I took a walk in January (you can still see the Christmas decoration hanging in the tree) when fresh fallen snow made the whole neighbourhood pretty.

Up the street from us is a strange cluster of houses, a small old (but not ancient) half-timbered house, a newish all-wood block house next to it, a building style that is unusual for the area which is mostly brick and mortar stuff between 100 and 50 years old.

That’s a typical house in our suburb, oldish, with sandstone framed windows, unadorned and utalitarian. Note, btw, all the snow on the roofs – a sign that the houses these days are well insulated and there is not much heat escaping on top.

That’s the same kind of house, newly renovated with pretty blue shutters but still fairly straightforward.

Back to our street – which is officially in a mixed suburb, i.e. residential buildings and businesses and old farmhouses (theoretically, they haven’t been used as farmhouses in a while) side by side. This building used to have an household appliance shop on the ground floor, now it’s occupied by offices where sun collectors are sold – the biggest display right on the front of the building, duly facing south.

And that’s our direct neighbour. A farmhouse with a two storey barn. It’s not in use, neither is the residential house in front. It’s probably an inheritance problem, we are happy if the heirs can’t make up their mind what to do with building. We are happy, it looks pictoresque, it’s quiet, and our cat loves to visit the residents that are still living there (aka mice and shrews).

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Other people’s houses

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