Welcome to my world - here we go! Down the curving driveway to the house, the garden, the hills.

First, past the long, curving row of pine trees shielding the house from the oh-so-busy (NOT!) street.

A perfect place for hiding, exploring, and playing, they have seen years of games.

Here’s the well - yes, we actually have a well that gives our house water because we live way out on the border of town, but the pump is fake.

First past the front garden, aka the “green garden”, it has shades of muted greens and purples all spring, summer, and fall.

Now to the front garden. Ordinarily a more colorful garden, even between blooms I like watching the plants develop and thrive. Though under constant attack from deer, they have persevered.

The Big Hill - home to winters of sledding and summers of rolling. Along with the view, it’s my personal favorite part of the yard – the only problems are trudging back up in the snow or stumbling back up in a cloud of dizziness. 

On the border of our property and the neighbors sits the old red bench. The perfect place to rest in the shade on a hot day, the old red bench has sat there since before we bought the house. I have no idea who actually owns it because the people next door are new here and are the third owners since we came. The bench is just a mystery! But the cracked, peeling paint somehow makes it look all the more inviting.

Land of the purple trees! When I was little it used to amaze me that we actually had trees with purple leaves - amazing! I wonder what kind of trees they are?

Down at the foot or side of the hill is the perfect spot for football games, soccer games, tag games, birthday laser tag games, or even just walking.  On a misty morning or afternoon, you can see groups of deer quietly munching the lawn, a fluffy rabbit nibbling away, or a not so fluffy mole tunneling around. In the evening (hunting time, for them), you might even catch a glimpse of a bobcat prowling around once in a while. Quiet, shy, and elusive as they are, a glimpse is all you’ll get before they go padding back through the yard and slinking into the brambly forest. 

The deck is the perfect place for a picnic, barbeque, party, or just a quiet moment; it has the best view in (or, rather, out of) the house and plenty of places to sit.

This breathtaking view is where I watch the sun rise. On bright days the sky slowly lightens in the morning, becomes pastel pinks and blues. In the evening, the sunset stretches out and stains the sky with purples and oranges and sometimes even fiery reds. Even on the gray days it is beautiful watching the world lighten and soften or darken and quiet. I love watching the sheep file in and out of the barns, listening to their bleating and the soft lowing of cows. At night you can watch tiny lights of cars zipping through the street that winds in and out of the trees. Sometimes, we’ll go out on the deck at night to watch the darting fireflies and the glittering stars, listening to the creaks and croaks of grasshoppers and bullfrogs and the howling of dogs and coyotes. The night sounds are best in summer, but it’s hard to see very well, so my favorite time to watch the valley is in fall, when it looks like an enormous quilt of colorful, warm-colored foliage you can see divided into plots.

Finally, the sunset from across the way lights up the sky. The perfect end to an evening.

Kathryn Blanco is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

All photos courtesy and copyright Kathryn Blanco