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| Daffodils coming up |
Most years, at this point in the calendar, I’d be chomping
at the bit for spring to arrive. Yesterday, however, I saw the first green
shoot of a bulb peeking through the leaves outside the front door of the cottage.
I was surprised at my reaction. It was not joy, nor even eager expectation. It
was wistfulness. I spent some time with these thoughts; and, upon reflection, I
realized how much I have enjoyed spending the cold, dark months of winter in my
new home. The wind is howling outside right now and the 10-day forecast
reassures me that winter is not over yet. This makes me happy, because I am not
quite ready to say good-bye to winter yet.
As much as I love being outside, I have a very pronounced
nesting instinct when winter approaches. In most other years, that would mean a
break from the physical work of gardening and the chance to spend time curled
up with a good book or simply luxuriating in a long night’s sleep under the
covers. Being on sabbatical, though, has changed things. There was no garden
work this year from which to take a break. Yes, there are still good books to
read (and much more time in which to do it) but living in the cottage has
afforded me many new opportunities for indoor activity – most of which have
been quite enjoyable. It is losing some of these experiences that has made me
less eager to see winter depart.
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| Books on the bedside table |
Having the cottage as “home” is the first time I have lived
outside the monastery since I joined in 1976. Yes, there have been other extended
stints when I have lived outside the monastery, primarily for studies; but
these were always temporary. Most often, too, they were just another form of
institutional living. This is the first time, however, that I have lived in a
domestic setting since leaving my parents’ home. My other “domestic” experience
was living in an apartment for my last two years of college – but that was over
forty years ago. Returning to this style of living has been a pleasant change
and it takes me out of my usual routine. In that regard, it does exactly what a
sabbatical should do, but I still get to live “at home”.
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| Cosmas, the guard cat |
The first few weeks in the cottage were all about making it
my own. There were the practicalities of just figuring out where things were
and how they worked. There were the quirks of the house to get used to – especially
the noise of the heating system and the doors that wouldn’t stay shut. Then
there were the new rhythms of each day – how early did I have to get up in
order to make it to Matins? What was the best time to feed the cats? When
should I program the heat to come on in the morning? Then there were the basic
necessities. The previous tenants left the house reasonably well furnished with
most things. Every now and then, however, I would discover that I lacked
something essential. This gave rise to almost daily trips to one store or
another. By the third week of December, I felt that I had most of what I
needed. Then it was time for Christmas.
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| The cottage Christmas look |
I’ve written about Christmas in some earlier blog entries,
so I won’t say a whole lot more. In addition to decorating, Christmas was my
first chance to use the kitchen in a major way. I did a substantial amount of baking
before the big day. Most of the output was for gifts, but a few things were
just to have around the house for guests. I finally got a dining room table and
chairs just before Christmas. This was a very important step, because it meant
I could entertain properly now. So, once Christmas was past I began to have
guests for lunch and or dinner.
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| Guests for dinner |
This brought a new rhythm to my days. Now I
threw myself into planning and preparing meals. The cottage was alive with the
smells of food cooking and with all the attendant housework that comes with
preparing for guests. When the weather was inclement or too cold, I was usually
in the kitchen putting something together. Even without a schedule, my days
were full and it seemed like I was always busy. The dark days of winter were
passing quickly but pleasurably. The cottage is a wonderfully cozy place to
entertain and my guests certainly seemed to enjoy it. In keeping with the
Danish idea of “hygge”, I always had a few candles burning. I also left the two
Christmas candles in the front windows.
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| Out with the old, in with the new |
There was just one more major “improvement” that I wanted to
make in the cottage – paint the living room and kitchen. The previous tenants
had left a kind of cantaloupe colored paint on the side walls and trim. This
alternated with white on the front and back walls. From the moment I moved in,
I knew I wanted to change the color, but I never seemed to have the time to
undertake such a big project. When February arrived, it meant I only had one
more month before gardening season. I needed to get started. I began by looking
at different colors. The online programs that allow you to see the colors in a
virtual room can be a bit of a rabbit hole and I was a willing accomplice. It
took me about a week to settle on a color scheme. Then I got to work. I knew
that the existing color would be difficult to cover, so I applied a primer to
all the spaces I intended to paint. This took a lot of time, but, in the end,
it was worth it.
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| Finished |
The final coat went on effortlessly and the results were
excellent. Now all the major changes were done in the cottage and I really felt
that the house was “mine”. Now it was time to move on to the garden, but it
also meant that this phase of “settling in” was ending. I have a great deal of
satisfaction with the changes I have made, still I realize that the cozy days
of hunkering down in the house are about to give way to more time spent
outdoors. While I love being outside too, I will miss these days inside.
