Farmhouse Idyll

From childhood, this style of house has been one of my dreams. I think a lot of Americans fancy it too. It's very common here in the South, especially in the countryside. ... this is what a lot of the old houses used to look like, even before the turn of the 20th century. They were not the homes of the wealthy, but rather homes to those country folk who might be considered middle class (although back then, the American class system was not so conducive to "middle class" as we imagine it today ... it was more like very poor, poor, a bit better off, and then fabulously wealthy).

Photographed this today while driving out with my grandma in Randolph County, not far from High Point (one of the international spots for fine furniture).

You can almost make out a man at the right hand corner. He called out to us when we stopped, "What are you doing in my yard?!" And I yelled back, "I love your house!" ... He chuckled a Santa Claus belly laugh, and said, "Alrighty then!" as I snapped my camera lens.

If I can't have a home like this one day, then I'll take one of the Celtic stone cottages instead please. The cottage might actually be cosier, to be honest!