It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Hopelessly in Love

Monday the 23rd of June, 2013 ...
A tiny , beautiful  son was born to our son and daughter in law.
We are hopelessly in love .


Friday, June 21, 2013

So ... here's the story


I am going to be quiet for a little while.
Things are starting to happen faster and moving day is close and Baby Day is suddenly close .. like maybe early .
Every day we go to the house and spend the day doing this or that and come back here starving and tired in the evening and collapse ..
I am an old woman .. I need my soft bed and sleepy time.
Our son called today to let us know that the  Little One will be on his way early.
Like next week.
When the movers are on the way ..
We met our next door neighbor who is very friendly and very nice and who loves to garden. ( the perfect next door neighbor for me !)
She is going to take care of our yard while we are in Manhattan, becoming grandparents ! How good is that neighbor ??
So I will be taking a break from blogging while all these things and so many more lovely things are going on and when possible, I will post a photo or perhaps a short quick note ..
The end ~





Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Let The Fun Begin !

I seem to have forgotten what is involved when owning a House.
I mostly remember the apartment in Argentina .. 100 years old and oozing charm and sometimes water from upstairs .. Stately, charming and foreign.
When things are foreign, I tend to forgive easier.
So what if the floors made so much noise ? So what if the bathtub was so big that the water got cold before it was filled up ?
So what if the glass in the windows was wavy and distorted the view .. it is old !
It is beautiful.
Now we have this house.

It is not too old .. but it is old .. and not that charming .
But the property makes it heavenly. An acre of woods, shrubs, flowers and lawns, a pool , bird houses on all the trees on the perimeter, honeysuckle all over the side of the garage, chipmonks scurrying around , all sorts of birds flying all over the place ..

I went down to the basement to see the washer and dryer.
I promptly had a breakdown.
(When I was a child, I saw a magazine where  Real Life crime photos of a murder had been published.. I think it was committed in my new basement.)
So my sweet husband has promised to paint it all bright white, put in carpet and I think I will have airport runway lights put in .. no dark corners allowed.
Maybe I can pipe in music ? well, maybe not but I think he might end up being my laundry companion from now on....

The movers called ... they will be here Saturday the 29th.
I will once again, be moving into a new home.
I can't wait .. because you know there is decorating to do, shopping for things to decorate with, company coming to see the new place, a grandbaby due any minute and more .. let the fun begin !








Saturday, June 15, 2013

Looking back

I thought I would show you some photos from our days in Buenos Aires.
Wonderful, sunfilled, amazing, happy days in Buenos Aires.


Today we bought a new home in New York .
So I am showing you my old home .. ( our Argentine home) .. I loved that place !
Our home


Colours
The museum across the street from our super market

Beauty
Neighbors
Heavenly
Pilar and Recoleta Cemetery and those skies, those amazing Argentine skies!

huge tree
The park where we would stop on the walk back from the bakery, where we would sit on a bench and people watch and feed the pigeons. That tree ... that amazing tree.
Sweet Pup
Sweet Pup ... we will always miss him.

Closings and Beginnings

The Closing went well.
Actually the entire day went well.
From  when our Real Estate agent took us to lunch in a fantastic new place that we will no doubt spend too much time in from now on.
I see me in a rocking chair, on the porch of this restaurant on a summer evening, having a cocktail and watching my new neighbors go by.

The Closing involved my husband and I and our 2 attorneys ... don't ask me why we merit two, that is just the way it was.
And the sellers attorney.. a funny old gentleman that I liked right away .. especially when he was talking to the (difficult) seller and he said .. "I have other things to do today "..
So the attorneys were good.
The seller, not so much.. so I feel we were all very lucky she stayed home and was just   annoying by telephone.

I signed my name more times in this closing than we did in Argentina.
That still has me puzzled.
But it still means we own the house ..

Then we went to the house to see it and ended up deciding to have the interiors painted.

Today was Pick Your Paint Day.
This is always hard for me.
It is never the color on the wall that it is on that tiny little paper chip.
And on top of that difficulty, I had 2 men with me! ... being patient !!.. my god the pressure !

So I chose .. something cream colored.

We are thinking of what to do with the gardens ...which are wild and need a firm hand and a hot tub ...that is going to be sold and there is a  need for some more bird feeders and the pool needs a floating deck and we need a new kitchen sink and a new front door and french doors where the sliding doors stand in the dining room and ......
You might be glad that I will be too busy to blog much.



Friday, June 14, 2013

Today was a good day


Today we had lunch in a beautiful old antique building that has been renovated and turned into a fantastic restaurant with delicious food and it was all a treat from our realtor !
We  bought a house today..

