The house in the roses

Have you seen the Disney movie, Frozen, yet? Thank you to those of you who recommended it to me and thought I might like it… you were so right! I finally had the chance to watch it. Little Pebbles sat with me through the entire movie. Our favorite part was when Elsa runs away to the snowy mountaintop to sing “Let It Go”. Little Miss Pebbles loves that songs and you should hear her singing it... so funny! 

And who wouldn’t love such a nice, loud song about empowerment and getting rid of the fear that hold us back from being our truest self and stand on our own two feet? Oh yes, you should watch it! I know you’ll love it too! 

I was going through some of the last photographs I took at the house in the roses before we left and realized I’d never shared them with you…

This is truly heavens to me… lovely roses from my very own garden perfuming my home; embellishing it, making me dream and dance…

I hope you don’t mind me sharing these photographs with you as they bring so much happiness to my gardenless life these days…

The couple who are renting our house in the roses loves it.  They’re heads over heals in love with it and are planning on buying it as soon as their Portland home gets sold; which in a way is a very good thing for us, although deep inside me there is a thorn somewhere.  And it hurts.

We went by the house in the roses last week and the lady took me to the garden and showed me around.  She’s not a gardener; had never been and have no experience whatsoever, but she is exceedingly enthusiastic about it and is learning and doing the best she can thus far.  I’m very pleased with this.     

When I mentioned how special this house was for me and told her about my old blog she got really excited about it.  She had a feeling there was something very special about this house and gardens… it’s a magical place, of course... She mentioned how she would love to continue writing for “the house in the roses II”. We’ll see about that ;)

Thank you for stopping by and for being my friend.  

You're angels in disguise. 

May you soar beyond the external threads, the maladies of daily life.

Sharing with:
HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY"

Love flowers

Spring, certainly is the season when our fancies turn to love… have you noticed the birds lately? It’s mating season alright, but I was referring to some other type of fancies—gardening, of course, and flowering plants with romantic names that tell of love’s joys and sorrows. Here are a few of my favorites: Bleeding heart, cupid’s-dart, heartsease, passion flower, love-in-a-mist, and my favorite of all, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate; an annual with big heart-shape leaves and fragrant, dangling clusters of small pink flowers… isn’t this a lovely name?

Yes, I’m excited about spring, and the arrival of flowers, and to be truthful, I’m also a bit jealous, and amazed, by all you gardeners out there already enjoying mounts of roses from your gardens… I so miss my roses. I do I do… I do miss my roses to the moon and back… but for now I have no other choice but to enjoy my garden of weeds… and I’m not even there to that! So I will have to enjoy my weeds from afar…

Amazing isn’t it, what you can find in the yard if you look close enough? Beauty is everywhere, if you decide that's what you want to see.  When I get back home, I will pick these weeds from my garden and fill a few small vases of weeds/flowers to put around the house…

Do you know of any other plant with romantic names?

Oh I hope you would share!

Dreaming...

I’m not totally myself these days… and there are times when even trying to discern where I am or where I live becomes but mere forgotten dreams. Sometimes, right after waking up, when I’m still in that limbo between sleep and consciousness my brain tries to remember where I am, and for a split second my heart is a meanderings of voyages and I can’t remember where I am, or where I live, which house I am sleeping in, what room, what place? 

It’s been quite an interesting journey for us this last year and a half and my soul is starting to feel like a bird in search of its nest after a storm… where to go hide from the world? Or find shelter? And be free and rest… really rest? 

I fly my own skies with a restless spirit... And I don’t even know what I want anymore. When I’m in the South, my soul dwells in the past and yearns for everything which once had constituted our life here in the North. Strangely, now that I’m here I have come to the realization that the life I once knew and loved is no more. Life reveals itself in a strange, unfamiliar way, and nothing is the same any more. The familiar, the customary and expected have a puzzling uncertainty to it and I find myself ridiculously yearning for the life we now have in the South… 

My soul is fractured—a strange loneliness taunted by the memories of a once ideal existence… but where? In a previous life? In a future one? 

