what started out early this afternoon as a highly inspired blogpost, has turned into a humbling experience since three minutes ago i pressed return and everything i had written VANISHED! my few free moments to share with you before my trip to oaxaca next monday, gone with a single click.

i will try to remember a three line poem i had written and summarize what little i can remember of the rest and summarily include a few photos as i get over the blood boiling in my veins and my anger at blogger for allowing that after i carefully saved over and over again.

a new leaf,

the good earth's

green heartbeat

what i was so happy to share and had written out so eloquently before is that i woke up to 

new sprouting leaves on the first plant i ever bought when i moved back to california in 1999, a plant that has

moved with me numerous times, always a survivor, a fighter, a symbol of every change in my life.  

and then i stepped out into the garden and the cecile brunner climbing rose had but one tiny pink rose on it, the first since we moved three weeks ago. 

what i was so happy to share and had written out so eloquently before is that i woke up to

new sprouting leaves on the first plant i ever bought when i moved back to california in 1999, a plant that has

and my first thought was to share it with my soul sister chichi.  she will understand.

and to share with you my birthday gift: a stunning painting by jeanne-marie.

i need to make a run to have some of my paintings framed, paintings i've been storing until the big move; one by jenny wentworth, another by rick beerhorst and several by cathy cullis as pictured above the mirror which will go over the mantle.

progress continues on the house in giant leaps since i want to leave for the trip having left it as comfortable as possible for richard.  

 this is the corner we come to relax and where we have been ardently glued to on sunday eves
watching season 4 of downton abbey.

 and this is where i tiptoe off to when a cup of coffee is in much need or to cook on these cold cold nights we have been having. no rain yet though but for a few minutes of droplets yesterday.

it has been hard adjusting to an electric stove.  so far so good other than higher temperatures needed but if further down the road we can switch back to gas, i would be more than obliged.

 i did it, re wrote just about every word.

 and there it is again.....the tiny leaf that started the day.

downstairs, upstairs

i'd almost forgotten how to blog and almost entirely forgotten how to edit my photographs...it's been all about the move for the past two months. hopefully, our last ever since we bought this time.  my first ever own home.  it still seems like a dream.

we have focused most of our energy on the downstairs for now, three large rooms including the kitchen and the guest bathroom mainly because it is close to the garage where all the boxes are stashed. 

filled with light, i love coming downstairs in the morning to make breakfast and look out onto the garden from the kitchen window. that garden that awaits me come spring where i will spend most of my time.

  
putting it all together is still a work in progress.  i have always believed a home takes time to come alive and become imbued with the essence of its owners.  in the beginning everything looks static so adding flowers or a plant slowly starts to breath life into all the corners.

 one of my favorite flowers grows everywhere in the garden!

my favorite santo doll

i love mixing the old with the new.  some of these items have been in the family for three or four generations.

no time to garden yet other than watering

guest bathroom door

very very very old bread box

two small photographs from our trip to argentina

 displayed next to my folk art floral painting

natural collections everywhere, this one near the fireplace

WELCOME TO OUR NEW HOME