March hares

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

If you drove down our farm road in England in the early morning hours of springtime you had to be on your toes not to hit the dozens of tiny bunnies that dodged into your path. Or at least I made everyone navigate with exceptional care, being sure to warn them loudly when I saw one bounce out onto the gravel. It might sound silly but I loved seeing those little fur babies darting into the hedgerows.

Two years in a row now, since we have been back in the States, I have found some little wild hares at the thrift shop that remind me of an old Georgian farmhouse on the fens of Suffolk. In the springtime they come out again.

some little joy

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

“I'd like to add some beauty to life," said Anne dreamily. "I don't exactly want to make people KNOW more… though I know that IS the noblest ambition… but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me… to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn't been born.”

LM Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

I am not convinced Anne did not in fact choose the noblest ambition. What could be more noble in the end than strewing little joys along the paths of others?

Sharing a happy thought of mine: Autumn in England, in all her damp and earthy glory.

hand over hand

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

"For the struggling Christian it may seem that joy is at the bottom of a well. It is never obtrusive, but there it waits, cool and clear, promising to refresh.

We have to practice our faith, to send down the bucket on a reliable rope of faith . . . and draw up joy hand-over-hand."

– Karen Andreola

I've been smiling over this excerpt since my morning reading today. We sometimes bemoan the lack of water when we aren't doing our part to carry the bucket.

Little joys here:

vintage sheets

French vanilla coffee

morning time journaling

beautifully crafted headbands from gifted friends

care packages from afar

daughters who bring home dessert

texts from my daughter-in-law

letters from old friends

long naps

gathering supplies for new projects

All this rushed in together with some challenges and some very discouraging news. There was a choice about where to let the focus rest. I am choosing joy.

I hope you are drawing up hand-over-hand this weekend and I would love to hear what is making you smile right now.

home away from home

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

“I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together.”

– James Patterson

For a home "maker" a hotel doesn't pose insurmountable obstacles, not once you truly understand that home is not particular place but a condition, a way of being together. It is the comfort of a shoulder to rest your head upon. It is a story in the truest sense, unfolding chapter by chapter.

Then you know in your heart there is no such thing as a 'temporary' home. There is only home, wherever your people are.

During a brief lull in the action one afternoon after the house was packed up and the keys handed over, I was able to pull out my camera in our new short term space in England. It was a gift – that lull. My husband set it up intentionally knowing that transitions are sometimes difficult for me. Maybe for everyone? Yet, if there is just a wee bit of time to catch my breath here and there it all goes so much better. So instead of scheduling our flight immediately after the furniture shipped we had a week to say our goodbye's, to finish last minute details, and to rest. It was a blessing to take a nap. To look out the window. To breathe.

Margin, it's a good thing.

Thankful. Each and every day.

late winter walking

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Our house is packed and the crates shipping. We are settled into a hotel. There is much more to say about those two events but not tonight. Tonight I am sharing some sights from the village where our dogs are staying 'til we fly out. We picked them up for a walk today while the sun shone.

Water’s edge, Clovelly

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

So just when you think you are never reaching bottom, you turn a bend and there it is right beneath you.

The reward

and your's truly, all wild haired and old lady arm-ed, but hey, I was there and in the frame.

Clovelly by the Sea

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Without a doubt I will run out of time in England long before I run out of stories to tell. This was a good one. We found Clovelly late in the day and decided rather ambitiously to hike down its cobblestones to the Bristol Channel. We saw the maps and elevations. It still seemed like a must do.

Clovelly clings to the cliffsides of the bay. Wattle and daub cottages clutch the hillside with no two on the same level. In fact, you cannot find a place to stand where your two feet are level.

Because of this there is no car or bike traffic permitted in the village and historically donkeys have been used to transport people and goods up and down. Donkeys or other ingenuity…

Charles Kingsley of Water Babies fame spent part of his childhood in the village. Rumor had it a band of cannibals once hid out in the hills nearby. My beloved Turner painted the harbor. And idyllic spot for sure.

Tomorrow I will show you around the harbor.

Master bedroom tour and the organization snowball

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Or…what's Dave Ramsey got to do with cleaning my room? He came to mind as we are tackling a major whole house clean and purge. If you aren't familiar with Dave Ramsey's debt snowball method he recommends that you list your bills from largest to smallest. Then you make minimum payments on all but the smallest and throw all you've got on that one til it's paid off. Then you take that monthly allotment plus the amount you were spending on that smallest debt and apply it all to the next larger bill. And so on and so on. Well it occurred to me that it can be a big morale boost to clean that way. I am hitting the rooms that are easily managed and rolling from there.

The master bedroom has always been one of my favorite rooms in this house. The bed linens are from Martha Stewart's Water Garden set we found discounted several years ago and have held up very well. Coincidentally the heavy butter yellow English drapes that were here when we arrived matched perfectly so I bought zero things for this room. Nada. The side table is actually a sewing machine table with another drape thrown over. Since I didn't actually use the sewing machine you see.

Old friends will remember we found the bed our first day in Germany from a local vendor. Some weeks later we found the matching armoire at a junk shop. That story is here. The two pieces are living happily in this old house in England now.

So, organization snowball. That's what's happening over here. Auntie Leila explains exactly how we do things so there is no need to repeat. If it's been a while since you have really deep cleaned or you don't know where to begin please go directly there. Read, be inspired. Like her, I began with the master bedroom. My husband's work clothes are in the armoire. The rest of our things are in two particle board type wardrobes in the closet behind the door. Shoes are hung in bags on the other side of the doors. All my small jewelry is kept in one of these. My necklaces are hung over a couple command hooks inside the wardrobe door. Scarves are wrapped over a hanger like this.

So there you have it. More rooms to follow because ready or not the move is happening.

Wetlands Walk

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

This was probably our last visit to the Norfolk coast. Brendan and I rode up with Alannah in the afternoon leaving just before sunset, which is still very early in the day here. It is a wild, windy place. The tall grass was bowing from the sea breeze and our cheeks were ruddy by the time we reached the car.