116. One City House FOR SALE

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 / Apple Hill Cottage / 10 Comments

Seasons change — from spring to summer, from fall to winter…

Each time has its own beauty; I am grateful to live in a place where all four seasons are distinct. (Ask me that in late February, and I might not be so grateful…)

Seasons of life change too; and sometimes it isn’t so easy to navigate through those changes. Even when they are thoughtfully planned with prayers and guidance from The Lord, they are not always pain-free.

It was difficult for me to embrace the stress and anxiety that came from those changes; sometimes it was impossible to keep my own timeline from ticking away inside my brain. Mental to-do lists have flashed across my closed eyes for months now; real to-do lists were on my phone, on sticky notes, scrawled on the backs of envelopes…

The constant pressure of not enough time left me crabby, weary, and unfocused. Double that for Mr. H. C.

So it was with great joy that I deleted the last to-do list from my phone last week.

The sign is finally in the yard.

We are weary, yet hopeful, trying to ignore the stories of people having their house on the market for five years.

We are grateful that it is finally listed, yet wistful, for not only is it a beautiful house, it was a good home, full of living and dying, laughter and tears, love and memories.

And we want nice people to buy it and love it as we did.

Who wants to buy this lovely house?

Only nice people need apply.

Tourists

September 23, 2014October 9, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 2 Comments

This morning a group of tourists stopped by the cottage.
They were a noisy bunch,
Fluttering and chirping around the pokeberries
at the shrubby edge between
mowed and wild.

Binoculars missing from their usual spot,
I had to run around the cottage,
Fluttering and chirping,
To locate them
Hiding on a windowsill.

I didn’t take this photo: it’s from the Great Backyard Bird Count gallery. Click on the photo to see some great bird shots.

When I returned to the back porch,
there must have been twenty or more,
nervously flitting from berry to berry.
Cedar Waxwings
on their way to somewhere
stopping at our pokeberry bushes
for breakfast.
The click of the camera
frightened them
and they flew off,
tourists chattering
in an unknown beguiling language.
Pokeberries

I took my seat reverently
in the wet grass of the leafy cathedral
and waited for their reappearance;
but their stomachs were filled with purple berries
and they were off in search of the next rest stop.

A golden aura of wonder and delight remained
In the silence of the morning
my prayer ascended in the bright sky:
Gratitude
for glimpses of the unordinary
in the ordinary.

ordinary flower

And then the shy local fellow came into the shadows
to enjoy apples and stolen corn for
His breakfast.

Deer in shadows

young deer posing

114. For the love of rainy days

September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 / Apple Hill Cottage / 8 Comments

barn in rain clouds
There is a spare beauty in gray mist
floating and rising from the valley floor,
Droplets on the window panes,
the quiet whishing of rain on the trees.
rainy day