Come, stop by and have a cup of coffee with me.

Welcome to my home, you can play with the bowl of marbles if you want. And yes, I do collect things, and my perfume bottles were the first collection I ever started when I was 21 and left home. Mum gave me a bottle that she had been given and I was hooked till my house has no more space for anything else!!



Let's go get a coffee, your cup is waiting for you. And I know the smell of the hyacinths is filling the room competing with the coffee for your attention! And you can take some Cape Gooseberries out of the bowl Sorrow made!



Shall we sit here in the sitting room. I'll sit on the blue sofa with Trix, since she thinks it's her sofa and it's covered in dog hair and that will save your clothes!



Or shall we sit in the conservatory, and feel the warmth of the sun coming through warming our winter bones with spring sunshine. I like to have breakfast here sitting at the little table with Trix by my feet.




It's so nice in the sun if we could find a sheltered spot, we could go in the garden, of course Miss Trix is possing for yet another picture, but it might be a bit cold for more than a few minutes today, so lets go back in and just watch the sun from inside and talk together like good friends do.



There are days when the yearning to be somewhere else is overwhelming. My mind races from one place to another, seeing the memory around me. Feeling the air that surrounds the memory.

I go to many places, of which the top two favourites are..... The world famous Philadelphia porch! I sit on the wicker sofa and in my minds eye feel the warm breeze and the usually stifling heat of an August day there. I see the tray laden with the ingredients of a happy time, gin and tonic, dishes of sun dried tomatoes, olives, cheese,crusty bread, green grapes. Beside me is my book, and probably a laptop, but they are both waiting to be looked at, as right now in the other chair is my friend Eve, and we are talking and talking about all and everything as only two close friends can.

And if I don't got there I go to my other really close friend Jenny's back garden. In this memory it is also summer and we are sitting under the shade of an umbrella eating lunch of salad, cheese, olives, crusty bread ( I see a theme going on here!!!) and drinking ice cold wine. And talking, talking endlessly.

I also have winter memories of these places, which funnily enough do not involve food, but are about sitting around in both places on sofas with our feet up in front of fires, whilst the world carries on around us outside.

I also go to summers in Portmerion, I spent so many holidays there up until four years ago. And although I can visualise all the rooms I stayed in (each is different with wonderful antiques and coverings) I mainly sit in the room I first stayed in with the boys, overlooking the estuary, with a window at the back of the room overlooking the village. And in this memory it is always the weekend when the Spanish guitarist is playing for people passing by just outside my window. So it is as much a sound memory as sight one.

There are many other places I pop into in my daydreams, but these ones are the ones I'm most familiar with, the ones that make me feel safe if I'm feeling vulnerable.

But funnily enough since I spent part of the winter on my own I've started to feel differently about my own home. I know that my house looks lovely and is seen as welcoming by people who stop by. But for years I've spent time trying to escape it, especially at weekends. But not anymore, I actually love being here. I have wandered from room to room recently, really working on seeing what if anything I've needed to change for prospective purchasers. So that it all flows one room to another now.

I know if a house doing up programme got hold of me they'd make me put half my stuff in storage and paint everything magnolia. As people are supposed to be given all the help they can seeing their own things in the house. I understand that, but I also think that if a house looks lovely, then, that although it takes a bit more imagination to visualise it's not impossible, as people are not stupid.

So I just carry on plumping up my cushions, and filling the house with flowers not for any viewer, but because I like to live like that. And if it pleases me, as there aren't hundreds of people knocking at my door right now, then that is enough.

Also, we're getting to the time of year when my garden is set out in it's different outdoor rooms, the kitchen table for breakfast in the sun just outside the back door. The swingseat in the shade on the lawn for staring, reading and blogging. And the other dinning area for evening meals in dappled shade listening to the tinkling water as it flows around the water feature, where a glass of something can be shared with friends and if it starts to turn chilly candles can be lit and the heater turned on for optimum length of time outside.

So I hope you've had a good time visiting with me and please know you're welcome anytime as it was lovely to share with you.