Her husband, Patrick Raymond, a guidance counselor at Glen Burnie High School, offered much the same sentiment, but was more direct about ever living on the Western side of the Bay Bridge again.

"I would never go back over there," he said. "It's great over here. People always say, 'How do you drive the bridge?' and the traffic is bad, but it's always something different every day. All I say is when you live over here, leave your Western Shore attitude over there."

There you have it - two people very much in love with each other, the Eastern Shore, their home and their community of Bay City in Stevensville.

"This neighborhood is wonderful," Mr. Raymond said. "We've got great neighbors. ... People look out for each other, you talk over the fence. You just don't have this type of neighborhood in a lot of places - this neighborhood has that old neighborhood type of feel, when you grew up in the '60s."

Because they're both on their second marriage and the last of their children left for college in 1999, the three bedroom, two bath, Nanticoke-manufactured, ranch-style home works well for them.

Ms. Littlepage refers to the interior style of her home as "eclectic," but it's a tasteful and refined eclectic.

"You notice not much of anything matches," she said. "Literally, we furnished this one piece at a time."

In the living room at the entry to the house, chocolate brown walls add drama to the space and set the stage for the rest of the house. This is a couple that does not fear bold colors, but also prefers hues that complement, not overpower.

In this room, two comfortable and contemporary upholstered armchairs sit opposite a leather couch. A brick fireplace framed by custom wood cabinetry fills the wall.

It's a comfortable room where the other occupant of the home lounges on the floor and asks anyone and everyone to rub his belly - this would be the Siamese cat, Sarek, who talks a lot. (As any good "Star Trek" fan already knows, his namesake is Spock's father, the Vulcan ambassador.)

"They're very vocal," Ms. Littlepage said about the Siamese breed, laughing a bit at Sarek's ongoing litany of meows.

"He thinks he's a dog," she explained.

The open floor plan in this area also incorporates the kitchen and dining room, though it wasn't always like this. There was once a wall separating the living room from the kitchen.

"Patrick and I did (the remodeling) ourselves," Ms. Littlepage said. Now, you're probably wondering how a lawyer and high school guidance counselor became such accomplished home contractors.

It's easy when you're also a skilled carpenter. This was Mr. Raymond's first trade and may very well become a critical part of his next trade, but we'll get to that later.

"We knocked the walls out ourselves, we did the siding on the house, we did the cabinets, the deck, put down the flooring," Ms. Littlepage said.

It might also help to know that Ms. Littlepage is also on her second career. Her first lends itself nicely to providing great background knowledge for a medical malpractice lawyer and patching up people during construction.

"I was a critical care nurse," she said.

Getting back to the work this multifaceted couple did, we focus on the kitchen, where the light color of the maple cabinetry echoes that of the flooring. In the center of the room, a custom-made, matching island on wheels provides extra work space.

"We entertain a lot," Ms. Littlepage said. "You can take it and move it and it will open up the space even more."

The dining room opens up to a large deck overlooking a big back yard.

In the dining area, a handsome cabinet of dark wood and beveled glass topped with marble displays a collection of sparkling crystal. Aside this sits a piano - this is also a very musical couple, which we'll get to in a bit.

"That's all pretty much heirloom stuff," Ms. Littlepage offered. "That piece there (the cabinet) my father found in the basement of a nursing home; it's pristine, there's not a chip on it. I just get the impression it's an old Victorian liquor cabinet."

We head down the hall.

"This is my room," Mr. Raymond said. "I like fly-fishing, so I got this border on here."

In addition to the fly-fishing-themed border, there's a rod and hat hanging on one of the four deep red-brown walls.

"Actually, Patrick picked out the colors in this room," Ms. Littlepage said. "He said, 'I'm going to do the trim in celery,' and I said, 'I don't know about that,' but it worked out."

On two other walls, we begin to find Mr. Patrick's other passion: part of an instrument collection which he not only plays but also makes - he's a serious craftsman of acoustic guitars.

"That's my first guitar that I ever made," Mr. Raymond said, pointing to one of the instruments. "It's kind of rough."

Beside it is one crafted in flamed maple, made by Mr. Raymond's son-in-law, who works at Paul Reed Smith Guitars. There's also a mandolin, a banjo and another guitar.

Across the hall, we find the master bedroom, accented with deep olive walls and floral bedding and window treatments. Right at the entry, Ms. Littlepage's musical prowess comes into view.

"That's my cello," she said. "The cello is my midlife crisis. I didn't start cello lessons until I was 49 years old."

A purple bathroom, complete with black and white checked retro tile flooring, was added by the couple, and a guest room completes the home's interior.

In the back yard, a shed stands at the far end. At first take, you'd expect to find shed stuff inside, like a lawn mower and perhaps a rake or two.

Nope - this isn't your ordinary shed. This is the workshop of Raymond Guitars, and it's a carpenter or guitar-maker's dream.

Amid various guitar molds there are the tools of the trade - wood, band saws, a drum sander, joiner/planer, drill press, and disc and belt sander.

"I started building guitars about 13 years ago," Mr. Raymond said. "I want to get into it full time."

It's time to leave, only because it would be unbearable, yet very likely, to discover this wonderful couple has mastered anything else.

Donna L. Cole is a freelance writer living in Annapolis. If you'd like your house considered for "Home of the Week," please contact her at writerdle@aol.com.