Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Home

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I lived on the right side of this Queen Anne victorian for twenty years: I, JB, Jessica, two dogs, two cats, one parakeet, three hamsters, two unwelcomed and evicted bats. The house was a disaster when first seen: but over time every wall of three floors and fourteen rooms on each side got a facelift, if only paint, this 28 room Victorian made into two condos with all the charm and built-ins and high ceilings so typical of the early 1900's.
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I made a sweet outdoor patio in the small side yard, complete with a small fishpond that was home to a koi fish named Tillie. Twice a day, sometimes three, I would visit her, ready my shrilly voice, stick my finger in the edge of the pond, and call: "Tillie! Hello Tillie!" Everytime, she would come.
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It got so I boasted about my friendship with Tillie to anyone passing by. That she froze one winter day when the electric heater failed tugs at me still. :-(
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Provincetown. This is where my heart tends to reside. You probably already know about my love affair with Provincetown. JB and I have a small condo there, the middle of a house sliced into three units, a sanctuary by any measure.
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The poet Mary Oliver has lived in Provincetown for many years and many of her poems are about the Provincelands. I will be back sometime in May. In August maybe, I will be able to stay for three uninterupted weeks. My family will come. We will walk to the bay some morninga at sunrise, take off our flipflops and squish our toes in the wet sand. I may write, perhaps finish, my second novel in Provincetown. I wrote the ending of the story of Alex and Lily on the sectional red couch, I too shocked at the ending even though the words were mine.
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Now I live in a six room ranch house in Western Massachusetts. This is a college town surrounded by farms, plenty of farms and plenty of year round fresh fruit and vegetables, plenty of gardens and plant sales, plenty of small town civility.
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Last week JB and I rearranged the furniture at # 9 and I am surprised how much of a sweet difference it has made on my well being. I don't like change (but I seem to encourage it.) God knows I've shown enough of my house here on my blog already, so I'll just sneak in a look or two of what's new:
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My Mom and Dad's formica kitchen table, now on the porch, in a room that has not yet settled on its identity; might still turn out to be a Cuban cafe, sort of...
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Aha! Now a real dining room where the little den used to be.
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I have the world's smallest kitchen. JB and I are tripping over one another at every turn. But this is a good place to be, a place to appreciate a roof that doesn't leak, friends who come for clinks!, my secret recipe for Colleen's cream cheese and lemon dessert.
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And in the garden of # 9, waiting for this incredible ice storm to pass and the snow to give way to the high March sun, Cholie the Garden Girl practices her dance moves.
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Just like me.
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love,
kj

19 comments:

  1. I'm charmed. There is something so nostalgic and yearning about this post but with no sense of regret for something lost.

    Provincetown - Didn't Billy Joel write a song about it? Seems familiar and that is all I know about it.

    Thank you for a glimpse into your "Cuban Cafe" to be. I like that idea - A LOT.

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  2. I love your little house and long to sit at that dining table. It's not the size that matters its the 'mood' within and your home is charming to say the least.

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  3. Charming house, love the kitchen!!

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  4. Actually I like MA and your winter HQ. I am jealous though over all the counter space you have in your kitchen. Just that picture shows me roughly twice the amount we ha have.

    Still though kj I'd rather myself in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but home is where you are comfortable and where I be is comfortable to me.

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  5. I like it, I like it. what did you do with the little room beyond the kitchen, is that now the "den" thing?

    I think this is a time of year for cleaning, clearing and some change. Change is good...some of it

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  6. so the condo is for sale again? Near boston right. surely out of my price range. I have a weakness for Victorians.

    P-town. I have a weakness for P-town.

    Your little house, so sweet. Just to contradict you though, after having looked at around 150 houses for sale in the past three years, plus adding in about 100 from the early 90's, I have seen kitchens way smaller than yours.

    Nice to see the places you have and do live in.

    PS I love to change furniture around.

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  7. KJ, I, too, love the new changes! The former "Den" area is a perfect dining room - all those windows!!
    The former dining area is now a "den" of sorts?

    And...the "Cuban Cafe" Room! No matter what you do with it, it's a wonderful room! (In my neighbourhood, we had a Cuban Cafe that (sadly) went out of business last year...but, it's name was "Lo Cubana".... ha-ha!

    Your old condo looks wonderful to me! (And I could see Suki and Bibs there too!)

    Lovely photos - abd just think, May will be here before you know it! The waves on the shore are waiting for you, JB and Stella to return!

