HOME IS THE NICEST WORD

"Home is the nicest word there is."  Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is our last beach trip of the season.  Just a few days at the North Carolina coast enjoying a small bit of sun and much rain and wind.  The flags have been red most days, High Hazard for swimmers.  And with the Delta variant now spreading among the unvaccinated, of whom there are many in Eastern North Carolina, we're being careful.  Eating outdoors again and masking indoors.  Most people here aren't.  Still, we're loving our time. This is home, too. 

Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina

Yesterday we woke to a window leak and water splashing--indoors!  It reminded me that as a child in St. Louis I loved to sleep with my head facing the open sash at the foot of the bed, rain in my face or just cracked with very cold winter air. 

What is your memory of home?  To me childhood means spacious old rooms, crumbling plaster, back stairs, piles of laundry and dog hair wafting. We had a coal furnace, a window air-conditioner and year-round, scratchy music on the turntable.  Always living within our means, never too hectic, never wanting more or being dissatisfied. What a luxury.  Four people all invested in eachother.  And Sheba, an amazingly-shedding mongrel dog. 

We've been nesting here at the beach because of the rain.  Mr. Wiggles hates his walks when it's raining, of course, but loves to nest too.  August brings the last days to savor the season we wait for all year.  Summer can almost never live up to our expectations, can it?  I didn't see my grandchildren quite as much as I'd hoped and have more home chores than I want (things fall apart; it's a motif). More seriously, I didn't quite comprehend how ferociously the unvaccinated could keep the pandemic alive.

But on the whole we'll make the most of August.  And prepare to spend the Fall again in another home--a three-room furnished apartment in Princeton, NJ, with busy sidewalks out the windows, laundry in the basement and a fire escape out back ("Home, Not So Simple," Mar 12, 2018). There, like everywhere, we'll nestle into whatever preserves us: the things we love; maybe our past and our memories; surely our hopes.

Alice Walker

                                               

SIMPLE NESTING INSIDE AND OUT

We think of nesting as an inside pleasure. But of course other species like to nest outside (except Wiggles who prefers his bed) and we can too. Both are good.  The Simple Things (thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk)--my go-to, relaxing, inspirational, missing-the-UK magazine has a feature called NEST--Love Your Home Inside and Out.  It reminds us that this time of year is perfect for finding comfort in simple things like our own nesting places.  

Morning Place to Nest

 

Afternoon Place to Nest

Outdoor Place to Nest

My house is somewhat random minimalist.  Less to dust, less to trip over, more room for kids' cartwheels.  The afternoon chair is from a consignment shop ($69), the outdoor nest from Target and Home Depot.  Nothing to make me feel guilty (Post:  "Be Happy with What You've Got"). 

What's best about nesting is the time to relax and think.  (Well, not always. A child may want to play Old Maid or roast marshmallows by the fire.)  Thinking costs nothing.  It is the simplest of pastimes. Not repetitive dead-end thoughts (something that's over, that we didn't deserve, and can't undo), but thoughts that give energy and pleasure.  They can be reflective of what's good about our lives, or enjoyment of the very moment, or plans for a wonderful future.  I was thinking about what depletes my energy and what builds it and how to do more of the latter.  Your list may be similar.  What builds my energy is yoga, pottery-making, blogging, reading, working in the yard, cooking, being with friends, loving, planning travel, theatre, seeing new things, eating out. . . .Next nesting session I may work on how to do more of these.  

What do you like?  Tucking in your children?  Reading to them?  Being outside?  Singing?  Getting to know others?  Going to a party?  Dressing up?  Some people say it's important that we know our desires.  I bet that's true.  Nesting is a good start.