haunted

Image Source: Bing/Pinterest

 The house was set back from the road, and usually, I could only see it during the winter months when the leaves were missing from the trees.

 It was an old white Victorian-style house and there were rumors and gossip of ghosts.  Most recently there had been the murder of an abusive husband, smothered with a pillow by his desperate wife after he had beaten her in a drunken rage.

 But there were other stories as well.  A baby's rattle that would appear out of thin air and tumble down a flight of stairs.  You could hear a baby crying as it went until the rattle hit the bottom stair, then a deathly silence as it would roll across the floor until it disappeared into thin air again. 

 In the beginning, it had been a house filled with laughter.  Family, friends, children.  Holiday parties, dancing, fancy dinners.  But then there was the market crash.  Savings and jobs lost.  Wars with lives lost.  The house began to take on a shabby appearance as it became harder to care for.  Holidays came and went in silence.  Mourning those who were no longer alive. 

 Depression set in on the people and it soon transferred to the house.  Lost souls that lingered between here and there returned in the hopes of finding the joy they had once felt in the house.  But they became trapped, sucked in by the sadness of the living.  

 Soon the house began to attract those who were hiding evil in their hearts, and secret sins.  The rooms filled with the agony of the living, and it was haunted by time and grief.

Participating in Words for Wednesday here at Postcards from the Bookstore.

sneak peek ...

 A sneak peek at what I'm thinking will be the art and inspiration for the bathroom.  I had four 8x10 stretched canvases and covered them with some fabric I decided not to use on another project.

 With these as a focal point on a white wall, all of the other colors can be incorporated with accessories and towels.  I'm also using colored mason jars as storage containers and a liquid soap dispenser.

 I found a half-storage shelf for under the pedestal sink and used two curtains to make it a little less ugly looking.  The curtains have flowers in mason jars on them.  I might get some faux flowers to put in a vintage mason jar on a shelf.

 The weekends will be for painting, although this Saturday I'm doing an art class in the morning at Wren's Art Studio.  Pictures again on Sunday...

signs of spring ...

 ... as if all of the flower porn catalogs arriving in the mail weren't enough ...

I've placed orders for trees to plant in the (massive!) backyard for shade, and privacy, but mostly for the birds and other pollinators ... [links>] sweetshrubs, downy serviceberry, eastern redbuds, white dogwoods, sargent crabapples, Washington hawthorns.  I know that I probably won't see any benefit from them for several years if I'm even in this house for that long, but we'll see.

Rather than planting veggies in the backyard, I've decided to focus on flowers for the pollinators.  I've ordered a mix of milkweed, mountain mint, lavender, irises, hollyhocks, and double mock orange.

The rhododendron is beginning to bud in the front yard.  It's a small bush, and I'm hoping that with some weeding and feeding, it will thrive this spring.  There are also what look to be daffodils starting to peek through the soil.

I've ordered a mix of foxglove for the front yard shady areas under the windows, and some liriope for a rocky area by the laundry room.  Clematis will be planted in large pots by the front porch to grow up the decorative posts, and also along a trellis at the edge of the house.

I heard something said today on a show I was watching, "Mayor of Kingston" which stars Jeremy Renner.  It was rather profound, and something I wish I'd heard 50 years ago.

"I can't wait to get old. For my mind to soften and my memories to rot away. The hardest thing to do is forget. Forget the scars life gives you. Forget the scars you gave others. The challenge, though, is hiding a few memories worth keeping from your dying mind. Keep a journal, and only write down the good things. Then when the bad things fade away, you can read about the happy life you had."

Made some progress on getting the bathroom painted today, the ceiling is done, and spray painted the light fixture to cover the rust, put a first coat on most of the walls, and patched some holes.  The ceiling fan I ordered has arrived, soon to be installed. I was having trouble finding art work I liked for one wall, so made my own.  Can't wait for it to be all finished and share pictures.

a stranger in a strange land

  The headline was unfamiliar, written in Cyrillic, and I wondered what it said.  В Україні триває війна.  A rogue leader of a country, with no regard for the number of lives that would perish because of his ego and arrogant actions.

  I thought about the summer I went to Paris when I was a teenager, still reeling from my parent's divorce.  I didn't speak French, and even though I was with my classmates, I was still an outsider in another country. Would I have been able to cope with all of the emotions of my country being under attack, losing my home, possibly my family, and becoming a refugee in a foreign country?

  There was a small country parish church I often drove past, surrounded by pine green trees and hidden in a small valley.  I planned to go there to pray for peace for Ukraine.  For some, the thought of praying for a country might seem like a foolish waste of time, but I was feeling overcome with emotion for the children of Ukraine.  For the lost future of generations.

  Моліться за нас, моліться за наше майбутнє. Для дітей. Для сімей. Моліться за нашу країну.  Looking at the petitions for prayer seemed like reading secret messages or taking new orders from some Mission Impossible movie.  

  Perhaps if we all pray for peace.  For the children.  For the families.  Perhaps the world could change for them.  For us.

Participating in Words for Wednesday here.