Sunday, May 29, 2011

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Hello to you! And welcome to Show Off Your Cottage Monday. If you're new here, thanks for stopping by and if you've visited before, thanks for returning! For our next Show Off Your Cottage Monday I’m suggesting we celebrate the color “WHITE”. Anything white!—in your cottage, in your garden, whatever you want! If you rather show off something other than our theme feel free to link that up too!
The House in the Roses
Today I’m celebrating family. We’ve been having a lot of rain lately, and it’s been very cold, but we had a marvelous sunny day last Sunday, and we had a nice lunch on the patio… I set the table using some thrifting finds and things I love…. And what are you celebrating today? Take us to your cottage by linking! But please don't forget the rules: Link your post, not the main page of your blog. Include a link to the party or the party's button in your post (in your post please). Celebrate life and see how others celebrate theirs by visiting!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Thank YOU!

I have never seen so much rain in our valley. It had been raining for days—heavy rain, green tropical rain, and is unbelievably cold. Hard to believe June is almost upon us. This morning when I woke up and looked outside the window, I thought for a minute that maybe I was someone else living somewhere else, or perhaps, I was still dreaming and forgot to waken up… It was the fog…. the morning was unearthly still and a heavy fog had settled everywhere in the valley making everything looked dreamy and ghost-like... bizarre images drifted and floated around, as if in a dream. Is it this cold where you live too?

Oh, and can I tell you something else? Have I told you lately how very special you all are! I’m so utterly amazed at all of your prayers on our prayer chain in my previous post… I have been so blessed reading each of them--my cup is filled, and I sincerely thank you all with all my heart for the inspiration you bring to this world... and particularly to me. Be blessed…

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A day of prayer

Our homes are our refuge and a sanctuary from the troubled world we live in, it is the place where we feel the safest and the object for which we work and labor. We work hard for everything we have in our life, we collect and gather things to embellish our home to our heart's content, and if you’re like me, the thought of home would give you strength throughout your busy day and help you bear the daily burdens. In part, that's why we blog too! Can you now imagine what those people who have lost everything to violent weather in our country must be going through?—not to mention the loss of lives… The devastation, the hopelessness, the fear, the anxiety… my heart goes out to them. After watching the evening news today, I felt compelled to do something I normally won't do here--bring God into your thoughts. Thus, I'm bringing my frugal thoughts to a standstill to lift up my heart to the Lord in prayer on behalf of the people and survivors affected by the catastrophe that befell Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Joplin, Mo.

Would you not care to join me? Praying online? Yes, just leave your comment if you feel impressed to do so, and it will be considered part of this virtual prayer chain to bring hope and strength for the homeless and those who’d lost loved ones… Imagine a prayer made out of people from all over the world! If you’re here, please don’t leave without adding yours.

Ps: You don’t have to leave a written prayer if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. The sincere comment has the same power.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Silly garden tales

My garden is a very special place…
Small magical beings live here My garden is my joy and refuge, and it is also my favorite place to relax, play and pick roses...

On any given summer's day, you most probably would find me here dreaming silly dreams on soft cool grasses under the trees... My garden is also a place of secrecy, the place where I can dance without inhibitions, pray out loud if I want to and, sometimes, even cry out loud too.

It is my sanctuary... angels walk here. And I'm not making this up. I should tell you one day.

This is also the place where I keep all sort of silly things; usually things that make me happy…

Who would've thought that the Ivy could grow old silver pots amidst its dark mysterious leaves?

Or who would have guessed that bushes hide magical doors that would transport you to enchanting worlds outside your world?

Ah yes, the only inconvenience of having such a delightful magical door in your garden is not having the key to unlock it. Yes, I’ve lost the magical key to the magical door! And I am now desperately looking for it.

I have searched every imaginable place you can think of... my friends the rabbits have faithfully followed me everywhere trying to help me find it, but optimism is fading away fast. You see, without this key I cannot go back to Hollow Woods ever again, and I won't be able to be transported to Arabella's world of mysteries and illicit love again... and as you can remember, I have a story to finish. So I must go back and learn as much as I can so that later I can come back and relate everything I'd seen...

Have you, by any change, seen this key anywhere in your garden? Hopefully, you’d know of some nice gnome or fairy in your garden that would be willing to come help find the key to my magical door? Oh I do hope so!

A troll by the name of Barbegazi lives here too. As some of you may know, snow trolls don’t never ever come out of their winter burrows deep down under the ground during warm weather. But because anything can happen here (and it would!), you may be lucky and find him strolling the gardens, proudly exhibiting his lovely Sedum Spurium hair, which by the way it has grown beautifully this spring! My favorite above all my garden favorites would has to be the mysterious and ever so controversial “Lechuza”, or “Mochuelo”… the Gypsies call her "Ghost of the Nigh"—the owl, with its large eyes and mysterious ways. When I was a little girl growing up in a faraway land, I was terrified of them. Folks in our little rural community were very superstitious. They believed that the presence of an owl could only meant one thing: That a ghost was lurking nearby. Thus, Lechuzas were detested and much feared. Lechuzas were harbingers of death. Mothers and grandmothers would teach their children to hide from them, and fathers and grandfathers would lock every window and every door of their houses at the stroke of midnight to prevent bad luck from coming in whenever a Lechuza would cross the night sky.

My sister Lissette and I were never ever to look into a Lechuza’s unmovable large eyes or gargoyle-like face. And so, whenever they would fly low over the tin roof of our humble little house at night we would cover our ears and hide under our blankets trembling with fear. The eerie-sounding cries of the Lechuzas used to send shivers up our spines.
Isn’t it funny how we humans would outgrow our fears as we, through the years, learn, understand and get gradually exposed to the sources of our anxieties? Ah yes, I love owls, and I have them everywhere in my garden; only they’re not real ;) I keep dreaming and hoping that one day I will see a beautiful owl perch high in our Spruce Pine... silly me an owl in my urban garden! Oh well, one can always dream, right?
And what are you up to these days?—anything funny, silly, interesting or just same going on in your own little world these days? I’d love to hear about it!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Welcome to "SHOW OFF YOUR COTTAGE MONDAY", a blog party I host at the beginning of each week to celebrate the things we love about our homes and how we live.
The House in the Roses
Once upon a time fairy-tale images seem to come alive and dance all around you in this garden...
But I'm sure the same can be said about your own little space! So be sure to stop by on Mondays for "Show Off Your Cottage Monday" to simply celebrate your blessings and enjoy seeing how others live their life and decorate their nest and gardens and to participate by posting a link to your own cottage and gardens-inspired blog post. Everyone is welcome to participate. And, please share your ideas, thoughts and insights freely... your words bring so much inspiration.
Blessings and magic.