Monday, December 2, 2013

What have you been up to?

It is winter.  And it is cold.  But it is a different kind of cold here.  It's a sunny cold, and the mornings are always wrapped in a kind of murkiness that seems to come down from the very sun itself, and it spreads and travels the land in enchanting and mysterious ways.  I love it. 


And I love that my house bears the scents of the cranberry woods.  After all, it is winter.  And that's my winter scent...  Cranberry, and rich blackcurrant and raspberry delicately layered with notes of cinnamon bark, cedarwood and warm amber—a mysterious blend inspired by the magic of the woods during harvest time.  From Bath and Body Works.


I have been using this scent for years during winter time.  It remains me of the house in the roses and the scent that used to floated all around in the early morning on those super cold snowy days. 
 

Oh I miss the house in the roses.  And I miss Barnes and Nobles, because we don't have one in this little town... miss my frequent escapades there on cold winter mornings; miss the memorable cafeteria with the music of Andrea Bocelli on the background; a cup of coffee; a cinnamon scone and the Selina Lake books I used to adored and leaf through, page after page, until each photograph was well memorized through my fingers.... a dozen books and magazines to take with me inside my bubble... because, I live in a bubble... ah yes, a strange and wonderful bubble of comfort and luxury and invention and a thousand rare stories. 


The other day, the owner of this house came by and during our conversation he asked me if I was happy here...  I happened to mentioned the blue carpet and the strange smell that emanated from it, and I told him how I wished for hardwood floors...  


Two days later I had the blue carpet replaced by hardwood floors.  Now, except for the kitchen and the little sunroom which I so adore, the entire house bears hardwood floors.  How nice of him to do this! I am truly thankful.  


I bought two identical wrought iron queen beds for our two guess rooms... 

same beds, but the atmosphere created by the decor make things looks so different... 


I love how my girly room is looking these days... 

and I love my little green chest too!


I'm adding some knobs to those naked drawers soon, 
but which one should I chose?
The larger purple ones?
The pretty aqua's?


A hodgepodge of pretty pillows... love it!


And pretty taupe roses for a dreamy atmosphere...
Love this color...


One of my gypsy dress and some others...


I love textiles 
and I love it when I find pretty fabrics at the right price. 



I love thrift shopping for clothes and pretty garments just to use for decoration...


I’ve been known to unreasonably buy
pretty-to-me pastels and flowery clothing
even if they don't fit....  
Can you picture me at a Russian Market?  
I know... Loca!


Mom and dad and sister Lissette and her family left yesterday.  So did our son and his family.  The house feels empty and quiet, but I'm enjoying our time alone and have been doing what I love—decorating my nest... 


I love my mood boards!


It's been very cold around here all through last week and what it's been this thus far.  We even had some snow flurries and sleet today and much rain...  I am happy.  I love rain.  And I have found out that I can actually stand this type of cold for some reason.  It is not the same kind of cold of the North north were we used to live, I'm sure.   And I find it must lovely—the fog that shrouds the earth at the draw of the day.


I went again to our storage place to see if I could find my Christmas tree and decorations among the zillion boxes there... and I did!   The Christmas tree is up; simply decorated and looking lovely by the big windows of the little sun room; which reflect the lights on the tree and make everything sparkle and looking glorious....

Oh do tell me... have you started decorating for Christmas yet?

Take my hand and take me there!



14 comments :

  1. A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you Cielo...How nice your family came to your new home to celebrate with you. Your home is looking lovely and reminiscent of the house in the roses with your pretty painted furniture. I love white painted furniture, looks old and new at the same time. I have lived many places in my life and my favorite part of moving is decorating your new home. Shopping for all those treasures to make the room look special. Right now my house like a forest with many plants, ferns and a 12 ft tree in the living room. I have the trunk of a beautiful oak tree that was cut down in my entry. Yes my taste is a bit different, like me, but I love my home, my sanctuary. I have not decorated for Christmas yet. I like to leave the fall decorations up a little longer. Funny, my birthday is on Christmas and my brother was born on Halloween, which is my favorite holiday. As always, thank you for sharing your thoughts, feelings and peeks at your new life. Best of everything to you.
    Sherry

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  2. How wonderful are your stories, and how I enjoy reading them... Thank you for sharing bits of your life with me... I feel blessed.

    Hugs

    Cielo

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  4. Cielo, your home looks beautiful and so cozy! I took down my fall/thanksgiving decorations yesterday, cleaned and dusted, then put out my Christmas decorations. I put little trees in each room. My favorite it my "Nutcracker tree". It is gold, with ballet slippers, gold walnuts, and little soldier nutcrackers on it. I put the large wooden nutcrackers all around it. I am happy that you like the area that you are in. My husband and I spend the summer in Boone,NC, in our RV and love it! Have fun "feathering your nest"!

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    1. Delaine, that sounds marvelous... I love staying home and decorating and baking and even cleaning.... all in all, just doing all the things that make us happy and joyful as a woman. I'm having a hard time adapting to a full time job again...on an extra fast pace at that, I should add... and all the while thinking of home and what an awesome thing to be able to stay all day long there... and just enjoy life as is... with its big and little joys.

