thoughts from today

I love blogging. I really do. at the moment i am living two lives.
one at Inglewood, where I am taking things down from walls much like un-decorating a christmas tree. I wander around my garden, gathering bits - statues, wall plaques, pots & other things that dutch husband and I have collected over the years, and each one holds a memory.. I look at my garden with different eyes, a bittersweet time.. remembering when we first bought the house and all we have done to the garden.. but there is an underlying excitement of course with the life to come at Villa Maria. .. but like I said, it is really like taking decorations down at Christmas time
then I pack it all into my car and take it down to Villa Maria where it sits until I have time to find a home for each and every piece of garden art. what I cannot find a home for will be given away to friends..
Villa Maria, the other part of my life.. where I go each day and renovate.. pulling up carpet, cleaning out cupboards, pruning trees.. [and of course you can read about that at Stories from Villa Maria.....]

today at Woodford we had a frost.. and the oranges will be really sweet, ready to eat.. I will leave some on the tree for the new owners.. I can just imagine their excitement about picking their own fruit.. what a life they have to look forward to!

[I am visiting blogs, as I can ~ trying to run two homes at once and also moving my mother into aged care in the next few weeks, is quite a daunting task.. so if I don't visit please don't think i have forgotten you.. I will be by as I can.. ]

well, it has happened

today, we received an offer on our home Inglewood.. and we accepted. Not exactly what we were asking but with the world market as it is.. we thought it is better to sell than wait .. plus the woman has fallen in love with the home.. and that is all that matters to me...
contracts were exchanged tonight and there is a 10 day cooling off period just incase minds are changed... dutch husband & I have 6 weeks to pack 10yrs of living at Inglewood.. and move it all to Villa Maria.. chooks and all.

today at Inglewood

the real estate agent thanked me for the way I present Inglewood for showing prospective buyers... he just doesn't get it.. I do this kind of thing all the time for myself.

the little finches are back. the winter finches who flit from branch to branch in my garden, disovering insects that have been left exposed by the fallen autumn leaves. a winter finch breakfast delight!

the capsicum have almost finished only one more on the plant that I will use for pizza and then the plant will be left to rest until summer time.. for the new owners of Inglewood whoever they may be.

the bush peas have flowers, the swedes are slow, celery is coming along fine. the lime & lemon trees are heavily laden and the oranges are just about bursting off the tree.. and the tamarillos continue to supply fruit rich with vitamin C.

it is cold but sunny, the washing blows in the breeze. as I clean the bathroom, I can hear the currawongs calling in the distant valley.. my soul sighs with contentment.

winter is here and even St.Francis is kept warm.. a scarf of mine hangs around his neck, while he holds produce from the garden..

[don't forget to check Villa Maria.. I do update that often]

I'm gonna share some art..

a few days ago, I had an urge to paint [and let me say here; I don't paint.. I have dabbled a little but faces or people are not something that i have been taught].. I wanted to do a child-like painting that I had done many years ago while at school.. you know, one of those people with big heads, little legs and colourful clothes.. so I started to paint.. starting with a background of gesso and stenciling etc, etc.. then I used a page from an old encyclopedia to make the face and painted over that with a kind of opal pearl paint. and a funny thing happened as I looked at it.. a face appeared.. the eyes and mouth were there but no nose.. so I played with some brown paint and filled in facial features.. then got going with the hair, dress etc...left it for the night & came back to it after dreaming that I had to collage 'something' to the piece of art work.. so I went through my gatherings of magazine cuttings that I have collected over the years and found a stone rose and a little bird [is it a robin?]... and this is what eventuated from my creative streak:

[it isn't 'perfect' [the crown is crooked among other things] I am my own worst critic.. but I like this piece of art that I created.. the eyes follow me around the room.. very odd]

had an interesting comment on my previous post about selling Inglewood
in part: 'Try to remember, you are selling a roof and walls - not a lifestyle.
Don't take it personally if your taste and ways are not to others liking. This is a business transaction and whoever buys it (even if they are your type of people) will still change things you would never think of. Inglewood will sell when you detach your lifestyle from the house and attach it to Villa Maria. De-clutter and give some one else a blank canvas.'

thankyou Carol C.. [and maybe I am on the defensive here] but unless you have either been here to my home or been following my blog for sometime.. you can't really know that Inglewood IS a lifestyle, not just a house & I cannot detach myself from it until I move - the garden cannot be detached from, it needs to be tended & nurtured & loved, until i leave it ~ our home here is being sold as a mountains cottage which lends itself to the clutter and decorating style & we have been instructed to leave it as is. I totally understand that people will change it when they move in - we always do. we put our stamp on our homes as most people do. Inglewood will sell when it is divine right planning.. not when I detach myself.

[new post at Villa Maria]

don't give up on me..

at the moment.. I am in quiet time.. and I worry that my blogging friends will think I have disappeared and stop visiting Inglewood.. I have been journalling alot.. working through Walking in this World is bringing up alot of things to sift through & also opening up my creative self.. so I am painting and collaging, writing poetry and other such stuff.. and it feels good and is fun.. [I will share when I work up the courage to put that part of myself out here]
And, I have been occupied with a few online workshops..

story telling & collage with True North Arts..

I also joined Barb Kobe's Medicine Doll Workshop

& then joined an online Art community

so you can see that I have been busy, busy ~
working through Julia Cameron book always seems to open up a whole lot of new worlds for me.. and with my work at Villa Maria.. well, life is full.

I will admit I have also been a little in the doldrums with Inglewood still not selling.. it actually saddens me that no-one has come along and fallen in love with the home... I feel as if I have created something that only I like.. with Imagine painted on the wall, the extensive gardens and the eccentricity of the home, have i created an unsellable home? Dutch husband says no.. we made a silly mistake with the real estate agent.. the contract is up soon and we will go to one closer to Woodford .. I am trying so hard to remember that everything is being orchestrated as planned in the Heavens, but sometimes, I feel well.. i guess lost is the word.. does that make sense?
[thanks for not giving up on me xoxo ~ I love that you still come by even though I am not visiting you as much.. I will, I really promise.. but just right now, I must honour my soul]
[there will be a new post at Villa Maria tomorrow - I took photos tonight of some more work we have done]