We arrived safe and sound in our new location — Boise, Idaho. Located in the southwest corner of the state, Boise is situated in the Mountain Time Zone and enjoys all four seasons without overdoing any of them — temperate.
We did our homework before choosing our new location, checking the crime rate, income tax, property tax, local/state government, history, cultural offerings, and outdoor adventures.
We leased our 100+ year old home — sight unseen — and landed right side up! We plan to take our time finding a home to purchase; thoroughly researching where we do/don’t want to live in the Boise area. In the photograph below, our little cottage is on the left of the two-dormer home.
In the short time we’ve been here, we’re already head-over-heels in love with the bicycle and dog intensive historic district where we currently reside. A stone’s throw from an off-leash dog park, yoga studio, library, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Boise State University — places that are important to us.
Within two days our house became a home. I define the difference as follows:
- House — a structure.
- Home — a safe place with emotional attachment; it has less to do with the physical structure, and everything to do with positive, loving energy.
If a house is a place to hang your hat, and home is where the heart is, where is your heart?
© Laurie Buchanan
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Tuesdays with Laurie 
Laurie, It sounds wonderful and I’m so happy that you’re happy! Your neighborhood looks just like mine … almost a park setting with lots of trees. Happy home coming to you.
Joan – I tried to capture the historic “flavor” of the neighborhood with this shot. It’s such a neat area, and we’re really enjoying the neighbors that we’ve met so far.
I so enjoyed entering this transition with you, Laurie. And I love that little cottage. I like the way the two of you plan — with both head and heart. And when you choose the spot, I know you will go deep fast into the place of home.
Shirley – The head and heart were definitely in cahoots on this one! 🙂
My heart is is ICU
Kim – ICU as in Intensive Care Unit, or?
That’s a tricky question, as I feel happy in many different places. And I love your new house. I hope you’ll be very happy there.
FatimaSaySell – Yesterday we had two mule deer and a covey of quail pass through our back yard. We’re definitely tickled pink to be right here 🙂
Laurie, some may call it Luck, to me Luck is “when preparation meets opportunity” and so your Luck has brought you to the perfect Alpha Base Camp, you can reach out in all directions in search of your best possible Home of the Future. A place where you can nail your feet to the ground. Congratulations on such a terrific find. My house is where I shelter myself at night or during inclement weather, to eat, to read, to sleep and all that takes place between, it is my outer skin. My Home lies within the area encompassed by my church, the creek, the pastures and homes of my neighbors, all people that are family to me. My Aunts and Uncles, cousins, and siblings. My Dad’s house is next door across the field, my sister’s down below that. I helped build both. Within this square mile I am as comfortable and at ease as I would be sitting in my own living room. This is where my Heart is.
Sandy,
So beautiful ! You make my heart cry of joy and sadness. Sadness for the state of my own family and home.
Jeff – Thank you so much. Please know that I often think of you and the elder care responsibilities you have for your mother.
Jeff, knowing some of what you have been going through for the past few months, and longer, my heart goes out to you. Sometimes the Caretaker needs some care and love and a big pat on the back. I’m glad that you have been able to get out more, to live your life and have free time to spend with friends. Know that you are in my heart and prayers…always.
Sandi – I absolutely love the beautiful word picture you painted of your home, and I strongly resonate with the idea that it’s your outer skin! 🙂
This looks and sounds lovely! I’ve been through Boise on our way to Bellingham but sadly we didn’t stop. I did like though what I saw of Idaho. And having bike trails and a park nearby are big plusses in my books! The question of home is such a loaded one for me. I have moved so much over the last three decades and my heart definitely lives in the Pacific Northwest but also in some parts of Germany and the UK. I feel decidedly torn right now in deciding where I really want to settle down. And of course it’s not just my decision but also my husband’s and coming from different countries we each have our own preferences. Which is why I think we’ll end up back in the PNW as we both love it there. Wishing you happy settling in!
