A Walk through our Yard – Early Spring
When our family moved to Fauquier in 1976, the only house available was a two-bedroom bungalow with an ugly lean-to serving as storage area. It looked more like a summer cottage than a house having only a total living area of about 100 sq m. The yard is huge by comparison with a length of 100 m and a width of about 30 m. The back half of the lot was completely undeveloped. Wild Russian poplars and the odd cottonwood covered the mostly swampy land.
It was obvious that the house would not be large enough to accommodate our family of seven at the time of our move from Alberta. My father-in-law had to have his own bedroom during his visit in Canada. The four boys took the other bedroom and slept in bunk beds. Biene and I slept in the tiny living room on a couch that we converted into a bed for the night. In the spring of the following year we added a double wide mobile home to the house with a breezeway connecting the two units. From one moment to the next we had two bathrooms, two living rooms, and even two separate kitchens. Year after year, as our limited financial resources would permit, we made improvements to house and property, which included a sundeck, a sun room with pantry, a new roof over both houses, and a large garden. I planted two apple trees, two pear trees and several plum trees after clearing the land. But the best and most precious thing for Biene was to have her dream fulfilled. She finally has her own studio, which our son Robert built for her in 2009. This is the place, where she can be away from the distractions caused by phone, computer, TV and the constant reminder of things that need to be done. Here in the quiet surrounding of her studio she lets her creativity inspire her to paint or draw animals, flowers and portraits. Biene will one day showcase on her own blog bieneklopp.com some of her work by setting up a virtual gallery.
Now let us begin our early spring walk through this beautiful place on the hill overlooking the Arrow Lake.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 