Pumpkin Cottage

Pumpkin Cottage
sit and visit a spell
Showing posts with label Cottage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cottage. Show all posts

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Posh Landing

I am sure there are those who dream
of a posh landing.
A castle, mansion or an oasis on a hill.




















Not I.  As I peruse Pinterest, where you can
find everything your heart desires, I pin 
my heart.











































A cottage heart.
Small houses.
Classic cars
Cottage gardens.
Riot of color.

Embroidery.
Crochet.
VW Buses.
Smeg appliances.
Place to travel: Holland, Azores, and Portugal.




























Simple and obtainable.
God willing.





















My mother was glad I stated
a little
girl for so long.  I still like
frilly lace and ruffles.

She also said, "Your
front garden is your
home's first living space."

I have kept these things in mind.
Along with guest towels in the
bathroom. The ones NO one else is allowed
to use.
No, Joe you are not a guest.


Pumpkin Cottage flowers


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Cottage Musing

Whenever we visit the homes of friends,
I come away with a feeling of doom.
A feeling of needing to grow up.
To live more like an adult.
My friends homes are polished.
Minimal clutter, non-existing bric-a-brac.
Grown up.


















Monotone.
Monochromatic.
Midcentury.
Traditional.

Honestly, none of these words
describe how we live or our
design style.


























Cottage.
Bohemian.
Eclectic.
Bright.
Tchotchkes.


Urban Barn, Escondido



















This is the dialogue thread that has
defined my life.  What I am and what
I wished I could have been.

In the end, my authentic self has won.
It is clear in the books and magazines where
I spend a significant amount of cash and time.
The inspiration scrapbooks I create.
In the orange cane I carry.
In the places we visit.

Simply, I must accept the portrait of my heart
illustrated in the way we adorn our cottage. 

To answer the call from within.


Goodwill, Escondido



















Word of the day: Authentic.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Anniversary Road Trip


For our wedding anniversary trip,
we were blessed to travel with special friends.

Turlock...stops along the way

























































Our goal was to introduce our friends the get-along style of
road trips and to my hometown.  Swoosh.


It's Italia in Half Moon Bay



















Mr. Lee spying from the men's restroom.



















Mr. Todd's turn to peak on us..

























We don't wear watches and we don't worry about
schedules.

Sharing time with my oldest and dearest friends.
My extended family includes friends close as siblings.
My brother and I grew up with these girls.
They are family.  My children are growing up
with these special friends, too.

Visiting Half Moon Bay, California is magical.
It is full of tourists now but growing up there was, Mayberry, small
town perfection.  Really, we were poor but we all felt
a sense of abundance. We played freely, walked every where:
to the store, post office, Thrifty's for ice cream, school, beach
and rode the bus to the nearest BIG city alone as kids.
What freedom.


























A place so significant in developing my sense of self. 
Feminist ways.
Having a strong mother didn't hurt either.
A place so special it brings emotional gratitude to my heart.

Both my parents and my sister are buried there.



































This year has been particularly difficult.
I've spent plenty of time in the therapist office
and even more time on my knees.

President Obama said it in his
convention speech. "There was no
other place to go."  

 Just the ticket for a new perspective.
Alameda Point.



















Look closely.  There's San Francisco in the distance.

Something for everyone.



















Wish I'd brought these lovlies home.  Bubble bubble. 



















Beach




















Mustaches all around for road trip home. 








Saturday, August 25, 2012

Longevity in Life and Love

Years ago while trying to sustain an unsustainable marriage,
I started reading mind body connection books.  Once I felt
stable and left the marriage I abandoned the books I was reading.


Today, I started reading When the Body Says No
exploring the stress-disease connection by Gabor Mate, M.D.

A best selling author in Canada but not here.

Many of us live, if not alone, then in emotionally inadequate relationships 
that do not recognize, or honour our deepest needs.  Isolation and stress
affect many who may believe their lives are quite satisfactory. 

                                                                       - Gabor Mate, M.D.


Life is not easy.  Pick a praying man.




































Ask your suitor.  Do you pray?
If his answer is,
"I am not religious but I appreciate (or love) that you are."

RUN the way. You need a partner in all you do.
Gone should be the days when only the wife or mother
attends the places of worship.

In truth I am not religious  in the conventional bible thumper way.
In the way people use religion to support their anger and hate.
In the way religion is used to segregate.  The way some priests
used their position of authority to abuse children  or support slavery.


I do have a personal relationship with Christ.
Maybe that is why it is so easy for me
to vocalize things of the spirit. 
I enjoy sincerely enjoy symbols of organized religion.
A Bible is a constant.

Do I wish I attended church more often, yes.
Do I enjoy fellowship, yes.
Do I have friends from all faiths, yes.
Good people can be found as believers and nonbelievers.  
In selecting a partner, I still insist a shared faith is easier.
The more things in common the better for the longevity of  marriage.


Be equally yoked.  The scripture below
was not about marriage but it is useful here.
Great visual of the two oxen yoked together.


2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? 
and what communion hath light with darkness?

If attending church, praying in crisis, or
raising children in a a faith.
Eating vegetarian, voting for the Dems or GOP matters.
Pick a like minded mate.

Vintage tablecloths as art



















Mr. Lee from the beginning told me he was a praying man.
He had jealous bones.

He was secure in his manhood and heterosexuality.
He was not homophobia.  In my opinion, men that are are scary.
He had been raised by a strong mother who worked outside of the home.
He would support my perpetual student tendencies.
Most importantly, he understood children come first.

Green olives...yum.





















 



The bonus was he enjoyed reading, magazines,
thrifting, art, music, old movies,
and the hunt for vintage 
Oh yes, Joe would want me to tell you, Mr. Lee could
move a big couch. 
And agreed we would care for my mother if the opportunity
arose.  

You know homemakers took care in setting their dinner tables.


















Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Kindred Spirits

Get off your cross we need the wood.  Shari Elf
Shari is the genuine article.  Our people.
At work we always say, "These are our people or these
are not OUR people."

Dottie Angel 
Check out her book.  Her writing makes me happy.
Her next book will be Granny Chic.  Forever I have aspired
to have my home look Granny fashionable. 

Magic spray paint.  Who wants to graffiti
when painting is so much fun.  Always
wondering, do they want to make the neighborhood
look ugly?  Because we work so hard to be
house proud and make our cottage look good.















































Isn't she lovely?  With a new coat for spring.

























Still waking up at 2 a.m. but I just lie there instead of
writing to all you loverlees...Yep that's how I am spelling
it.  It means my sweeties.

Every weekend while I work on homework...So tired.
Mr. Lee finishes another project. Can you hear cheering?

It has been very stressful around here but we are not
special.  Right now everyone is trying to hold on.
Try to find joy in the every day.
Focusing on what really matters.  Focus with me.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Cottage Loving


























The cool weather should be coming.  The changing weather
gets me dreaming about cozy cottages. 
This little cottage is situated on the island of
Pico, Azores.  So close to the ocean you can taste the mist.



I want to have a little house with sunlight on the floor, 
A chimney with a rosy hearth and lilacs by the door,
With windows looking East and West, And a crooked apple tree, 
And room beside the golden fence, for hollyhocks to be.

Nancy Byrd Turner
 
These lovely words have been painted
on the wall of my powder room for nearly eleven years.
It is still as true for me today as the day I painted them.
I still don't have a chimney but I have a crooked apple tree and
hollyhocks in the garden.

Here's to the lovely golds, oranges and yellows of November.