KCMartin – There’s a definite slice of my heart that belongs to the UK, too. Specifically, Fort William, at the base of Ben Nevis. Thank you so much for your visit today – I appreciate YOU!
Laurie, Len,
I am so thrilled for you guys! It seems to be a joyful, conscious creative adventure.
Blessing on your new Home!
Jeff – The energy here is tangible. You’d flip – I just know you would 🙂
I could use some flippin energy! Thank you for thinking of me!
This morning I almost walked on a Wild Tom Turkey, it was awesome, he and his mate where hanging out in the wood…
Jeff – That sounds like a fantastic photo opportunity!
So happy for you Laurie, it sounds wonderful. My heart is here in Greenville SC 🙂 Although I need furniture to make the apartment feel “homey” this place (Greenville) feels like home to me. The furniture will come eventually, and no matter…. I AM HAPPY.
Ann – I’m a huge fan of consignment stores, resale shops, and the “clearance” section of stores. By any chance have you checked those out for furniture?
Still in research mode, but since nothing is urgently needed I have time for the fun of the search 🙂
Ann – You hit on the most important ingredient: FUN 🙂
Laurie that’s wonderful, congrats! Your home sounds so homey, bring on the love. 🙂
My heart is right here, right in this neighborhood, in this house, with my furry girls and friends. But a part of my heart is in Oman with my son and a part of my heart is in South Korea with my daughter. My heart is happy and I am happy that you have found “home” – a place to build your future with joy.
Carol – Clearly a LARGE-hearted woman, you’ve got enough love to cover multiple countries, four-legged companions, and friends. Rock on siSTAR!
Laurie I am so glad you are settled have been thinking so much about you. I love your cottage and so glad you have a library at hand .
I am at my half house in Wales that is where my heart it’s where I came as a child . It’s raining at mo and we are up to our eyes in rubble but I don’t care…soooo lovely to hear from you take care
Cherryx
Cherry – I can “hear” and “feel” the excitement and joy you have for your “half house” in Wales 🙂
Sweet, sweet, sweet, Laurie. . . makes me wanna be there. “Home — a safe place with emotional attachment; it has less to do with the physical structure, and everything to do with positive, loving energy”. . .you are spot on w/this one, Laurie. So happy for both you and Len and the doggies too. . .what a boon for them, their very own ‘free range’ romper room!!
Alison – I always appreciate your visits to my blog, thank you for your consistent support; I appreciate YOU!
Glad to see you have arrived for the short while anyway Laurie. Our heart is a moving target at the moment and the next move tomorrow is a farm house just outside of Florence. Today we are saying our last good-byes to Venice which resulted in a photographic rich post over on Creative Potager. All the best of today to you and good hear a little about Boise Idaho.
Terrill – One of the many reasons I’m glad to be back online is to be able to join you and David on your European adventure — whoohoo!
My college roommate actually lives in Nampa but very close to Boise. It gets fairly hot there in summer, I could not handle the heat, dries up my internal mildew too fast!
My heart is within me it goes with me wherever I am It keeps me present and kind. And if I do not attempt to control it, it finds joy.
Patricia – That’s my experience of you: “My heart is within me, it goes with me wherever I am and keeps me present and kind.”
Wow so excited for you Laurie 🙂 Congratulations!!
Anne – THANK YOU! 🙂
Wow, things move fast. Or is it just me? I hope you are enjoying settling in Laurie. Home, bliss. 🙂
Nomzi – Like you, my experience of time is Z-O-O-O-O-M!
Precisely. I hope that you are having a wonderful day. 🙂
Oh, I love a little cottage with a past. : ) And I think you’re very wise to take your time, get the feel of the place and then buy.
For many years, my heart was firmly rooted in rural Manitoba. After moving to a remote island, my heart split in half: half in the prairies and half on the island. And now, fifteen years later, when I say, ‘home’ I mean my island home.
So, you see, I believe in taking my time before hanging my hat. : )
Leanne – Taking our sweet bippy time, I think you and I are charter members of The Turtle Sisterhood 🙂
Welcome to the Boise area from someone who lives here.
