Saturday, November 29, 2014

Winter in the South

To the unaccustomed eye, everything may look the same… 

 
At a first glance things may have the same resonance, the same feel to it, the same color or colorless on the wintry landscape...   
 

Here too, our mornings wake up wrapped in chilly blankets of frosty dew, and our temperatures are hitting the 25’s and 26’s… yet, somehow… 


 ...things are not really the same.  It is a different kind of cold around here—a chill, a cold, a wintry weather all the same, but devoid of the bitterness and austereness of the north.  And how marvelous and utterly wonderful and brilliant the sun shines in the south—always leaving a trail of glitter behind and above and all around... always enfolding my soul in blissful delightfulness...


It puts a new kind of song in my tongue this wintery warmth… and I harbor in my soul blessings that I count in clear blue skies and this astonishing sun of the south; which lets me stand still in this frosty nippiness; eyes closed feeling this miracle in my skin of not being struck by cold.  I can hardly believe this is real—this marvelous warmth of a winter southern sun that knows only how to wrap my soul in pleasantness so sweet. 


How marvelous everything looks to me too… this world devoid of the familiar iciness and winds that cut through bones.  I am at awe—dumbfounded at how I don’t see the need for thicker layers and still feel comfortable being outside on a 25 degree morning.  What is it?


I remember how when living in the great white north back at the house in the roses I used to wait for winter solstice with great anticipation—the wheel of time turning more slowly, night coming earlier each day and that sense of quiet anticipation whispering in my ear.  Those days just before Christmas were too short, too dark and ominous for my sunlight thirsty soul.  And I waited for the shortest day of the year for no other reason than just to see it ended… and witness the miracle of time taking place after solstice—of days progressively getting longer; daylight extending wings like butterflies...


I’m so thankful I don’t have to do that anymore.  I cannot say I miss my loved ones any less; I still do miss them terribly and I don’t think I will ever stop missing them.  But I’d never go back to that cold again if I can have this marvelous sun of the south warming my old bones.  

 
Do you like winter?  I mean the really really cold snowy kind of winters? I love winter images… images like these ones here enchant me... they posses such special kind of magic. They make me dream.  If I watch them too much the scenes would become real, they’d come to life and I will be transported right into them and into their white landscapes.   


 See what I mean?  It’s surreal.  It’s magical.  
 But that just happens only in the mystical sense.   


In real life this kind of winter does not seem that romantic to me.  In fact, I don’t do well in winter when the great sun turns his face away and my little world goes down into a white vale of grief.  That’s how I used to see winter… or think of it back then while living at the house in the roses.

My husband showed me a picture on the internet this morning of our old place up north covered up in snow and I trembled… literally.  All the memories rushing down on me as I was being transported  there; to that white-bluish light of the wintery landscape I knew so well.  But then, I looked outside our window and was brought back to reality by this amazing sun of the south warming up the earth outside.  There are times when I still think I’m dreaming.  Dreaming those dreams I used to dream of a white little cottage wrapped in sunshine and no more bitter cold to stand.  How fortunate I am and how my life has taken this unexpected turn towards the sun—the road that brought us south.  It’s almost unbelievable.  
  

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thaksgiving!

Magic wraps our mornings in light, and magical light woke me up this morning—from the depth of dreams I levitated to consciousness; enfolded in gratitude and appreciation for all I have and all I am, for those I love and those whose deeds have wronged me… thankful for the good times and the bad, for the small joys and when at times my light goes out and is rekindled by faith and by a spark from you and you and you… my friends.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and much more… my deepest gratitude to those who have lighted up the flame within me each day when I come here…  I count you among my blessings.


Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours~



Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Home Is Where the Heart is?

Is it really ‘home is where the heart is’?  I have to wonder sometimes about this idiom.   I know, I believe that a house is just a house, that a home is where your family, your love, your memories are.  But it comes a day in everyone’s life when things change, and the heart finds a new place, new beginnings, a new sparkle in life when all of a sudden you come to realize that what you had once considered 'home', it is not anymore.  It took me years to learn this.  Even after I moved away from my parent’s home and even as I worked on building up my own little nest, I always considered my parent’s home my true home.  That’s where my memories and heart resided for as long as I could remember.    

Home to me is a very dear place and I have grown to understand that my heart it really lives wherever my physical home is… wherever it may be.  And thus, this is home.  A home away from everyone we so dearly love, and care for, home in this strange and unfamiliar little town away from the customary and the habitual, time-honored places that represent so much to us, and yet… it is home.  My nest, my refuge, my place of rest.  I am so delighted to be back to that comfort and warmth… my home. 


 See you soon with some new stories!



Thursday, November 20, 2014

Curtains and salty air...

I’m still dreaming, and working on making my dream come true in the remodeling of our master bathroom.  Not big changes, just using what we already have, but embellishing it and making our little white cottage drift in the cottage feel and the loveliness I want, within our means. 

And I am working on the perfect something that it’s soft, white, and adorned with a double ruffle embroidered lace peeking through between ruffles for my shower curtain.  It’s going to look something like this picture here; except the lace is going to be gray, because I’m envisioning my all white little bathroom with touches only in gray and pink.  And of course, my curtains are going to cost way way way less the price on this one.  The cost of this panel - $325.


My friend Mayra, who is an amazing seamstress, is making it for me…  I’m so excited!  A drapery panel somewhat similar to the shower curtain will be also configured out for this window here, which lays just above the tub.


Love my simple and unpretentious bathroom--popcorn ceiling and all.  Oh but I do want a chandelier here too yes yes! 


Mayra and I went shopping yesterday and bought the fabric/lace -- $2.99 the yard, while our husbands were on meetings.  We get to travel together a lot.  I'm fortunate.  She will start working on this little project as soon as we get back home.  For now, we are all enjoying this amazing view of the ocean from our very beds... gosh you gotta love Florida!  


 The view from our room...


Still in bed... waking up to an amazing sun over the ocean...


Sending a whiff of ocean breezes and salty air your way...

Hugs



Monday, November 17, 2014

Autumn in the South

Days are tinted in colorful hues and a dreamy pale amber sunlight scatters itty-bitty stars across the garden; across the privet with its November trees, and November birds.   

There’s a whiff of apples and cinnamon toast hanging from the atmosphere, and mornings are bringing in with them a silky-cold air that makes the world sing songs ablaze in crimsons, goldenrods and brown.  

When evenings approach, the sun shines pumpkin gold and there's a dreamy scent blowing magic everywhere.  The gypsy girl then looks up to the sky.  She sees the signs.  She hears the songs. She considers it all. 

The air is wild with colors and the world has turned old.  Time to make memories under the autumnal sun... 

The little gypsy girl braids her hair the gypsy way.  She dresses up in skirts in Ashes, Oaks, and Maples and goes out in search of the sun—to dream, to fly, to soar in wings of butterflies.

She’s a swirling, a whirling, a Mary Poppins of sorts.  It’s magic, it’s magical.  It’s November – spring over the ground.

This is a spice shop out here… sunshine has spread out a carpet of leaves of every name, and the gypsy caravan is a flapping of wings under the autumnal trees.

Colorful draped fabrics, pillows, beads, and a nice heater on high… because oh my friends it is cold… freezing cold around here.  Yes sir! 

So get your woolies on and take out your scarves... won't you come with me and explore what wonders await for us scattered out there?  C'mon!  


 Ah autumn.  A magic beyond all we do here!



Thank you for coming with me my friends!
And may you always find magic wherever you may find yourself.