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Saturday, June 22, 2013

traveling in my 'mind's eye'...

Friend sent me this of us at The Fish House in Vancouver, BC

I'm sitting here in the computer room this morning (which used to be my daughter's bedroom when she was young) reading blogs.  I have my coffee by my side and since the new grandbaby arrived, the cats are no longer allowed in this room (they are pissed!). This is because it has a daybed in it which they loved to sleep on and get all 'hairy'... and now we use that daybed as a changing table when grandbaby is here... so we try to keep it clean and fresh. The cats, especially Julie, scream, "No fair! We had it first!" But life isn't always fair, and they have many other areas throughout the house in which to sleep.

I was just reading Perpetua's blog about their little cottage in Normandy, France... and I am looking for a word that describes my feelings... one that doesn't sound bad.  "Envious" is the only word I can come up with and that has such a bad connotation.  I wonder which of us hasn't had the desire to own a little cottage in France (or a little place anywhere where you could spend the summers away from your normal life).  I'm from Louisiana originally, and I love Texas, but neither is a good place to be in July and August. People complain about the humidity, but I actually don't mind the humidity (I find it relaxing and compared to New Orleans, Texas humidity is nothing).  But the heat! That's another story. Temps that go over 100 degrees for days on end are too much... and we have a lot of these.

Anyway, I loved reading about Perpetua's little place in France.... and will vicariously enjoy her time there through her blogs. And the watercolor her sister did of the cottage is really wonderful!

And I do have a place to go to that is mine alone.  It's called "Bailey's Cove" and I created it  'in my mind's eye' in September, 2002.  Granted I haven't visited there lately (or blogged about it), but perhaps now is the time. That site is connected to a lot of my old web sites, so you could get lost in past years, but I will go visit there sometime this week (or next week)  and get the Cove updated... so that if you would like to share my 'home away from home' with me, you all are certainly welcome. At the moment - in case you should check it out, the first few days are me 'settling in' more or less with the cats and Toby.  After a while, I mixed the site in with my regular web site so it goes back and forth. I may need to change this and keep the two site separated so that I can continue to use Bailey's Cove as my virtual vacation spot.  I know that perhaps some of you out there are thinking that this woman has lost her mind, but actually creating this place was almost' as much fun as having an actual physical place to visit.

Here is a picture of Bailey's Cove:




I go there when I need time alone.  The cats usually come with me and Toby, my beautiful red Irish Setter, lives there on his own and welcomes us wholeheartedly when we show up at the door.










21 comments:

  1. That looks like a wonderful place to go for a retreat from daily life, Rian. I think it's perfect. I also understand how upset cats can get when their routine is disrupted. And we don't know how to tell them, that's the hardest part.

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    1. It is a great place to go, DJan. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed spending time there.

      As for the cats, I find that (like kids) if you explain to them what is going on, they may not like it (or even understand), but it seems the right thing to do... and who knows what they actually do understand.

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  2. You said: "creating this place was almost' as much fun as having an actual physical place to visit."

    Actually it could be" more fun" than the reality since you don't have the upkeep or expense of a vacation home. Definitely something to put into the calculation of enjoyment.

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    1. Oh, I agree. In my mind's eye, I could furnish this place any way I want without thought to expense, etc. However, being true to my vision, it only needs the bare necessities and the homey comforts of coffee, warmth, and companionship.

      And the upkeep is minimal. Toby stays year-round, so I created a person who checks on the place and watches out for Toby - kind of a custodian - a very special custodian who specializes in fantasy vacation homes and phantom dogs.

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  3. As is usual here, 'tis another delightful post. I love your imagination. Love it "to pieces" as the saying goes.

    A virtual get-away! How purrrrrfect! Can you imagine how many more of these (blogs) will pop up, in Pretty Blog Land, by next week???? YOu just *know* that "Auntie" will havvvvvvve to have one! :-)

    Love the picture sent to you by friends. You were meant to wear a winter coat, in RED!

    Now to visit the lady in her cottage in France. Oh my yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. And of course, I will tell her, that YOU sent me. :-)

    Happy June Strawberry Full Moon!!!

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    1. Please do visit Perpetua's cottage in Normandy. It's darling... and it's real!


      As for virtual get-aways, where would you like yours to be?

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  4. We all need a place of our own to stay sane in the world.

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    1. True... and if not a place in the RW (real world), why not inside our imaginations?

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  5. I borrowed your pic of "Bailey's Cove." Because I want to link to this delightful entry of yours, in my post tomorrow.

    When I post it, I will leave another comment here, linking to it, of course.

    I'm *raiding* the lovely ideas of other Dear Bloggers, in this hot and humid stretch, we are having. When I need some imagination!!!!!!!!!!!

    Please and thank you.

    "Auntie"

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    1. No problem, Auntie.

      But I do have another problem that is happening now and I'm wondering if it's just me...??? My reading list of 'the blogs I follow' keeps disappearing. It's happened before here on blogger, but they have always reappeared later. This morning I can't seem to get them to come back. Was wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

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  6. 6/25

    "Auntie" has linked to your delightful post, today.... :-)

    I use a form of Blogger's "Blogs I Follow". But it is incorporated into a private blog, called "My Little Posse." As far as I know, it's still working. But I do remember some bloggers being upset, a while ago, because something was being eliminated............. ?????

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    1. My "reading list" did come back. I'm guessing that this reading list is through Blogger Reader and this is what is disappearing on July 1st?? I could be wrong.

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  7. I love your imaginary get away....your so creative.

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    1. Thanks, Dee. Feel free to visit there anytime.

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  8. 6/27

    Sorry my click-able links didn't seem to work for you, in this blog post of mine...

    I got the first pic from... Kootation pics...

    Got the lovely pics of pretty homes, from The House In The Roses blog and... From White Bohemian Beauty blog.

    Do these links work for you?

    "Auntie"

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  9. And do you know, that your blog shows up, as very, very wide, now? Just wondering. If you realize.

    "Auntie"

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    1. Yes, you have told me. Andy yours is the same with me... takes up the whole page... but I figure that's how you like it to be. I did ask if my blog was coming across as very wide to anyone else and the response was no. It's so strange...

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  10. Your imagination congered up a marvelous getaway spot. I love to go there with you Rian!

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  11. Oh Rian, I didn't mean to have you feel bad about our little cottage! If I could share it with you I would, but you seem to have come up with a wonderful getaway in any case. You have an amazingly creative imagination. :-)

    As Vic said above, holiday cottages aren't an unmixed blessing. At least you don't have to clear out the spiders and mend the leaking window at Bailey's Cove. :-)

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    1. Oh Perpetua, you didn't make me feel bad. I love that you have a special place to go where you can spend time. I'm so happy that you followed through with your dream and made it real. And I'm also happy that you share it with us through your blog. And I do know that owning a second home is not all wine and roses... there's upkeep and taxes, etc. But let's not go there. Just enjoy what you have created... and are still creating.

      And yes, my imagination works wonders for me. I love Maine, but DH doesn't... so Bailey's cove is my fantasy getaway. (Besides, being a Southern girl, I probably wouldn't survive the winters). It is also my spiritual getaway as years ago I used to go on a womens' silent 3- day retreat where we ate and prayed together, but it was silent... so there was no talking or socializing, just a time to listen to the Voice within ourselves. I loved it. In some ways, Bailey's Cove is similar. And I can share it with anyone who wants to drop by... and they can have their own spiritual retreat.

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