Sunday, July 31, 2016

The Gnome and I

SUMMER. I love the spirit and sensations of summer... summer mornings blue and cloudless, and the sun smiling down as the earth wakes up embraced in delicious warmth. I love the call of singing insects, the way the woods opens up to mid-day and let all its voices out in clear, exalting choruses. How the winged members of summer, cicadas, katydids and grasshoppers, at sensing the proximity of humans become quiet, leaving you for a zilch of a moment barren, and isolated in the wholeness of complete silence. And it is just you, and those precious moments, and the aloofness of time pulling at the hems of my skirts...


I love the unsullied, fleeting songs of crickets. Their songs are musical to the human ear; pure, and low, and if I sit down for a moment, and my eyes pierce the cloudless blue, I like to think that there's a hole in the sky through which my eyes direct their focus beyond horizons. A window in time. This dense lushness of heavy days, the unpolluted greens and human-hushed afternoons braving storms of centuries. Summer spins its magic wand, and the world is not what it seems to be anymore. I mean, strange things are transpiring in my magical world on these hot summer days. But what, you'd ask? 

Yes, strange things, indeed. And believe me when I say I'm not making things up. Just only the other day last week, an odd little man—a gnome, perhaps—moved across our little white cottage. The morning I discovered him staring at our little white cottage from our neighbors' porch right across the street, I thought I was still dreaming. I had just woken up and was pulling up the blinds when I discovered him. I noticed the pointy ears coming out of super white hair that sprouted from his head in odd directions, saw the high cheekbones and long, long white bushy beard and I could not move from where I was standing behind the window in our master bedroom. Was his skin sorts of reddish, or did it have shades of gray? And who was he? I swear this stranger looks just exactly as this garden gnome here on this photograph, minus the pointy hat.  And I have proof of this too, only I'm not sharing the picture I took of him out of pure respect.


Ever since that morning last week, that's where I'd find my Gnome each and every day.  Sitting in that chair right across our little white cottage.  And the first thing I'd do after waking up each morning is going to the window to see if he's still there.

His vision makes me happy in an odd way.  Is he a real gnome in disguise coming back over three centuries? Did he run beneath the bushes and down the woody paths until he came to where he sits every morning, and watch my every move from the shadows of his balcony?

Imagination is a powerful thing, is it not! At least for me it is, and with those feelings of reconnaissance surveillance in my own yard it is impossible not to have imagination burst in a thousand fairy-tale. Thus, I'm starting to imagine things.  Things like I am in the garden playing Frida Kahlo, or occupied in pulling weeds or planting a new plant when all of a sudden the feeling that someone is peering at me pulls me right up. I turn around and, alas, there he'd be—the Gnome. So close to me I can feel my nose starting to itch under his musty smell. The Gnome gives me a fusty smile, and asks if perhaps I've seen his friend the Witch going this way or this other into the woods... I hear the trees ruffle under a sudden wind, I notice thick clouds shadowing the garden's floor, and deep in the forest the most unsettling of music...


Oh goodness gracious me, I do know how to spook myself really well, don't I? But really, life is beaming with strange, inexplicable things indeed, and strange things are blowing in through our neighborhood on the wings of summer winds. 

As it is, the other day while jogging I happened upon the Gnome again... in the most strangest of way, by the way.  All I can say is that when I started down the road the Gnome was sitting on his chair right across our little white cottage, watching me. Then I moved on... not a soul to be seen at that hour of day, not a dog to bark at my shadow, not a sound to disturb my tempo.  But as I was coming down that hilly road on the farthest side, on the other side of the neighborhood, all of a sudden... the Gnome!

He appeared like a vision floating in the heat of the day ahead of me.  A ghostly vision drifting in the distance crossing down the road.  I watched him going in the direction of one of the houses down there, but when I reached that particular house, for much that my eyes searched the premises, I couldn't find anyone.  It was just the silence of the balmy morning and the blue sky above... It was just me, and the Ghost Gnome.  Where did he go? And what was he doing on the other side of the neighborhood? 

When I got back home, I found him still sitting on his chair looking up at the clouds, just as I had left him... as if time had stopped, or as if time had never passed... for him, and for me.  Was it really him this vision I saw? Was he not?  Oh, I'm sure it must had been someone else that looked just like him from the distance.  But maybe... do you suppose our neighborhood is a magical neighborhood inhabited by gnomes and they are now revealing themselves to the world?  Or to me along?  Oh it must be that, I'm sure. Oh, I'm sure.



Tuesday, July 26, 2016

In my garden...

Knock knock... is it nice and cool in here?  May I come in then?  Oh my dears, this heat is something else... and it must be doing some strange things to our senses too.... to our eyes I mean, because lately I'm seeing things... some very curious and awesome things transpiring around here.  Like for example, some very strange variety of flowers growing up everywhere, like little wild things with curvy petals and patterned leaves.  And on those super hot afternoons, the roses, black-eyed Susans and hostas give the illusion of having come up by chance, like wildflowers.  This weekend alone, a lovely fairy was seen strolling the summer gardens...



I glance at her, and watch her as she strolls my favorite place, and can hardly believe this is the same little fairy-girl I entertained and took care of in my gardens at the house in the roses.  My heart wells with pride and it is tender with so many lovely and bittersweet emotions.  She’s growing up. The little fairy-girl of my heart who would sit on my lap begging for me to come up with yet another fairytale is slowly, but fast turning into a shadow.  A memory of a "once upon a time" story, that's turning into a lovely young girl in every aspect. In one moment they’re tiny, little babes and the next almost grown. Let my eyes be awake, be aware, for all the moments, the glorious in the everyday.


