That will do…….

 


I’ve added the same scene this evening, which looks nicer

Rearranging the furniture is always therapy 
The living room is now cosier with the sofa facing the log burner and the radiator now free to do it’s job.
I’m sorting through piles of stuff for university tomorrow 
That’s a big job in itself.
I almost bought a replica New York snow globe to replace the one broken by the dogs  and I actually found one on line but stopped short of buying it.
Do I really need another? I asked myself 
Nostalgia? Sentiment? A clinging onto the past all wrapped up in a romanticised New York scene, covered with snowy water
I dried the bits of the globe that remained , the plastic New York skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty only millimetres high, and the squat little Brooklyn Bridge and I set them up to the paper Sagrada Familia on my desk. 

That will do, I said to myself That will do……………





74 comments:

  1. That looks great, John. You don't need the glass for that snow glove. It looks great as is.

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  2. They go very well together there on your desk.

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  3. It's actually a nice bit of art without the water and the globe. AND that's the exact snow globe I bought for our friend's 6-year-old daughter who lives near Cádiz.

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    Replies
    1. Mine was bought in 2001

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    2. I agree with MwM...but perhaps a cover over it might be an udea

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  4. I agree. It will do, and do nicely. I have rearranged two rooms and am working on a third today. It is quite therapeutic.

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    Replies
    1. The kitchen drawers had a seeing to, especially the grab bag one which houses EVERYTHING

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  5. The things that calm us down. I also relax from organizing my environment and cleaning.

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  6. Anonymous1:44 pm

    My downstairs is all one big area, so hard to arrange furniture. I think I will stick to how it is now as I am getting too old to push it around again. When I get in a snit I go and have a nap. Your room looks very cozy and will be nice with the fire on.. how do the dogs like it? Gigi

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    Replies
    1. Dogs love warmth and comfort.
      They also like a direct line of sight to you

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  7. The most important part of the snow globe is still there to inspire you!

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    Replies
    1. My Christmas lights will feature around the skyscrapers and Gaudy’s paper towers x

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  8. The cottage looks lovely John. Travel is very over rated! Do watch Hamza:Strictly Birds of Prey BBC 1 yesterday if you get the chance. Absolutely life affirming and visually stunning. The de-snowed globe looks very gothic and good in its own right. Take it easy, Jan Bx

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    Replies
    1. Yes an easy day today. Lots of drawer sorting and rubbish throwing

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  9. Anonymous2:09 pm

    Thanks for sharing the photo of your cozy room. I think I know how you feel about the snow globe pieces. My biological father (married to someone else- long story) gave my Mother a floating opal necklace which she cherished. She gave it to me when I was in my 30s. On one of our moves it shattered - liquid gone glass in tiny pieces. I cried. I began to look online and found some very similar jewelry from the same era on ebay and almost bought one but stopped myself. I went to a craft store and found an inexpensive pendant with a section to add your own embellishments. I put the tiny opal pieces into that and added a chain that belonged to my Mother. There is a lovely poem about the broken things but I no longer remember the title or poet. Sending love and best wishes from Georgia. Jackie

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your story Jackie …thank you for “getting the post”

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  10. I like your snow globe rescue. And I very much like the cathedral in paper. This is a nice living room ready for colder weather.

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    Replies
    1. The fire is roaring now. The dogs are piled up in heaps and it’s lovely here

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  11. weaver2:55 pm

    Well done - another step forward. Think positive dearheart.

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  12. Questioning whether to replace something for nostalgia's sake - now that is progress!

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  13. Barbara Anne3:06 pm

    What a perfect solution and it goes well with Notre Dame! Baby steps are still progress!

    Hugs!

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    1. I forgot to say how much I like your new furniture arraingement . Are the dogs puzzled about the changes in their home turf?

      Hugs!

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    2. Now that’s interesting , not at all …however if there is a car in the lane that is usually never there dorothy and Roger will stop dead to watch it warily

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  14. A deep clean and a re-arrange of a room always makes good for the soul. And I tell you the snow globe doesn't look half bad sitting by itself.

