The Golden Room

Several years ago, during a bleak and bleary, gray winter, I came across this post card. It was just laying in wait for me inside an obscure box or book. And when my vision landed on it...I sort of gasped. It is a post card that I bought in New Port, Rhode Island. Philip and I had travelled there for a vacation which included a cruise to Newfoundland. I try to get a post card from where ever I travel. I'd read an article once about a woman who buys a post card on her travels and then writes a little anecdote on the back of the card about what she did while she was visiting the particular place the card represented. Good idea, huh?  Well, so far I just get the cards. And I can remember what happened there.. in Newport.... it rained buckets of rain! So this whole story is taking an ironic turn.  Anyway, I love this card because the room pictured is so airy and light. Full of golden light. It is a room in the Rosemont. One of those Newport, turn of the century, rich person's mansions. And I can tell you what it over looks. A garden, I'm sure, but beyond the garden, the big, wide ocean.

Ultimately, it is all about beauty. One does not have to be rich to have beauty. Beauty comes from a simple place. It comes from clean lines and open circulation. Beauty is not complex.

In search of beauty

      The other day, in Anderson, I walked into my office off the cabinet display room and had an epiphany. All around me were boxes of stuff. In the corner of the office is a little, metal desk with a black, granite top, covered with bowls of small stuff, jars of small stuff, and a stack of papers. On my work bench are more jars of stuff with several canisters of pens, pencils and paint brushes. Sure, one would expect to see things like that in an artist's work space. Yet how much is too much? The work table is 6 foot long and 2 foot wide. The size of my work area on this table about 1 foot by 18 inches.The main office desk is covered with lots of stuff as well, mostly cords, credit card machine, printer, and of course a nut shaped canister with a squirrel on the top...doesn't everyone have one? So as I am looking at this stuff, it came to me that all this stuff is calling my name:
"Over here, I need dusted!"
"When are you going to get us out of this box and hang us up?"
"Are you ever going to list me on Ebay so that I can be put to use?"
"The trash pickup is Wednesday, make sure I'm in it!"
"What were you thinking at that yard sale?"
     It occurred to me that I am carrying around so much anxiety and guilt about all this stuff that it is now infringing on my joy. I crave beauty. There is a post card in my office .....over on the metal desk with the granite top... that paints a picture of my real quest. It shows a room full of golden light and just a small amount of furniture. Every time I see that post card I want to step into that picture and just sit in the light. I bet the room smells of furniture polish and fresh flowers. The view out the window is probably of a river or a garden.
    And in my enlightenment I decided that I will take action. And over the next few weeks or months, I want to make this blog about letting go in search of beauty.

Today in Anderson

 

I  hadn't intended to write on my blog today as I have a ton of stuff to do but something happened and I just had to write. I was sitting in line at the McDonalds on 14th street. It was a lovely spring morning. I was admiring the beautiful, weeping cherry growing by the order station when I noticed this guy strolling down the street. He was walking at an easy pace....no hurry, no problem. And for some reason, I thought he looked like Santa Clause. He surely must have just stepped out of a snow mound. So then it occured to me that I need a picture of this guy. And that is when the line at the McDonalds dropped dead. Someone up ahead was ordering a killer whale combo. When I finally got through and had my sack of grub, I headed down the street, planning my assualt on "Santa." A person has to think about where they are going in Anderson because there are so many one way streets. So guessing by his pace and direction, I for once in my life came out exactly at a point where I could get my camera, turn it on, watch the traffic situation and snap a picture. So I present to you "Cool Santa on Jackson Street!"

The Nichol House Experience - Part 1

Hello, blog fans! I am glad to announce that I have reached a monumental moment in the Nichol Street Experience. As you know, I have been working on remodelling a house to be used as a rental property at the request of my husband. Today, I begin on the final week of work on the Nichol house. Mark has painted all the walls and installed a floor in the room I called the rough room. Now we have to touch up the paint, scrub and wax the floors, paint the stairway to the upstairs and add on the detail stuff like electric plate covers. The people who are to begin renting the house on March 1, dropped off some light fixtures for installation. They have asked that something be done to cover the pipes in the downstairs bathroom. And everything needs cleaning.

      Some of you may wonder why I have posted such an austere photo of myself. I took this myself, sometime early in the process. Later as I looked at it, I couldn't help but see my father's face. He was a carpenter. He built much of our house....slowly...over years.  He was always adding something on. I thought of him often as I slugged away at this project. I thought of my brothers too. Especially the two brothers who are carpenters. I remember going to the new North Cove Elementary School in the Woodlawn community  in Marion, North Carolina with my brother Doug. He showed me the trim work he did on the school gym. A facility that will be around for years. I was amazed at how the wood looked as if it was one form. Tight to perfection. And my brother Elihu with his wonderful wood shop just a few feet from his back door. Neat as a pin.

