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.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Mi Departemento

Yes, I am homesick for Buenos Aires. 
For my home there. For my friends. For the life we had.
I find myself going to websites where people post on forums about the city, things going on, but they are also not very nice people and childish in their behavior. So why make myself feel worse in that sort of company ? I will remember how happy we were. How beautiful our home was. How much fun it was to take those old tired rooms and make them fresh and beautiful and Ours !

We had given up on finding our "dream home" .. we were with our realtor and just stopping to say goodbye, he was giving us our instructions on taking walks, look Up to see if there are For Sale/Vende signs and write down the addresses and let him know. He would take it from there. We were all for doing whatever we could. We were renting an apt with the dog and while we were all comfortable, it was a very nice apartment, we wanted to get settled already, in our own new home, in Buenos Aires.
I admit, we would say things like that , at home in Buenos Aires, and then grin like idiots at each other.
The fabulous Luck that we had ! We found the apartment while standing in front of it with the realtor talking about not being able to find an apartment.
The apartment building was exactly what we were looking for. Marble staircases, old cage style elevator, high ceilings, molding everywhere, 2 apartments to a floor, front to back.
City street view in front, garden , trees and doves in back .. outside our bedroom window, there was always a doves nest. That cooing was the sound we woke up to.

Some rooms only required a good paint job.
A new (antique) light fixture and our furniture.

 .

Others required being gutted and rebuilt from the floor up.

And the neighborhood required nothing but daily appreciation.
The neighbors were lovely too. At night this apartment always had huge chandeliers lit and sometimes there would be a party .. it was like watching a silent movie from our home.
Doors thrown open, beautifully dressed people laughing, drinking , walking around ..
We bought that mirror in an auction in NY State. It has been to Florida, Oregon and Argentina and now back here in NY State. It has seen quite a lot, that mirror. 

The dining room furniture came from Thonet. 
"Bentwood Rocker" fame, Thonet.
They have a store in Buenos Aires ! 

Kitchen Before ...soooo ugly.
                                               Kitchen after ... nothing was left, we changed 
                                               every single inch of the room.
                                              
In that window on the left (above this photo) we put metal window boxes for my plants.
They ended up also being Dove nurseries every Spring. 

We also had all the floors sanded then a couple of coats of polyurethane (Plastificado) put down.
So the golden wood would be in good shape for a long time to come. A single man bought the apartment, I feel that he loved the rooms and would take good care of it. I daydream of going back and making him an offer he can't refuse and buying it back .. But then, a lady I met in BA had rented a little apartment, just big enough for her. It had one of those glass topped / greenhouse style rooms with tile floors and plants , IN the apartment .. and a scary staircase with no railing .. but it was so perfect for One . I can see me in that sort of apartment too.
The weather is looking gloomy today. This means I should vacuum or do something useful.
Maybe I should discuss it with the cats first. They hate the vacuum. 

So do I.

 

4 comments:

  1. Your home back in Buenos Aires sure looked wonderful! You renovated it so beautifully. Especially the kitchen, how different it looks!
    Must have been so nice to wake up to cooing of the doves..lovely home and neighborhoo, with fond memories, no wonder you miss there so much xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awwwwww what a lovely home. No wonder you miss it.
    hahahahahahahahaha all my animals love the vacuum or could care less about it.
    I have all tile floors and 3 very small rugs so vacuuming only takes a second.
    The second apartment sounds lovely too.

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love reading about your memories of Buenos Aires...I feel the same way about our time in Paris and The Hague. And although I know our home is wherever we find ourselves, I'm still hoping to get a few more years abroad. Thank you for your lovely descriptions; BA sounds delightful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tamago, it was lovely waking up there every morning. Doves cooing was icing on the cake :)

    Thank you parsnip. I miss it all so much.

    Vivian .. I have to find a home that will feel like a home again, without someone being there . This house never had a chance ..

    ReplyDelete

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