The Continuing Bed Saga

     When at  first you don't succeed try, try again. With that in mind the search for our bed was hot on my mind as I scanned images of  "high beds, headboard and footboard, wood beds, country, cottage" for ideas.  I would find one only to find it cost a pretty penny. The next one on closer inspection would look cheap.   Then one popped up that sounded and looked wonderful. It was a bit more than I had hoped it would be but not so much that I wouldn't consider it.

     It had been hard to find a bed that would blend well with the steal of a deal cabinet I had found for $50 on Craigslist that looked good with the previous bed.   I dreaded telling Tim that my intent was to resale it and go a different direction if only because when we picked it up it weighed so much even if was big enough to hold a 40 inch TV easily.  The thought of loading it on our truck and moving it to Carmel then unloading it to our bedroom filled me with apprehension. I can help move furniture but when they reach a certain weight or their size is beyond me I'm ready to call anyone we know to help.

     When my brain goes into hyper drive I gather ideas and images that fuel the inner decorator in me. Tim was all onboard with the new bed I showed him and he thought he would ask a friend of ours whom happens to own a furniture store if he might be able to order it.   Good luck was going our way!

     I had found my duvet and shams via eBay of which had been stored in a closet right after we closed escrow.  I was chomping at the bit with impatiences and clearly would be waiting at least a month till the new bed arrived.  

     At the four week mark the bed had not arrived. Darn.  At five weeks we got the call the bed was in and our friend had unpackaged it to make sure it was in tip top shape. Yes!  We scheduled it to be delivered the following weekend along with some recent furniture finds from our home in Danville. My latest inspiration was to bring our tall natural pine armoire that we have had for the better part of 30 years to use in our bedroom in place of the previous Craigslist cabinet. Also two reproduction farmhouse bedside tables I had inherited from my parents home. Tim loved that I was taking some extra items we already had.

     He drove down ahead of me to meet the furniture store truck and I followed down a bit later, just as before. Like a repeating nightmare Tim called with the bad news. Say it isn't so, but it was an Eastern King!!!!!  I was once again disappointed and even mad since we both had reiterated that it needs to be a Cal King.  By the time I arrived in Carmel the bed was gone to be returned and reordered. Tim kindly took a photo for me to see how it would have looked.  I sighed with the dream of when we would have a bed to sleep upon.

    Let's fast forward another five weeks and at long, long last our bed is in place.

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Sea Spirit

I smile o'er the wrinkled blue

Lo! the sea is fair,

Smooth as the flow of a maiden's hair;

And the welkin's light shines through

Into mid-sea caverns of beryl hue,

And the little waves laugh and the mermaids sing,

And the sea is a beautiful, sinuous thing!

     ~ excerpt from The Sea Spirit by Lucy Maud Montgomery~

     

    One weekend with our first houseguests, we took a picnic to the Carmel River State Beach.  It was quiet being late Winter, but even so there were a few brave souls in swimsuits at the waters edge.  It's not a beach to be taken lightly as the waves can be huge and pounding on the shore.  The mommy in me did have concern for the children when the sea foam flowed in swiftly where they were prancing on their toes.  They had no care in the world as they splashed back with their slim arms, teasing the sea.

     What a lovely place!  From left to right your eye wanders and seeks the relentless swells that surge towards the beach.  How big will the next wave be?  There is a fair clip to the wind and as the waves crest a steady spray sweeps back to the sea.  I have great respect for waves.  I've been tumbled over and under as a teen near Santa Cruz attempting to body surf.  You sense and wait for the water to recede then you struggle to rise as the surge going out pulls on your body.  Spewing sea water, as I somehow always got plenty in my mouth, and wondering how much sand is in my bathing suit.  I was never very good at body surfing, still I'm amazed that I tried as the water is quite cold.  But this beach is not for body surfing.  No sir.  As if on cue, a lifeguard walks about telling people not go in the surf.  