      Cielo.

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  5. "...to take with me inside my bubble... because, I live in a bubble... ah yes, a strange and wonderful bubble of comfort and luxury and invention and a thousand rare stories."

    And I come here, to try to learn how to live, as you do, Dear One. Your entire outlook is wonderful. It is so uplifting and reassuring and..... -happy sigh-.... Just you.

    I love your blogs, because of the delightful mood they create... And let me enter into, also. I love your blogs for your whimsey and your finding beauty and looking for magical joy, everywhere...

    Wish I could learn from you... And so, I keep trying to do that very thing. :-) "Trying" is moving in the right direction, after all....

    If only, if only, if only, there were more blogs, which are similar, to yours. If only... If only... If only... -sigh-

    Tessa~

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    1. Oh thank you... I'm so honored and humbled by your comment.... a true joy, too really... to know that my little life serves to bring some joy onto others is a true joy in my heart as well..

      Hugs and blessings

      Cielo

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  6. To your question... Yes, I have been decorating here and there. Mostly in the Hearth Room and Kitchen, where we spend the most time. And a bit in the Den, also. I like to be able to seeeeeeee and enjoy the decorations I put up. Me. Me. Me. Us. Us. Us. A wee bit selfish, that sounds, I suppose. -chuckle-

    Outside there will be a live wreath on the door, and a spot light on the door, of course.

    But mostly, I hoard my sparkles and candles and balls and garland and Faerie Lights, inside! :-))))

    And I keep taking pics of all of these things, over and over and over, and use them in my blog.

    Gentle hugs,
    Tessa~

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    1. Oh oh... "sparkles and candles and balls and garland and Faerie Lights"... that sound super delightful to me! Enjoy... ah yes enjoy, enjoy enjoy all of it.... the magical little things in life....

      Hugs

      Cielo

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  7. Your rooms look lovely. That is wonderful the house owner gave you hardwood floors. So nice.

    Sad for you not to have a Barnes and Noble nearby. It is one of my favorite stores. There is one in the mall in Chattanooga I go to way too often. I need to go there and get gift cards for my granddaughter and daughter for Christmas.

    I have started decorating. I got a new tree for the den it is a prelit slim tree. It was so easy to put up. Today I put up my big tree in the living room. It took a while to put all the branches on it. The white lights look so pretty. I am still not through putting all the decorations on it. I pulled all my boxes of tree, decorations, Christmas village and other decorating items out today so my den is a disaster area boxes everywhere. I have a tiny tree that was my mother's first Christmas tree. My grandmother kept it for many years. My mother died 2 years ago so now I put it on a little table in the den, she put it out for many years in her home. I also have a ceramic tree that grandmother made that I will put on the kitchen table. I love pulling things out of boxes and thinking about the person they belonged to or made them or gave them to me as a gift. Isn't that what Christmas is about? Those things that tie you to the past?

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  8. What sweet stories.... so many memories and the joy of yesteryears; and a bit of sadness too, but always love, and hope, and the believe of a better and wonderful future in Christ... thank you dear Renee for sharing such stories with me...

    Cielo

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  9. Once upon a time,..while I was looking through the heavy snow falling,..I learned to type into the magic box called the computer,..a thought,.. it was ,.."People who love the moon in the night".. it lead me to your web sight "The House In The Roses" I called my sisters and told them of the magical and inspirational place I discovered,..they were immediately enchanted!! I am so glad to find you here. Things are still the same but they are in a different "realm",.. for you. What can you tell us of your woods ?

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    1. Ah the woods....

      “She would sing the forest eternal. She would place her body in the womb of trees. She would bleed into the earth. She would place her bare feet onto moss and spiked pine needles, peat and mud, and up between her toes and through her pores would ooze the rich dark syrup of mother earth, and over her ankles would swarm tiny insects, and around her shoulders would float the exquisite flowy drapery of her green hemlock cape. She would take great gulps from slender bars of silver light, forest filtered, like incandescent strands of old woman’s hair. She would bow to the sturdy white pine, the brave, pioneering alder, the cooling sitka spruce, the mighty Douglas fir, the sorrowing hemlock, the sheltering maple, her beloved cedar. She would bow to the Wild Cedar Woman who dwells in the forest. She would hold her wooden hand, sing her wildhuu, huu, and put herself back together again and again. She would drink the forest liquids and drench herself in possibility.”

      [Susan Vreeland :: The Forest Lover]

      Thank you for your words... I treasure them.

      Cielo

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  10. The beauty we see,..the earthy scent we smell,.. the weeds all have their own scent,.. the woods have their own,.. the sea has its own exquisite patina to our noses,.. do you see,.. our Heavenly Father gave them to us. The perfume of the Earth He created. Have you ever dug in the earth and thought "I love the smell!! What was the job he gave Adam and Eve?

    Sincerely,
    Eve

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