just an old-fashioned girl

Hello and welcome. I'm glad you dropped by. If you´re looking for something a little nostalgic of bygone eras with a timeless elegance and a little modern twist – in other words, something slightly “retro” – then you should feel right at home here in my shabby chic room. Month by month, there will always be something new to see so I hope you´ll enjoy your stay and come back again soon.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Neither Here Nor There

Contrary to appearances – or non-appearances – I´m still here, at least in body if not entirely in spirit.

During the long, cold winter and the short, almost equally cold, spring which I spent mainly in the clinic I promised myself that when summer finally came I´d spend as much time as possible out of doors. 

On holiday in Domburg Dora and I spent most days on the beach, sometimes despite rather than because of the weather which was variable to say the least. We both enjoyed it though, Dora probably more thoroughly than I did. Her mind was completely focused on either chasing her ball along the beach or chasing her cork toy into the sea while mine was at least partially distracted by thoughts of my garden at home in the not-so-tender care of The Infamous Marigold Murderer. On the few days the IMM managed to spend with us he assured me that he hadn´t neglected/killed/under-watered/over-watered or otherwise created any kind of havoc among either my pot plants or the garden itself. Amazingly enough, this turned out to be true. Well, apart from causing the early demise of one of my favourite orchids which, to give him his due, he later replaced. 

Back home again I enjoyed lounging on the lawn in the shade of the rowan tree reading a book, not at all distracted by the thought that I´d only done the most necessary household tasks and was neglecting the ironing almost entirely. Actually it´s amazing how a short-sighted person like myself can convince herself that the house is immaculate simply by neglecting to wear either her contact lenses or her glasses indoors...
This garden idyll was pretty short-lived though because after a while in 38°C with a humidity of 90%, being out of doors becomes more of a curse than a pleasure and my mind kept wandering back to thoughts of the coast and cool sea breezes.

Today it´s overcast and raining, I´m stuck indoors, I´ve done all the idiot work I´ve been neglecting and I´ve been thinking rather sadly that I could only ever be completely happy in a more temperate climate where I could have access to both my garden and the beach. Then I remembered one of the many books I read during my out of doors days, namely Bill Bryson´s Neither Here Nor There, which inspired me to create this composite fantasy world where it´s always June, the peonies are always in bloom and I´m just about to put on my other flip flop, pick up her favourite blue ball, scramble down the cliff and join Dora on the beach.

4 comments:

  1. This made me laugh. You really have created your own little fantasy world to have a garden like that right by the sea. Maybe you should move to Hawaii where you can have beautiful temperate weather and be close enough for me to come and visit! :o) (Just planting a seed....)

    Good to have you back!

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  2. That is such a lovely world! If you lived there, we'd all beat a path to your door. So glad you included some birds. Especially like the dramatic looking oystercatchers. Dora really needs you to run along after her.
    I do hope you are feeling more the thing.

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  3. Love it...the best of both worlds in one spot. Hawaii does sound like a good idea...would love to have you closer. Good to see you back online and so hoping you are feeling much better...for sure in much better spirits. Right now outside here is only in the early morning hours as our 100+ degrees here make it tough to be out past 10:00 am. Oh my...see in the right column it's been 5 months since last layout. Where does the time go?!?

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  4. Glad to have you back, and in good spirits. Hopefully we'll keep the weather the way it is.... mostly nice, with my favorite thrown in every couple of days... A nice long, hard rainshower. LOL
    I love the page, makes me want to kick off my shoes, and run after Dora...

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