The Crepe Myrtles are in full bloom...
It is their time to shine...  


I love these glorious trees... all the same, all different in their wonderful and precious lovely colors and blooms that so much remind me of the lilac trees in my northern gardens...  



Only the very few could understand with what heart-beatings I've been looking forward to the flowering of these trees...  I have been given wings that have unfolded-open right at the burst of such blooms...


Indeed, He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end...




I sit under the fronds of the privet trees and close my eyes, expecting to see angels when I open them up.  And perhaps I would never see an angel, but my heart knows they amble here...


Everywhere I look it is so amazingly beautiful... I cannot say this is a perfect place in all sense, for heat, humidity and a great amount of mosquitoes and more are kings and queens of my jungle-garden, but it is the perfect place of my little heart, and I just love it here, and the woods are beautiful in their lofty, green-quiet secrecies, and far overhead the crowns of softest greens, and underfoot a natural carpet of thick shrubbery home of dozen of species of birds and everywhere the songs, the coos the calls, and the breathless silence in the absence of humans.  I can never seem to have enough hours and days to spend in my little white cottage.  I'd never come out of my woods, if I could.  


The other day I came right to the edge of my woods and stood there for awhile, looking around, deciding if I should venture out.  The woods were already filled with shadows, but a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trees, dotting its floors with soft, magical lights.  It's been said that half a mile from home, at the farther edge of the woods, where the land is highest, there was a soirĂ©e of some sorts going on... they said that fairies from all parts of the world were to meet there, and I really wanted to go, but afraid of stepping out into this perilous world of ours, decided to just stay and enjoy my little life, right here where I am... Oh I hope you'd understand. 
A video posted by @gypsycielo on
For now, I am spending my days collecting all sorts of flowers from the garden and filling our little white cottage with lovely bouquets.  I've been dancing in the garden too, to the music of ancient Russian gypsies, as I let the hidden language of the soul of my body move, and drift away...  these are the lovely summer days of the year, and these are the days to let gratitude transform common days into thanksgivings....  I hope you are having a lovely summer too, and you are enjoying each moment gifted to you, wherever you are... 


Friday, July 22, 2016

In my closet...

I've been working on organizing my closet... have I already mentioned that?  ;)


I have replaced a lot of my old winter and black or grey conservative suits I used to wear, for a more lively, and colorful type of attire...


Clothes adequate for the hot hot summers of the south... but, of course, NO sleeveless nothing for me! ;)  I hate hate showing off my arms... ;)


What is it with these colors that I seem to favorite them so much lately?
I never had this amount of oranges and reds in my wardrobe, ever... 
it used to be black black... 
I am impressed with myself! ;)



I am pursuing my personal “color challenge”, I guess...
and have been buying a lot more colorful clothes than ever before.  
And I really like them!


As you can see, I bring my gypsy spirit even to my closet...



I have so much fun making my little cottage all my own by showing off my personality... each of the rooms in our little white cottage has an entire style of its own... modern, contemporary, Shabby Chic, Gypsy-Boho... even my closet gets to be unique in its own way... haha... boy, does that means I could be showing symptoms of a dissociative identity disorder?  Always knew it!  Cuc-koo ;)  




I have always preferred dresses and skirts to slacks and pants and such...  I love the feminine and elegant touch of French and Southern European women, but I also  favor the relax, bohemian style I so love... black is my favorite color when it comes to dressing, and it always will.   It is a great color, and always classy, but I'm learning that here in the south, it is best to wear it in the evening when I am wearing more make-up, and it isn't as hot.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed strolling my closet with me... hehe!

Find me on Instagram...

I am posting there daily...

Hasta Luego!





Sunday, July 17, 2016

Staying cool

It's been so hot here lately, I have lost all interest whatsoever in working outside, and look forward to a respite brought by heavy rain... and the skies are teasing us, with clouds low and dark and full of promises... yet, the doors of heaven won't open up upon us...  hot hot, and dried beyond belief.  So dried it's been, that my funny husband, the Fisherman, have decided to paint the grass, or whatever is left of it... really, paint the grass!  Have you ever heard of such a thing? He he...  poor guy!  

Paint made for the sole purpose of camouflaging dead, dried grass?  Until the weather subsides, and the rains scatter away the heat and calm the land, bringing moisture near the soil and life to surface again... I am already looking forward to those pre-autumnal days, and keeping inside as much as my wild heart allows me...











It's been so much fun decorating our little white cottage in Shabby Chic again... I had forgotten how lovely all these things are... pastels, flowers, lots of it, textiles, little pretty things, pink things, baby blue things, dried petals and lace and such...  














I've been working inside during these hot days, and have been organizing my closet and getting rid of a lot of things in there...  I'm not returning to my past, so I have gotten rid of all my black work suits and winter attire.  Even if I decide to go back to work again, I won't be needing most of those things any more, because my needs, and sense of style have changed.  The same goes for most of my high heels, which are now gone too.   Now those days seem like a lifetime ago.  It always amazes me how our definition of happiness changes as we get older... the way you see life changes too, and experiences of happiness as being times when you felt excited, ecstatic, or elated, are now changed by moments of feeling peaceful, relaxed, and in total peace with yourself, with just the way you are, or the way you look, regardless of what others may think... in total peace with your Creator, and those around you... this kind of happiness is less about what lies ahead, and more about being content in your current circumstances... these feelings call for a total new style... a new closet, me thinks!

Stay cool, girls!  And may you enjoy each quiet moments with yourself...

Adios...


LINKING TO:

SUNDAYS AT HOME
DISHING IT DIGGING IT
BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH
BERNIDEEN TEA TIME
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
THE SCOOP