05/31/2026
I have been struggling with loving my house lately.
Which sounds so ridiculous and crazy, I know. How many people are lucky enough to live in a restored, 1905 farmhouse in the prettiest little valley with gardens full of flowers? 25 year old Madeline would have killed me for even thinking of moving.
But there is one major flaw with this house, and that is the dirt road out front -AND- the quarry a mile down the road. During the rainy seasons, none of that matters, but in the summer, or during periods of draught, it’s like living through an almost constant dust storm. Each passing vehicle, especially the dump trucks visiting the quarry, spew out pillars of dust as high as the house and thick enough to make it hard to see more than thirty feet in front of you. All of this just twenty feet in front of our house.
I’ve contacted the city council and they don’t seem to care all that much. It’s incredibly disheartening. Each year, I’ve gotten more and more frustrated, and have fallen out of love with my house little by little.
So today, I needed to create this little reel, to remind me of the beauty that still exists here at Sugar Springs. It truly is a blessing to have been a steward in this 120 year old home’s history, and I will forever cherish our time here, whether that’s for one, five, or ten more years.