Rainy Day Pink

Available on Etsy. Link HERE

Pink with Audrey. A cure for the blues.

It's another dreary, cold, rainy day in May. Rain, rain, go away..... I need the sun. I worry about puddles.

All kinds.

My dogs refuse to go out. We know where that leads.

Has my basement filled with water again? My handyman started the French drain, it is a huge deep cavernous hole to be completed when the sun dries it out. Another setback with today's weather.  I see it filling with water, emptying into the front downstairs room. He says it will channel the water from the house, even in the state it is in. I am in a state of denial.

We'll see. That's all I'm saying.....

And my brain is mush from dampness in the air.

But then I came across this poster on Etsy. It made me smile. You can't be sad surrounded by pink. I love the saying too. I have kisses galore from six dogs housebound and cuddly on my couch. They make me laugh every time they wiggle. Perhaps I am burning calories! I am strong, I've survived the widow word and come out on my happy side. Tomorrow is another day, rain rain go away...

Today the pack and I will stay dry. It will be a great day. I am in the pink. My pink ceiling tins came in yesterday's mail. I have bought more pink for my house. I've spent money I shouldn't have to buy things I couldn't live without. Does that make me out of my mind decorating the cottage in my mind? My recent purchases. What do you think?

One of 10 antique old pink paint tin ceiling tiles that came from Ebay.

From an old Victorian house. Five feet wide and 29" tall. Headboard perhaps?

 Old pink paint dresser and mirror. Tin pulls old white paint. So sweet. Waiting for me to pick up in Statham, Georgia and bring home!

Instead of worrying about French drains today, I believe I'll dream of Paris. I wonder if I should Google French cottages? I do believe in miracles. It is a miracle I am not crazy yet!

 Available on Etsy. Link HERE

Maxfield Parrish House on Ebay "A Piece Of History For Sale"

View Ebay Listing

Houses and Art. My dreams are full of both. Imagine how exciting it was to find a house on Ebay that combines the best of both worlds. No, I can't buy it - but I can share it with you here. A bit of history that could be yours. Visit the Ebay sales link .

For Sale: Large house and 12 acres of land, “The Oaks,” New Hampshire estate of American painter Maxfield Parrish known for his illustrative depictions of magical landscapes. Home and gardens in a magnificent unspoiled setting with spectacular mature spring and summer gardens high on a hill with unobstructed 180-degree views of Mount Ascutney and the Connecticut River Valley.  The property is set in a rural, peaceful setting, while located a few miles from an airport, shopping, hiking, skiing, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, and Dartmouth College. There are excellent local public and private schools nearby.  Modern home built in 1979 is 7,200 square feet and includes six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a paneled library, two large ballrooms, two completely equipped kitchens and four fireplaces. Large enough to be divided into two spacious town homes, the property is also a wonderful year-round retreat for an artist, writer, or nature lover. Affordably priced at $475K. For more information, please contact us at the eBay link above.  All inquiries welcome. Being the house hound I am, I contacted the seller for more information! His reply to me: In 1898 Maxfield Parrish purchased 50 acres at the top of the hill from the Freeman family. He designed and built his house on the site where the present building is, and lived there until the 1920's. He then moved to his studio directly across from the main house and lived there unit his death in 1966. We bought his property, including his house, in 1978. After a major fire which destroyed it, we rebuilt, following many of Parrish's original designs. It is the rebuilt house along with 12 acres of Parrish's original land that is for sale. What a wonderful home for sale. If only.....but I live in the cottage in my mind! Today, I am in the estate in my mind! Enjoy the photos! I love how the seller included artwork in his photos!

About Maxfield Parrish:

Maxfield Parrish 'Stars'

Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) was born in Philadelphia, studied at Haverford College and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and worked as an illustrator in Philadelphia until 1898, when he settled in Plainfield, New Hampshire. He lived and painted at his beloved estate there from that time on, and all of his famous works were created in the studio building located in the rear of the main house. This studio building is not open to the public, and is not a part of the museum.

Parrish painted until he was ninety-one. He died at his home, "The Oaks," in Plainfield, in 1966, having lived to see a strong revival of interest in his work. Parrish pictures are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Art Institute, and the M. H. De Young Museum in San Francisco, among others.


Maxfield Parrish 'Daybreak'



Mother Nature is a B****

Rascel (front) and Bertha (back) enjoying the sun today!

The storms ripped through north Georgia yesterday and a small town suffered more damage than the mind can take in. My dogs and I were huddled close waiting to see what weather would come across Decatur. We were lucky here, only some heavy rain. My downstairs basement room had some water trickle in from the baseboard, as it always does when it rains. One day I'll fix the problem. For now, my idea of home repair is to drop a few quilts to soak up the puddles, and file the problem away for tomorrow.

It is a scary thought to loose everything to mother nature. She is really mean spirited lately. You can't turn on the TV without hearing another weather related horror story. I pray for my home when she gets riled up and I weep for those who have suffered under her rule. As a nester, I know how much my home means to me. It is my safe harbor. What if it were gone?

Last night I started to think, what makes a home? I love all my possessions, as most everyone does of their things, but they just fill a house, with beauty, with clutter, with memories. Home is different when it holds a family, a husband and wife, life seems to be in constant motion. Sometimes by myself, since I've lived on my own now as a widow almost five years – single woman, my new title - how different the space feels. The energy level is different when it is just one. Good, but different.

Even with six dogs by my side, there is a quiet that you don't have when you share your home with someone. My house is very still this week, since my teen foreign exchange student moved on to another host family. I was her welcome home for five months. There are no text messages, no dogs howling and carrying on to greet her, no waiting up late to be sure she got home in time, and no late night conversations and laughter before she headed downstairs for sleep. It is a quiet that stands out from the last months. It is a quiet I needed. My head was about to explode from all the teen activity! (A note: I have never been around kids, so this was a new and wonderful experience).The timing for her to move on was perfect. She is with kids her age and I am with my dogs, writing again at my computer.

Have I gotten so used to living by myself that I am happy with just my dogs? I needed my life back to be able to connect with friends, a hard, almost impossible thing to do, when you are on call for a teen. Now I am home alone, but not lonely.

I am back in my social groove, a new groove actually, for I've met some new friends. After months and months of looking at real estate ads, it dawned on me, maybe I need friends in my neighborhood, rather than to change my neighborhood to make new friends. I got online and started a meet-up group for boomers who want to get out more in Decatur. The response was amazing. Over sixty members in a few weeks. Many from outside the area who want to come to Decatur to be social. As great as that was, the best news is a small group of ladies who live close by joined and we get together on a regular basis. I love my friends outside the perimeter (that beltway that circles Atlanta) but it is a joy to drive only a few miles to have fun.  I plan to keep up with all my friends, but it is good to be grounded close to home.

So, to answer my question on what makes a home? Family, friendships, love and, for me, a pack of dogs. Those are treasures you can't replace. I like living with my dogs, our house is a happy place. I am more content here now since my list of friends close by is growing. And because I know my mother will read this, I love that we talk every night, even though we are miles apart.

I'll still worry myself sick when mother nature comes to visit. I'll pray for my safety, the safety of those I know, and those in the direct path of such a wicked turn of weather. My dogs and I will snuggle together and I will remember that home means love, and I will treasure that above all else.

Rascal. Oh to be a dog on a sunny afternoon!