Shop front?

Mum and I were taken with the fascia of this house

whilst we were prowling around the Bay

Victorian Terrace House/shop

For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.

OMG!! I have no words....

Green to go!

We've had the green light! So we pick up the keys to the new house on Saturday. That gives me tomorrow, as l'm working Wednesday through Friday to get organised. Which list to write first! I shan't sleep tonight, so l may make some headway over night.

So what to do first? Buy some beds,  a washing machine and some chairs, tables and a sofa from a clearance place or two!

Then we have four days over the weekend to get the most of our things over to our new abode a mile away. Larry and I will have a van for Monday and move the larger pieces. We won't have beds until Wednesday at the earliest, so we may sleep on the floor at the new place or in beds at the current place, which we will have for another month yet. But once the bulk of our own belongings are moved, l'll be loathe to leave the house unattended.

My stomach has been crunching all week and we only viewed this house exactly two weeks ago, I can't imagine how l would be if we had to wait the usual 3-4 months! We are lucky we are in a position to keep two properties overlapping for  a time, condusive to an ease of transit.

So I may be unavoidably be distracted from blogging for a while over the next week or so. Although I shall be lurking some, because this saddo has a broadband dongle and l can access internet and you all 'anywhere, anytime',  who aid that?  Batman ? or was it superman? Perhaps  Thunderbirds are more appropriate.

FFF and family are GO!

What is the value of a book ...

... or a dresser, a table, handbag or a home ?

After reading the authorblog nominated blogger for post of the day by http://cowgirlat.blogspot.com/ , I was left pondering. I remembered the books that l gave away to a charity when we moved in November, before down sizing from a rambling, good sized but never the less decrepit, farmhouse on a working farm. We moved for ALL the right reasons, the sensible, the practical and in part the motivational ones too!

However, for me there always seems to be a sense of loss when we move, I feel I leave a part of me behind. Of course we have the memories, the photos, but the living in the home where those memories took place is I find rather comforting. To know that some other family is living happily there is no consolation actually. Perhaps I, like many don't like change, but it is perpetual, it happens and that will never change.

My daughter is particularly sentimental about the old farmhouse. She would regularly take herself off into the next field, recently harvested or not, regardless of the season, usually at twilight, ipod in hand, dancing in the meadows, in a world of her own ... safe and secure. I wouldn't have to worry about her safety, though miles from anywhere ... my son would ride the local lanes on his bike, or they would both wander off with the dogs, oblivious to city life and its dangers all but a few miles away.

The barn owls are missed, they nested the 3rd year we were there in the out house, then in an old neglected barn. They stayed unusually for barn owls l'm told, all year, every year and were still there when we left. I worry about their safety. If the barn has been renovated, has their nest been preserved?

Barney our beloved Russell/Terrier died there in July '06, but somehow l know he is here in our new home, because he is in our hearts. It would be wretched to consider otherwise and in fact that the other day when l threw the ball for Pippa, I could have sworn l saw him out of the corner of my eye, l had to look twice and tell myself no...

We downsized to a renovated urban c1970s bungalow, a 10 minute walk to the Museum, the kids school and city centre, a BIG change for us all who until then had commuted back and forth from farmhouse to city, 2-4 times a day, a 30 mile round trip each time!

We now live in a clean, well maintained house, a well looked after and well stocked garden, two greenhouses and we have settled well into our new life and new routines.

However, with nowhere to display, store or hide my vast collection of books (which had been devastated by the move of '96, whereby l gave away or sold 700 of them!) nor my antique & vintage handbag collection, usually displayed in deco glass cabinets and nor my vast selection vintage clothing stocks, which l sell online on my specialist website, another passion! I trimmed no strike that, I halved all but the handbag collection, telling myself it was for the greater good (my family's sanity and comfort).

I couldn't get my head around the collection of and charges at the city auction house, to transport and sell on the larger pieces of brown furniture. Including an adored 1920's dressing table, a '70s welsh dresser and other items that looked great in the old farmhouse, but sadly a bit tatty and incongruous in the modern-ish bungalow. So l gave them away through our local Internet recycling site, which gave me a sense of satifaction, but the niggles are creeping back in again.

With the books l will remember a title that l want to read again or research and I think bugger! that one's a goner!

I know that things aren't important, I know it's considered shallow to get attached to material things but if they are beautiful, what's wrong with wanting to and yes in my case hoard them and keep them close?

Like a much loved dog, they don't answer back or disappoint you, they can't hurt you, or betray or let you down. Maybe it's playing safe ... but there is comfort in these loved and familiar inanimate belongings.

So I'm with http://cowgirlat.blogspot.com/ and I shall try and moderate my regret and I'll stick with what I like but hoard any replacements in moderation!