ColdHandBoyack – Thank you for the warm welcome 🙂
Hi Laurie
Agreed that home is where we feel safe and related.
The relationships we make in community are important.
Our knowledge of local conditions, geology, weather, biological communities, are part of build a feeling of security; and most human security comes from human relationships – which for the present includes economic relationships.
And when our modern communication systems are functioning, those relationships can be world wide – so the nature of “home” is morphing. Part of home is now a connection to the internet and the wider community it empowers communication with.
Having lived here for 16 years now, it is both house and home.
And I still have a strong relationship with Waitakaruru, where I lived for 34 years prior to moving here to Kaikoura.
Ted – You’re oh-so-right about the bandwidth of “home” including a much wider community because technology has broadened our global communication — right at our fingertips 🙂
I had to share your post with my family…we are tired of the long, long, long, Wisconsin winters, we like the four seasons, we have dogs, cats, bike, walk and home is always where our heart is…I thought this would be a good share and you have done all the research. Thank you for this welcomed post. Ann
Ann – And we thought ILLINOIS was bitterly cold; WISCONSIN has it beat, hands down! Let me know when you want me to start earmarking places for you and yours 🙂
🙂
Awesome description, Laurie!
You’ve got a home indeed; where the heart is.
Enjoy the new neighbourhood!
I’m so happy for you.
Cheers!
Teeceecounsel – THANK YOU so much! 🙂
You are very welcome, Laurie!
You always make me proud.
Cheers!
The new ‘hood looks so quaint. I love it. I know little to nothing about Boise, but your description sounds fabulous. Best of luck in your new surroundings.
Becwillmylife – Thank you so much for the warm well wishes.
Laurie — let me add my blessings and cheers to you and your new home. How fabulous! I am so glad you did all the research for me so now I know where to retire :-D.
My heart follows me to whatever adventure calls and anyplace I can call mine.
Barbara – I promise you will love it, absolutely love it here! And I love your self-observation: “My heart follows me to whatever adventure calls and anyplace I can call mine.”
Good Luck to you!!!!
IleneOnWords – THANK YOU 🙂
Trying to sort this out as a I write. I love my current house. In fact just last week when I ran into the previous owner, I mentioned how her home had sucked our familiy in like a vortex! After being on the Olympic Peninsula of WA for 18 months, I still love the house, but it is the small town, natural beauty and people that I love more. I guess the house was a just a catalyst for bringing us all home. Funny thing is that when we went back to Colorado for a visit, it did not feel like home any more at all. Much happiness in your new home.
PacificGirl – I’m so glad for your good fortune in finding a home that you embrace, and that embraces you in return 🙂
So glad you made it safe Laurie! The place sounds heavenly! I shall take note of your house hunting planning. 🙂
The Vanilla Housewife – I love your descriptor word, “Heavenly.” 🙂
So happy for you guys! It’s wonderful when the heart settles “at home”. That’s how I felt when we moved to our current home 3 years ago. And we have a similar dog park that I can see from my home office window. Congratulations!
Tiny – Thank you. I’m so glad that you landed right side up as well 🙂
Welcome home. From what I gathered from my cousin who move to where you are, it’s God’s country.
Seeker – That’s a wonderfully accurate descriptor: “God’s Country.” 🙂
My heart is in the sky. In the dirt. In the air. Swimming in the water, in the salty tears. My heart is the world, the universe.
Naima – I love the beautiful word picture you painted of where your heart is. Thank you!
Your new home looks absolutely perfect, and I’m loving the place names too. Idaho just sounds so romantic to me and Boise even more so. I so identify with combining the head and heart when it comes to a big move – it’s one area that I don’t just follow my gut either!
Home for me is definitely a very fluid concept. Having moved around a bit as a child, I still love the feeling of being an outsider. For me, right behind feeling settled is a feeling of being trapped. Fortunately, I met a man who has similar tendencies so we don’t really have much conflict there.
