Three years ago today, Max and I arrived in South Englishtown Belize, a permanent move for us. We left Rochester, Minnesota and in fact we left Dennis there to tidy up some loose ends. He joined us in Belize 10 days later on Christmas Eve, 2012.
The beautiful home where Dennis and I lived for 20 years (and have since sold) - beautiful in the spring and summer.
But too often, the views included snow.
Fed up with cold weather - just look at Max's face in the photo above - we needed to live where the weather suits our clothes (click to listen to Harry) while you see why we made the move.
A glimpse of what brought us here 3 years ago. More to come in part 2.
The beautiful home where Dennis and I lived for 20 years (and have since sold) - beautiful in the spring and summer.
 |
| View from our neighbor's perspective. |
 |
| The flowers at their peak. |
 |
| Looking from our garden across our neighbors' manicured lawns to the farm fields and wooded hills across the road. Hard to beat this view. |
 |
| Another hard to beat view. |
 |
| Our shaded patio and back garden. |
 |
| Rosy dawn after overnight snowfall. |
 |
| Pretty sure I took this shot in late March; there are some disappointed daffodil leaves in that flower bed at the lower right. Way too much snow and cold for 5 months of the year. |
 |
| Max in the sunroom on a winter's day, trying to stay warm. Her strategy was to insulate with fat! She is much slimmer in her new home. |
 |
| Happy Max, looking out over the sea in her new home. |
 |
| Our first photo (scanned in from a 35mm negative) of the property we ended up purchasing in 2004. It starts waaaaay down the beach just after the palm that is leaning over the sea in the center of the photo and goes for 430 feet. |
 |
| Rosy dawn over smooth sea. Way better than over snowy field. |
 |
| Look at how the sunlight hopscotches along the undersides of the clouds. |
 |
| Black Creek in our new backyard. |
 |
| Our new view to the south. |
 |
| The vacation cabana before we expanded the veranda and started the addition. |
 |
| Racing home against the rain. |
 |
| A fine day for a sail. |
 |
| Another sunrise - happens every day. |
 |
| Backyard birds - adult and juvenile little blue herons. |
 |
| Hey look - the sun came up again! |
 |
| Local caterpillar. |
 |
| Local veg for roasting. |
 |
| Neighborhood birds - brown pelicans. |
 |
| Kiskadee vs tiger snake. Kiskadee wins. This time. |
 |
| Mellow Max. |
 |
| Basilisk lizard. |
 |
| Nutmeg fruiting |
 |
| Peppercorns. |
 |
| Tropical color. |
My NW Eurpopean genes would probably prefer Minnesota for living and Belize for vacationing..........
ReplyDeleteGood thing not everyone is the same, Stuart. When are you coming on your vacation? :-)
DeleteWow, what a lovely journey around your homes. There's no doubt that your previous home was beautiful but sorry, when you compare five months snowy weather with the warmth and natural beauty of your new home there is only one winner, those beach views are to die for.
ReplyDeleteLoved those summers in MN, but the winters were soul-deadening. Don't know how I lasted there for 20 years, to be honest. Now I wake up every day happy to be alive in Belize. Got to get the flower and veg gardens going here now; a fun challenge with big rewards.
DeleteYour pictures alone tell quite a story. My brother still has his house back in Rochester and says that the town has grown quite a bit. Another plus for the peaceful solitude that you now have.
ReplyDeleteWe love the serenity and the natural beauty here. Of course you can find those in MN, too, but Rochester has really grown. When we moved to Rochester in 1993, there was only 1 traffic light on our 5 mile route to work downtown. When we left in 2012, there were 6 and traffic was at least 6x heavier. Still nothing compared to the east coast!
Delete