It went  easily and in an ordinary way as these things do ... in the US .
In Argentina, it would have been totally different and in its way, more charming, more confusing, a little crazy and a bit more fun.
But we were content with the way today went.

We went back to the house and  met the painter  and got ideas for French doors and gardens and decks and I just wandered the gardens and listened to the amazing sound of sooo many birds.
I saw more than a few Red Winged Blackbirds.
We will be visited by Hummingbirds soon, or so I have been told.
I am getting hummingbird feeders .. they will all be welcome in my garden.

I have big ideas for the pool and the pool house and all that jazz.
I have big ideas for the area where a hot tub stands but not for long ..
I even have big ideas for small charming stone walls  ...
I am in the world of stone walls now... I gotta have one too !

If anyone has ideas regarding gardens, birds, and living in the country, feel free to offer them here .. or send notes.

Yes, Today was a good day.
Today we bought a new home in New York .
So I am showing you my old home .. ( our Argentine home) .. I loved that place !
Our old home in Buenos Aires ..


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Change

In Buenos Aires, winter meant rain.
Not heavy downpours , usually just showers or light dreary rain that lasted all day .. Combined with lower temperatures and the greyness of the day, it made winter seem long and dreary.
Luckily there were always bright, cheerful, warm cafes and shops and malls and museums to visit and get out of the gloom and cheer up and get warm and not care if it was winter outside.

Now we are in the United States again. 
It is Spring ... it is raining. It has not stopped raining since we arrived ... well, almost.
It is not warm... it is dreary and grey and wet.
If we get in the car and drive to a town, we can go into a warm bright cafe and cheer up.
If we stay in the house we can eat M&Ms and drink hot tea and cheer up.
I chose the M&Ms and tea .. personally, I hate driving in the rain.

Tomorrow is the closing on our new home.
We will do the walk through and then go sign the papers and get our keys and walk around grinning like idiots.... well, I will, my husband has much more self-control.

Next will be the waiting for the delivery of our belongings... the slight frisson of worry about everything arriving .. everything that we said goodbye to back those months ago in Argentina .. will I be seeing them again here ?
Will we have a happy reunion next week ?
Let's hope the Gods of Moving House will look down kindly on us .. and let us get everything all in one piece this time ..

A few months ago I was up to my eyeballs in Argentine life .
Now I find myself in a quiet place, where you can hear the geese flying over in the evenings, honking.
A bit of a change from the taxis honking outside the building in Buenos Aires.

Lately we have been hearing a little too much of the sound of rain.
Water .. rushing water, splashing water and puddling water .. okay, it's nice, turn it off now !

We drive by fields where deer can be seen , hanging out where the cows are grazing.
We drive by fields where horses are waiting for a rider to come get them.
We drive by rivers that are now full and rushing and kind of scary looking.
We drive by homes that are 200 years old and beautiful, homes that look like a slight breathe of air will blow them down and homes that are Architectural Digest worthy.

We go into town, Great Barrington , and have coffee in the afternoon at a charming little coffee house .. funky might be the word more than charming .
The kids with the body art, piercings and dreadlocks, the older ladies with the set hair and neat little pocket books and the tourists with their windbreakers and sneakers and odd hats .. and the locals, housewives, bankers, and an occasional familiar face from TV or the movies .. all there to see on any given afternoon.

We will be leaving here ... going to our new little town with a new little coffee shop and new faces to remember.
There are fields of horses, a farm with Highland cattle and lambs and little goats, all together .. my new neighborhood .. Change is good.




Monday, June 10, 2013

Sightings

Yes, it is true.. you never have a camera with you when you need one .

Todays sightings..

A huge wild turkey ran across the road as we were driving through the woods.

It poured rain all day but that did not seem to bother the horses gathered in the corner of the field , all facing in the same direction ... I have to ask someone about that.
Were they waiting for a ride ?

We drove past our soon to be new home... it has not seen a lawnmower in a while .. the house is hidden by overgrown bushes, flowers and grass.
Somewhere in there is my soon to be Enchanted Garden. .. which will be the stomping grounds of a new puppy and a new baby ..

Too many long legged spiders hanging out by our door ..

Chipmunks sitting on top of the wood stacked outside ..

Geese flying overhead, honking .. honking ..

Lilacs, Iris, Hydrangeas, roses and so many other flowers that I cannot name or remember blooming everywhere around us !

Even in the rain, it is quite beautiful here ..






Saturday, June 8, 2013

Wonderful times

Here we are, still in our old house in the woods in the Berkshires.
Before it was a house,  originally it was  the quarters for farm hands / apple pickers back many years ago, with about 16 bedrooms.
The kitchen, we are told, was in the basement.

