is fifty years old, which makes it not just old but an antique.  Whenever I am tempted to complain about it, I remember how many people in the world have no homes at all.  And I think of it as a modern cottage.  We don't have any quaintly thatched or timbered cottages here in the U.S., but we do have suburban leftovers from 1960 such as the one DH and I own.  (Technically, the bank owns it, but lets not go there.)

I remind myself how easy it is to clean and how nice it is that I can see the backyard from the kitchen, the living room and the office, enabling me to keep an eye on children and/or dogs.  We have very little entertaining room, as the entry, dining and family room are all one space.  But the yard makes up for that in summer time.

Here are some photos of the living/dining area, cleaned up today for company.  We are planning to paint the white walls a light, mossy green.  The built-in shelves are very cute.

The best part, though, is the corner fireplace.  As the Irish say, "There is no fireside like your own fireside."  Sitting in the leather recliner by the fire on a cold evening, with a mug of hot tea and a book, is one of the best comforts for the soul in the world.