    Love,

    ♥ Robin ♥

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  8. As Annie said it well - I'm charmed, too. What a warm and loving post kj. Thank you for opening the doors even further into your heart and home.
    warm hugs (i'm ready for the ice to pass already!!) and love,
    Karin

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  9. Oh to have two homes, how lucky! I love them both, (and the old one too), but P town calls to me because of the sea. xoxo

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  10. I lived in a falling down Victorian for fifteen years. It was not ours to fix up. They tore it down when we finally moved from there, but it had charm and I had some happy times in it.

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  11. This is a wonderful glimpse into your past and present homes. I love the dining room...it's just perfect!

    I love changing furniture around...in fact, that's what I'll be doing today. It feels so refreshing...a harbinger to spring cleaning...

    Your cuban cafe has the most lovely bones! It will be awesome!

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  12. annie, aw, thank you. your use of the word 'charmed' made me instantly smile :) stick around because you will be seeing more of provincetown here! i don't know of a billy joel song about it but i will say this: i worked for the town's only little movie theatre for a while and when we looked for directors to be honored at the annual film festival, it was not hard to get the best. it seems that after new york and paris, ptown was next in the preference line xo

    hells, hahaha, i thought you were starting a dialogue about sex for a moment!!! of course i long for you to sit at that dining room table too :)

    sag, AAARGH the kitchen. but thanks, it is cute if not functional xoxo

    mark, omg your counters are smaller than mine? you won't be baking any apple pies then, eh?
    home is where the heart is? yup yup


    mim, yes, the little room is now the den. it's cozy and i like having my morning coffee and nightly coffee there very well. yes to change, even unwelcomed change. gotta show up, right?

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  13. suki, the victorian condo is not for sale. the photo was taken when we put it on the market six years ago. and suki, neither of us could afford it, not you, not me. i joked about it then : "I can't afford to my my own house!" btw, i now officially don you kitchen real estate queen. you could write a book about the houses you've seen! xoxo

    robin, yes, the tiny dining room is now the tiny den. :) but i must correct you: may is not even close! not with all this snow on the ground. even march feels far away right now. jan and feb are long months in new england: right lo? right mim? right suki? right chewy? xoxo

    karin! how great to hear from you! how about that ice? can you even believe it? it's melting today, none too soon. i'm waving at you from western mass. and blowing a smoochy kiss too xoxo

    annie, jb and i were terrified to buy our place in ptown and we've rented it out for much of the time (in may we will have it back for ourselves until at least summer). now it was such a great thing to do. it's an awesome place, every inch of it. xoxo

    lynn, time, place & circumstance. isn't that the truth. i cringe thinking of tearing down a victorian, all those irreplaceable details...xoxo

    marion, this is all i have to say to you: ♥ ♥ ♥

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  14. OOh, I'm so lucky to have been in both current homes! I would have loved the Victorian, just as I love the one we're renting. I'm learning to love the area.

    The changes look great! I want to rearrange things too but I'm stymied with so many built-ins.

    It's nice to be grateful KJ. You certainly have a lot to show for your gratitude ;)

    xoxo
    Lo♥

    P.S. Will you end up naming your Cuban cafe "Lo Cubana?" :)

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  15. I thoroughly enjoyed your version of home... thanks for sharing this.
    It has been thought provoking for me.

    Home for me is a feeling... a story that I tell myself as I have lived in a multitude of houses and not one have I owned... yet some have really felt like my home.

    Funny though I too sometimes struggle with change, yet I encourage it... seek it and then become exhausted of it.

    xx

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  16. Now I want to do some rearranging, it's always such a good feeling. I would love to have an old home, yours looked so full of character and charm.
    And so does your home now.
    :)

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  17. Loving every word of this post; every picture.
    The Victorian is my favorite style of all houses. Have I ever lived in one? Nope.
    Looked at one recently,,but have decided I don't want more than one level.
    Believe it or not,, I am re-arranging furniture and rooms also. To a whole different state.
    Near Jack's house. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

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  18. I have rented a few places with kitchens far smaller than yours. Yours falls under the category of "cozy." And I have lovely memories of that dining room table of yours laden with food. :-)

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  19. Wow That was a gorgeous house!
    But now you have two, I love your condo at P town as well.
    You have the ability to turn every house into a home. I always enjoy your pictures!

    ♥♥♥
    >M<

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