We are always aware though that there are times when the needs of our children may mean we have to allow roots to grown in one place. I have already learned how much our responsibilities as parents have helped us both grow as individuals, so I don’t dread the thought of ‘life’ getting in the way of our own personal dreams. We stayed put (kind of!) when they were little tots and in the future, when they approach high school age, we recognise that any move will have to take into account their stability in terms of school, exams etc. and also the importance that friendships play in teenagers’ lives.
At the moment, what is important to us to make sure our family is ‘home’. Our children have great fun together but because they have very different temperaments and interests, both expand the other’s world and outlook on life in a wonderful way. They find each other the funniest people in the world! They are both also particularly unattached to material things which helps. They remember our old home in the UK fondly; they consider Qatar home now; and talk frequently about the countries they plan to live in later in life.
Some people have expressed concern that our children will grow up ‘rootless’ and yes, I do occasionally have to grit my teeth when it’s badly veiled dig when our parenting doesn’t fit into someone else’s box! If our third culture children grow up feeling like citizens of the world and connected to good folks all over the planet, I’ll be a happy (and somewhat smug) mummy. Right now, they identify themselves as Scottish, despite being born in England and never having lived there. They are passionate about the place, in part because all the greenery and food feels very foreign to them, but mainly because that is where they have such good times with their cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents.
Wishing you continued (and new) happiness in Boise, Laurie. 🙂
PS. I can’t blog at present as I’ve started my post-grad teaching qualification and something had to give!
Warm Ginger – I absolutely LOVE what you shared about your sons, particularly:
“If our third culture children grow up feeling like citizens of the world and connected to good folks all over the planet, I’ll be a happy (and somewhat smug) mummy.”
Clearly you’re a rockstar of a Mom. Keep up the great work, siSTAR!
Home is where there is nothing like it. I am thrilled for you, Laurie and Len that you are at the threshold of a new foundation and new beginning in Boise. I even love saying that name. Boise’s name comes from the French word boise, which means “wooded”. Some people assume that the word means tree, but the French word for “tree” is arbre. The word bois means “wood”. It’s said that French Canadian fur trappers came over the mountains looked down upon the Boise River Valley in the early 1800s and exclaimed “Les bois!” (The wood!), so that is how Boise gained its nickname ‘The City of Trees’ … more: http://activerain.trulia.com/blogsview/744501/how-boise-idaho-got-its-name
I am so excited for your new adventure and love your new promo piece on facebook.
My heart and home is in Studio City but I transplanted from Denver to here. I love both because of family but feel welcomed in this part of the world as it suits my purpose in helping the film industry.
Kathy – I learned so much from you in your comment, THANK YOU so very much for sharing this information with me! 🙂
Glad to hear you arrived safely. We are moving in May — to the place we least expected. We are going to be living on a large lake in Oklahoma — a very short walk from the water. We will be about 1 1/2 hours from where I grew up and closer to family than we have been for a long time. We’re going back to the part of the country I could hardly wait to leave and now can’t get back to fast enough. It is a very strange sort of coming full circle thing for me, but I am so glad to be going to a place where people won’t be making fun of the way I talk. 🙂
Espirational – I love that you’re coming full circle; how darned COOL is that?! My husband is from the Tulsa area (Owasso). They’ve got the best BBQ on the planet! 🙂
Your new home is a veritable paradise Laurie, and from the bottom of our hearts Lucille and I wish you and Len a long and prosperous tenure in Idaho. What a gorgeous home and neighborhood, and I look forward to many posts featuring this beautiful setting. Geez, it is so alluring that alone it is worth driving west for! I am a romantic, but even if I were not my heart would always be with Lucille and the kids.
The very best to you both!
Sam – One of the things I admire most about you is your love of, and dedication to, your family 🙂
So happy to have your home update. I fear that I’ve never been to Idaho–though I would LOVE to. Congratulations on making your new dwelling a true home. I feel at home wherever Sara and our dogs are.
