Nesting

Instead of writing about my horrific week, I am going to try to refocus on what is making me happy in this moment. Home. Domesticity. Cool outside and warm inside. Slippers. Snoring Stormy. Winter knits. Gerda Muller's Autumn.

Over the past few weeks, I have put a lot of thought into our home--not jut what should go where nor just what needs to be cleaned and how--but real thought into making this temporary home of our a very cozy, very warm, very comfortable place to be. The house itself is a cozy one already. There is a cast iron stove in the living room which generates a good amount of heat and the living room walls are painted warm colors. I even made N and H a pair of cozy slippers to wear around our cozy, warm house. Sadly, Norah won't give them a second look, and they don't have any tread on them so Harvey can not remain upright for over five minutes on our all hardwood floors. These were a definite miss. At least they look sweet in the wicker basket next to the cast iron stove...

In keeping with the domestic theme of life lately, I have fallen in love with the book A House Blessing by Welleran Poltarnees. I found it in the used children's books section at a local bookstore and passed over it initially for fear of what might be inside of it. But then I gave it a chance. It's filled with vintage pictures of domestic life and the words that accompany those pictures give life to exactly what I have been trying to capture in our own house here in this strange, foreign land. "May the strength of its walls make you safe, keeping peace within and trouble without; but through its open windows and doors let nature come." I think my heart beats just a little softer every time I read it.