I am comforted by the peace of the wild things…

The Peace of Wild Things

(By Wendell Berry)

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, 

and the great heron feeds. 

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. 

I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. 

For a time I rest in the grace of the world, 

and am free.

The child within...

Metamorphosis… something is always changing in me—in all of us, as a matter of fact. Time, circumstances, and life itself tends to do that in us. I am definitely not the same woman of a year ago. I am maturing in stillness and peace and trust and faith each day. But if there is something I’d never ever want to change in me is the wonder of the child within—which I always try to carry with me wherever I go… the freedom to be our truest selves, the zest for life and the vision of the world through the eye of innocence and wonder… let that be the language of our hearts forever more…
 

And thus… as you may have already figured, I am here at our daughter’s home, joyful and with a heart overflowing with thankfulness… spending time with my dearest little ‘Pebbles” (Averi) and now this new little angel life of my life, which I don’t know exactly what to call yet, other than her real name, “Elise”, until I can figure out her personality. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we were to be called by whatever name matches or fits with our personality, or soul? Uumm, “Mr. Grouchy”, or “Miss Gossipy” or “Mrs. Meany”. I once had a boss whose real name should have been “Mr. Psycho” but otherwise was normally known by a very different name.  Ok ok… where was I?

Oh yes my friends... at the house in the roses!!

  

If fairy tales were made of flowers, undoubtedly this is what they'd look like...

"Under the trees light has dropped from the top of the sky,

light like a green latticework of branches,

shining on every leaf, drifting down like clean white sand"

(Pablo Neruda)...

The world is a glass overflowing with joy and memories of long ago feathered friends and mysterious kitties wandering around and butterfly galore… petals under my naked feet, rose thorns tattooing my skin... little joys, big joys...

I could never feel any happier or joyful than here… this it is truly a magical place, a place where angels tread and God speaks softly in the ruffle of leaves and the fluttering of birds and the wings of winds…

I hope you take time to enjoy life's little moments... which, really... they are the real joys. 

Of a new cottage and a new baby...

So we started with the renovations in our little cottage last week… the removal of the old stained carpet in the sunroom was definitely one of our priorities…

So out it went… and in came some lovely hardwood floors, to match with the rest of the house.

Love how the room is already looking… what a tremendous difference hardwood floors alone can make in a room…

Trims on French doors were all replaced and repainted…

 

 

The Jolly ‘Brown’ Giant himself came to measure up our kitchen countertops…

 

I’m sure this guy wouldn’t enjoy cooking in such small kitchen like this one... can you tell his height just by looking at where the countertops measures up with this knees...  hehe!

 

The little kitchen may lack in charm for some, and it is very small, but it has everything I need, and it is white, and I have always wanted a white kitchen…. and I love the fact that it is wonderfully illuminated by plenty of natural light…

I absolutely love all the natural light coming in, not only from the sunroom, but also from the skylight right above the sink… I remember back at the house in the roses how I had always wished for a skylight in the kitchen to brighten up those dark winter days, but then it was not possible... and now here we are in this humble cottage enjoying the extra blessing of the full spectrum of light inside. I am thankful and amazed beyond words….

 

I love the white tile in the kitchen, and how shiny it is… it adds an extra touch of cleanliness and openness to the room, but I wasn’t too happy with the dark grout… so I had it replaced by a lighter color. I didn’t want the dark grout to turn out significantly lighter either and end up with a white surface effervescence, so I chose a creamy-taupe color instead: Polyblend #180 Sandstone non-sanded grout.  Here is a 'before' hardwood floors before lighter grout picture.

 

I will have to show you the ‘after’ pictures later.... and I have so much to share too, but right now I have far more important things to do... like being with this little angel here!  ;) Happy happy heart!

 

Yes, meet our newest princess Elise Marie - April 2, 2014!

 

Isn't she the sweetest baby ever! 

 

And she's such a good baby too.  

My sweet darling little Averi is a big sister now, and she's doing such good job at it too!  It seems only yesterday she was this small... 

We're all doing great!

More to come soon...

 

Thanks for stopping by!