last week...

 A brief break in the story of Clarence and Albert ... I got the art word prompts today that will wrap up the 100 Days of Wonder, and will work on the art today (Sunday).

Last week I worked on painting a buffet cabinet.

This was the before ...

This is 95% done now.

This was today's art project at the Wren's Nest
 after I embellished it with some birds.

My forever home is coming along, and I plan on being moved in by the end of June.  The amount of stress this is adding to me right now is just overwhelming.  I'm a horrible procrastinator when it comes to actually packing and moving.  Packing for a trip ... I'm packed two months in advance.  Packing for a household move ugh ... I will be throwing stuff into bags and boxes at the last minute.  Except for this time.  I hope to get a lot of the little things moved one room at a time, which I think will make it easier when I have to get the big stuff moved in a day.  I've had to rethink some things ... such as beds in my bedroom and the guest bedroom since on a 2nd look, the rooms were much smaller than I imagined.  Color themes changed for rooms.  Both bedrooms and the kitchen will now be blue.  The living room for now will be a neutral taupe, but eventually, I want to do a water wash color on the walls that is the same color as the buffet.

I suppose I should get to sleep  It has been a long day  Charlie is already in bed and snoring.

Hugs, Ci 💚

vultures ...

   "Clarence?  What are you looking at?"

   "Those birds.  Soaring in circles up there.  What kind of birds do you think they are?  Ravens, maybe?"

   "Not likely.  Probably vultures.  Why?"

   "Hmmm.  I see them quite frequently circling over our house, Albert.  Do you think they are an omen?"

   "I think they are too high up in the sky to know exactly whose house they are circling over, but no.  I don't think they are an omen.  Vultures are scavengers, and they probably smell something in the forest."

   "Hmmm.  Have you ever thought about the people that have lived and died in our house, Albert?  I mean, really thought about them.  What their lives were like.  Whether or not they knew they were going to die when they moved into the house.  What their last thoughts were about.  I went through some of the trunks in the attic and there have been a great number of tragedies.  Did you know that?"

   "I suppose I suspected, but never really thought about it much, Clarence.  It is a very old home, and I'm sure that before modern conveniences like electricity, indoor plumbing, or even automobiles that took someone to the hospital, there were several deaths there.  It stands to reason there may also have been some births there as well."

   "Perhaps.  But it seems that there have been an extraordinary amount of tragedies.  Parents lost at sea.  Suicides.  Mysterious drownings ~ both in the lake and in the house.  Disappearances.  And now this ... this spider that we have unleashed upon the village.  I just don't know how much more I can take."

   "Clarence, we don't know what happened there while we were gone.  The police found no evidence of the exterminator in the house and their investigation didn't even turn up any evidence of the spider.  They haven't been able to find him at all.  His employer said that he had always seemed a bit off and was extremely unreliable.  Perhaps when he realized that he had damaged the tent while removing it from the house he decided to quit the job and leave the country.  It's my understanding that tents to fumigate a house as large as ours can cost over £200,000.  I'm certain he was afraid he would have been held responsible for the damage."

   "Do you think you are safe there, Albert?  Really safe?  I feel the house is cursed.  Haunted.  There has been so much pain and sadness there.  I wish at times it would just burn to the ground.  I don't want to go back there.  I can't.  I won't."

   "You needn't worry about that right now.  Just focus on becoming well.  We can talk about it all when the doctor says you are well enough to leave the hospital."

   "But I worry about you being there alone, Albert.  Please promise me that you won't go back there tonight.  Stay here with me.  Please.  Please, Albert."

   "Shhh, shhh, shhh.  Don't get yourself worked up about it.  I will stay with you until your medicine takes effect and you fall asleep.  If it will make you sleep any better tonight, I will take a room at the inn to be closer to you until you are well."

rosemary for protection ...

 May 17, 1930

Dear Mabel,

Thank you so much for the condolence flowers and card.  Mother is just so devastated.  Father blames himself.  He says that if he hadn't forbidden Gregory from going into the cellar, he would not have been tempted to sneak down there.

The oddest thing though, is that no one can understand how he could have drowned in such a small amount of water, or even where it came from.  Mr. McGowan, the caretaker, insists that the cellar has never had water in it before and that the old well wasn't even in the cellar.

I took solace in the attic after Gregory's funeral.  One of the old trunks had beautiful dresses in it that must have belonged to a girl my age.  They fit me perfectly!  I also found a diary in the trunk that must have been hers.  Her name was Catherine, and I think something horrible happened to her.  Mabel, I think her room is the same one that is now mine!  I think that she died in that room.  She wrote that she had been locked in the room by a woman who must have been the housekeeper and simply forgotten.  There were a few other short entries after that one, but then nothing.

I can't help but wonder if it is her presence I sometimes feel in my room.  It is such a sadness that I feel that I'm often brought to tears for no reason at all.  Except lately there seem to be too many reasons for tears.  I miss Gregory so much, Mabel.  I just can't believe he is gone.

Please come visit soon.  I need you.

Catherine

Lost and found ...

 

May 16, 1929

 Dearest Mabel,

 We've just arrived at the new house and it is so large I think I will have to leave bread crumbs to follow whenever I leave my room!

Father said that the house is over 200 years old.  I can't wait to explore the attic to see if anything was left behind.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to find an old trunk filled with dresses or jewelry?!?!

There is a cellar also, but Father said it was off-limits.  I wouldn't want to go down there anyway.  Probably spiders down there and I would simply die if one of them crawled on me.

Gregory, of course, is more interested in exploring the forest on the property, and the lake.  Typical boy.  Father, however, forbids him to go exploring alone.  The forest is very dark, not because of all the trees, but because it feels threatening.  Evil.  It is hard for me to explain, but there is no worry that I will ever go in there with or without him.

You will have to come to visit soon.  I miss you already!

Elizabeth