Reclaiming

Mary watching Albert

Night shifts make the cottage feel unloved, cold and miserable
I find I have to reclaim it back, so to speak after I finally get out of bed with the dogs and Albert in tow.
After walks and the extravagance of buying two bunches of spring flowers ( one bunch for the kitchen and one for the living room)
I reclaim my home
The fire is lit first as the cottage's 18 inch walls take an age to air against the damp cold of winter's nights and the flowers are illuminated by the glow of the standard lamps hidden away in green corners
The cushions are returned to the kitchen reading chairs as Winnie moves her heavy botty onto the sofa for the duration.
Supper is warming in the oven and the scent of beef hash mingles with the smell of wood smoke and the wiff of linen from the  gift candles that I saved from Christmas.
The dogs are fed and settle down in untidy clumps and the dishes from the last four days of snatched tea times are washed and stacked and then put away.
My Sitges lamp warms my art wall in gold

The washing machine whirls quietly behind music picked just for me from Spotify
Its warmer and I can now take off my fleece
and my new bobble hat.

I am home

52 comments:

  1. Barbara Anne5:27 pm

    What a lovely post. I feel as if I've walked with you and the family in warming up your cottage, flowers, fire, and food. Enjoy the charming home you've made. Peace be with you.

    Hugs!

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  2. Replies
    1. Good for you, John ... no paper plates EVER!

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  3. You are home again. Your home.

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  4. You can literally feel old Welsh cottages coming back to life with all the little touches you describe. Oh too quickly they chill and die a little without their family of humans and dogs to bring them to life. Thank goodness they so quickly recover and once again feel like home.

    Flowers are so important at this time of year aren't they, thank goodness for the £1 bunches of daffodils available in all the shops for us - although the smell of them drives me mad after a couple of days.

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    Replies
    1. Sue your first paragraph is beautifully observed and written

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    2. I aim to please ... ♥️

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  5. Beautiful photo with Mary almost hidden on the chair and Albert in his full glory on the windowsill looking like the king of his castle and of course the lovely flowers in the foreground. Glad you have warmth and food cooking and time to reclaim your home.

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    Replies
    1. Look closely and there are dirty paw prints all over the wall

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  6. I want to be there it sounds so cosy.
    Enjoy.
    Briony
    x

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  7. Lovely post, best of all is the feeling that you are happy. We have a lot to be thankful for, and it shows when you write like this. Best to you and the fur babies.
    Joyce in Indiana

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    Replies
    1. The simple things make me happy, but then they always did
      Flowers, warmth, light

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  8. Home is a beautiful word and you know how to make one.

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    Replies
    1. It's a constant
      Almost as though you are in a relationship with it

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  9. I am very, very glad that you are home. Mentally, emotionally, physically.

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  10. Banishing the cold and damp, and bringing in colour and scents is the secret to making a house a home. You've shown us how to do it in so few words. Lovely.

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    Replies
    1. If I don't carry out this ritual
      I get rather depressed

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  11. Lovely. I think that there are plans to stop you burning certain fuels on your fire coming soon. This is legislation designed for cities. you should get dispensation but probably won't.

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    Replies
    1. I already burn smokeless fuel and kiln dried wood ...anything else blocks my chimney

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  12. "Owners of wood burners, stoves and open fires will no longer be able to buy house coal or wet wood, under a ban to be rolled out from next year." How is this going to affect you John?

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    Replies
    1. I use smokeless fuel and kiln dried wood

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  13. Yes, it is lovely when the house warms up and life returns to it. I buy flowers too for the same reason, they are part of the life of me and the house and the cats.

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    Replies
    1. The colour from a vase of flowers lift everything for me, always has done

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  14. Hebelove8:29 pm

    Your cottage always looks so snug and cosy! x

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  15. I was concerned of the changes regarding wood to be burnt for fires as an owner of a woodburner and open fire but I'm hopeful it shall be fine as the wood delivered here has to be dry and seasoned as when it wasn't creosote accumulated in the chimney x

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  16. Beautifully written post today. I felt like I was there with you and the furry ones.
    parsnip

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  17. Awesome I feel I can just wrap myself up in your feel good post today warm and cozy the smell of the flowers and food on the stove you do know how to make a house a home John enjoy!!!

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    Replies
    1. I've always been a good homemaker...my sisters are too

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  18. Cozy, warm and comfy -- there's no place like home. Enjoy! And hugs to my favourite cat.

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    Replies
    1. He's sulking after being swatted by Dotty, and has going to hide in my spare room

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  19. "Untidy clumps" of dogs - John, only you could come up with that wonderful thought!

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    Replies
    1. After feeding they drop on the carpet or in the chairs like happy puddings of fur

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  20. We had a 17th Century cottage before this house so I know about those massively thick walls ! Some people just live in their house others love their home .... you and I are the latter. XXXX

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    Replies
    1. My home is another friend
      A friend who is constant , strong , hard work and quite beautiful x

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  21. Snuggle in and enjoy.

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  22. You're a many-faceted man, John. [didn't you install central heat a few years ago?]

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  23. after eating, my 3 pussies take to the beds upstairs. when the weather gets warmer, the beds will be abandoned for the sunporch chairs.

    and I thank the dogs and cats for whole house central heating/air conditioning.

    those spring flowers certainly bring colour! my daffs are poking their stems out of the ground already.

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  24. Yes, lovely. And the warmth from your lamp and those wonderful flowers make everything okay again.

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  25. Like a conjuror you have the magic touch of turning a house into a warm and welcoming home.

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  26. I know what you mean as I work many early shifts in the NHS and my husband's work pattern means that we are often like ships that pass in the night. Since I began working this shift pattern I've noticed my house has become less homely and more somewhere to sleep. Knackeredness (is that even a word?) and many other commitments mean my house of 22 years definitely feels less of a home. I must do something about that.

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  27. And your home is enchanting.

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  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOTuwcQNO8&fbclid=IwAR2LzpgYPj3uOkMf5wAkKhaZPwNuNYQXINni0zbBh44FlEg5YRRDVDBQdV0

    XXX

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  29. HOME, nothing else quite like it.
    Nice post John.

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