Hello folks! It seems a long while and a lot of big changes ago since I last wrote here...
We have moved house after nearly eight years, the longest we've been settled anywhere in the eighteen odd years we've been a couple, so for me at least it was a big deal!
I had to talk myself into the move pretty hard, though now I can't believe we've been here in the new cottage for over three weeks already... where did that go! Apparently the new tenants moved into our old house today which feels a bit weird, I hope they will like it there.
The first thing we did when we finally got here was to arrange our hearth and straight away it felt more like our home again and I knew it would all be fine. It felt like a bit of a ritual, building the heart of the home and a new fire, all it needs now is our Green man to watch over it and us (which involves getting the drill out when we get chance.)
I was very attached to our old place (though very glad indeed to be rid of THAT landlord!) and there is a lot I will miss, the soft summer evenings out in the owlsong and fox-bark dark, the huge sunset filled victorian windows, the quiet wooded lane, the Raven pair and especially the garden. But so far I'm not missing it as much as I thought, with new walks to discover and new rooms to make our own.
The fox bark dark one summer's night
Our old garden in the early bloom of summer
It feels like a new phase now the children are a bit older (they are loving it) and I have so many cherished memories tied up in the old place of their baby and toddlerhood, a really special time. We moved there when our first baby Elora was two months old, she took her first steps there...
Then two and a half years later Elswyth arrived...
Then these guys...
Our mother cat eventually left home, but we still have Griffin who seems to have settled quite well so far...
I am anxious to get painting again as soon as possible, very conscious of the time ever slipping away and away as ever... though as it happens as a result of moving to a smaller place, paradoxically I will end up with an entire self contained studio in the stone outbuilding attached to the cottage!Our fantastic new landlord has put in a new double glazed window and we just need to get time to plasterboard and put in a floating floor and voila - a beautiful big light studio for me! I'm hoping to get it done by the summer, and I will try to do some progress shots for you as and when it gets going...
I have plans to finally crack open a sketchbook on Sunday and start to draw again - its about time too!
Bye for now, back soon...
Congratulations on the new house! -- Oh, and I have it on the best authority that you should pour some vodka down your tub/shower drain to encourage a bannik ( which is the Russian equivalent of an appropriate muse -- is there a graphic arts muse? Surely there is. . . ) to take up residence in your house. And a little offering to the genius loci never goes amiss. . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks WOL, good point indeed! Did you ever read CJ Cherryh's Rusalka trilogy? She depicts the spirits of Russian folklore, Bannik's, House spirits, Water things and Leshys, all so well... I love her writing... Hmmm must read them again methinks!
DeleteCJ has been my favorite author since she started writing. I will buy one of her books simply because it has her name on the cover. I love her stuff so much. I just got my autographed copy of her latest Foreigner book. She is currently doing a rewrite of the Rusalka trilogy because she was not happy with it. The rewrites will be published as ebooks on her (and Jane Fancher's and Lynn Abbey's) Closed Circle website. I follow her blog and Jane's. They are housemates and they finished a rather grueling bathroom remod. http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2012/03/23/guess-what-im-reading/
DeleteCool, Carrie! Beautiful hearth. Can't wait to see the studio & new work.
ReplyDeleteYes I'm quite excited about actually getting a proper studio, hopefully might encourage me to be a bit more prolific! I'm really looking forward to finally getting some charcoal and ink out tomorrow too!
DeleteWishing you and your family all the best in your new home!
ReplyDeleteIt's always a bittersweet thing to move house. (I've never lived in a place longer than 4 years in my life. A few too many moves for my liking!) Your hearth looks so beautifully inviting. And thank you for sharing those delightful photos of some of the moments and memories you have from the old place.
Ps. thanks for the mention of CJ Cherryh - I hadn't heard of her works, but will certainly seek them out now.
Thankyou Lynn,it should be an interesting year ahead growing into our new spaces indoors and out...
DeleteCJ Cherryh is a wonderful fantsy fiction writer - I'd recommend the trilogy 'Rusalka' 'Chernovog' and 'Yvgenie', and also I loved 'Faery in shadow' and 'The Dreaming Tree' with a more celtic mythology root, also her High Fantasy Fortress series are great, starting I think with 'Fortress of Owls'?
Hope you enjoy some of those!
Check out the Closed Circle website at http://www.closed-circle.net/ for CJ's ebooks
DeleteShe also does "scifi" (she does it all, actually) -- Check out the Chanur books. Also the Faded Sun trilogy. She also does what I'd call "sciFantasy" -- the Morgaine books are a case in point. Also the "Riders" books - "Rider at the Gate" is the first one of the pair. She is a "world builder" par excellence. She's won 3 Hugos.
(Wasn't sure my first attempt at a reply worked...)
DeleteWanted to thank you, WOL, for the link. I"ll look it up.
What a versatile writer!
Wishing you happiness and many new memories to cherish in your new home.
ReplyDelete