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    Replies
    1. I will tell kind Vivian not to get me one then xx

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  15. Love what you have done with the broken snow globe.

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  16. You have turned a mass-produced snow globe into your own unique art work. It still has the old memories, but now has new ones, too. Now that's progress! xx

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  17. Replies
    1. Praise indeed, your home is adorable and oh so stylish

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  18. I too like the snow globe better as it is now. It is now more of a piece of art. I also agree that it is good to question replacing something for nostalgia because the replacement can't be the same whereas as it is now it is still the same if that makes sense.

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    1. A point that isn’t lost on me. I’ve held onto physical things too much, especially ones that featured heavily in my marriage.
      It’s ok, if not healthy to let some of these go now

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  19. I think that works well!

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    1. Thank you, praise from a gay perspective is always welcome

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  20. Redecorating or rearranging always makes me feel good. I should do it some time! :)

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    Replies
    1. It’s cheaper than buying more furniture

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  21. The couch facing the wood burner looks great. It will be very cozy when the Winter wind and cold arrive. Your NYC scene (re-invented snow globe) looks like you bought it exactly as it is today. Genius redesign.

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    1. A boring aside..but the sofa was set against the radiator before, cutting off the heat to the room

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  22. That looks great. Very cozy.

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    1. Thank u Mary , I will add a photo from now , capturing the evening

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  23. Anonymous7:11 pm

    Dee here,

    I worried about my comment from yesterday and I’m glad your reaction to the snow globe’s destruction has been so thoughtful . Your lone collapse no doubt made you reflect on happier travel tales

    Thank you for being you. Your honesty on line is refreshing , but is sometimes painful to read too.

    Love from rural Ohio

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    Replies
    1. I try to be as honest as I can be safely
      Are you near Pittsburgh ?

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    2. Anonymous7:20 pm

      Funny, Ohio is the next state west
      We live outside Steubenville just on the border
      Lee

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    3. Whoops , I worked in Pittsburgh years ago and always thought it was in ohio lol

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    4. I live a couple hours from Pittsburgh. Where did you work there?

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  24. Shame about the snow globe but I think this new piece of art is fitting to go with your Gaudy church. Change can be cathartic... I find it very difficult to rid myself of the past; be it things that I have been bought or things I have accumulated myself. I have a throw out...but it doesn't leave the house, things go in a "spare" room until I am very certain I am happy to dispose of them.... if I throw caution to the wind and get rid of stuff on a whim it makes me sad. Pathetic I think but there it is. I am sure counselling would be helpful lol.

    Jo in Auckland

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    1. We all need something to control because control means safety and is protecting
      I get it

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  25. Traveller8:51 pm

    Reminds me so much of Love Actually…Enough.

    Love that movie and am quite partial to you as well

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  26. Anonymous9:03 pm

    Can you tell me more about the photograph? I’m intrigued

    Keith

    Xx

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  27. Keith ,
    During lockdown the VELVET VOICED LINDA was responsible for organising street volunteers .
    Each volunteer would take responsibility for a road in the village. They would check on the elderly , collect medications , shop , and support the vulnerable and lonely
    I organised for all the volunteers to be photographed by boffin Cameron once lockdown was finished
    And made several copies for people to keep
    It’s a powerful image
    Of some lovely people
    Jason, Mrs Trellis, Pippa, sailor John , ma Manley , hattie , Linda , village leader Ian , and others all feature in the photo
    As do I with Mary , on the last row

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  28. Beautiful room! I love a move round especially when my husband is away. Poor sod comes home and thinks he's in the wrong house x

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  29. I like the new look of the snow globe. Buying one online just wouldn't be the same as buying it on a trip to NY.
    What is the purple object to the left of it? Looks interesting.

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  30. Jackie in her comment about a broken opal necklace mentioned a poem about broken things-- I thought of this one I love:
    “The Broken Bowl” by James Merrill.
    Rereading it now I see it even mentions an opal-- "the opal signature of imperfection".