     To the left in the distance you can see the Santa Lucia Mountains that rise sharply as they go along the coast towards Big Sur and beyond.  Extending your vision slightly towards the right you can see the incredibly beautiful Point Lobos State Park.   Moving ones eyes back to the left is the Carmel River inlet and lagoon.  It is here that as a child I came with friends and played upon it's shores.  I don't know if one is allowed to play as we did in the lagoon but back in the 60's it was safe and perfect to make sand castles, or float in the water on a big black inner tube.  We didn't have colorful pool floats that we all seem to have these days.  Several of us could cling to the edge of one, kicking joyfully all the while.  We never went far being so young.  I suppose our parents must have made it clear where our limits of paddling around were. 

     The weather changes rapidly from warm, to cool, to quite windy and back to warm.  I never know what to wear when we come to our Carmel home.  I'm learning, slowly, to bring a bit of everything but also to remember it will never get as hot as back in Danville on a summer day.  My friend and I brought our cameras and take photo after photo of what draws our eyes as well as our creative spirits.  

    

     

     We walk to the right of the shore towards the rocks that seem to rise to enormous proportions on the point.  I have climbed these rocks many, many times in my youth.  I had forgotten how the ocean swell is right on the other side and how miraculously I never fell in!  Apparently I'm becoming a wimp with age.  I climb here and there, cognizant of my hesitate state of clambering, excusing myself since I'm carrying my camera around my neck and don't wish to bang it on the rocks.  Ha!  I see how rusty I am at climbing!  

    I treasure each time we are here by the sea.  For here my heart opens in ways that I'm just beginning to understand.  Maybe a healing of my spirit.  Maybe a door that has opened for my recent writer's block.  Maybe a place where my Love and I find a deeper level for our relationship.   

Beginnings

Beginnings.....

   There is a hushful silence when my eyes slowly open.  The curtains are drawn but the soft light of day gently lightens our bedroom from the lofty uncovered window above our bed.  Peace is in every essence of my being.

   A whimper from Stewie lets me know it is time to rise and let he and Tucker outside.  I wrap my robe around me as I walk out of our bedroom, silently closing the door behind me so my sleeping Love may slumber and to the tall glass and wood doors that open to the front of our home.  Morning sounds of subtle immersion awaken my senses.

  Which sense brings the smile to my face? It is my eyes or ears?  My eyes see tall pine trees, redwoods and then closest to our home the pink jasmine running along our fence that encloses our front garden.  Happy.  This is my happy place.

     My ears hear birdsong for the birds too are waking up to a new day.  Just barely I can hear the sea as the waves break upon the beach.  I wonder how high they are this time of morning.  I look forward to when we have a table and chairs out here to sip my coffee but for now I have two hungry dogs looking at me hopefully and a "hurry up!" yip from Tucker who wants his breakfast asap.

Sea shell, sea shell

Sing a song for me

Sing about the ocean

Tell me about the sea.

~unknown~

     This home my Love and I are smitten with.  From the first time we walked through it we knew it called us, asked for us, to be ours.  Afterward we sat upon the beach with our picnic lunch and talked of what we should do.  We hadn't expected to find a place so quickly!  Yet we both felt that we needn't look further.  Sitting there looking out at the white sandy beach, watching kids, adults, dogs happily enjoying the warm sunny day brought us both full circle of these past several years that had been of ups and downs over grief with the loss of our parents.  It isn't easy accepting they have passed away and that we must continue as the elders now.  Stepping forward is awkward at times yet we have each other to fall upon and pick the other up, give the long embrace, hold onto and count our lucky stars that we have each other.  

     With that one day we took our first steps to a new home.  For me it was a coming home.  I played upon the beaches of Carmel in my childhood, clambering on the rocks near the Carmel River State Beach or paddling around in the river with my friends.  Shopping with my mom in the shops off Ocean Avenue or taking family friends sightseeing in the area.  It felt like home already.    

     When our children were growing up, my parents often rented the lovely old home "Steelaway" and we would come to visit with them, where they too built a memory of happy times in this beautiful area.   

     I'll come back....  The wish I had when we moved away from Salinas all those years ago and now it is real.

 
  This too is a new beginning.  A new blog that shall be inspired by our new getaway Sea Song Cottage with whimsy and words, photos and poems, decorating and recipes, a getaway of the mind.  Welcome...