Summer is here now. Everything is in bloom and reaching up to the sun.
This is one of the new English roses I received for Mother's Day this year. Her name is Gertrude Jekyll. She struggled a bit at first, and I worried about her, but now she's putting out lots of new growth and just finished her second flush of deep pink blossoms.
This moment, when the sky is all lit up with delight from the day, is my favorite. Just then, there is an opening and an exchange between Everything, if you know what I mean. And under the trees are so many rabbits that you would be frightened if you have ever read Stefan Spjut's novel The Shapeshifters.
In the last week, my son sold his 225 gallon aquarium and I turned the front room into a cozy study--a little dream of mine for several years. Here is the room 'before' (the tank used to be against the brown wall).
And, here is the room 'after':
I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.. :) We found the rug at the flea market for $40. The daybed was less than $90.00 at Walmart (we already had a hardly-used mattress on-hand in my daughter's trundle bed). The little table and the desk chair were flea market finds for $10 each, and the bookcase is from IKEA. The piano got to stay where it was, and my antique desk got a nice new corner nook (I love it there--who knows, maybe it will motivate me to write).
Elvis thinks it's a good change. :)
The garden is like a little jungle just now. Peas and raspberries are ripe for the picking.
These two girls are six years old and still laying eggs every day!
Things are changing in the world. There is a loudness which has made me and others quiet. You can see it in the mass exodus from personal webpages to instagram. Some people have shifted to sharing more often yet less. Connecting through conversation--sharing thoughts, ideas, words--is now blasé. If social media was superficial before, what is it becoming now?
I understand that for a lot of people (most people?) the internet has expanded the world, but for a person like me, an introvert who values deep relationships, the internet has reduced my universe to a hermit's cell. I have relatives who won't communicate with me because they prefer to text, and I don't own a cell phone. I have friends who no longer keep in touch with me because they prefer facebook, and I don't have a facebook account. I could get these things, I suppose, like I got an instagram account, but I know I would never use them, just like I don't use instagram. The thing is, I don't want to be anyone's fan. I want to be their friend. ♥
Hi, Susan! Your room looks so inviting! Elvis is awfully cute; he looks serious, as if he's pondering the nature of the universe.
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa! Thank you for your kind comment about my new room. : ) Elvis looks serious, but he's really quite a sweet clown--he keeps me smiling. ♥
DeleteI love your roses, and your new room - gosh, so much loveliness in it, and such wonderful savings! I also love your little blogroll in your side bar. It contains some of my own favourite places too, and some wonderful new ones to visit. Thank you for including my own little site there :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you wrote about the internet. I am intending to close my personal facebook page, and instagram has litle interest to me now although I try to post there regularly. I just don't see the point in it. I miss the friendships that developed in the old days of blogging. Like you, I am an introvert; also, I don't really fit into our culture here where I live. So the internet was a real treasure to me. Not so much any more - oh, I get pleasure from lovely photos of antique dresses on instagram, but I miss the conversations, the daily visits as if we were catching up with each other over a cup of tea.
But as you know I'm a terrible correspondent behind the scenes, so perhaps I ought not discount my own contribution to the situation :-)
Hello, dear Sarah ♥. Yes, I've added an old-fashioned blogroll. :) I've found so many nice blogs + people through the blogrolls of old. And, that's what I want to do here--be a blog of old: single page, easy to navigate; a sidebar with helpful categories, a blogroll, and maybe a helpful link or two or tutorial if get around to it. Simple and friendly as opposed to glossy and impersonal.
DeleteI miss the conversations of the old blogging days, too Like you, I cannot discount my contribution to the end of blogging as we knew it. I changed my format too many times--and for the wrong reasons. And, I stopped posting with any regularity. I can't say how often I will post now, as I don't like to spend too much of my free time on the internet. I would like to post once a week, but even that has proved too much as of late.
I have missed you! Your new room looks so nice and your garden does, too. You hit the nail on the head with your summary of things online these days. I was just thinking of how blogs have fallen silent in favor of "stories" and other foreign (to me) things. I have joined you in hermitude. I lost a fried, in a roundabout way, because of my Luddite tendencies. I have missed you. <3
ReplyDeleteHi Brandy, I think of you often, and I've missed you, too (my fault!) I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with the new ways of "socializing". I hope to get back to blogging more, but to be honest, my big family keeps me very busy, and when I have a little time I don't like to spend it on the computer. May I send a little letter to your house now and again?
DeleteI would love that! Do you still have my address? I haven't moved. :-)
DeleteOh, yes, I still have your address.♥
DeleteHI Sue! The garden looks beautiful and so does your new room. I'm so happy to see the pictures and to see the results of the room once the fish tank went. I know you love it, especially with everything so fresh and clean.
ReplyDeleteLetter on the way - doing OK here, so far!
My Liz! I am so grateful for your comment--just to know that you are doing okay so far.♥ I just put a letter in the mail yesterday, so hopefully it will be in your hands by the end of the week.
DeleteI LOVE your nook :) I can imagine you sitting and writing or reading. Now onto social media. I am not on FB and I prefer a phone call. However I do love my cell phone (connects me to the kids). I love my blog and the long writing I can do there. I have an instagram account that I do like and use but I hate the timeline and don't like the time it takes for me to be there. So I put myself on a diet for that app.
ReplyDeleteI get overwhelmed by the news media and my frustrations. I wanna know, I know I should stay off and then I check again. I can get into a vicious cycle.
Hi Karen! I know what you mean about the news. There is a delicate balance between staying informed and being overwhelmed by all that's out there. I'm not very good at balance, so I tend not to watch the news very much. And, I suppose I am more of a hermit than most people--but it is really a matter of self-preservation rather than personal taste. Technology is a good thing, and I am grateful for it (especially when someone I love is sick)! I'm just not good at keeping-up with this new way of socializing.
DeleteWhat a lovely catch-up, and an example of the best kind of blog post -- at least, of the kind *I* like to read. You are right, blogs and websites are dwindling; I'm glad for any thoughtful bloggers who don't give up.
ReplyDeleteThat room transformation is impressive!
Thank you for your very kind comment. ♥
Deletefrom a fellow hermit -- i absolutely echo everything you've written here. *sigh* i have moved deeper into hermitude of late -- being thoroughly worn ragged by trying to 'keep up' with the online world. I very much miss the old days of blogging -- and yes, accepting my own part in contributing to bloggy silence! -- but i struggle to know how to navigate the online world these days.
ReplyDeleteI've come to love my 'radio silence' -- not spending my free time on the internet has been so fulfilling and rich...but....i do miss the friendships and connections that lie therein. I've revived my letter-writing campaign and get great joy from that. Perhaps, if you've a mind...I'd love to send you something analogue from time to time. :)
Your new space looks very inviting! Wonderfully cosy and very conducive to reading and daydreaming, i think.
it was good to find you here..on this, a random impulsive foray into the internets. ;) xoxox
Hi Mel, yes, you have described the problem exactly; I am 'worn ragged by trying to "keep up" with the online world'. Before the internet I had so much more time. It was nice to get together with a friend for tea, and then go home and be done socializing. With the internet it never ends, does it?
DeleteI would love to receive a letter from you--and write to you in return. Please email me, and I will give you my address: homehum@gmail.com