Be Careful What You Ask For...

Springtime, closeup of the Flowering Dogwood in the rain.

Well, now I truly understand the phrase.. "Be Careful What You Ask For"... Just the other day I posted a blog saying "I hope we find a nice family who fall in love with our home.." Well, today we did, a nice family made a no nonsense offer (full asking price) on our house and we just signed the paper work this evening... ...... .....,,,,, oh,,,, my...! Its really excellent news, and I am greatly relieved..., apparently the wife is a keen gardener, and the husband is thrilled to have found somewhere so private... so its all so very good...

And I'm also a little sad to be leaving my garden, and my birds...

I'm a little nervous too..., now that the house is selling, we have to have a house to live in by the middle of June... YIKES....!!!

So, to anyone and everyone out there... HELP! We need to find a rental on Bainbridge as soon as possible... I hope that we can find one on short notice..

(I think I may have to get back into my meditation practice and soothe my rather over active mind!...)

I have to trust that all will work out (how can I convince the new owners to keep feeding the birds???)...... B..R..E..A..T..H......................... ..... .........

Time For Some lovely "Old Fashioned Mail."

Sweet little garden themed cards by Bainbridge Artist Meagan Stockman

I am always on the look out for lovely blank notecards, so I was thrilled to bits when I walked into our local feed store yesterday (so much more than a feed store!) and found these little works of art in card form. I love nothing more than to send someone I care about a hand written note on a lovely little piece of art (even more so when its been crafted by a local artist...)

An added bonus occurred when I dropped in next door to the tiny one woman run post office, to ship my college girl her package of gluten free goodies for the week and happened to spy these heavenly (see above) first class stamps smothered in exquisitely detailed violets, perfectly timed for sending Mothers Day cards... (they reminded me of the real violets I wrote about yesterday...)

Did I need any first class stamps? No, but I bought them anyway..., what a delicious way to brighten up a piece of mail right??? (Any excuse to brighten/beautify the mundane is the motto I wish to live by:)

Sweet Little Violet

Viola Etain

Even though we will be moving, and don't really need to be investing in plants... I simply fell in love with this little plant today..., her name is Viola "Etain" and she is just exquisite with her primrose yellow petals edged in contrasting periwinkle blue.., not to mention her deliciously sweet fragrance...,, I will put her in a beautiful pot and take her with us when we move... I'd like to do that with all of my roses too. They have brought me so much joy over the past few years. (sighhhhhhhhhh)

I found this lovely poem about violets.. , hope you like it...

The Violet by Jane Taylor

Down in a green and shady bed,

A modest Violet grew;

Its stalk was bent, it hung its head

As if to hide from view.

And yet it was a lovely flower,

Its color bright and fair;

It might have graced a rosy bower,

Instead of hiding there.

Yet thus it was content to bloom,

In modest tints arrayed;

And there diffused a sweet perfume,

Within the silent shade.

Then let me to the valley go

This pretty flower to see;

that I may also learn to grow

In sweet humility.

Open House...

So we took the plunge today, and had an open house for local real estate agents.. the "For Sale" sign is posted at the end of the driveway.., it feels real now.

I'm attaching a few photos that were professionally taken so you can see our newly made-over home . We did a lot of work in a short period of time to get the house ready, but I think you'll see, the house shows really well. I sent the link to Sophie at college, and she gasped when she saw the transformation.., and then asked "why are we moving? My bedroom looks so nice!"

I had four phone calls immediately after the showing, they were agents wanting to bring clients by to show the house, I take that response as a good sign. Perhaps we will be fortunate in selling our home. I hope we will find a nice family who fall in love with our place..

In the mean time, we get to live in a beautiful show house, and I get to watch my beautiful English garden do its spring thing!!!

A quiet place

Froggies Quiet Place

People keep asking me, "what kind of house do you want next and where are you moving to when you sell the one you're in now?"...I guess its the human condition to want to talk about the future, (like I have control over when this house sells..,) but it got me thinking on it today, as we showed the house for the first time, and tomorrow morning will be the brokers open house... So today, I did spend some time thinking about what matters to me when looking for a new home.

Firstly the where part is easy, I want us to live on Bainbridge Island I lived there for many years when the Girls were growing up. I feel more at home there than anywhere else in the North West, and my youngest daughter Isabel still has two more years of school to go at the High School there, so I want to be closer.

The "what kind of house," is a little fuzzier, not so clear. I guess one of the reasons we're moving is because we'd like more room. Caelin would like a "Man Room," where he can watch his t.v, and listen to music in peace. Which would be great, because the rest of the house will be for the family to hang out, and people to come and visit..

But something else came to me today, as I pondered a new place to live... I would like a hiding place, a bit like froggy in his rose, I realize I've shown a similar photo, but I had to use this photo today, because sometimes I feel like a need a sweet quiet place, just like Froggy, a place to get calm, be quiet, be creative, listen to what my soul is telling me.

I remember when my Girls were still quite young, and we'd had weeks and weeks of non stop visitors, I was trying to do my art, I had a lot on my mind, I know I was deeply stressed out about my Mother who was very sick, and five thousand miles away.., I was tired and feeling overwhelmed, and felt trapped... I needed to be quiet and get away.. So when the family were outside, I hid myself away in the closet under the stairs. I lay down on the floor, behind baskets of winter gloves and scarves, boxes of tinkling christmas ornaments and just breathed... My husband and Girls came in, and started searching for me.., I could hear them looking for Mama... But it wasn't time yet, I hadn't had enough quiet.. So I didn't give my hiding place away. I lay there for another several minutes till they'd stopped looking for me, and got distracted by a game they'd been playing earlier.. I allowed myself time to gather myself up.., and yes, I did feel a little guilty, but it made me realize the importance of quiet and solitude, and I came to terms with the fact that along with food, water and love, to survive, I also need quiet time too. So, when I think of a new home for us all, in my heart and mind, I long for a quiet little corner of that home to call my own, where I can retreat sometimes, and just breath...

A little sweet something...

I found this book during a trip into the Pearl District of Portland this weekend. I immediately thought of Isabel, our trip to Paris, and our memorable "Best Hot Chocolate In The World" experience at Angelina's on the Rue de Rivoli...

It was there that we bought a couple of boxes of these delightful little sweet macaroons, (or "macarons" as the french say.)

I just knew that Isabel would love this How- To book by Japanese Pastry Chef Hisako Ogita.

I gave it to her tonight when we got home... and she insisted that we make some .... immediately.. Well, despite my kitchen being pared down to just a few essential tools and dishes, we had enough items to make the macarons...

So far they seem to be turning out as they should, we've made two kinds of cream filler, hazelnut coffee, and Raspberry ripple... We are supposed to wait until the little puff cookies are completely cooled, but Isabel couldn't wait and made herself a raspberry ripple, with "umphhh, yummm," noises, coming from her direction, and "you need to try one Mom.." I'd say they are a success!

Contentment...

An altar of fruit, bread and golden rosemary...

Since writing a few week ago about altars and realizing how much love I have of them, I now "see" altars everywhere.., some are consciously created others not.

I feel like a bird, who is driven to make the nest around her comforting and familiar, AND visually inspiring.

The fresh strawberries, golden rosemary plant and loaf of bread nourish not only my body, but my soul. These items contain worth to me because I value the human touch and exchange of energy that went into growing and creating that which is in front of me, they hold an innate beauty, that for me symbolizes the harvesting of hard work, love and care.

So, I create an altar in appreciation of these good and simple things.

And in these moments of appreciation, I experience a deep, profound, inner joy and authentic contentment for the life I am leading.

How do you experience contentment?