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
Kathy – Like you, we find our companion animals to be a rich ingredient in the elements of home.
I love your definition of home…
Marcia & Barry – I’m glad my definition of home resonated with you. Thank you for letting me know.
Happy Landings Laurie! I’m so excited for you … so much to explore!!! 🙂
Val – There’s definitely a whole lotta lookin’ to do. The great thing is that we can do so much on foot and bicycle. It’s perfect for us 🙂
Laurie, I am sure we are all thrilled to read of your adventures to your new home. (I have been quietly checking in on your unfolding life from time to time.) What a gift you two have given yourselves! In the past two months have relaxed more and more into the Home which is at the center of us. Feeling deep love this morning…
Kathy – What a treat to see your smiling face in the comments section this morning! I’m glad you’re taking the Nestea Plunge into the very core 🙂
WHAT AN EXCITING MOVE! How very brave of you two, and yet a fun challenge to make a new home in a new part of the country. Home is definitely where your hearts are – that’s why you’re already …. HOME.
Roughwighting – It was, and continues to be exciting. We absolutely LOVE our new city! 🙂
I know that the move must have been a lot of work, but there seems to be quite a reward in where you’ve landed! A friend of mine recently moved not too far from Boise, and has been very, very happy in Idaho! I am sure that you will be, too. I think I’d have to have a Whole Foods and Trader Joes in my neighborhood anywhere I live–I’m completely spoiled! LOL! I do not have an off leash dog park close by, however, and that would be a real treat. 🙂
Three Well Beings – So far we’re head over heels in love with our new city (we’re in the historical “East End” of Boise). We just walked to/back from Whole Foods today — a one mile round trip. It’s like being in heaven! 🙂
You don’t mention much the blood, sweat, and tears of the packing, the travel on slick roads–only the joy of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Why am I not surprised! The house you chose looks cozy and comfortable. I know you and Len will make many happy memories there. Bravo and Brava!
Marian – Your observation made me smile, thank you. I grew up near the ocean with dangerous riptides. We learned at an early age that if you get caught in a riptide and try to fight it, you’ll use all your strength and drown. But if you “go with the flow” (let it take you further out), IT will lose it’s strength, and when it does, you can swim back to shore at your own speed and ease. It’s all about flow 🙂
Hi Laurie, Looks beautiful! Looks like a wonderful place to expand your horizons! Bravo! Congrats on your new home ♥ ~ Dyan
Dyan – Thank you so much for the warm well wishes.
We visited Boise a few years ago and I got a very good vibe about the town. Scenic, clean, prosperous, seemed to have a good restaurant and cultural scene (always helps to be a college town).
It’s hard not to like much about the western US, though. Almost everywhere I’ve been west of the Mississippi I’ve found some redeeming virtues.
Outside my house and hanging out with family and friends, I’d have to say I’m most at home on a golf course. It might take a short book to explain why, but in a nutshell, my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves are on equal footing when I play golf. It’s fun (or not) “watching” them spar between themselves to see who gets to dominate the guy with the the long skinny stick in his hands.
Best of luck in your new hometown, Laurie. It sounds like you will make it your home very quickly.
Chris
Chris – I love the word picture you painted about the golf course! And you know what? You should (indeed!) write that book 🙂
Laurie, you strike me as someone who would be happy wherever you landed. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your journey. I’m still looking for my home and you give me hope.
Dorothy – I’m dog-earing a spot for you; you’d LOVE it here in beautiful Boise, Idaho 🙂
Glad you made it safely. Boise is not my favorite part of Idaho–much prefer the beautiful Panhandle where my family lives, but I know you will be happy wherever you land 🙂
Nan – We’re absolutely in love with the historic East End of Boise. We definitely landed right side up in this temperate geographic location 🙂
I love your “house” and “home” definitions, and I completely agree with them. Boise looks beautiful.
Michael – I’m glad this post resonated with you; thank you for letting me know. We’re in the historic east end of Boise and have fallen head-over-heels in love with it 🙂