I’ve had these photos for a few months, ever since my son Caleb showed them to me on his phone. He does carpentry and construction in the city and this house will be getting renovated sometime soon. And I feel just a bit sad about that…there is something poignantly beautiful about it in its current state. Expressing my wistfulness, he then mentioned lead paint. But I still love these photos, and the way it feels to be in empty, tattered rooms.

It is so easy to picture a shabby, elegant sofa…a coverlet upon it…a fire in the grate…a small table at hand to hold a cup of something warm…and s-p-a-c-e. Of course, there are the bothersome details about how to make that cup of something warm, and where is the notebooks and pencil and pen and books and every other little thing that makes for contentment? The constraints of the natural complexities of life always shadowing our longing for simplicity and spareness.

This is something of what I feel as I walk slowly through January, lovingly scrutinizing my home…my work…my ways…so wishing they could be emptier and more…pure, natural, clear…than they are…than they can be. Such longings, tho’, aren’t very helpful if they become expectations. So I am just paying attention to them and encouraging them to help me let go, and then let go some more.

One thing I won’t be letting go of is this blog. Although I’ve rather neglected it in my rosehip-confusion of the past few years, my delving this month revealed to me that of all the places where I can share, this feels most like home, apart from Wisteria & Sunshine, which is my true home because of its shelter and seclusion. Perhaps I will think of this blog as my town-home, my pied-a-terre. Someplace to go when I am feeling sociable and yearning for conversation and communing around the hearth.

I’ve had some ideas for a few new furnishings I will be creating for these rooms, to make them more inviting and comfortable for us…but didn’t want to wait for them to manifest before saying…

Hello again…and Happy New Year…

May we find so much that is…peaceful & understanding, clear & spacious, warm & deep…in our togetherness in this webby world. xo