    My sister Marlene told me not to cry too much at the end of the week. It struck me as funny because I have been feeling kind of maudlin about the house. It was built in 1884. The people who built the house were craftsmen. I can see it in the house. I stayed late the other day to paint the stairway to the upstairs. I mixed brown and black paint and discovered that I had gray/purple steps...so I will be repainting the steps brown. As I got to the bottom of the steps, the steps make a curve around. As I painted the curve around, I noticed a piece of concave moulding trim underneath the step. I've watched enough home repair / wood working shows to know that this curved trim would've had to have been steamed or soaked in water to limber up the wood. I loved discovering this hidden detail because detail use to matter. The house was quiet. And in this instant, I felt connected to those spirits from 100 years ago.

    Stay tuned... It's gonna be a busy week.

Painting Has Begun

    On Monday, Mark and I started painting the Nichol house - interior. He  was using the paint sprayer and I spent my time washing down the wood work. I have to admit that I have been dreading this portion of the remodel project. I can't explain why I feel this way. I guess that I see it as another mountain. And it feels like there have been many mountains to climb in this project.

    We spent 2 or 3 days taping windows, fixtures and floors to get ready. At some point, with blue masking tape and newsprint on the windows,  the house began to look like the inside of a cathedral complete with stained glass . Philip found us a fine sprayer. It churns the paint out at an amazing rate. In 2 days the entire inside of the house was painted. Sure, now we have to touch up the straggling points but it is amazing to see such progress in a short time.  By Friday, we hope to have all the painting and touch up finished. Next job, the floors. We have a deadline as renters are moving in on March 1st. "Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!"

  

Winter Musings

Progress is continuing on the Nichol house. Many of you may not be able to believe that it has been a year of trudging work but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As you can see from the picture, a new front door has been added to the house and that is the excellent work of  Dr. Mark. I call him that as he may not want his name used on the internet. Mark is a guy that Philip hired to help us finish up with the house. And the guy is a God send. Everytime I turn around he has fixed something else. And done it with a great - no problem attitude.

It's snowing again in Indiana. It has been the "deep freeze winter." I call it the deep freeze because most of the time in winter, we'll get a couple of  35 - 40 degree days. Not this year - so far. It's been difficult at times - like the other morning when I opened my car door and it popped when I pulled on the handle and then wouldn't close and then I tried the door lock and the door closed so I crawled in on the passenger side because I was afraid that if I opened the door, I would never get it to close again.
     We had a pipe freeze up in the Lincoln building at the end of a really tiring day and I thought I would just lose it fortunately my son, Barnaby was working in Anderson and worked without complaint to save the day.
   But Phil and I have started trying to walk at least 30 minutes each day and it has made all the difference. Something about turning off the tv, the computer, the business, etc. and bundling up to go out there into the world of nature, does something to a person. It invigorates. To be out in this God given world, with all it's sounds of wind, snow falling, dogs barking in the distance, birds singing out from their hidden places, the water trickling in the creek through Rash Ditch, calls to something inside a person. One day we saw a red fox running across the northern most pasture, along the creek. It was a sight to behold as it's flame orange body made it's way through the snow! We've seen squirrels fighting/mating/playing in the trees. A sort of high wire, trapeze, clown act. One day, I saw about 6 or 8 of our black cows running/dancing in a field full of snow as more snow poured down. They were throwing their feet up in a beautiful, bovine conga line. It is undescribable just how that looked!  And the experience of just walking along with my best buddy in the whole world is gravy on top!

January Memories

 

     Hello again. This weekend marks the end of January 2010. The month started off with a cold spell and snow storm...typical for winter. I remember a weather lady getting close to histerical with the thought of this big storm coming in. Not only was she almost hiperventilating but she was starting to scare me. I hit the mute button but then became intrigued with the radar scan of the storm. By the middle of the day, it turned into a butterfly and moved on.

     One night during the cold spell, I heard a sound that at first I thought was coming from our front porch. Then it became apparent that the sound was coming from the basement. It was the middle of the night. I got up and crept through the house to the basement door. Slowly I opened the door and peaked down the steps. I noticed pots and pans lying on the floor. Things had been turned over on shelves. But the thing that freaked me out was a wine rack, hanging from the basement rafters, that was swinging about as if a wild party was hiding in the shadows. I quickly closed the door and LOCKED IT! It was like a scene from a horror movie. The next morning I told Philip all about what had happened since he slept through it. He set a live catch trap in the basement to appease me. And I'll never forget how the next morning when I asked him if he had checked the trap, he headed for the basement door and said "I'll see if I caught your monster." And just as he finished the sentence, walking down the basement steps,  he said "It's a possum!"

   A group of us went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky during January to celebrate my son, Barnaby's 30th birthday. I think that I am still pondering that experience. Imagine walking into a hole in the ground and discovering areas that are larger that your living room. Areas that are more like large theathers. And there are small areas and areas that you have to watch your head and lots of darkness. And speaking of darkness, as we, the tour, made our way through the cave, the lights were turned off behind us and it was like the darkness was chasing us out or at least following us. It was just strange.

One of the big reasons that I have not written in some time is that I have been working like a deranged lunatic on the Nichol Street house. And the best news of January is that Philip hired extra help for me. His name is Mark and man can that guy work. He has put in cabinets, hung an entry door, caulked every crack in the house, closed up the fireplace, fixed lots of stuff. And the thing I like is that I don't have to keep checking to make sure he is doing stuff. He's doing more stuff than me. So this is just a little shout out to good help!