I have decided to start a group on Facebook to keep alive the memory of the Buell's and their greenhouses. Please join me and share your pictures and memories of the Buell's and/or your visits to the greenhouses. The group's name is Buell's African Violets, Gloxinias and other Gesneriads just like his catalog front cover stated. Looking forward to seeing your comments, pictures and stories.

Laughter and Leah -- PLENTY of cherry bells to go around (I sure hope that's what these really are, but the young leaves, the location, and the reputation (as an aggressive spreader) all seems to dictate that's what's coming up gangbusters in my butterfly garden! Will bring them for both of you, and monarda (also unlimited supply) for Laughter. Leah -- I'm pretty sure it's dill coming up equally gangbusters, though it could be fennel (made the mistake of plunking them in next to each other last spring). I use them interchangeably in cooking ... will bring you some and you can see what you get. My dill fades in the heat of summer (but it DOES reseed like nuts) and I switch to cutting fennel for the kitchen since it seems to weather the heat much better.

So disappointing to see the rest of the pictures. I don't like the curtains or the gimcrackery. The funky fruit glass is ... funky, but the faux tchatchkarai doesn't do it for me. Sigh. I thought the dark bits of the floor were greener. The true blue that they are in the other pictures goes well with the delft, but is too Centenial for me. I actually like the proportion of it just because it is off. I like that the design is perfectly laid in its own space, and that the islands are placed correctly vis-a-vis the range, and if those don't like up, well, c'est la vie. There is too much perfection without it. Oh, well. I love Pyrolave anywhere, always, even with the very apparent seams. :) It's an environmental nightmare and unreasonable expense, but otherwise very practical. :) Thanks again for posting this. It makes my kitchen look sparse! Gotta love it just for that!

We finished a house in the Rocky Mountains (snowy, similar to your situation) on an uphill lot. We bought the lot years ago, and based our decision on things like orientation, view, the other lot choices and a trail running along the back of the lot (which was a plus for us). We might have purchased a downhill lot if it had all of the other features that we wanted. What we like, now, about an uphill lot. Our slope is roughly the same as the lot you're looking at - doesn't seem like much until you want to put a house on it. Our driveway has a slope, of course, but it isn't very steep. It gets snow buildup because of the orientation, but not icy and we didn't have any issues this winter with difficulty in getting up the drive. We have a ground-level entrance, which is much better in terms of snow buildup and shoveling outdoor stairs in the winter. Inside, a stairway (half a level, a turn, then another half level) goes from the entry up to the main level of the house. So yes, we have to bring groceries up stairs, but at least they're inside. We have a great outdoor space out back that's dug a bit into the hillside (about 2 feet or so), with hot tub, grill, tables and chairs, lounge chairs, etc. The view out back is the forest (similar to your lot); it's peaceful, and we love looking out at the trees and animals. I've found that the views are more enjoyable from ground level. (Our "main" house is a walkout basement with a deck, where the views are from one flight up.). One advantage that we didn't consider is that it's very nice to have ground-floor access out back. Spouse can go out to the hot tub without going down any stairs. And I can head out on the trails behind the house directly from our main area. It works very well for us. We only have a small deck out front, partly because it's a northern exposure and we thought it would be too cold for a bigger deck there. Turns out, that's not the case. But because it's a retirement house, our little Juliette deck is just the right size for the spouse and I to sit out front in the morning with coffee and the newspaper. As with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to an uphill or a downhill lot, but some of the factors may be different for you, based on how you would use the lot and the house you put on it.