Gingerbread Woman

Things to make you go 'yum'

Maybe it's the confirmation that the nasty scan man in London really did get it wrong and Fred in fact has a perfectly normal sized head, maybe it's the copious amounts of play time with the family or maybe I'm getting high on sea air, but I can't stop smiling.

Things that have made the smile broaden this week include

Walking out of my front door, turning right and finding a 270 degree panaroma featuring a castle, rolling hills, fishing boats, cliff edges and vats of ocean. I know it's going to be there but every time I see I inhale like I've just stumbled across it.
Hearing Nina Simone's acoustic version of 'here comes the sun'. And some song on the radio called voodoo girl I think, that I know will make the dance round the kitchen list.
Finding out little Toto the Cheetah cub survived the baboons in the BBC's big cat week (let's not go to the final episode where something else got him).
An afternoon giggling with Lisa, a sparkling artist I met in Sydney who's back from down under and moved round the corner.
All 376 of Nicki's beautiful wedding pictures, she looked like a 1950's movie star.
Walking across the cliffs and being assailed by the scent of salt water mixed with freshly mown grass.
Making ginger bread men with my neices.
An email from lovely man showcasing a playful side.
Knowing Ben came top of his year in his SATs scoring over 90% in maths and science.
Seeing my head images for my house come true and loving every one of them.

The house is a long way from finished but it's giving much pleasure now. The kitchen has been totally transformed, infused by light by swapping a tiny window for french doors and moving the units round. It's still full of cement buckets and bits of dismantled units but I can close my eyes and hear the laughter of hostessing friends in the future.
My bedroom and the nursery are almost finished, the colours are so calm and fresh I float up the stairs.

I'm loving the fact that for the first time as a homeowner, the decisions are mine alone there's no need for compromise. Sam was all minimialist by instinct, straight lines and hard edged surfaces. Her ideal homes were full of industrial materials and colours reminiscent of school uniforms, greys, taupes, navys, browns.
I don't know whether it's about discovering my own taste or bloody mindedness, but I've rebelled against every home we ever made together and gone uber feminine throughout, everything's curvy and tactile. Even the walls look soft enough to stroke. School uniform is out, soft aquarmarines and pastels are in. Where she would have had brilliant white, I've popped a splash of pink in to make it chalky. Where she would have kept the stainless steel lights, I've put a creamy chandalier with tiny crystals and dusty pink flowers in it's place.

I've been getting my priorites a bit wrong again, but having fun with the freedom to do so. I still need a cot mattress for example, but I've brought one of Lisa's paintings for the nursery, (how could I not? It's called head in the clouds and features a gangly giraffe with, you guessed it, his head...). I still need curtains and carpets, but I'm ok for ostrich feather table lamps and the kitschest mirror in the world, studded with lights to create huge shimmering angel wings once plugged in.

Hastings has gone all Boho and I'm revelling in it. Dad has an eclectic group of friends who gather for breakfast in a cafe opposite the fishing huts. I've started joining them, and loving it. There's Dave, the Daily Mail reading illiberal old git, side by side with Brian the hippy from the second hand book shop and Paddy the eccentric Irishman who sleeps in a beach hut.

I've found out about a writers group, am collecting info on the acting scene and have already been recruited to help the local Labour party with their press and campaigning strategies. Those activities are all on hold until the house is done and I've bonded with baby but I'm excited about getting to them at a later date.

This not working thing.....yum.

posted by The Gypsy @ 11:06 pm