On Thursday, mourning doves were cooing when we arrived at our old house for the final cleanup and to say 'farewell'. My husband and I were both a little tearful and since then I've been puzzling over 'why' our emotions welled up in this way. Maybe because we experienced so much love and light in that home?
Still, it's strange, because we are already making the new place our own and know that we'll be happy here. Nevertheless, the heart has it's reasons and sometimes it's hard to figure out what they're all about! Partly, I believe, how we feel about moving to a new situation has something to do with the balance of push and pull. When, in late 1992, we were thinking about leaving South Africa because the opportunity to come to North America had arisen, we wanted it very much to be about the pull, rather than the push to get out of what was then a very uncertain future. Yes, it felt good and right to come here. And truly, it does feel good and right that we're where we are now. Truly.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Learning the ropes... and the quirks!
We're slowly expanding into our new environment. That means not only unpacking, sorting, arranging, discarding and contemplating, but also acquiring new habits. For instance, locking and unlocking the front door a different way from what we've been used to; discovering how our new, fancier stove works and becoming reconciled to the fact that it's electric not gas. And we discovered a small leak in the roof, not when the rain was pouring down (chucking it down as they say in the UK!) yesterday, but a week or so ago when the rain was fairly light. We think the drips had something to do with the wind direction.
Well, this is an old house. Built in 1964, one of my least favourite periods in the history of architecture. But you know what? It's nice to live in. Apparently this particular model was featured in Chatelaine magazine as a marvel of modernity. This is what it looks like:
I suppose every house has its quirks. In our old (much newer) home, the light switch for the second bathroom was behind the door!
A minute ago I heard the click-like bang of our letter box being closed. Something else to get used to. No more heading out to the communal boxes for us even though looking for letters was always a welcome excuse to get outside. Except on really cold, windy, blizzard-like winter days of course! And yes, I do still receive the odd birthday card and letter. Very welcome they are too!
Well, this is an old house. Built in 1964, one of my least favourite periods in the history of architecture. But you know what? It's nice to live in. Apparently this particular model was featured in Chatelaine magazine as a marvel of modernity. This is what it looks like:
I suppose every house has its quirks. In our old (much newer) home, the light switch for the second bathroom was behind the door!
A minute ago I heard the click-like bang of our letter box being closed. Something else to get used to. No more heading out to the communal boxes for us even though looking for letters was always a welcome excuse to get outside. Except on really cold, windy, blizzard-like winter days of course! And yes, I do still receive the odd birthday card and letter. Very welcome they are too!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Creating a new (old) home
Over the last three months or so my life, energies and thoughts have been busy with selling and moving house. What a challenging journey it's been. Maybe the whole process was difficult because we loved our old place so much... it was full of light and happy memories. And my husband had "just got the garden right". i.e. the soil via bio-dynamics, the flower beds and the veggies. All this meant it was hard to let go, although we knew a downsize would be an admirable idea.
My goodness, I had no idea we had accumulated so much stuff!!! Hopefully I'll be more conscious of what comes in through the door in future. We've taken bags and boxes full to the Salvation Army (thanks for that outlet) and some furniture has gone to auction. But now that we've actually moved into the new house, there's more that needs sorting and dealing with.
So we have new spaces to fill and decorate in order to make this new dwelling our home. What struck me were these questions: Do I simply go with what's already been done as far as furniture arrangement, picture hanging and so on? Or should I take the opportunity to rethink and recreate? It's nice to feel embraced by familiar surroundings but I'm sure it's also good to shake things up a bit. So I'm thinking some of each is a good idea.
Wish me luck and inspiration!
My goodness, I had no idea we had accumulated so much stuff!!! Hopefully I'll be more conscious of what comes in through the door in future. We've taken bags and boxes full to the Salvation Army (thanks for that outlet) and some furniture has gone to auction. But now that we've actually moved into the new house, there's more that needs sorting and dealing with.
So we have new spaces to fill and decorate in order to make this new dwelling our home. What struck me were these questions: Do I simply go with what's already been done as far as furniture arrangement, picture hanging and so on? Or should I take the opportunity to rethink and recreate? It's nice to feel embraced by familiar surroundings but I'm sure it's also good to shake things up a bit. So I'm thinking some of each is a good idea.
Wish me luck and inspiration!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Fashion descriptions
Dear blog,
Many apologies for the lack of posts. See, I've been moving house. It's been a huge upheaval (but good in the end) and I'll write more soon. The thing is, it's not that I haven't had ideas and words fluttering through my head, but rather haven't found the moment to actually sit down at my computer. In fact, in general over the last two months, computer work has been minimal.
Anyhow, on the lighter side, today I'm wearing a new pair of red cropped pants... what I would have called trousers before moving to North America. Of course red pants were more of a thing a couple of summers ago, but hey, they look cheerful and fit well. As is fairly usual for me, I bought them on sale at the end of the last season.
These pants reach to a couple of inches above my ankle, so you might call them cropped. Which set me thinking how the fashion world changes its descriptions over the years. A bit-below-the-knees once upon a time might be called clam diggers (are they still??) or pedal pushers. I must confess, I rather like the latter term especially as the day is warm, the wind minimal, and I'm going to take time out now for a bit of a bike ride.
Many apologies for the lack of posts. See, I've been moving house. It's been a huge upheaval (but good in the end) and I'll write more soon. The thing is, it's not that I haven't had ideas and words fluttering through my head, but rather haven't found the moment to actually sit down at my computer. In fact, in general over the last two months, computer work has been minimal.
Anyhow, on the lighter side, today I'm wearing a new pair of red cropped pants... what I would have called trousers before moving to North America. Of course red pants were more of a thing a couple of summers ago, but hey, they look cheerful and fit well. As is fairly usual for me, I bought them on sale at the end of the last season.
These pants reach to a couple of inches above my ankle, so you might call them cropped. Which set me thinking how the fashion world changes its descriptions over the years. A bit-below-the-knees once upon a time might be called clam diggers (are they still??) or pedal pushers. I must confess, I rather like the latter term especially as the day is warm, the wind minimal, and I'm going to take time out now for a bit of a bike ride.
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