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, November 11, 2015

My Other Life

When we moved into our apartment in Buenos Aires, it had the original 1930s kitchen .. a series of tiny rooms, one being the maids entrance, then tiny kitchen cooking area, the fridge in a sort of hall and then the "maids room" which was a toilet ( no lid) with a sink ( industrial) with mops and buckets stored.

There was no way I would have thought twice about that apartment because of that kitchen and the bathroom ... with a huge toilet, small sink, massive bathtub and rusty looking bidet. Oh, and ugly tile.

Because of the lovely difference in the Ar Peso and the USD .. we knew we could afford to make changes and bring the space up to a comfortable standard that we were used to and also I was thrilled to have a very South American style to make comfortable and pretty but not change in the sense of erasing its South American personality.

The kitchen was easy in a way- gut it.
Everything went out.
All new and shiny and modern went in. But with antique lighting and the room itself, the new blended in with the old with no clashing .

Here are a few photos  ....
One of the living room windows. With the Plane tree outside, complete with doves, with their nests and babies.

 Our Elevator. My husband liked making jokes about the film Lady in a Cage. I loved it.
No claustrophobia in that elevator ! The staircase wound up around it, I tried racing up the stairs once .. the elevator won but not by much.
In the Park with Pup.
His favorite bench.
 
My first Balcony Garden. 
Who knew that it would be so appealing to the Mama Dove ?
It became home to nests and babies .. a nest with a view - not bad.

A view of Home.

At the end of the street ( 2 blocks away) were miles of massive parks.

Mi dormitorio. 
Complete with chandelier bought in antique shops in San Telmo.
Doves nested outside the window in the air conditioning units.
I woke to cooing each morning.


Our favorite light. We bought it in San Telmo in an antique store.
Art Deco at its finest.

When we got to our block, I would drop his leash and he would dash to the door and stand and wait ..


The walk to our park. On the right is a very high wall. The British Embassy property.
And miles of parks and museums .

The neighbors. I would daydream about living in a building like that but our small private home was much better in so many ways.

Our building. It had been a private home and when times got bad in Argentina, they renovated and made it an apartment building. The daughter of the family who owned it, living next door to us.
With her mother. My husband guessed her mother was about 120 years old. :)

The Front Door.
I sure do miss that Door.
When we moved in, across the street, was an ice cream shop. 
My husband was sure we made the right decision to move to Buenos Aires.
And so here I am now .. years later.
A big change in Everything.
And new changes coming.
Change is good.


5 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful place. I love your balcony garden! I could never create such beauty in my balcony. I'd so enjoy sitting down out there and have a cup of coffee :-)

    ReplyDelete

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