A Celebration of Appreciation and Gratitude

I have a new appreciation for my old house, also occasionally known as The Rat-Infested, Opossum-Harboring Hotel. For all its faults, it's safe and home. (As long as keep fighting to keep the critters out!)

 

The garden is growing and beautiful. I've worked on this garden for eight years and it finally feels right. Flowers blooming. Birds singing. Wind whispering.

 

 

 

 

Sun shining. Neighbors mowing. Trees blossoming.

 



 

No mold anywhere, no insect infestation, and it's all mine. I don't answer to anyone demanding rent and telling me what I can and can't do.

I'm still free! Hooray!

Peter is happy he's not jailed in a small cage sitting in a strange place. Life is good. I spent some time outside appreciating my safe haven and every now and then kissed its walls and smiled. Nothing like a really bad experience to make you appreciate what you have.

To celebrate, I built an ugly gate.

 

My other gate rotted so I threw it away and I've been using chicken wire which is unsightly. Not that this isn't unsightly, but it has a sort of eclectic charm that makes me smile. In an issue of Martha Stewart Living I saw pictures of a garden gate someone made with used, ugly wood. They hooked it to the fence post with twine and had to lift it to open and shut. Something looking like a pig pen enclosure. A nice, traditional farm gate.

 

Mine isn't that rustic as I have used old hinges and a latch recycled from the last gate, but it's still pretty ugly. If you look really closely, you can see the dirt on the wood pieces. I found some of these pieces in the garden as I was using them as stakes. HAHAHAHA I am the recycling queen!

 

Peter won't care. It'll do its job to keep him out of the front gardens. At least he can see it, unlike the chicken wire which he ran right into.

My lungs are finally back to normal today. I am so grateful.