THE HOMES WHERE I HAVE LIVED

Some people are fortunate to live in the same home all of their lives, comfortable in knowing everything about their community, their friends and neighbors, and sometimes even the house where they were born and have lived all of their life.  These persons are lucky to have had a rich life experience with a deep knowledge of their community at all levels and with friends that go back to their childhood. Others like myself have lived in many communities and countries and have a different life experience, rich in the knowledge of many places and cultures, and with friends from each place where we have lived. I have enjoyed my rich life experience and it has made me the person I am.  But I believe that one life experience is no more preferable than another. Our life just is.

Perhaps at a basic level we don’t even fully choose the life we end up living. Sure we make many conscious choices, directing us this way and that. But our life is still, to a large part, the result of many factors of birth, family, and experience which we had no part in choosing.  So in the end our life just is. And we must live it to the best of our capability and take satisfaction in the years as they pass.

To recall the HOMES WHERE I HAVE LIVED is to recall the life I have lived and the people who have been a part of that experience. May you also enjoy my memories and I encourage you to recall your life and take satisfaction in your memories.

Glen Novinger

20th HOME - CASA del SOL at "SOL y LUNA", PATZCUARO, MICHOACAN, MEXICO

CASA del SOL is located at SOL y LUNA, a small colonial style enclave we have developed and where we built our own home, along with new custom designed homes for sale to others. It is located on Callejon del Sol, a short private, gated street that serves only SOL y LUNA, only 2 blocks from the Main Plaza in the Center of Patzcuaro. This is a special hideaway for us in Mexico.

This is the gated entrance to SOL y LUNA.







Casa del Sol is located on the right, behind the parked car.












One of the characteristics of this house is the light.  We have light into the living spaces from both the interior courtyard and from the rear garden.



















Living and dining area.


















                                                                                                                       

                                                                                       Interior courtyard.

19th HOME - 333 AVENIDA LAZARO CARDENAS, PATZCUARO, MICHOACAN, MEXICO

In 2004 we purchased a house in ruins in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, and spent 6 months renovating it and landscaping the garden. Then in January of 2005 we moved into what has become our Mexican home. Since one of the nicest trees in the garden is a jacaranda, we named our home "La Jacaranda".

Patzcuaro is located at 7,200 feet elevation on a plateau between the state capitol, Morelia, and Uruapan, a center for agricultural processing, packaging, and shipping. Although in the early years of the Spanish Colonial Period, Patzcuaro was the state capitol, that was nearly 500 years ago, Morelia is now the capital, and Patzcuaro is a small colonial village, with a central plaza,little changed since 1535.

With the sun of 7,200 feet and a climate that seldom brings us freezing temperatures, we have a profusion of both flowers and fruit trees. In our garden we have over 100 different species of trees, bushes, vines, and flowers. Possibly the best avocados in the world come from the state of Michoacan and the 2 avocado trees in our garden give us a steady supply during most of the months of the year.

We have lunch on our back porch nearly every day and enjoy the garden and the many birds and hummingbirds that visit us throughout the year.

Birds of many species pass through or live in our garden, especially hummingbirds. It is a pleasure to watch them come and go to our flowering plants as we eat lunch.

It is a daily pleasure to spend each day in Patzcuaro, with its rich cultural and religious traditions, good climate, and varied bird life. Patzcuaro, and the Colonial Circle which extends through several adjoining states in central Mexico, is a pleasant and interesting part of the Mexico and the world.

La Jacaranda is a peaceful retreat within the Colonial Circle.

18th HOME - 5324 MAGDELENA DRIVE, AUSTIN, TEXAS

During early 1999 Tracy & I bought a lot from a builder on the Barton Creek Greenbelt in Lost Creek at Gaines Ranch in southwest Austin, Texas. After making some modifications to the house design we had the house built and moved to 5324 Magdelena Drive in May of 1999.

For several years after moving to Magdelena we had our office in Oakhill, a commercial area just 10 minutes from our house, so the location of the house proved very convenient with no traffic. We have enjoyed the quiet streets and nice neighbors of Lost Creek at Gaines Ranch, where we walk or bike each morning.

But one of the most enjoyable elements of living here is the location of the house on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. From our living room and dinning area we look out on a groomed area of greenbelt stretching to the trees in the distance. We enjoy the visual space of that view all day when we are in the house.

With our bird feeder in the back yard and the view to the north to the trees and hills beyond, we are content in our Austin home.

17th HOME - 5617 WESTVIEW ROAD, AUSTIN, TEXAS

Upon moving to Austin, Texas, in December, 1993, we purchased this house on Westview Road in Oakhill, the southwestern part of the city.  We renovated the double garage into a large family room with a bathroom and then used it as our company offices for a few years.

Rear yard at Westview Road

16th HOME - 3232 SOUTH CLIFTON, WICHITA, KANSAS

On December 29, 1989, we purchased the Colonial Mobile Home Part in Wichita, Kansas. At the time we were living in Denver, Colorado, and working from there to supervise our mobile home parks in Wyoming, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma.  Since the Colonial Mobile Home Park was our largest investment, it was more centrally located to the other properties, and he came with a large home on 3 acres of lawn, we decided to move our office to Wichita and live in the home at the property.

Our house was on 3 levels with a pool and deck, looking over a large lawn.

As an entrance to the house, one entered thru a green house – solarium with plants and a fountain.

Since the mobile home part had 551 homes and was over 1/2 mile long, we often traveled thru the property by electric golf cart.


And for trips away from Wichita, we had a small motor home.

After 5 years in Wichita, we moved to Austin, Texas.

15th HOME - 3371 S. MAGNOLIA STREET, DENVER, COLORADO

South Magnolia Street in Southeast Denver is a very special house for me. It was to this house that Tracy and I moved when we married on March 31, 1984.
The house was located in Welshire East, a housing area of 400 houses on the north side of Hampden and east side of Monaco, near the corner of I-25 and Hampden Avenue in Southeast Denver. Here we lived for 6 years. Tracy had her office just 2 blocks away and I had the offices of Novinger Resources, Inc. in the house, using the family room on the main floor and all of the basement.

Denver is great, the weather is wonderful, the city is exciting, and we had friends and family throughout the city and a long history of living and working in the City.

Only because of our interests in Latin America and Mexico did we leave Denver to live further south in the United States with closer access to Latin America. But the South Magnolia Street house will always be special because it was where we started our life together.