Renovation, Rest and Renaissance

 

The rose among the lavender - 2014

   I am happy (and I must admit, somewhat proud) to tell you that the main level of the house - the 89 year old part - is finished!!  I started from the ceiling and worked my way down to the floors - popcorn all scraped, ceiling patched, washed and painted; everything taped for the next part; walls all painted a putty/beige; crown moldings all painted in a vanilla; baseboards, doors and window trim all restained in a lovely deep redwood color.  If I didn't already own the house I'd be in line to buy it! :-)
     Many have asked if I will have an open house once I'm completely done just so everyone can see all the work that's gone into it.  I will certainly consider that as so many of you have known me since I moved into this house in 1975 so you have seen lots of changes from the little 850 sq ft house to my adding the addition in 1994 and finishing the half basement.  But this is the first time I, by myself, have put this much work into the house and I am really pleased with it so far. 
     The next phase is to renovate the addition which will be a little tricky as the ceilings are 10 ft!  Wish me luck!  I think I have earned a little time off from all the house work.  So this week will be a time of rest.  I just renewed my zoo membership so I will make a trip up there - always a wonderful day!  I may go see a movie - or two.  I would love to start some gardening, but I learned my lesson last year about starting too early, so perhaps just sitting outside with my ice tea and books and soaking in the lovely sunshine.
     "Renaissance" is a French word that means "rebirth".  We usually apply it to that period in history from about 1400 AD to 1600 AD, but we can use it to express what the earth does this time of year.  I would like to share with you an excerpt from my most favorite autobiography about the rebirth of the earth.  I do not want to tell you ahead of time who the author is as I want you to be pleasantly surprised.  I'll let you know at the end of the excerpt.  Here it is.  Enjoy:
     "How noiseless and undisturbing are the demolition, the repairs and the alterations of nature!  With no sound of hammer or saw or stone severed from stone, but a music of rustles and ripe thumps  on the grass come the fluttering leaves and mellow fruits which the wind tumbles all day from  the branches . . . The same serenity reigns when all at once the soil yields up a newly wrought creation.  Softly the ocean of grass, moss and flowers rolls surge upon surge across the earth.
    "Curtains of foliage drape the bare branches.  Great trees make ready in their sturdy hearts to receive again birds which occupy their spacious chambers to the south and west. . . The meadow brook undoes its icy fetters with rippling notes, gurgles, and runs free. . .
     "The thousand soft voices of the earth have truly found their way to me - the small rustle in tufts of grass, the silky swish of leaves, the buzz of insects, the hum of bees in blossoms I have plucked, the flutter of a bird's wings after his bath, and the slender rippling vibration of water running over pebbles.  Once having been felt, these loved voices rustle, buzz, hum, flutter, and ripple in my thoughts forever, an undying part of happy memories.
    " Between my experiences and the experiences of others there is no gulf of mute space which I may not bridge.  For I have endlessly varied, instructive contacts with all the world, with life, with the atmosphere whose radiant activity enfolds us all.  The thrilling energy of the all-encasing air is warm and rapturous.  Heat-waves and sound-waves play upon my face in infinite variety and combination, until I am able to surmise what must be the myriad sounds that my senseless ears have not heard."
                                 This excerpt is from "The World I Live In" by Helen Keller
     Once again, I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for joining me on this journey of renovation, restoration, renewal, even rebirth as I head towards my beloved France.  (And I am getting closer!)  Merci!!