Somewhere, way back then, there was an unhappy cook, if she was anything like me.
Imagine, standing in the basement, in front of a big stove, woodburning, cooking and baking for 16 hungry men , every day.
Maybe Sundays were the day off ?
Did she whine as much as I would have ?
These days, we have Mom's if we want to grab a sandwich or some soup .. this is Mom's.

This house  is a huge wonderful old house full of all those idiosyncrasies that old buildings have ... the steps are smaller, they make me feel like my feet are too big.
They are steep and easy to fall down, so we always hang on for dear life, running up and down those things... oh, and they sort of tilt backwards, just in case you think you can go up the steps, not hanging on to the handrail.

Happily the place is modernized, very nicely and there is a full bath on each floor.
The rooms are furnished very comfortably and it has a coziness that works well at keeping me from being pitiful about not being in my own home yet.
There is a little bed under the eaves and a huge skylight upstairs where I can read , nap or daydream.
It is a perfect spot to lose oneself in Design magazines.
Yes, I have read them all, I can't wait for the next months issues to come out !

We have been adopted by the owners laboradors.
Brady and Dreyfuss .. Brown, big, one old , one younger and as sweet and loving and good natured as you could ever wish for.
I will miss them.
I think we might have to work out visiting days or shared custody or something ..

We have had rain just about every day.
Heavy downpours.
Scary if you are driving on roads that you don't know well, with steep drops on one side and curves and hazards like deer who decide to mosey across the road at night and other night creatures.
Then there was the huge flock of turkeys wandering through a field, into a yard, some of them doing a turkey dance of some sort, mating ? showing off their manliness ? Whatever it was meant for, it got a lot of laughs.

We see eagles and hawks and horses and Highland cattle and sheep and blonde cattle. No, they are not white, they are blonde.
Different .. gotta google blonde cows and see what comes up ..

We will be closing on our new home in the next 10 to 14 days.
There will be a bit of  quiet from here ( much appreciated, I am sure) while we get settled in .. and we can say hello to our belongings, my shoes ! my bags ! clothes and  treasures ! our comfy  furniture and then find just the right place for it all.
I will try to post .. if I don't, don't worry, I am having a wonderful time.

Wishing you wonderful times too ...

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Venice - What would it be like ......

Yes, I am back in the United States, staying in the Berkshires in Massachusettes and waiting for our home in NY state to be ready to move into.
Yes , I am glad, no ... I am thrilled to be here.

So I was browsing through one of my favorite Tumblr blogs and fell into a reverie of  ... What would it be like to live in Venice ... Italy.

We would do it differently this time .. no big apartment with room for visitors who don't visit that often .. none of our own furniture shipped hither and yon ... No .. just my husband and myself and our suitcases and a rented apartment in Venice .

Falling asleep at night to the sound of water slapping against stones.

Waking to the sounds of the city wakening, gondolas and market boats and shoppers and tourists and church bells and doves and pigeons ...
Hmmmm ...

# Venice

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Shopping, anyone ?

My friend Razmataz has some wonderful jewelry and goodies for sale on her blog. You have to go look. I have just been sitting around impatiently waiting for her to get this on the blog and ready for me to make my orders.

www.razmatazmarket.com

Since we are sort of just sitting around waiting  right now ( house closings take way too long , don't they ?) ... I am happy to do some shopping.
Lately house magazines and catalogues have taken up most of my time but jewelry and other goodies are just as interesting and important.

I mean really, don't you need to look good while house hunting ? 
Don't you need to show up at the closing wearing something that will be appropriate for the Big Day ?

So do go look and tell me how you enjoyed the shopping or just window licking.

Tell her I said Hello !

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Time

Time is speeding up  .. we have only about 2 weeks until we have the new house closing, if nothing goes wrong ..

Right on time, our ship came in .. the container is in a safe place and waiting to be delivered. 
They will deliver, unpack, take away all the mess ... 
IF we have the house in time.
So far . . so good.

Spring is arriving with a bang in the Berkshires.
I like the flower part quite a lot, every day something new is blooming, birds and butterflies and hummingbirds are all around .. the people who own this house have a certain magic touch when it comes to flowers and birds ... and dogs.
This is a beautiful time of year to be here. 

We went to New York City for the weekend.
It takes a bit of time to get there, but this trip we made sure to have a room in a hotel that would make things much easier. 
The time flew while we were there and then with storm warnings, we left early.
Next time we will hope for not so hot, not so stormy weather .. and more time to spend with the loved ones. 
Especially the tiny new one..

Next time, I am going to be talking about Swimming Pools .. getting rid of one.
Gardens ... a large one that needs taming.
Decks and patios and putting down slate or granite walks ..

Did you have a good time this weekend ?
Did it fly by and you just sat back and said, Where did the Time go ?








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