    "The Broken Bowl"

    To say it once held daisies and bluebells
    Ignores, if nothing else,
    Its diehard brilliance where, crashed on the floor,
    The wide bowl lies that seemed to cup the sun,
    Its green leaves curled, is constant blaze undone,
    Spilled all its glass integrity everywhere
    Spectrums, released, will speak
    Of colder flowerings where cold crystal broke.

    Glass fragments dropped from wholeness to hodgepodge
    Yet fasten to each edge
    The opal signature of imperfection
    Whose rays, though disarrayed, will postulate
    More than a network of cross-angled light
    When through the dusk they point unbruised directions
    And chart upon the room
    Capacities of fire it must assume.

    The splendid curvings of glass artifice
    Informed its flawlessness
    With lucid unities. Freed from these now,
    Like love it triumphs through inconsequence
    And builds its harmony through dissonance
    And lies somehow within us, broken, as though
    Time were a broken bowl
    And our last joy knowing it shall not heal.

    The splinter rainbowing ruin on the floor
    Cut structures in the air,
    Mark off, like eyes or compasses, a face
    Of mathematic fixity, spotlight
    Within whose circumscription we may set
    All solitudes of love, room for love’s face,
    Love’s projects green with leaves,
    Love’s monuments like tombstones on our lives.

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    1. Anonymous11:48 am

      Fresca: Many thanks to you. That is indeed the poem and I have now printed it and added it to the box which contains my Mother's opal along with a photo of her wearing it. THIS - this is one of the many reasons I love blog connections. Jackie

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    2. JACKIE: That's so cool! I immediately thought of this poem and wondered if it could be the right one--and it was.
      I love how you worked with your mother's broken opal necklace --to re-imagine, not replace-- there's power in that.

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    3. Anonymous12:24 pm

      There IS power in that!

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    4. Anonymous12:25 pm

      Forgot to add my name to my comment above. Jackie

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  31. I'm thinking that's a reflection of the right-hand side of that second photo, though it looks like a whole other room.

    Like everyone else, I think NYC looks fine without a globe.

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  32. I see you also have Banksy's Kissing Policemen. It used to be just down the road on the side of a Pub'; I wonder if it's still there?

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  33. I have read that poem several times this morning. What richness in word and thought. I absolutely love it.

    Your room is so cosy and welcoming John. Especially with the evening lighting and the dogs pictured too. A safe and precious place.

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  34. Anonymous7:17 am

    Your pencil case is AWESOME!
    Keeping memories alive can be tricky.

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  35. Yorrkshire Liz7:47 am

    Your room reflects you - as it should. Calm, classic, unpretentious, warm, welcoming, cultured, a bit shabby round the edges, a welcoming space. Says it all.
    Shift over on that sofa, and pass me a blanket......

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  36. Back to the world today, take care.

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  37. I have not dropped by for a few days. When I called in today I was expecting to catch up on happy tales from Rome. I am very sorry that the trip didn't happen. The incident at the airport sounded bloody awful but I am glad that you lived to tell the tale. Did you get your small bag back? Rome will still be waiting.

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  38. The ex-snow globe looks great, and as long as you flick it with a feather duster regularly it doesn't need a cover. It's new freedom from glass and liquid speaks of new beginnings and better times ahead.

    I had a clear Christmas bauble that contained simple silver tinsel bought for me by a dear friend who died the year I met Alan. She had bought it for me and she called it 'Christmas Contained'. She didn't celebrate Christmas and hated it (her Mum had accidentally overdosed on Christmas morning when she was about 8 or 9 and that was what she woke up to) but she knew how much I loved it and it was her gift to me. When it broke after about ten years of being on my tree each year I sat and sobbed and sobbed and mourned her all over again. But it was so cathartic, I thought about replacing it and then decided it had served its function well and had been there for me.

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  39. Love it! Who says the snow globe needs, well, snow and a globe?! It's about the memories.

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