I'm not saying the house is cold but the girls and I have been spending most of our days, huddled up like Dickensian orphans, in front of the pellet stove. The weather people say warmer days are coming and everyones favourite groundhog saw his shadow last week...but I don't believe any of them. It's been cold since November and I doubt March will be much warmer. Lovely New York State, seven months of Winter followed by a month of rain and a hint of Summer before it's time for me to start making Halloween costumes again. Makes a girl feel like moving somewhere warm...anywhere. It's a good job I have been slowly adding a protective layer of fat to my middle! Got to do something to stay warm right?
Due to the weather, things at the house have come to a complete standstill. I have a lot of plans made for Spring but February is that awful inbetween month when cabin fever gets the better of me and I don't get any Valentines. I am so bored that I am beginning to think I should steampunk the house - make the whole place look like some modern day Jules Verne Sci-fi fantasy. Lots of lace and black velvet, silver, cameos, sepia portraits and heavily swags windows, bog clocks with their faces missing so we can see the workings inside, spiders made from bicycle chains, lead balloons, Edgar Allen poe book on the table with a pair of wire rimmed spectacles sitting atop. Maybe I should make covers for the piano legs, buy an aspidistra and make some of those lacy headrest things for the back of the settee?
Actually, the more I think about it, the more it appeals to me. I had intended to paint the interior creams and whites in preparation for sale, but with house prices where they are and the number of foreclosures and tax auctions going on around me, I might be here a bit longer than anticipated. It might be fun to give this old (1780's) American house a distictly British look; make myself a Union Jack and hang it over the mantel, find a portait of Queen Vicky to hang in front of it.
A childhood spent in the rain soaked North of England has certainly given me a love of all things dramatic (think the Bronte sisters romantic heroines and their dark brooding lovers). I must confess a love of Pastoral paintings, old armchairs and dedicated libraries. I have a deep seated need for moody reds, navy blue and dark green.
Ever felt that you were born at the wrong time? I have a sudden desire to subscribe to The Times and place wagers on crazy things...I can see myself sitting in the library devouring the latest Thomas Hardy, waiting for afternoon tea to be served. Funny how we never see ourselves as the sevant class in those dreams isn't it? Still, not a bad way to spend a Winter's afternoon.
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