DIY Renovating a Cottage Kitchen

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Pumpkin Cottage is filled with gratitude for all those who
have, are, or will serve.  Happy Veteran's Day. 


Mr. Lee removed this cabinet and pieced together the plate rack.
He still has enough left to make something else. 

It was there and then it was gone.
Light shines in our tiny kitchen now.

Notice the wall space to the right of the cabinet.
Built into the space is a beautiful plate rack.

It's painted red inside and has cup hooks.

Next, install white subway tiles with black grout for the backsplash.

Fall Festivities: Pumpkin Heaven

Creating mends the heart, soothes the the soul
and releases anxiety.  Get to creating. 

Asking for Inspiration in the Holiday Season

Here he was, seventysomething, and still whining, 
though God had woven like a gold thread through 
every chapter of every book of Holy writ: Rejoice! 
Know that I am with you and for you and will never
leave you; take courage that I will fight for you and 
be your shield and buckler and provide for you 
when you are old; I will supply your every need, 
I will give you victory over death, 
I have prepared a place for you in heaven...
                                    Father Tim
                                    Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good
                                    The New Mitford Novel
                                                             Jan Karon

 
This is how it always happens.
I ask and the Lord answers.
This season is my most
favorite and the most difficult.

 
Highs and lows any way the wind blows.
                              Doris Day


My mother's birthday, Halloween,
Dia de los Muertos,
All Saint's Day, All Soul's
Day, the anniversary of the passing of my sister,
the anniversary of my mother's passing, Thanksgiving,
and my late sister's birthday, my birthday, Christmas,
Mr. Lee's birthday, New Year's Day,
Uncle Joe's birthday (my brother)
and Epiphany. 

It's exhausting and exhilarating.
Wings and roots.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery
The event.

Our children have been raised
with the reality of life and death.
It's not scary or macabre.
They understand we are
celebrating life
and those who have passed
live on in our hearts and memories.

V-Project

Las Vegas

Mr. Lee and I don't share last names. 
When we married, I already had two children
from a previous marriage.  So I elected to use my
daddy's last name, the older two boys have their
daddy's last name and these two have their daddy's
last name and it starts with a V.

Scottsdale

Dear Mother - Querida Mãe

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
                    Abraham Lincoln

Missing you dearly.
Happy Birthday, Mother.
How I wish we could plant
white pansies (amor perfeitos - perfect loves)
together today.

Pansies were among my mother's
favorite flowers, not the tiny johnny jump ups variety,
but the large faced old fashioned pansies
with their charming smiley faces.
I'll plant white pansies with purple faces
today to commemorate her 86th birthday.
Just me, in solitude, out in the garden
dirt where I can carry on a conversation. 

I didn't know it, but the old house at 424 Purisima
had everything I needed
to fill my heart for a lifetime.
While I searched and peace alluded me,
the peace my soul desired was already
within me.

A large garden with an apple and plum tree.
Shasta daisies (margaridas),
fuchsias, roses (rosas), camellias (japonicas),
geraniums (solteiras), and
hydrangeas (hortencias).
I learned their Portuguese common names first.

My mother would garden by the light of the moon while
she cared for father in late stage Alzheimer's.  Her garden
was among the most beautiful of cottage gardens.
The flowers so loved, they lifted their heads to listen
to the outpouring of my mother's heart, to kiss
the sunshine and the water so lovingly provided.

My parents in the backyard at 424 Purisima

My father and me in the parlor at 424 Purisima. Always smiling.  

Me, Father, sister Mericia, and Joe in the parlor

My parents with the Last Supper in the pink kitchen at 424 Purisima

Created Art - Hours of Love

We have mountain friends with a cabin
in Idyllwild. The last few years
the Get Along has spent 4th of July and
Thanksgiving with the extended Riley
family. The classic Hallmark family.
Warm, inviting, with loads of love
to share. It is always a privilege.

My love of crafting somehow
secured the treasured 
50 year old button box of the Riley matriarch.
An incredible gift, from the heart, packed
with memories, buttons, bits of lace and
snaps.

The contents of the button box became
the materials for a gift for my friend Lori,
one of the daughters of this special family.
For over 50 years, the family and friends
have gathered at the cabin.
Lori's two children
have grown up spending the holidays
at the cabin. 

To commemorate the years of memories,
I created a pictorial of Wes and Tori,
as little children, playing in a light dusting
of snow.  Last Thanksgiving, members of Lori's
extended family assisted by sewing on buttons.

Recently, Lori framed my work.
So honored. 

Gentle readers, thank you for visiting.

Hand of Fatima

Hand of Fatima.  Fatima is my middle name so I am
fascinated with its origin.

From Jessica:

Those that don't got it, can't show
it. Those that got it, can't hide it.

                            Zora Neale Hurston
 
Picture me short, overweight, obviously a ma'am
not a Miss and crippled by Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).
Yet, there is a certain something. 
My mother used to say my grandmother's nose nearly
touched the ground, her AS was so bad.
Regardless, I have the something both my mother
and grandmother had. 
A certain something that makes it easy to
laugh at myself and with others.  To make new
friends and keep old friends.  So so blessed.